Cottage Cheese Pancakes

I made pancakes for breakfast using a slight modification of the classic cottage cheese pancake recipe and.. YUM. If you've not had cottage cheese pancakes, they are rich and moist and amazing with fruit. Or if you're lazy like me, still pretty good with maple syrup!

Cottage Cheese Pancakes
Serves 4
These are super rich and creamy tasting but can be a little sticky to flip. Be patient!

4 eggs or 1 cup egg substitute
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbls vanilla (I use homemade double strength vanilla because I really love vanilla, your mileage may vary, adjust to taste)
2 Tbls canola oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar or sugar substitute
1 tsp. cinnamon (again, adjust for taste, and I'm guesstimating. I let Emily sprinkle in the cinnamon and she likes a lot)

1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (my preference, I'm sure white would work, or buckwheat would probably be amazing)

Mix everything except the flour, whisk it together with fork, then mix in the flour until it's incorporated.
Oil a non-stick skillet and heat at a high medium setting, when the skillet is hot, pour the batter in by the quarter cup full, and let it cook for a few minutes, check edge with a spatula, and turn when browned on one side, brown on the other side. These are SOO good, and the only pancake I've *ever* had I didn't think needed butter. They are really rich without it. It's a natural for a fruit topping. If you can't have sugar, I recommend a no-sugar jam. Yum yum!
I actually didn't measure my batter because I use a 3.5 quart melamine batter bowl from Lehman's to mix my batter in, and then I just pour it into my pan. This made 12 4 inch pancakes for me. Like I said, they are really rich. Only E could eat more then 4. I ate 3, and when I asked if anyone wanted my last one, she said yes. Since they are pretty low fat/carb, I didn't mind letting her have extras. Also, lots of calcium! And for the record? E HATES cottage cheese, she thinks it's just gross. And she loved these pancakes.

I also made up some chocolate banana bread for my uncle using Splenda, so I'll let you know what he thinks of it and post the recipe modifications I made to it when I get home tonight. I also asked if he'd be willing to try vanilla infused Splenda in his coffee. Since he uses it regularly, he's a better judge then I am about how it turns out. I mixed 1 vanilla bean, with about half the caviar in it with about a half cup of Splenda. I'll let you know next week what he thinks of it.