Gingerbread Pancakes

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and orange zest.
2. In a medium microwave-safe bowl melt 3 tablespoons of the butter. Let cool a bit then whisk in the milk, egg and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined (some lumps are fine). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
3. ***If you want to make all of the pancakes before serving, preheat oven to 200 F. Place a baking sheet lined with foil on the middle rack.***
4. Using the remaining butter, heat about 1 teaspoon butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup of batter to the pan for each pancake (you can probably make 2 at a time if your pan is large enough). Cook until bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes and they begin to brown just a bit around the edges, about 2 minutes, then flip and cook on the other side for about 2 minutes more. Move the pancakes to the warm oven (if you need to stack the pancakes on the baking sheet, do so between layers of parchment paper). Wipe the pan with a paper towel, melt another teaspoon of butter and repeat the cooking process.
5. Makes about fourteen 4-inch pancakes