Cinnamon-Yums

By [e-mail]

From Joy Bauer...It’s hard to resist the scent of freshly baked Cinnabons. Lucky for you (and me), I’ve slimmed down this fattening favorite by mixing in pumpkin and non-fat yogurt. Whip up a batch and you’ll enjoy sweet-cinnamony goodness without the mega calories and sugar. Trust me, you’ve gotta give this recipe a shot!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 3 egg whites
• 3/4 cup canned 100% pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt
• 2 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Icing: 4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese (at room temp) + 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• Optional Garnish: 1/4 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped, ground cinnamon.

Details

Adapted from Joybauer.com

Preparation

Step 1

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until well combined.
In a second large mixing bowl, whip the egg whites until blended. Add the pumpkin, yogurt, brown sugar, and vanilla extract, and whisk until combined.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir together gently until just combined and smooth (no dry streaks should remain), taking care not to over mix. If time allows, allow the batter to rest for 10 minutes.
Liberally coat a large skillet or griddle with oil spray. Preheat it over medium heat. When the pan is nice and hot (after about 2 minutes), ladle about a tablespoon of batter per mini-pancake onto the surface. The batter will be thick, so spread it out with the back of a spoon to make a circle-shape. After flipping mini-cakes, push down with back of spatula to flatten out a little bit. This will help cook the middle.
Cook the mini-pancakes until they are golden brown. Re-coat the skillet with oil spray between batches to prevent the pancakes from sticking.
Prepare the icing. In a small food processor, blend together the cream cheese and maple syrup until smooth.
To serve, spread about a teaspoon icing on a mini-pancake, layer with another pancake. Spread a teaspoon of icing on top of the second pancake before adding a final pancake on top, and spreading about 2 teaspoons of icing on it. Garnish with teaspoon of chopped pecans (optional) and sprinkling of cinnamon (optional). Repeat until all mini-pancakes are finished.
Recipe makes approximately 8 servings (24 mini pancakes); 160 calories per serving (3 mini-pancakes and 4 teaspoons maple crème icing).