In her last post, my dear Eatomaniac shared her recipe for delicious and guilt free carrot cake. That will now be my go-to recipe when I want some sweet comfort food without the added worry of burning the extra calories. I use a similar recipe to make carrot cake pancakes. This is for when I want a quick fix to brighten up my mornings. I usually mix the batter the night before. I’m not a morning person, so spooning the batter onto a hot pan is all I want to do and can do in the mornings. This batter lasts well in the fridge for 2-3 days. So you can mix up a batch and – if you feel like it – have carrot cake pancakes on more days than one! I found this recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog and I have modified it to suit my taste. So here goes…Carrot Cake Pancakes 🙂
What you’ll need:
1 cup whole wheat flour – I use regular whole wheat atta, coz its healthier, easily available (where I live) and tastes good with carrots and spices. If you are not a fan of whole wheat, you could use all purpose flour.
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves – I use just a tiny pinch
1 1/4 teaspoons orange zest
2 tablespoons chopped nuts – optional
2 tablespoons grated jaggery – I use jaggery, since its a staple in my kitchen. You could use the same amount of brown sugar or even maple syrup.
2 tablespoons warm water for dissolving the jaggery. If you are using brown sugar or maple syrup, you could omit this.
1 cup buttermilk – If you are using jaggery, reduce the quantity of buttermilk by two tablespoons.
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrots
Butter, for the pan
The ingredient list seems quite long because of all the spices. If you don’t fancy the spices, you could omit them. But trust me – carrots, spices and orange zest are a fantastic combination that can brighten up any dull morning.
To make the batter:
1. In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking power, baking soda, salt, spices and nuts.
2. In a large bowl, mix the jaggery with 2 tablespoons of warm water. The jaggery will dissolve and it will be easier to combine the jaggery with the other wet ingredients.
3. After the jaggery has mostly dissolved, whisk in the egg, buttermilk, orange zest and vanilla.
4. If you are using brown sugar or maple syrup, you could skip step 2 and just whisk the brown sugar / maple syrup with the rest of the wet ingredients.
5. Add the grated carrots into the wet mixture. Stir until combined.
6. Add the dry ingredients into the carrot mixture in three additions and stir until all the flour is combined and you don’t see any dry lumps of flour.
Your batter is ready, you can now pop it into the fridge and go to bed. Or if you are really eager, you can make yourself some pancakes right away!
To make the pancakes:
Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Drop some butter into the pan, once the butter has melted, spoon 2 tablespoons of batter onto the hot pan. Since the batter is packed with grated carrots (2 cups carrots in just 1 cup flour), it doesn’t hold its structure too well with large pancakes. The large pancakes tend to fall apart when you try to flip them. So its best to go with small sized pancakes. They cook easily and flip well too. Cook the pancake on one side until you see tiny holes appearing on the surface and the edges seem cooked. Then flip over and cook the other side for about a minute or until the side is golden brown.
Your carrot cake pancakes are ready to devour.
If you use a non-stick pan and if you are very keen on low fat food, you could avoid the butter. Just heat the pan and follow the same method of cooking the pancakes – they won’t stick to the pan. These pancakes are yummy with or without butter. If you are feeling indulgent, you could sprinkle on a bit of powdered sugar or serve them with maple syrup. I prefer them plain with a cup of hot coffee.
Cheers to bright and healthy mornings!
