Oat Bran Cranberry Pancakes

I love cranberries. Seeing fresh cranberries starting to appear in the grocery store gets me all excited because it means that winter is approaching. For many people, winter is the most dreadful part of the year, but I love it! Wrapped in a fluffy wool sweater, enjoying hot cocoa in front of a crackling fire with snow falling outside is one of my favorite places to be.

But I'm getting sidetracked. I'm also excited to see the cranberries appear because I love to cook and bake with them. Each season has it's gems of fruits and vegetables to cook with, and utilizing each of those at the peak of their freshness is the subject of Simply in Season, a cookbook by Cathleen Hockman-Wert and Mary Beth Lind.  Fellow food blogger Wendy is cooking her way through this book and I've enjoyed watching her journey.  There's only one problem - Wendy is allergic to cranberries.  When she asked around for some help making all the cranberry recipes in the book, I gladly offered up my love for cranberries - and pancakes!  I knew from seeing the name of the recipe that it was going to be right up my (clean eating) alley. 

These pancakes are fantastic!  Fluffy, delicious, packed with fiber and protein for a filling breakfast.  This is definitely my new favorite pancake recipe, as I think it can be adapted for different seasons using different fruit additions.  Next time I might turn up the cinnamon and ginger, because I love those two spices and they weren't quite strong enough for me.  The cranberry syrup thickened nicely with the help of some cornstarch, and really brought the cranberry flavor to the next level for this dish.  I got nine pancakes from this recipe and included the nutritional information (only change being that I used 2% milk instead of whole) per pancake.  I also included the total for the batter so if you make smaller or larger pancakes, it's will be easier to calculate the values for your pancakes.  Huge thanks to Wendy for sharing the recipe and letting me take part in her Simply In Season journey!


Oat Bran Cranberry Pancakes
Directions adapted from: Simply In Season, provided by Wendy

• 3/4 cup oat bran
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 teaspoons honey (slightly warmed)
• 1/2 cup cranberries, chopped
• 1/2 cup apple, chopped

Stir together oat bran through ginger in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine milk, egg, oil and honey; stir to mix.  Add wet ingredients to dry, stir just until mixed.  Fold in cranberries and apple.  Heat griddle or pan, then spray with cooking spray.  Drop 1/4 cup of batter onto griddle, repeat with remaining batter.  Heat until bubbles form at the surface and bottom is lightly browned, then flip and cook through.  Serve with cranberry syrup (recipe follows)

Cranberry Syrup
Source: Simply In Season, provided by Wendy

Boil together 1 cup cranberry juice, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, and a pinch of ground ginger.


Nutritional Information
For total batter followed by per pancake (based on 9 pancakes per whole recipe)
Calories:  980; 109
Fat: 34g; 3.8g
Sat. Fat: 95.g; 1.1g
Cholesterol: 235 mg; 26mg
Sodium: 3840 mg; 426 mg
Potassium: 280 mg; 31 mg
Carbohydrates: 150 g; 16.7g
Fiber: 34g; 3.7 g
Sugar: 28.5 g; 3.2 g
Protein: 40g; 4.5 g