Heart Healthy.
Or not so much. It’s ironic that—thanks to sugary sweets, fancy dinners, and rich desserts—a day devoted to matters of the heart can be so dangerous for your heart. Google “red velvet” and your results will be saturated with butter, eggs, heavy cream, and enough sugar to sweeten even the Grinch. Pretty, for sure. But healthy, it is not.
Until now.
Flipping through People Magazine last Friday, I stumbled across a recipe for “Jessica Alba’s favorite red velvet pancakes.” Red velvet pancakes?! I had to create a heart-healthy version.
Mission accomplished. These are like eating cake for breakfast!
Red Velvet Pancakes for One
- 2T flour (I used 20g whole-wheat pastry)
- 2T plus 1tsp oat bran (20g) (you can sub flour)
- red food coloring (For alternatives, see: Natural Food Coloring Ideas.)
- 1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp baking powder
- scant 1/8 tsp salt
- 2T cocoa powder (I use regular, but if you want a more brownie-like taste, try dutch cocoa)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup plus 1T nondairy milk (95g, or more, if needed)
- optional: If you don’t like the taste of fat-free pancakes, be sure to add 1 tablespoon oil
- 1-2 T sugar, or 1 stevia packet (I left it out. If using liquid sweetener, decrease milk accordingly.)
Mix dry ingredients. Add wet and mix. Then make your pancakes! (Makes 5-6)
Nutrition Information:
(For the entire batch)
- Calories: 230 (130 if omitting oil)
- Fat: 14g (or less than 1g if omitting oil)
- Protein: 3g
- Fiber: 5g
I topped these with my Healthy Cream Cheese Icing.
Then, really fancy things happened. I dusted the pancakes with cocoa powder and swirled some of the chocolatey fairy dust into the frosting.
If you’re still hungry for pancakes (although I don’t know how that’d be possible, after these!), I have an entire recipe tab devoted to them:
Question of the Day:
What do you do to be Heart Healthy?
Get regular exercise? Eat healthy foods? Spend quality time with people who make you happy? The heart is an amazing little organ; be sure to treat it right!
i want! woah they look so good. i want a breakfast do over!
Katie, your pancakes are gorgeous! One thing though that I would really like to point out is that fat is not bad for our hearts! Not even saturated fat. Saturated fat does not raise LDL (= bad) cholesterol levels unless you are genetically predisposed to having high (LDL) cholesterol. So eating butter, heavy cream, eggs, red meat is completely fine health wise (taking into consideration my previously stated exception). Its understandable that vegans and vegetarians avoid those things for animal rights purposes, but they are not to be feared for health reasons! I do agree though that added sugar is not healthy in the least. I am taking biochemistry right now which is all about metabolism (which why I am saying all this!) and everything I have been learning indicates that high sugar/simple carb diets are not good for our overall health. If I made these pancakes, I would add coconut oil or butter since they are fat free and I am all about fats 🙂 Also – coconut oil is purely saturated and it is not bad for us either!
Hey Lauren!
I totally agree with you about fat being a good thing. I don’t eat a low-fat diet by any means, and I didn’t intentionally set out to make these fat-free. I love your idea to add coconut oil!!
I don’t agree that animal foods high in saturated fat, such as butter and cream and red meat, are healthy… but that’s what’s so great about this world: It would not function if people all had the exact same opinions, right? 🙂
As for the coconut’s saturated fat… well, you know where I stand on coconut ;).
I totally agree 🙂 I am sure you have studies to back up your opinion, just like I have studies to back up mine! (Which, if you ever want to see, I will totally send you them!)
And, yes, I know you lovee coconut – which is exactly why I mentioned it! <3
Thanks so much for the recipe, I’m going to go make them right now! 😀 They look so scrumdidlyumptious!
I might like that food more if it were called “Chocolate Layer Cake.”
When I eat “pancakes,” I want them to be more traditional-looking.
Thanks so much for this recipe, Katie! And thanks for including the nutritional info. I know you don’t really like to do that, but you have no idea how helpful it is to some of us who are counting calories. You rock!
I love pancakes and these look amazing! Great job Katie! I am so like you with making things healthier for the heart. Why not make it better for you when you can have things like this? I definitely exercise, but I also tweak things to be better for us. You have to treat your ticker right!
Wow! These seriously look amazing!! You never cease to amaze me with your creative and scrumptious looking recipes! Red velvet is one of the most tempting sounding foods let alone actually eating it!!
Out of curiosity- when you say the ‘whole batch’ does tht mean that all 5 pancake have 130 calories, or does each pancake have 130?
Happy Tuesday xxx
I was really surprised when I calculated them out, and I had to do it twice. But it IS for the whole batch, not just one pancake. (One reason the count is so low is that there’s no sugar included.)
Cute pancakes Katie!
I keep my heart healthy by exercising regularly and eating lots of fresh produce — I also try to rid myself of stress (although this is the toughest thing to do!!!)
I’d have a hard time eating these. They’re too pretty! 😉
I indulge in chocolate, to keep my heart happy!
I hardly ever comment, since I don’t have a blog, but when I saw these, I just had to tell you how beautiful they are. I know 5 million commenters before me have said the same thing, but it’s ok to hear it once more, right? Thanks for all the terrific recipes. Every one I’ve made so far has been superb!
Thanks Laura!