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I made pancakes for my hubby this morning (in the shape of hearts – Awww!). But, he didn’t like them…
Hubby: Carrots don’t belong in pancakes, Nicole! Sorry…
Silly husband…these are delicious! The carrots add a definite crunch and I think they were the wonderful start to any morning! I am looking forward to the leftovers this week for breakfast! Mmm mmm!
Carrot Cake Pancakes
Adapted from Cooking Light, January 2010
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (can substitute whole wheat)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
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 carrots (about 1 pound)
cooking spray
3 Tbsp butter Smart Balance Light, softened
2 Tbsp honey
Directions:
1. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, and next 7 ingredients (through ginger) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine 1/4 cup brown sugar and next 4 ingredients (through eggs) in a separate bowl. Add sugar mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in 2 cups carrot.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Spoon 1/4 cup batter onto pan, spreading with a spatula. Cook for 2 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Carefully flip pancakes over, cook 1 minute or until bottoms are lightly browned. Repeat procedure until remaining batter is used.
3. Combine butter and honey in a small bowl; serve with pancakes.
Yield: 6 servings (2 pancakes + 1 teaspoon honey butter)
Nutrition Information (per serving): 315 calories; 13.3 g. fat (1.8 g. saturated fat, 7.4 g. monounsaturated fat, 3.3 polyunsaturated fat); 7.8 g. protein; 41.6 g. carbohydrate; 2.2 g. fiber; 78 mg. cholesterol; 2.3 mg. iron; 381 mg. sodium; 177 mg. calcium
Next up….
I saw a recipe for Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies on a blog this week and I knew I had to make them. Chickpeas in cookies, who wouldn’t be intrigued?!
Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies
Makes 24-26 cookies 60 cookies!
Ingredients:
1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
3/4 cup trans fat free soft tub margarine spread or butter
2 large egg whites (I used 1 egg)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
15oz/450g can chickpeas drained and rinsed
2 cups (12 ozs) semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Line 2 baking trays with non stick parchment
2. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and margarine with a wooden spoon or on medium speed until smooth. Beat in the egg whites or egg and vanilla, then the chickpeas and chocolate chips. Add the flour, oats, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed until a thick dough forms.
3. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the baking sheet, spacing hte cookies about 1 inch apart. Flatten slightly with a fork. Bake for 11-13 minutes, do not overbake. Leave on cookie sheet to cool and then transfer onto wire rack until completely cool. Do try one in the process of cooling as the gooey chocolate is wonderful in the cookie.
4. Store in airtight container for up to 3 days.
Adapted from Jessica Seinfeld from Deceptively Delicious
Nutrition Information (per cookie): 86 calories; 2.9 g. fat; 21.4 mg. sodium; 13.6 g. carbohydrate; 0.7 g. fiber; 1.6 g. protein
My plan: take these cookies to work tomorrow, leave them in the break room, and see what people say! My husband says this is mean, and I would agree if they didn’t taste SO good…but they really are YUMMMM!
Question: If you weren’t a health-nut, would you be mad if you unknowingly consumed a cookie that secretly housed a fibrous pea?
I’ll let you guys know how the blind taste test goes 😉
Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Now that my kitchen is clean, it’s nearly time for my hockey game!! 🙂
P.S. Don’t forget to send any nutrition questions to [email protected] to be answered on this week’s Q&A!
If it tastes good, why would anyone be upset, that’s just silly!! They look fantastic!
I think carrots belong in pancakes!
Adorable carrot cake pancakes!! They sound wonderful.
I bet the chickpea cookies are scrumtious! If I weren’t a healthnut, I would like to think I’d be happy to find out that the delicious cookie I was eating was actually good for me. But who knows… hard to say what they’ll actually think!
The carrot cake pancakes are so cute! And carrots totally belong in pancakes! 🙂
I think people care about how things taste, but if you tell them beforehand what’s in something, they may not have an open mind and never give the food a chance! It’s like they are looking for a “weird” taste or something. I’m very intrigued by the chickpea cookies and almost want to make them right now!
those pancakes look yummy to me! maybe you could grind them up more and he wouldn’t even know hehe Those cookies look interesting too. I wouldn’t mind at all as long as it was tasty, which they sound like they are!
Both the cookies and the pancakes look fab! I would not be mad if it was served to me with out knowing, although I would be more than happy to try knowingly too. This is funny you have the chickpea cookies since I always talk about this one time in experiemental foods class when a gorl used white bean puree as a fat replacement. I always am saying I know I kept this recipe (circa 2002-2003) but I had no idea where I stuck it. If anything it would be in storage in Vegas (we moved with restricted weight here), right? Wringm yesterday morning I opened up a cookie cookbook I bought in 2004 and have never, yep, never used once. The cookie recipe this girl gave out in class was right in front. The cookies were so good. Everyone guessed wrong in the taste test. I can’t wait to make them. I am sure everyone will like your tomorrow.
