So, I managed to try a new recipe, Lemon Ricotta Pancakes!  

There are a lot of recipes online for this, and all are basically a variant of below (like this one).

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour   
• 1 tsp baking soda   (I made an oops and used baking powder, so I guess either will work)
• 1/2 tsp  salt   
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk   
•   2 large eggs, yolks and whites separated   
• 2 Tbsp sugar   
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest, or increase to taste  
• 1 Tbsp of lemon juice 
• 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese   

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a larger bowl use an electric mixer to whip the egg whites into soft peaks.  I got to use my fancy copper bowl that my in-laws gave me for Christmas to do my egg whites!

In another large bowl, mix together the buttermilk, sugar, egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice and ricotta cheese.  Stir in the flour mixture until moistened.

 

Then fold in the egg whites.

You don’t want to stir this too much. Just incorporate the egg whites by folding the batter over and over.

Now heat up a griddle or frying pan on medium heat (you could do this while stirring the batter).  You definitely want medium heat to cook these as if you do it higher, the outside will overcook while the middle will be raw.  It’s a dense batter.

Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup and deposit 1/4 cup of batter into the pan after you have sprayed with cooking spray.

These will bubble some, but not like regular pancakes do. Just lift the bottom and check for doneness. It took 2-3 minutes on each side for my cakes.  You should get pretty much exactly 12 pancakes out of this batch.

And serve topped however you would like:

I topped mine with my favorite blueberry topping, which goes really well with lemon anything.

The verdict?  Very, very tasty!  They were definitely heavier than regular pancakes and have more of a velvety texture to them. Two pancakes are surprisingly filling.  These also make good leftovers. I just stored them in the fridge and popped them into the toaster oven to reheat.

Nutrition: Each serving of 2 pancakes (without any topping) has 214 calories, 36 grams of carbs, 4 grams of fat, 9 grams of protein and 1 gram of fiber.

Tips:

– If you don’t have buttermilk, just add about 1 tsp of lemon juice to 8 ounces of milk. 

– This recipe makes a fair number of dishes and time to cook all the batter. It’s great to do on a day off because the leftovers are easy to reheat.

– Don’t overwhip the egg whites and make stiff peaks or the batter will be too thick. You can thin it out with some more lemon juice or water.