Carrot cake pancakes

Do you remember at the end of 2011 when I promised myself I'd make more pancakes in 2012? 

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I've been toying around with the idea of creating a carrot pancake that has the flavors of carrot cake. Then I decided to search the net and I realized that I'm far from the first person to ever think of doing this. There are a lot of carrot cake pancake recipes floating around out there. 

This recipe turned out pretty great. I really liked that they were packed full of carrots, too. There are more carrots than flour in this recipe, which makes me feel better about eating a stack of them for breakfast.

The topping for these pancakes are what make them extra special and really reminded me of carrot cake. So don't skimp on making the cream cheese topping - it's easy and it's delicious! This recipe will serve three to four people. 

Carrot cake pancakes
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
2 cups grated carrots
butter, for cooking 

topping:
3 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3-4 tablespoons real maple syrup
dash of ground cinnamon

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through walnuts). In a medium bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (egg through vanilla) and brown sugar. Stir in the carrots. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just combined. Let sit for about five minutes.

In the meantime, whisk together the cream cheese and 3 tablespoons of the maple syrup in a small saucepan until combined (there may be some chunks, but they will melt when heated). If you want it thinner and/or sweeter, add more syrup. Warm over low heat and whisk often until combined.

Heat the griddle. Lightly coat with butter and begin cooking your pancakes. Use about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. Flip when they begin to bubble and are golden. Cook until the other side is golden. Repeat until all the batter is used.

Serve with warm topping and a dash of cinnamon.