Ricotta Pancakes

I have recently fallen head over heels for ricotta. for some reason i used to think of it as grainy and bland, something that people used to ruin perfectly good cheesecake. but since i've started cooking with it myself, i can't get enough. after we made anadama bread a few weeks ago, i ate a toasted piece of it spread with ricotta and a fried egg every day for breakfast. this time, i decided to use up our leftovers from the pizza party to make pancakes.

these were awesome. they're really soft and sweet, but not at all goopy on the inside (a problem i've had with buttermilk pancakes). the recipe called for lemon zest, but i had none, so i just added a few squirts of lemon juice. they would've been even better really lemony, so i reccomend it. i thought these were much better without the syrup, especially if you put some fruit in them.


(Lemon) Ricotta Pancakes
Adapted from simplyrecipes.com; serves about 3

3 eggs, separated
3 tbs sugar
1 pinch salt
grated zest of 1 lemon OR 1 tbs lemon juice (or neither)
1 cup ricotta

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, salt, lemon, and ricotta. Stir in the flour and baking powder.

Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Gently fold them into the mixture.

Heat up a very small amount of oil in a pan on medium.

Scoop on your batter. it'll be thick, so you'll probably have to spread it around a little to get them thin enough to cook through. cook still they're brown on both sides (you'll have to check cause they don't bubble up in the middle like normal pancakes). test the first one - if it's mushy in the middle, stir some extra flour into the rest of the batter. continue and serve. enjoy!