Carrot Cake Pancakes with Maple-Cream Cheese Spread

Now who said pancakes were just for breakfast?  This was pretty tasty for dinner!

Makes 12 to 14 pancakes, 1/2 cup maple cream cheese spread
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

SPREAD
3 oz Neufchâtel cheese, at room temperature
2 Tblspn maple syrup + add'l for serving
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

PANCAKES
1/4 cup walnuts, halved [used finely chopped as this is what I had in the freezer]
1 cup shredded carrot
1-1/2 cups whole grain pastry flour
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1-1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups soymilk [used regular milk]
1/3 cup packed brown sugar [used Splenda brown sugar]
3 egg whites
2 Tblspn canola oil

To Make The Spread:
In a medium bowl, stir together all the ingredients until blended.  Set aside

To Make The Pancakes:
1.  Preheat oven to 300º.  Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast just until fragrant, 5 minutes or longer.  Chop the nuts and set aside.

2.  Meanwhile, place the carrot in a small microwaveable bowl.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and microwave on high power for 1 minutes, or until just tender.  Set aside to cool.

3.  In a large bowl, whisk together the whole grain flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and walnuts until blended.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.  Add the milk sugar, egg whites and oil and whisk the ingredients together until blended.  Add the cooled carrot and stir just until blended.

4.  Preheat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-high heat and coat with cooking spray.  Ladle 1/4 cup batter for each pancake and cook for 2 minutes, or until bubbles form on the surface.  Flip with a spatula and cook for 1 minute longer, or until cooked through.  (Keep warm in the preheated oven, if needed.)  To serve, spoon a rounded teaspoon of the maple cream cheese spread on each pancake and drizzle with additional maple syrup, if you wish.

Exchanges/Choices:  2 bread  /  1 meat  /  1 fat  /  2 carbs
Calories - 171                                     Sodium - 180mg
   Calories from Fat - 57                    Total Carbs - 25g    w/net carbs - 23g
Total Fat - 7g                                         Dietary Fiber - 2g
   Saturated Fat - 1g                                Sugar - 8g
Cholesterol - 5mg                               Protein - 5g

Source: Prevention's The Sugar Solution Cookbook by the Editors of Prevention magazine with Ann Fittante, MS, RD

Review/Suggestions:

• I also added 2 tablespoons of wheat germ which is high in protein, potassium, iron, riboflavin, calcium, zinc, magnesium and vitamins A, B1 and B3 (both B vitamins help maintain energy levels, healthy muscles, organs, hair and skin.)
• Ok, so as you can see I did not use a 1/4 cup measure for the batter.  Big mistake!  Since these babies are packed with great stuff, they are dense but not doughy when you cook them.
• Next time going to try using buttermilk for even more moisture.
• Didn't have any Neufchâtel cheese, so just used Log Cabin's Sugar-Free maple syrup.  I'm sure that the cream cheese spread would have been really great, but since I was making this for only two people didn't want give in to temptation of using the entire spread.
• Definitely tasty, but again make them small.  One pancake was enough for me.