Carrot Cake Pancakes

Who says you can’t eat dessert for breakfast?

I mean, really. If I can snack on a bowl of cereal at night, then it’s only fair that breakfast returns the favor.

Truthfully, these carrot cake pancakes were born from a hankering I had for carrot cake. Carrot cake, as in an actual cake – for dessert. Which I totally intended to make, by the way, but come morning I just couldn’t stand it any longer. I do tend to be impatient. It was 9:00 A.M., I had all the ingredients I needed, and most importantly, I hadn’t told anyone I was planning on making a carrot cake. They couldn’t miss something they never knew was coming, right? Right. Behold, this beauty of a breakfast.

While the flavors and spices are reminiscent of its dessert namesake, I don’t think you’d want to stack ’em up and serve them after dinner at your next party. This recipe is not nearly as sweet as actual cake (partially remedied by that maple syrup drizzle you see going on up there). And what else is an essential component of carrot cake? Cream cheese frosting. Being that it’s breakfast and all, instead of whipping up actual frosting, I spread one wedge of Laughing Cow cinnamon cream cheese on the top of the stack. Again, these carrot cake pancakes are meant for breakfast, not dessert, so depending on how your taste buds are calibrated, you may want to let them know that they shouldn’t be expecting a sugar rush of sweetness. Instead, they’re about to enjoy a satisfyingly spiced and healthier version that won’t leave them hanging.

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Carrot Cake Pancakes

These carrot cake pancakes have all of the wonderful flavors of its dessert-namesake without the extreme sweetness. A perfectly healthier, yet indulgent breakfast.

Servings 7 -8 medium-sized pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3 tbsp butter melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cup grated carrots
• Handful of chopped pecans

Instructions

• Grate carrots and chop pecans (I like to do as much prep work as I can before I get in the groove of adding/mixing ingredients).
• In a large bowl, combine flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
• In a medium bowl, lightly whisk egg. Add milk, butter, vanilla, and sugar, and combine all together with whisk until smooth and no lumps are left from the brown sugar.
• Pour wet ingredients into the bowl with flour mixture and stir together until fully mixed.
• Stir in carrots and pecans until just combined.
• Grease pan with cooking spray or add a pat of butter that will melt and coat pan once heated. Heat stove top burner over medium heat. Pour batter onto heated pan and allow pancakes to cook for a few minutes.
• Once edges are cooked and bubbles begin to rise up in the pancake’s center, flip with spatula and allow for the other side to cook. I find that this takes a lot less time than the first side needed.
• Check underside for doneness. Once cooked through, serve immediately.