Baking with Basil

I’ve had this recipe stashed away in my binder for darn close to a year.  I’m more of a fruit and toast kind of breakfast gal rather than pancakes or eggs.  So although my intentions were good when I printed it off, as they usually are, I kind of forgot about it.  I’m not sure what made me think of them last week but I did and here we are.

I was pretty happy with the overall result of the pancakes. They were thicker than I expected and not overly sweet.  I like being able to control the sweetness with the amount of maple syrup rather than the pancake itself.  Next time I would add a bit more of the spices to really bring out the carrot cake flavor.

On a side note:  Please allow me to apologize for the off-coloring of these photos.  This was probably the most flustered I’ve been in a long time while taking pictures.  My butter was too soft, my syrup was too warm (I was thinking more about eating than photographing, clearly), and my lighting was just off.  Bad, bad mix.  Good thing you all are  super awesome at using your imagination as to how good they actually look.  :)

(Printable Recipe)

Carrot Cake Pancakes

Recipe from myrecipes.com

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• Dash of ground cloves
• Dash of ground ginger
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups finely grated carrot (about 1 pound)

1.  Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger in a large bowl.  Stir with a whisk.

2.  In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, buttermilk, canola oil, vanilla extract and eggs.  Add sugar mixture to flour mixture.  Stir just until combined.  Fold in 2 cups of carrots.

3.  Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-low heat.  Spray pan with cooking spray (or if you like crispy edges, use canola oil).  Spoon 1/4 cup of batter mounds on to pan, spread slightly with a spatula.  Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until tops start to form small bubbles and edges are fully cooked.  Carefully flip pancakes and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.

Notes

• I prefer to use canola oil rather than cooking spray in the pan.  I like my edges a bit crispy.
• I tend to cook my pancakes more towards the lower heat so they don’t burn.  If you are the same, just watch your cooking time to make sure you leave them long enough to cook fully through.
• Brent thought these would be great as a dessert as well.