Post by Alison Hein.

Time to pack up the beach chairs, get sweaters out of storage, and go back-to-school shopping. It’s also time to say goodbye to fresh, homegrown fruits and vegetables. But, in between the first frost and the last tomato, a harvest bounty of zucchini still thrives in neighborhood gardens. The fruits of this hardy, prolific vine have the tendency to ripen all at once, leaving us with the quandary of what to do with this over-abundance.

A quick look online yields a multitude of savory summer squash options – cut in rounds and served over pasta; sliced ribbon-thin and quickly sautéed with yellow squash, carrots, and lemon zest; or carved into little boats and stuffed with seasoned breadcrumbs and mozzarella cheese.

There are also many, many sweet zucchini bread and muffin recipes out there. I’m sure you all have your favorites. But what about pancakes? It might seem like an odd notion at first, but you may change your mind after digging into your first feathery light, green-specked flapjack.

Reminiscent of zucchini bread, these pancakes have an appealing, sweet hardiness – the tender squash providing both depth and moistness. I like to shred the zucchini finely enough to cook quickly, but large enough to retain texture and color. If you shred and freeze zucchini in small batches, you can enjoy harvest breakfasts in bed all year long.

Zucchini Harvest Pancakes
2 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup zucchini, finely shredded
4 ounces (one half stick) butter, melted and slightly cooled
Additional butter for frying

Preparation
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in large bowl. In separate bowl, stir together milk, egg yolks and vanilla. Gradually add milk mixture to dry ingredients. Fold in zucchini. Slowly add melted butter to batter. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into batter. Place pan or griddle on burner over medium to medium high heat. Melt a small amount of butter in the pan for the first pancake. Ladle batter by ½ cupfuls into pan and cook until small bubbles appear throughout pancake. Flip once with spatula and continue cooking until golden brown, one to two minutes, adding more butter and adjusting heat as necessary. Keep warm while making the remainder of pancakes. Serve hot with real maple syrup.

Makes 12 to 14 4-inch pancakes