Red Velvet Pancakes with Cream Cheese Topping

Course Desserts and Sweets
Prep. Time 15 mins 
Cooking Time 20 mins 
Yields 4 servings

These pancakes are indeed eye-catching with their flamboyant colour. The beets provide the colour but don't overwhelm the taste.

Ingredients
Orange and Cream Cheese Topping:
1/2 cup (140 g) Canandian Cream Cheese, at room temperature
2 tbsp (38 g) icing sugar
1 Zest of orange
1/3 cup (80 mL) fresh orange juice

Pancakes:
1 1/2 cups (195 g) unbleached flour
1 1/2 tsp (7 g) baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground cinnamon 
1/2 cup (119 g) buttermilk
1 cup (182 g) red beets, cooked, peeled and grated
3 eggs
1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
1 tbsp (14.2 g) butter

Preparation
Cream Cheese Topping:
In a bowl, beat all ingredients together until smooth.

Pancakes:
In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. In the blender, reduce the buttermilk, beets, eggs and sugar to a purée. Add the dry ingredients in 2 stages and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pulse until the consistency is uniform.


Cooking pancakes:
To butter the pan, wrap some paper towel around a stick of butter. Heat a large non-stick skillet over low heat and rub the butter over the entire surface to make sure you use just the right amount of butter.

Pour out 3 small ladlefuls of pancake batter while making sure the rounds don't touch. Cook for approximately 3 minutes or until small bubbles form on top. Flip and continue cooking for approximately 2 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the batter and rub the frying pan with butter between each batch.

Serve with Cream Cheese Topping.

Tips
Get a head start: The cheese topping can be made 3 days in advance. Keep in the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

You can prepare the pancake ingredients the night before, but make sure you keep the liquid ingredients together in the refrigerator and the dry ingredients together at room temperature. Simply mix everything together right before cooking.

Practical tips: Cook a few whole beets and then peel. Use the required amount and freeze the rest in resealable bags for future use.

Increase the fibre content: For an even healthier version, combine 3/4 cup (180 mL) of unbleached flour with 3/4 cup (180 mL) of whole-wheat flour.

Children can help too: Children can easily mix the cream cheese topping.

Variation: Add 1 cup (250 mL) of fresh blueberries to the batter.

Nutritional Info
Per serving 
Energy: 463 Calories   
Protein: 13 g   
Carbohydrate: 62 g   
Fat: 18 g   
Fibre: 2.4 g   
Sodium: 434 mg   
Top 5 Nutrients
Nutrient % DV*
Calcium: 19 % / 206 mg   
Folate: 68 %  
Selenium: 60 %  
Thiamin: 34 %  
Riboflavin: 33 %

http://www.dairygoodness.ca/recipes/red-velvet-pancakes-with-cream-cheese-topping