Whole Wheat Carrot Pancakes

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200º F / 95º C so you can keep the pancakes warm before serving.
2. Spoon the cream cheese into a bowl and leave it out at room temperature to soften.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder and ginger powder.
4. In a smaller bowl, whisk together egg, brown sugar, buttermilk and vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the carrots, then add this wet mixture to the dry mixture all at once. Stir just till well incorporated. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes while you make the cream cheese topping and preheat a non-stick griddle/skillet.
6. Whisk the cream cheese till it is uniformly soft, smooth and pliable. Whisk in maple syrup, milk, vanilla extract and cinnamon powder. Feel free to sweeten with more syrup or further thin it out with more milk.
7. For each pancake, melt 1 tbsp in the hot skillet, pour ¼ cup batter and spread it to a round pancake. Cook, flipping once, until the pancakes are evenly golden on both sides.
8. Place pancake on an ovenproof plate and keep in the preheated oven while you cook the remaining pancakes.
9. Place each pancake on a serving plate, top with maple cream cheese and serve with extra maple syrup on the side, in case someone wants to sweeten it up further.

Additional Tips and Tricks