Pancakes and Low Fat Topping Options

I love pancakes, waffles, and French toast. But I have a problem, they are all fairly high in calories (2 - 5" pancakes are almost 300 calories). So I started looking at some other topping options than just maple syrup (210 calories for 1/4 cup, which is about 4 tablespoons). Here are some other options for toppings:

• Fresh fruit
• blackberries (1/2 cup) - 25
• blueberries (25) - 19
• whole mango - 40 calories
• whole peach - 35 calories
• whole pear - 45 calories
• raspberries (1/2 cup) - 32
• strawberries (5 large) - 50
• Unsweetened applesauce (only 50 calories per 1/2 cup)

Fluffy Pancakes (Taste of Home recipe)

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk (I plan to try using coconut milk)
• 1/4 cup shortening, melted - I did substitute about 1 tablespoon of the shortening with unsweetened applesauce and may try substituting half of the shortening with unsweetened applesauce next time, or maybe even substitute coconut oil.

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the egg, milk and shortening; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
2. Pour batter by 1/4 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes; cook until the second side is golden brown. Yield: 8 pancakes.

Nutritional Analysis: 2 pancakes equals 283 calories, 15 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 59 mg cholesterol, 534 mg sodium, 29 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 6 g protein.