Live for Today: Father's Day Carrot Cake Pancakes

I've never been a huge fan of typical breakfast foods. Don't get me wrong, I eat breakfast. Every morning without fail. And would fall over and die before 10am if I didn't. But I have never loved pancakes, eggs, french toast, waffles...I'll eat them, they're fine. But a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee is the way to this girl's heart.

But during a recent family holiday when my brother, Mike, whipped up a batch of pancakes from scratch from memory (those of you who know Michael might be re-reading that sentence to be sure you read it correctly, but I promise you did), I realized I needed to step up my game in the breakfast food category.

This is why I was thrilled when Amanda (chef from a couple of posts ago) sent me a recipe for carrot cake pancakes!

I decided to make them for the fam when my parents came for Father's Day.

These pancakes just might have made me a pancake convert. They were DELICIOUS.

Make them.

Pancakes

1 to 1 1/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, plus more for garnish

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup nonfat milk

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar (I only had dark brown and it seemed to be fine)

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 large eggs

1/2 cup of finely grated carrot (from about 1 large carrot)

1/3 cup (1 ounce) flaked sweetened coconut (I only had unsweetened and again, fine)

Now this recipe also has a sauce. I did not make the sauce because it seemed like sugar overload for breakfast. Remember I'm used to oatmeal. Baby steps. So we only used butter and syrup for toppings. But in case you want the sauce...

Sauce

3/4 cup (3 ounces) confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup (2 ounces) tub-style low-fat cream cheese, softened (do not use nonfat)

1 tablespoon nonfat milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract