Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce
We don’t often eat stuff like lemon ricotta pancakes for breakfast. Let me rephrase that. We never eat stuff like ricotta pancakes for breakfast. Every once in a while I’ll get up and mix up some run-of-the-mill pancakes or waffles, or cook up some hash browns or bacon to go with our eggs. We eat breakfast, but not really as a meal that we sit down to all together, so I rarely go to the trouble of making anything fancier than eggs or maybe a slice of zucchini bread. 
The main culprit may actually be the simple fact that I’m not a good waker-up. It’s not that I’m not a morning person. I wake up early and generally enjoy mornings. But the act of waking up itself seems more difficult for me than the average person. We lovingly refer to it as waking up, “hard”. I inherited this condition from my mother, and I’m afraid I’ve passed it on to my son, who often wakes up with a look on his face that is the perfect combination of despair, rage, and confusion. When my husband sees this face, he says, “Oh God, he looks just like you.” So that’s what I look like when I wake up. I guess I don’t have to imagine it anymore.
It takes me a solid 20 minutes and at least one cup of coffee to feel vaguely human, and even then, I’m not up for any kind of heavy brain activity for almost an hour. Which means, I’m not usually up for any kind of recipe reading, fussiness with flour, or basically anything that involves more dishes than my one little cast iron pan I use to cook up scrambled eggs. So I really don’t know what possessed me with these. I think it was the warm weather in the forecast, the fact that it was a Saturday morning, and most likely, that I’d already been up for a bit by the time we decided it was time for breakfast.
Whatever the flukish reason that I made these, I’m so so SO glad that I did. They were really good. The lemon ricotta pancakes were fluffy and light, with a bright, fresh lemon flavor. Absolute pancake perfection. And the blueberry sauce was just the perfect topping for these fluffy little cakes- not overly sweet, but just sticky and thick enough to coat each mouthful of pancake. I may never eat maple syrup again.
And what’s really amazing about this recipe is that it was actually simple enough that I could feasibly follow the directions in my still-groggy state, with a little wild animal toddler yelling, “Eggs! Eggs! Eggs!” at me at two-minute intervals. The kid has no faith in me. They came together quickly and easily, so that as we were polishing off the last of these, I actually thought, “Hey, I could really get behind his fancy breakfast business!” Well, maybe. We’re going to need more coffee.
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce
Ingredients
- Sauce:
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp water
- Pancakes:
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg whites
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/3 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
Instructions
- Sauce:
- In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and cornstarch and set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine the blueberries, sugar, and water. Bring to a simmer and let it bubble away for a few minutes, until about half of the blueberries have burst. Then add in the lemon juice and cornstarch mixture and stir until the sauce thickens a bit. Cover to keep warm and set aside.
- Pancakes:
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the ricotta cheese, egg, egg whites, lemon juice, milk, lemon zest, and canola oil. Gently fold this mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined. The batter will be pretty thick.
- Heat a griddle or a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Grease cooking surface with either a bit of oil, butter, or cooking spray. Drop about 1/3 cup of batter onto the hot griddle or skillet. Cook the pancakes until browned on the underside and beginning to set, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook the pancakes on the other side, about 2-3 minutes longer. Repeat with remaining batter. To serve, top with blueberry sauce and a little extra lemon zest.