Ja cię kocham…

This intensely satisfying breakfast is for my darling husband, Jay.  Jay LOVES Saturday and Sunday morning breakfasts in our home because we like to go all out.  Being as busy as we are (both in grad school and both working) we adore lazy weekend mornings filled with jammies until at least noon, no real urgent plans, and a large homemade breakfast.

Jay loves pancakes.  He has his own special recipe that makes them light and fluffy with the capability of melting in your mouth.

Jay loves carrot cake.  For our wedding we had a mixture of carrot and red velvet (my absolute favorite cake) as our wedding cake.  As far as Jay is concerned, carrot cake simply cannot be beaten.

During my typical daily perusing of food blogs, I came across a carrot cake pancake recipe from Joy the Baker.  Joy knows baking, and if you are going to indulge in any baking recipe at all, it must be Joy’s.  She is a pro.

Made from freshly grated carrots and a mix of whole wheat and unbleached all purpose flour, these pancakes are incredibly filling.  Your eyes are easily bigger than your stomach for these babies.

Joy made a very important observation.  She said that the carrots in her pancakes were a little too crunchy so I alleviated that by finely grating mine.  The results were great!

Noodles loves her carrots and she’ll eat them chopped, grated or whole!

Since I have a complex with crunchiness in my baked goods I FINELY chopped my pecans to the point that they were almost a powder.  I wanted the flavor without the chunk.  Again, it worked well!  No funky chunky pecan bites in my pancakes!

I also prefer my nutmeg to be freshly grated with a microplane.  The flavor is fresher, bolder, and a little goes a long way…

These pancakes very easy to make and incredibly filling.  If you enjoy a good carrot cake then these pancakes are perfect for you.

Homemade Carrot Cake Pancakes with Cream Cheese Topping

Source: Mildly adapted from Joy the Baker

Makes 10-12 small pancakes or 5-6 large pancakes

Ingredients:

3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons finely chopped pecans
2 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum-free if you can!)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash nutmeg
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup packed natural cane sugar (brown sugar works well, too)
1 cup milk
2 cups finely grated carrots – (as fine as you can)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Spread
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 dash ground cinnamon

Directions:

In a bowl, combine flours, pecans, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, combine egg, brown sugar, milk, carrots, and vanilla; mix well.

Stir carrot mixture into dry ingredients until moistened. Pour batter by 1/4 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on the top of pancake; flip and cook until golden brown.

For topping, blend cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Sprinkle with cinnamon, and serve with pancakes.

Not the most glamorous shot, but you can see why I became full so quickly!!  Yum!