Acorn pancakes have a delicious nutty flavor that makes a perfect comfort food for the season. Made with flour from acorns, cornmeal, and maple sugar, these pancakes have a really nice texture and a natural taste that is perfect for a cozy morning at home.

Cozy Acorn Pancakes

These pancakes have the most delicious natural nutty flavor that are perfect for a quiet morning. With protein from the acorn flour and sweetened with natural maple sugar, this is a stick-to-your-ribs pancake that will fuel your day’s adventures.

Flour from acorns is tasty, and it’s also really nutritious. It has a roasted flavor that resembles roasted dandelion root. Acorn flour is high in minerals, fiber, and antioxidants.

While it’s true that squirrels and birds eat acorns to get through the winter, the high protein content, carbohydrates, and healthy fats are also beneficial to humans.

Acorns have had a long history of use for Native Americans too, notably the acorn mush made by California Native Americans.

About Acorn Flour

Flour from acorns has become more popular recently for good reason due to it’s delicious nutty flavor along with its health benefits. Try these acorn flour cookies for a tasty treat perfect for tea time!

You can forage for acorns to make homemade acorn flour, it takes around 3 cups of acorn meat to make one cup of acorn flour. Acorns are easy to forage for in most places, and have a variety of uses.

Here is an easy to follow tutorial on how to make acorn flour. It is a bit time-consuming, as it requires soaking to leach the tannins.

Purchasing acorn flour online works just fine too. I like like this one, although there are a few other options available to choose from.

Since acorn flour is pretty starchy, it’s best to mix it with other flours for baking. Traditional flour and cornmeal balance it out perfectly in these acorn pancakes.

Most recipes recommend using acorn flour for only 25-30% of the total flour for best results. However, I have seen a few that say use 1:1 of acorn flour with wheat flour, but I haven’t experimented with that.

For this acorn pancakes recipe, feel free to try to increase the acorn flour to a larger percentage of total flour, but keep in mind it may change the texture.

Acorn Pancakes Recipe

This acorn pancakes recipe was inspired by the Acorn and Pine Nut Johnnycakes recipe in The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora by Alan Bergo of The Forager Chef.

Acorn pancakes are also one of the recipes that Sam makes in the book My Side of the Mountain. This would be a fun recipe for kids (and adults) to make while reading that book!

This tasty recipe makes 10-12 natural, nutty, perfectly textured pancakes. Feel free to double the recipe and freeze some to pop in the toaster on weekday mornings!

Ingredients

All-purpose flour: I usually use organic flour, but feel free to use what you have.

Cornmeal: I really love this cornmeal, but any you find at the store should work too.

Note: For a more traditional pancake, you can replace the cornmeal with regular flour. I feel that the cornmeal goes well with the flavor of the acorn flour, so I always make them this way.

Acorn flour: Either homemade acorn flour or one bought online will work with this recipe.

Maple sugar: The flavor of maple sugar pairs really well with the nutty flavor of these acorn pancakes. Use brown sugar equally as a substitute.

Baking powder

Salt

Butter: This recipe uses melted butter, along with a little extra to grease the pan.

Milk: I use organic cow milk, but any type of non-dairy milk is ok too.

Egg

How to Make Acorn Pancakes

First, in a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients:

• all-purpose flour
• cornmeal
• acorn flour
• maple sugar
• baking powder
• salt

Stir to blend the dry ingredients well.

In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, milk, and egg until they are combined.

Now stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Be sure not to over-mix the batter, it’s ok to have some lumps.

Over medium heat, melt about a tablespoon of butter in a large skillet. I like to use my cast iron skillet for this.

Once the pan is hot and the butter is melted and starting to bubble, it’s time to cook the acorn pancakes! Use a ¼ measuring cup to scoop the batter and pour it into the hot pan.

Cook each pancake for a few minutes until you start to see small bubbles forming in the batter.

Then flip the pancakes and cook for a few more minutes on the other side until browned.

Now remove the cooked pancakes from the pan, and place them on a plate until you’re ready to eat them. Then add more butter to the pan and repeat the process until all of the batter is used up.

Now it’s time to eat these tasty acorn pancakes!

A Cozy Morning In

Acorn pancakes are prefect to enjoy on a slow cozy weekend morning in. They’re delicious served with a pat of butter and maple syrup, or get creative and use some rose hip syrup!

Try topping with a spread of almond butter and honey, leftover cranberry sauce, or keep it simple with butter and a sprinkle of powdered sugar. Whatever warms your heart and belly on a cold morning!

I like to have these with my family on a winter morning with a cup of roasted dandelion root coffee for a perfect flavor pairing.

Store leftover acorn pancakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator and warm them up in the oven, toaster, or air fryer for best results.

To freeze the pancakes, place them on a parchment paper lined pan and freeze in a single layer. Then transfer to a zip top freezer bag to enjoy throughout the week!

More Warm Fall & Winter Recipes

• 10 Winter Squash Recipes
• Butternut Squash and Ginger Soup
• Conifer Hot Toddy with Rose Hips and Ginger
• Pine Needle Infused Honey
• Conifer Needle Tea
• Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake with Rosemary
• Maple Leaf Cookies with Maple Icing
• Pumpkin Cornbread with Maple Butter