Zucchini Pancakes

This is the story of how I came to make zucchini pancakes.

(There's always a story with me, isn't there?)

The story starts with bananas.

Yes, bananas.

You see, in a house without central AC, all produce must be eaten as soon as it's purchased. Why I decided to purchase a bunch of bananas that I couldn't possibly eat within 48 hours is beyond me. I had four bananas that needed rescuing right away. I hit up one of my favorite recipe inspiration sites, TasteSpotting, and found this recipe for Banana Rosemary Baby Bundt Cakes w/ Rosemary Brown Butter Icing.

They were UH-MAY-ZING.

This is a "must make in your lifetime" kind of recipe. I shared the link on Twitter, and got a tweet back from Wendi at Bon Appetit Hon who offered to trade some jam for one of my mini bundt cakes. Who am I to turn down another food blogger's jam??

So Wendi "jam bushed" me at work... and I think it's safe to say I got the better end of the deal.

The jars of Blackberry Syrup and Apricot Honey Butter went up in the cabinet, and I spent the rest of the evening dreaming what I was going to make.

By the morning, I figured out how I was going to use the blackberry syrup: pancakes. Not just any pancake, but a good, hearty, healthy, whole grain pancake.

There was a zucchini sitting on the counter, so I figured I could grate the zucchini into the pancake mix and make something like a cross between zucchini bread and a pancake.

And I'd be sneaking in some veggies.

We all need more veggies in our life, don't we?

I also wanted to add some fresh blackberries straight from our blackberry vine in the backyard to go along with the blackberry syrup theme.

And that's how I went from bananas to zucchini pancakes. They really were just a vehicle for Wendi's blackberry syrup, and they were a very tasty vehicle at that.

The end.





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Zucchini Pancakes
Recipe adapted from Healthy Food For Living

Dry Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking powder (heaping, less than 1/2 tsp; smidge more than 1/4 tsp)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsps sugar, optional (the addition of syrup gives me the sweetness I enjoy)

Wet Ingredients:
1 egg white
1/3 cup milk (made with 2%; use your favorite)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup finely grated zucchini

12 blackberries
1 Tbsp raisins
canola oil cooking spray
syrup for serving, optional


Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl until evenly combined.

Combine the wet ingredients in a separate, larger bowl until combined.

Stir the zucchini into the wet ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet zucchini mixture. Stir until just combined, and let the batter rest for 10 minutes so the whole wheat can soak up the wet ingredients. (You really don't want to skip this step!)

Coat a large, nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat.

When the skillet is hot, use a 1/4 cup ladle or scoop and drop batter on to the skillet by the 1/4 cupful. Drop three blackberries and a few raisins on the surface of the pancake.

The pancake should be ready to flip after 2-3 minutes (the edges will be dry and tiny bubbles will appear on the surface of the pancake).

Flip pancakes over and cook for two minute or so, or until done.

Serve with a dollop of butter and syrup, preferably blackberry syrup if you have a friend as awesome as Wendi!


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Serves 2 (recipe info just for pancakes)
Calories: 163.5 | Fat: 1.5 | Carbs: 32 | Fiber: 6 | Protein: 8

{4 Points+}