Cranberry Orange Walnut Pancakes

Cool, autumnal weather always reminds me of warm spices, crunchy leaves, and Thanksgiving.  And when I think of that particular harvest time celebration, for some reason I think more of cranberries than of turkey, despite never liking cranberry sauce or even cranberries in general until fairly recently.  In fact, I very much enjoy dried cranberries nowadays--support, perhaps, of the idea that tastes do, in fact, change with time.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that the weather can actually be considered autumnal--although save for today, it has been rather cool during the day, with the morning air quite crisp--but it certainly hasn't felt like summer in my coastal hometown for a good stretch.  One of those smells-like-autumn mornings last week, I returned from a jog with thoughts of amber-colored foliage and, of course, cranberries.  Soon, I was whipping up a small batch of fruity, nutty pancakes for a post-run breakfast.  The small batch--using an adapted version of this recipe--made enough to serve one person (me!) and was sweetened with maple syrup instead of brown sugar.  I also used unsweetened vanilla almond milk and added about one-half teaspoon fresh orange zest; approximately two tablespoons dried, sweetened cranberries; and roughly the same amount of toasted, chopped walnuts.  The resulting pancakes were tender, chewy, fruity, nutty, crunchy, and just sweet enough to not warrant additional maple syrup topping or dipping.  With a hot mug of black coffee, they made for a delightful breakfast treat that unseasonably cool morning.  Ah, I can't wait for autumn to actually arrive...