Carrot cake fans, rejoice. You can have it for breakfast but remain feeling virtuous because it’s in pancake form. It’s not like you’re eating dessert for breakfast. (Shhh, yes you are. But it’s vegetables, right?)

  • Yields: 12 to 14 pancakes
  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Total: 45 mins 
  • Active: 35 mins

Ingredients (25)

For the Walnut Topping:

  • 1 cup walnuts
  • 1 tablespoon butter, melted
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon ginger
  • pinch salt

For the Frosting-Syrup:

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

For the Pancakes:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup carrot, grated, 1/2 fine, 1/2 coarse (1/2 cup fine, ½ cup course)
  • 1 cup honeycrisp apple, grated

Instructions

For the Walnut Topping:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Combine walnuts with melted butter in a small bowl until covered. Add brown sugar, ginger, salt, and mix until just combined. Lay ingredients out on a sheet pan and allow to bake for 7-10 minutes until the walnuts are nice a toasted. Once the are cooled, roughly chop and set aside to serve.

For the Frosting-Syrup:

  1. In a food processor, combine the cream cheese and maple syrup and blend until well combined. Add the buttermilk and cinnamon and continue to blend until smooth. Keep in refrigerator until ready to use.

For the Pancakes:

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk the egg, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add the buttermilk and whisk again until combined.
  3. Add the carrots and apples to the flour mixture, pour the wet ingredients on top, and fold with a spatula until just combined. Don’t over-mix.
  4. Grease a heated griddle with butter and scoop the pancake batter in 1/4-cup measurements onto the griddle, spread into a circle (it will be a thick batter), and let cook for about 2-3 minutes until edges set and bubbles start to appear. Flip carefully and cook another 1-2 minutes on the other side.
  5. To serve, place a couple pancakes on a plate, pour on desired amount of cream cheeese frosting-syrup, and sprinkle candied walnuts on top.