What’s better, or worse, is that I love to eat them in stacks of four, glazed with melted butter and swimming in maple syrup.
And 1,000 calories later, I’m feeling really good in a bad kind of way.
Because of my extreme love for pancakes, especially the extra sweet and high-calorie variety (think chocolate chip and peanut butter), I recently went through a brief pancake withdrawal. I stopped making pancakes because there was a high likelihood/certainty that I would eat myself into a pancake coma.
And we all know what happens when you go into a pancake coma. Or atleast I do.
But as you can see, times have changed. I have a new pancake strategy that allows me to enjoy pancakes, and still have room for lunch and dinner. And my skinny jeans.
The very sneaky trick: smother my pancake with (a reasonable amount of) cottage cheese and fresh berries. A drizzle of honey makes it officially the best way to enjoy pancakes without all the calories. And I don’t feel like I cheated myself by only eating one.
Ok, maybe I had two. But I feel no shame!
On the other hand, let’s be honest: I was raised on chocolate chip pancakes, butter, and syrup (thanks, mom) and I will always hold that near and dear to my heart. So if you find me with a plateful of pancakes – butter, syrup and all – cut me some slack. It’s my heritage.
Oh yeah. In case you didn’t notice, these sweet zucchini pancakes have vegetables in them, so that cancels out all butter. Obvs.
Sweet Zucchini Pancakes; serves 2 (5-6 pancakes)
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup greek yogurt (I used nonfat)
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/4 cup water or milk (OPTIONAL)
- 1 zucchini, grated
- Preheat a nonstick skillet or griddle to medium-high heat (350 degrees). These pancakes are a little picky about temperature.
- Whisk dry ingredients together (flour through salt) and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk egg, yogurt, and melted butter together. Combine dry and wet ingredients together and mix until just combined. Fold in grated zucchini. (OPTIONAL: if the batter is too thick, add water or milk a little at a time, until the batter consistency reaches the desired thickness. For me, 1/4 cup was enough to thin the batter but keep them nice and fluffy, but you might not need it at all depending on how thick you like your pancakes.)
- Scoop 1/3 cup of batter onto the griddle and gently spread the batter if necessary. When you see bubbles rising around the edges, flip the pancakes. I found that some of the pancakes took as long as 10 minutes to cook (5 minutes per side). Top with butter and maple syrup!
Light, sweet, perfectly golden… I love these almost as much as the lemon pancakes.
How do you top your pancakes?
Syrup? Berries? Peanut Butter? …Hot Fudge Sauce? All are welcome.
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I would love to try these pancakes, but the recipe calls for 1 grated zucchini, approximately how much is that in a cup measure? I have a huge one sitting on my counter that I need to use.
I used a medium sized one. Maybe 1 cup grated?
I loved these. Thank s for the recipe
So glad to hear that you liked them!
I’m totally going to make these in the summer.
instead of yogurt I had buttermilk so I used that which made the batter just the right consistency. Also I took the grated zucchini and placed it in a few paper towels and squeezed out the excess water to balance the buttermilk. My 3yr old LOVED them and we didn’t have to use any syrup just fresh strawberries
Mhammm looks so good so yummy, thank you for shared
kisses and blessings!!
I am thinking of making these with a leftover half of a very large zucchini and wondered if you could estimate of much grated zucchini you used in cups?
Oops, should’ve read the comments first!
I love the idea of these…brilliant use!
I want to make these SOOO bad.. only a few questions about changing a couple ingredients but I wanted your input prior to doing so… with the flour, would it work if I changed the flour to some gluten free/brown rice flour??? Also; what are some good alternatives for replacing the butter, or does the butter NEED to be in there??? I have a very sensitive stomach & digestion so I was curious about replacing that.. Thanks a bunch and these look SO tasty.. cant wait to try!!!
**zuchinni is one of my favorites!!! along with pancakes.. what a great mix**
It’s probably good to have a little fat in there to keep them from drying out. Do you have a substitute that you typically use for butter? I’d just use whatever you usually do in place of butter. And I don’t have much experience with gluten free flours, but I’d just follow the typical rules for substituting those flours as you would in any other recipe.
Good luck!
These look terrific and will certainly be on the menu for next week.
Another option for you could be the carrot cake waffles I posted today (Jan 11) and make them as pancakes if no waffle maker.
I don’t understand what went wrong. I followed the instructions exactly and the pancakes were a mess. They tasted just fine, but I had a hard time flipping them in the pan. I had to use two spatulas, flipping these small pancakes over. Halfway through I poured the rest of the batter in the pan and baked it at 350F for about 10 minutes. The problems was that they were just so sticky and flimsy. Is this how it’s supposed to work? And I didn’t add that much water because I read through your instructions.
Im going to try them tomorrow. Im starving!