Milk/Cream

Orange Pecan Pancakes with Depression Syrup

by:
April 10, 2012
5
2 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

This is from my Georgia grandfather--his recipes were not detailed, but this is pretty close to what I remember, thanks to help from my mom. The syrup was what they grew up with, just a brown sugar and water simple syrup boiled until it was thick enough, and I prefer it to maple syrup. —Louisa

Test Kitchen Notes

This recipe can be whipped up in less than 10 minutes with fairly standard pantry ingredients. And the best thing is that it tastes like you've slaved over it all morning. The pancakes are light and fluffy and the pecans add the nice like textural crunch. I was a little worried that there wasn't any sugar in the recipe, not even a pinch. To my surprise, they didn't need it. The Depression Syrup was superb...I almost want to buy one of those little glass syrup dispensers to put it in for next time. —Victoria Ross

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Orange Pecan Pancakes
  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 orange, juice and zest
  • 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
  • Depression Syrup
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
Directions
  1. Do the syrup first--it can simmer while you put the pancakes together. Just put the brown sugar and water in a small saucepan and simmer gently while you make the pancakes. When the syrup is thick enough just turn off the heat.
  2. For the pancakes, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl mix together the milk, egg, melted butter, orange juice and zest and the chopped pecans.
  4. Add the egg-milk mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until mixed.
  5. Melt 2-3 T butter in a skillet and cook the pancakes. The second batch always comes out better than the first.
  6. Serve hot pancakes with warm syrup.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • JJ Avinger-Jacques
    JJ Avinger-Jacques
  • arielleclementine
    arielleclementine
  • Louisa
    Louisa
  • NancyFromKona
    NancyFromKona

7 Reviews

JJ A. August 9, 2019
My mom always made "maple" syrup this way... she just added some maple extract to the hot syrup. I never knew the difference and it was delicious!
 
NancyFromKona December 5, 2016
Tried these out looking for something super tasty for guests during the Christmas holidays. Oh, these are so good and the depression syrup is genius. Trying to wean my husband off that fake maple syrup stuff! Next time I'll add dried cranberries too. This is a very quick fix when you want orange-cranberry-pecan read and can't wait an hour!
 
Southpaw11 February 15, 2015
simple and tasty.....you can't get any better than that!! This is our new go-to pancake base recipe. We often add crystallized ginger and cranberries or other delicious things. Really, the perfect pancake....not at all dry and I love that their isn't any sugar.
 
momcooks June 6, 2014
I was just looking for a quickie pancake recipe that would be from ingredients already on hand and came across this. Fantastic! Orange zest, a bit of tangerine juice, and chocolate. No syrup required!! A real keeper. Thanks!
 
Louisa June 6, 2014
So glad you liked the pancakes. I'll try the chocolate and tangerine. My grandfather would be so pleased to know that his pancakes are still on the table.
 
Indybindy May 6, 2012
Made this for a late breakfast today - delicious! We added dark chocolate pieces to satisfy our family of chocoholics, and the pancakes were amazing with and without the added chocolate. The syrup was also fantastic, and a really easy substitute for maple syrup. Will definitely be making these again!
 
arielleclementine April 27, 2012
this is such a fun recipe, and i can't wait to try the syrup! really cool.