Kendra's Treats

With Valentine’s Day coming up, red velvet recipes are everywhere! And since I love red velvet, I decided to make some red velvet pancakes. I didn’t want to use a cake mix and I didn’t want to feel terribly guilty after eating them, but I still wanted them to be delicious! =) So with just a few tweaks, I had a recipe that satisfied all my requirements: no-cake mix, low-fat, and delicious…yay! They were super light and fluffy with that red velvet flavor that I love. The cream cheese glaze just completes the flavor combo, but they are delicious plain too and you could just as easily top with powdered sugar or maple syrup. Jordan may have used more than a serving of the glaze on his ;). Dessert for breakfast? I think so. Enjoy!

Red Velvet Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze
for the pancakes:
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1 large egg
3/4 cup low-fat (or fat-free) buttermilk
1/4 cup plain non-fat greek yogurt
1/2 tbsp red food coloring
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and cocoa powder. In separate bowl or measuring cup, whisk together egg, buttermilk, yogurt, vanilla, and food coloring. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk just until combined – do not overmix.
2. Preheat non-stick skillet over medium heat. Scoop batter onto preheated skillet using a #20 scoop (3 tbsp) – batter will be thick and you may need to “help” the pancakes spread out some. Flip only once. Makes 12 pancakes. Serves 3-4.

for the glaze:
2 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, room temperature
2 tbsp powdered sugar
3 tbsp skim milk (plus more if needed to thin)

1. Place cream cheese in small microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 10 seconds. Stir in powdered sugar until smooth. Add milk and stir until combined. Add additional milk if necessary to thin.
You should end up with about 1/4 cup glaze.

Nutritional Info (per pancake with 1 tsp glaze): 83 calories; 1.9 g fat; 12.8 g carbohydrates; 0.9 g fiber; 3.4 g protein
Nutritional Info (per pancake, no glaze): 64 calories; 0.9 g fat; 11.3 g carbohydrates; 0.9 g fiber; 2.9 g protein