Carrot Cake Pancakes

Delicious, nutritious! I love the fact that I can put 3 cups of carrots into breakfast and my family will gobble it up. As always, I make a double-batch to freeze for later in the week.

I originally found this recipe on Pinterest, but significantly reduced the sugar and used whole-wheat flour.

Variations:
• Use half grated carrot and half grated apple
• Use grated carrot and grated raw beet
• Use only whole-wheat flour but increase the milk by 1/4 – 1/3 cup
• Serve with vanilla Greek yogurt, or plain Greek yogurt mixed with honey and top with chopped nuts of choice

Carrot Cake Pancakes
Print Recipe
Servings
8 - 10 pancakes
Servings
8 - 10 pancakes
Carrot Cake Pancakes
Print Recipe
Servings
8 - 10 pancakes
Servings
8 - 10 pancakes
Ingredients
Adjust servings: pancakes
Units:
Instructions
  1. Mix flour, sugar, baking power, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  2. In another bowl whisk eggs. Whisk in milk, vanilla and melted butter (or coconut oil).
  3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until combined.
  4. Stir in shredded carrots, chopped nuts, and chia; add coconut if using.
  5. Heat pancake griddle or large skillet over medium-high heat and brush with butter or coconut oil. Scoop about 1/4 cup batter into skillet, turn down heat to medium and cook 3 – 4 minutes per side until golden.
Recipe Notes
  1. Can add half Greek yogurt and half milk for more protein
  2. Always serve with fat from nature (a bit of butter on the pancake and/or protein (a scoop of Greek yogurt, quality sourced breakfast sausage)
Share this Recipe

Classic Yellow Cake with Yogurt Cream and Berries

I was looking for a simplified recipe for a classic birthday cake that didn’t require three different bowls and beating egg whites. This recipe fit my criteria and was delicious. I cannot bring myself to put 1 1/2 cup of sugar in a single recipe so I reduced to 1 cup and no one missed that extra sugar.

Classic Yellow Cake with Yogurt Cream and Berries
Print Recipe
Servings
10 servings
Servings
10 servings
Classic Yellow Cake with Yogurt Cream and Berries
Print Recipe
Servings
10 servings
Servings
10 servings
Ingredients
Cake
Yogurt Cream Frosting
Adjust servings: servings
Units:
Instructions
  1. Arrange a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 350°F.
  2. Brush two 9 inch layer cake pans with butter. Line bottom of pans with parchment paper; brush again with butter.
  3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
  4. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl, scraping down sides as needed, until light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add vanilla and yolks in 2 additions, scraping down bowl after each. Reduce mixer speed to low and add dry ingredients, alternating with milk mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients and beat just until smooth.
  5. Divide batter between prepared pans.
  6. Bake cakes until light golden brown and a tester inserted into the centers comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 30–35 minutes.
  7. Let cool in pans at least 15 minutes. Invert cakes onto racks, peel off parchment, and let cool completely.
Cream Frosting
  1. Beat the whipping cream with a mixed until the beater starts making tracks. Slowly add the powdered sugar while continuing to beat, add vanilla and beat just until cream is stiff.
  2. Carefully fold in the Greek yogurt with a spatula.
  3. Spread the 1/3 of frosting on the first layer. Cover the layer with berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or a mix of berries).
  4. Place second layer, topside down. Spread remaining frosting on the top layer, letting it run down the sides. Place berries on top of the cake.
Recipe Notes

Modified from

Epicurious: Classic Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Share this Recipe

Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

And oh lala! The zucchini makes these brownies lusciously moist. Plus the added nutritional benefit. The original recipe is from Fabulessly Frugal.

I modified by reducing the sugar by half, using coconut oil and spelt flour and changed up the frosting.

 

Chocolate Zucchini Brownies
Print Recipe
Chocolate Zucchini Brownies
Print Recipe
Ingredients
Adjust servings:
Units:
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a 9 x 9 baking pan wth coconut oil or expeller-pressed canola oil.
  2. In a medium saucepan over medium low heat, combine oil, chocolate chips, and cocoa, stirring occasionally, until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar.
  3. Add eggs and vanilla, and whisk until combined. Stir in zucchini.
  4. Fold in flour, baking soda, and salt, until batter is well-combined, but don't over mix.
  5. Spread batter into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs.
  6. While the brownies bake, melt together the chocolate and coconut oil
  7. When the brownies come out of the oven, pour chocolate/coconut oil on and spread it evenly over the top. Cool for 5-10 minutes, then lift foil to remove brownies from pan, cut into pieces, and serve.
Share this Recipe

Baked Blueberry French Toast

My sister introduced me to this recipe years ago and it is a big family favorite.

It’s quick and easy to make the night before. In the morning toss the blueberries and pecans on top and bake in a pre-heated oven for 25 minutes.

 

Baked Blueberry French Toast
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
8 15 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 15 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Baked Blueberry French Toast
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
8 15 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 15 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Ingredients
For Blueberry Syrup
Adjust servings:
Units:
Instructions
French toast
  1. Butter a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
  2. Cut twenty 1-inch slices from baguette and arrange in one layer in baking dish.
  3. In a large bowl whisk together eggs, milk, nutmeg, vanilla, and brown sugar. Pour evenly over bread.
  4. Chill mixture, covered, until all liquid is absorbed by bread, at least 8 hours, and up to 1 day.
  5. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  6. Sprinkle pecans and blueberries evenly over bread mixture and bake mixture 20 minutes, or until any liquid from blueberries is bubbling.
Syrup
  1. Make syrup while French toast is baking: In a small saucepan cook blueberries and maple syrup over moderate heat until berries burst, about 5 minutes.
  2. Pour syrup through a sieve into a heatproof pitcher, pressing on solids, and stir in lemon juice and zest.
  3. Syrup may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Reheat syrup before serving.
  4. Serve French toast with syrup.
Recipe Notes

Modified from

Epicurious: Baked Blueberry French Toast

Share this Recipe

Carrot Apple Muffins

Loaded with carrots, apples, pecans and raisins these muffins fill the belly and get the day off to a good nutritious start.

They can also convert from breakfast food to a teatime delight with cream cheese icing and coconut sprinkled on top. Simply mix 2–4 tablespoons of cream cheese with half that amount (1–2 tablespoons) of plain Greek yogurt, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and just enough sugar to suit your taste.

carrot muffins
Carrot Apple Muffins
Print Recipe
18 muffins
carrot muffins
Carrot Apple Muffins
Print Recipe
18 muffins
Ingredients
Adjust servings:
Units:
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil eighteen 1/2-cup muffin cups.
  2. Into a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda, cardamom, and salt and whisk in sugar.
  3. Coarsely shred enough carrots to measure 2 cups and chop pecans. Add shredded carrots and pecans to flour mixture with raisins and coconut and toss well.
  4. In a bowl whisk together eggs, brown sugar, oil, applesauce and vanilla. Core apple and coarsely shred. Stir shredded apple into egg mixture. Add to flour mixture, stirring until batter is just combined well.
  5. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling them three-fourths full, and bake in middle of oven until puffed and a tester comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes.
Recipe Notes

Instead of spelt flour, use 1 cup whole-wheat flour and 1 cup white flour.

I like using spelt flour because it is more nutritious than white (wheat) flour, but is also light whereas whole-wheat flour makes the muffins dense.

 

Share this Recipe

Ambrosial Torte from Historic Cacao

Cacao was domesticated in Central America about 3,000 years ago. Linguistic findings suggest the word “cacao” is comes from the word kakawa in Mixe-Zoquean, believed to have been the language of the Olmecs, the oldest civilization of the Americas (1500–400 B.C.). The chocolate legacy passed from the Olmecs to the Maya, one of Mesoamerica’s most advanced civilizations. Drinking vessels elaborately decorated with chocolate illustrations discovered by archaeologists contain traces of ceremonial chocolate drinks dating from 250 to 900 A.D.

Cacao beans were so valued in ancient Mexico that the Maya and later Toltec and Aztec civilizations used them as currency to purchase small household items and pay for various services: a large tomato was worth one cacao bean, a rabbit 10 beans, and a slave 100 beans. Taxes levied against conquered tribes were also paid in cacao beans.

Typically Mexican chocolate is made with roasted and ground cacao nibs, sugar and cinnamon; other spices like nutmeg and allspice can also be added.

Chocolate and cinnamon
Mexican Chocolate Torte
Print Recipe
Chocolate and cinnamon
Mexican Chocolate Torte
Print Recipe
Ingredients
The Torte
The Glaze
Adjust servings:
Units:
Instructions
The Torte
  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter an 8-1/2-inch springform pan and line it with a round of wax paper. Butter the paper and dust the pan with flour, knocking out the excess.
  2. In a small skillet on the stove top, toast the almonds about 5 minutes and let them cool.
  3. In a food processor blend together cooled almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt until the almonds are ground fine.
  4. Add the chocolate, and blend the mixture until the chocolate is ground fine.
  5. Add the egg yolks and vanilla; blend the mixture until it is combined well (it will be very thick), and transfer it to a bowl.
  6. In another bowl beat the egg whites with an electric mixer with a pinch of salt until they hold soft peaks, beat in the granulated sugar gradually, until the meringue holds stiff peaks.
  7. Whisk about one third of the meringue into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining meringue gently but thoroughly.
  8. Pour the batter into the pan, smoothing the top, and bake in the middle of the oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
  9. Let the torte cool in the pan. Run a thin knife around the edge, and remove the side of the pan. Invert the torte onto a rack, discarding the wax paper.
The Glaze
  1. In a metal bowl set over barely simmering water in a saucepan, combine the chocolate, the butter, and the cream.
  2. Stir the mixture until it is smooth, and let the glaze cool until it is just lukewarm.
  3. Set the torte on the rack over wax paper and pour the glaze over it, smoothing the glaze with a spatula and letting the excess drip down the side.
Recipe Notes

Source: Epicurious: Mexican Chocolate Torte

Share this Recipe