Pumpkin Pancakes with Caramel-Pecan Sauce

This weekend I attended the 30th Annual Ladies' Fall Retreat at Quartz Mountain Christian Camp near Lone Wolf, Oklahoma. Now, when you think of camp food, many of you might not think of "good" food; however, at QMCC, the food for the ladies' retreat isn't just good - it's great!

For breakfast this morning there were four choices of pancakes: plain, chocolate chip (or maybe M & M), blueberry, and pumpkin. There was regular syrup available, plus blueberry syrup, and then a special caramel pecan sauce. That caramel pecan sauce was sooooo good on top of the pumpkin pancakes.

PUMPKIN PANCAKES
2 cups Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix (my favorite brand!)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/4 cups cold water
1/2 cup canned pumpkin

In medium bowl, stir together pancake mix, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Add water and canned pumpkin. Stir with a whisk until blended. Pour slightly less than ¼ cup batter per pancake onto lightly greased and preheated 375°F griddle (medium heat). Cook 1-1 ¼ minutes per side, turning only once.

CARAMEL-PECAN SAUCE
1 cup caramel topping
1 cup shredded coconut (optional)
1 cup pecans
a splash of milk

In a small saucepan on medium heat, toast nuts and coconut until lightly browned. Stir in caramel. Bring back to a simmer, remove from heat and add milk while stirring. Let sit while you make the pancakes and the sauce will thicken a bit.

I asked the "chefs" about the pancakes and they told me the ingredients. I found this recipe on the Krusteaz website to share with you. I didn't even notice the coconut in the sauce and others didn't either. In fact, many of us were surprised that it was even there! It would be fine to leave it out if you didn't want to use it. Enjoy!