Oh My YUM! -- Carrot Cake Pancakes!

This morning I made Carrot Cake Pancakes and my life was changed forever.  I posted this on Facebook and many of my friends were interested in the recipe.  I used the basic dry pancake mix recipe from The Thrifty Mama.  Yes, we hand grind our wheat--it's good exercise!  I used hard red wheat because that's what we have and it turns out great.  Yes, we use raw sugar.  We have made A LOT of changes to our eating.  And yes, I keep the mix in the freezer because although pancakes are quick, I am not a morning person and the sooner I can go from sleep to indulging myself with delicious food the better.

I got my inspiration form Picky Cook.  Her recipe and toppings sound absolutely decadant.  You may want to check that blog out.  She also has a Lemon Poppy Seed Pancake recipe I am going to adapt slightly in the near future.  I mean, I can't have pancakes EVERYDAY.  I 'd miss out on some other super yummy options.

In a bowl, I put 2 cups of that dry pancake mix (from The Thrifty Mama) and added:

1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (get out your microplane--makes me feel so chef-like)
1 pinch of ground ginger
Mix that up and set aside.

In another bowl, combine the following wet ingredients:
1 cup buttermilk (I always cheat and put 1T of lemon juice in a 1 cup measure and fill the rest with milk and let it sit for 5 minutes or so.  This makes buttermilk.  You can also use 1T vinegar instead of lemon juice, I hear.)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon coconut oil (also new to our family and SO yummy, especially in baked goods. You can use canola but the coconut oil is really something of a pleasurefest.)
1 1/2 to 2 cups finely grated carrot
1 Tablespoon of orange zest (use that microplane.  I would not make the pancakes without this ingredient.  It's a must in my book)
Lightly give all that a whisk and dump it in the dry mix bowl.  Stir until combined. 

I do my pancakes over medium low but you know your stove.  I lightly greased my griddle with real butter.  You can use more coconut oil if you want; it does well with high heat.  You can even try it out without a greased griddle because it already has oil in it and see how that goes. These make moist, thick pancakes so I use a 1/4 cup measure and pour them on the griddle.  I use the bottom of the 1/4 cup measure to spread them out a touch. Should make about 8 pancakes.

I served mine with just 1 teaspoon of pure maple syrup per pancake.  No pats of butter or anything else.  It really doesn't need it because it's moist and sweet and oh so tasty all on it's own.

If you make them let me know how it went and what your personal touches were.