Orange Poppyseed Pancakes — A Forgiving Spin on My Makowiec Disaster

Halloween week. I am not a Halloween person — never have been — but Bay View goes absolutely feral for it. Every house on my street is decorated. There are jack-o-lanterns on every porch. Someone four doors down put up a twelve-foot skeleton that I can see from my living room window. The bars on KK are doing costume nights every day this week. It's a lot. I did carve a pumpkin, because Megan — wait, I haven't met Megan yet. That's years away. I carved a pumpkin because I had extra pumpkin from the pierogi experiment and felt like doing something with my hands that wasn't cooking. It's mediocre. A standard jack-o-lantern face with one eye bigger than the other. I put it on the balcony next to the smoker, where it looks like a small orange friend keeping the smoker company. The pumpkin porter went on the taproom board on Wednesday. Response has been strong — people are excited that it's made with real pumpkin, not extract, and the porter base gives it a richness that the typical pale-ale-based pumpkin beers lack. A customer told the bartender it was "the first pumpkin beer I've actually liked," which I'm framing next to Marcus's theoretical plaque. Cooking this week: I went full fall comfort. Made a beef and barley stew — chuck roast, pearl barley, carrots, potatoes, celery, beef broth, a splash of red wine. Simmered for three hours until the beef fell apart. The kind of stew that makes your apartment smell like a hug. I ate it with thick-cut sourdough bread from the bakery on KK and a pint of Forest Floor, which paired surprisingly well — the smokiness of the beer echoed the depth of the stew. Also attempted something new: makowiec, a Polish poppy seed roll. This is a Christmas thing, technically, but I wanted to practice before the holidays. It's a sweet yeast dough rolled around a filling of ground poppy seeds, sugar, honey, and walnuts. The rolling is the hard part — the dough has to be thin enough to create a spiral but thick enough not to tear. My first attempt: tore. My second attempt: passable. The filling oozed out one end, creating what looked like a poppy seed crime scene, but the flavor was right. I'll try again before Christmas. Mom called on Sunday and casually mentioned that she's been telling her church friends about my cooking and several of them want to hire me to cater their holiday parties. I said, "Mom, I'm a brewer, not a caterer." She said, "You're a brewer who cooks like his grandmother and charges nothing." She has a point. But no.

Two makowiec attempts in one week left me humbled — the filling oozed, the dough tore, and the poppy seed crime scene on my counter was real. But the flavor was there, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. These Orange Poppyseed Pancakes scratched that same itch the next morning: bright citrus, earthy poppy seeds, sweet glaze — all the notes of a Polish holiday roll with none of the rolling. Sometimes the consolation prize is better than the thing you were actually going for.

Orange Poppyseed Pancakes

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4 (about 12 pancakes)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• For the orange glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar, 2–3 tablespoons orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds until evenly combined.
2. Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, orange juice, orange zest, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract until smooth.
3. Combine the batter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined — a few lumps are fine. Do not overmix or the pancakes will turn out tough. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes.
4. Cook the pancakes. Heat a non-stick skillet or griddle over medium heat and brush lightly with butter. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake onto the surface. Cook until bubbles form on the surface and the edges look set, about 2–3 minutes. Flip and cook for another 1–2 minutes until golden. Transfer to a warm oven (200°F) on a baking sheet while you finish the remaining batches.
5. Make the orange glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar, orange juice (start with 2 tablespoons and add more for desired consistency), and orange zest until smooth and pourable.
6. Serve. Stack the pancakes, drizzle generously with the orange glaze, and finish with extra orange zest if desired. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 380 | Protein: 10g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 63g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 420mg