Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes

Fluffy, healthy pancakes that the whole family will love. Your kids will love that they taste like cake, and you'll love that they're refined sugar free and have fruits and vegetables in them.

Our first day of "social distancing" had me in the kitchen immediately. We panic-purchased tons of food both fresh, canned and dry (except toilet paper cuz, whatever). By Monday, I'd been told I had to suspend working as a pastry chef for the foreseeable future and by Wednesday, my husband lost his union airport job. Luckily, we both know how to cook and know how to stretch ingredients far. These pancakes were just what I needed to get started on my exclusively cooking at home journey. You can double this recipe and freeze them for future use. These can also be made gluten free along with several other dietary or ingredient modifications that I will mention in the recipe itsself. Try them out and let me know what you think! Did you try any modifications? Did you sneak in other vegetables or fruit somehow? The possibilities are endless.

I'm new to this whole thing so be patient! Share your thoughts, request recipes, ask questions! I'm here to offer help in a time where we need to be there for one another.

Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes

Makes approximately 8 pancakes

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (gluten free or whole wheat also work great)

2 teaspoons baking powder (make sure to shake your can so its extra fresh)

¼ teaspoon kosher salt (if you use salted butter, omit this)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ cup coconut sugar (any sugar that you have will do)

1 ¼ cup almond milk (any non-dairy milk or cows milk will do)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup shredded carrots (freeze the peels and ends, you can make fresh veggie stock from this later)

¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce (or 1 egg if you do not have apple sauce)

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted (or any oil or butter you have)

In a medium sized bowl add flour, baking powder, salt, spices and sugar and whisk to combine.

In another medium sized bowl add milk, vanilla, carrots, apple sauce and melted oil and whisk to combine.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix gently until just combined and there are no lumps. Try not to overmix the batter or you will wind up with dense, chewy pancakes. Allow the batter to rest for 3-5 minutes.

Heat a non-stick pan or griddle to medium/medium high heat. You’ll know your pan is ready if you drop a small drop of water into the pan and it instantly sizzles and evaporates. Grease cook surface with either non-stick spray, butter or oil and pour pancake batter into pan. *my favorite way to do this is using an ice cream scoop so that the portions are even.

Allow pancake to cook on one side. The batter will begin to bubble on the surface, once you have no more bubbles, that means its time to flip! Using either the courage of your convictions (thank you Julia Child) or a spatula, flip the pancake over and allow to cook a few minutes more. Be careful to only flip your pancake once, the more you flip it, the tougher it gets. If you’re wondering if the pancake is ready, you can make a small cut into the surface to be sure there’s no raw batter.

Serve with your favorite toppings such as maple syrup, fresh berries, coconut whipped cream, etc.