Can you really not taste the chickpeas? I’m skeptical, but then again I was skeptical about green smoothies!
i can’t wait to hear how the experiment goes in the break room :). sorry hubs, carrots DO belong in pancakes, yuM! especially if they’re heart shaped, i had those this morning too!
Wow! I’m sure your carrot pancakes tasted great! And the chickpea cookies look absolutely terrific.
I love how adventurous you are with food!
I love the heart shape pancakes! Can’t wait to hear about the taste test 😉
Wow carrots in pancakes? Who would have thunk it lol…
btw where is Lily?!?! I am having withdrawals lol
Oh, you should have done it. I think I would love it if I knew something that great was healthy for me… now if they were the opposite way around than it would be a different story 🙂 Everyone likes to find out afterwards that they are eating something healthy!
Awww, what cute pancakes! I’ve used chickpeas to make a crust for a quiche before and it turned out really well, so I imagine these are pretty good too!
I love both of these recipes! Can’t wait to hear how the blind taste test goes! I don’t think I’d be upset if there was a healthy ingredient in a food that I didn’t know about, especially if the food tasted good.
I would be happy to consume a yummy treat that had hidden healthy ingredients. These sound so interesting! I really want to try these. Also, I think carrots in pancakes would add a nice natural sweetness…but then again, I love carrot juice, and most of my friends think I’m crazy.
I would totally bring in those cookies to work and “trick” people. Whenever I bake things for school I always bring in the healthy version with applesauce and other healthy alternatives. I love the look of these cookies.
chickpea cookies?? I never in a million years would have thought to put chickpeas in cookies and have them taste good. This may be something I’ll have to try with my picky eater fiance 🙂
I do exactly the same… if i want to try out a new recipe I take it to work and I judge the goodness of recipe based on how fast it is gone..
oh snap! those cookies are so sneaky!! whooo!
These pictures are mouthwatering – love the heart shaped ‘cakes! Yummers. And, no I wouldn’t care if the food was good or bad – as long as it tastes good and looks like dessert I’ll eat it…ugh my belly hates me for it though…:(
I just saw that carrot cake pancake recipe in CL yesterday! I’ve been debating making it, but now I know I’ll have to…yours look so good! (Lol, my hubby probably wouldn’t like them either, but I figure I can freeze some!) I am definitely intrigued about those cookies! 🙂
lol, great question. I actually would be mad, but that’s because chickpeas give me BAD BAD GAS. So really, it might be you, and my other co-workers who would be mad 🙂
In truth, if you told them the cookies were made from chickpeas, many people will say either a) they don’t want to try them, or b) they will try them, but then say they don’t like them. I think the blind taste test is the best way to go!
I have got to make these for Nick. Thanks so much for this recipe. I have actually been trying to figure out a way to get Nick to actually try chickpeas. He says he doesn’t like them, but I don’t think he really knows.
I wouldn’t be mad unless the ingredient was something that I was allergic to.
I think its good if you can make a high cal dessert a bit healthier. I’m all for it!
they look great my hubby didn’t like the pizza I made today lol,
loved the cookies,using chickpea sounds interesting and very different …would love to try carrot pancakes as well, Nice shape too..
Have to agree with your husband on the carrots, but the cookies sound great. I’ve heard of using pumpkin filling but not chickpeas. I imagine you can’t even tell. Can’t wait to hear about it! 🙂
What? Chickpeas in cookies??? I need to make those! Sounds like so much fun! I once made muffins with avocado and no one believed me when I told them so.
Those pancakes look so good!
I can’t wait to hear the outcome! Hmmm – I’d say, as long as it tastes good, I would never be mad. I even had a friend trick me into eating fried calamari (yeah, I know). Though I was a bit disgusted, it really WAS pretty good. 🙂
Those cookies look amazing – I am putting them on my recipe to make list!
Do the chickpeas break up or are they whole?
So how did the cookies go over at work?
Chocolate chickpea cookies sound interesting! Carrot pancakes sound divine! How can I get you to cook for me!?!
All of it! I would eat the carrot pancakes and the chickpea cookies, without a doubt 🙂 Afterall, how far off is a carrot pancake to carrot cake…… smear some stevia sweetened cream cheese on top!
Did you know they make chickpea flour? That would probably be great in these cookies too, hmmm. I bet the texture in those was awesome!
Haha that is awesome. I will have to make these for Michael and see if he notices. . . He would definitely say no to chickpea cookies if he knew 🙂
I would definitely try the carrot pancakes and the cookies sound yummus. 😉 And calling them chocolate garbanzo cookies may be more enticing to co-workers than chocolate chickpea. Either way, I’m game and would try them.