One of the benefits of cashiering at a grocery store is picking up neat recipe ideas. A few weeks ago a fella came through my line with the ingredients for lemon ricotta pancakes, and I’ve been itching to make them ever since.
Maple syrup didn’t seem appropriate, so I went with blueberry syrup. Though this recipe required a bit more effort than I usually put into breakfast, the end result made it worthwhile. The pancakes are fluffy, moist and surprisingly filling. The blueberry syrup is thick, tart and sweet, pairing perfectly with the pancakes.
Rinse and sort through the blueberries, making sure there aren’t any stems or squishy ones. Put the berries in a small pot and add in the sugar, water and lemon juice. Over medium heat, bring the berries to a simmer and stir often.
Take a moment to mix the cornstarch into the cold water. Stir the mixture thoroughly, then pour in with the berries. Continue to stir and simmer the berry mixture for about five minutes. Mine was nice and thick after four minutes or so. Remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla and set aside while you make the pancakes.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir thoroughly and set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the milk, ricotta, eggs and vanilla.
When combined, stir in the butter, lemon juice and lemon zest. The milk and ricotta will want to curdle after being combined with the lemon juice, so quickly stir it all together and then pour the mixture into the dry ingredients bowl. Mix this up and you have your pancake batter!
Put your blueberry syrup on low heat so it will be ready when the pancakes are finished. Heat the butter up in a skillet and dollop 1/3 cup of the batter into the pan. When the pancake begins to bubble and the bottom is brown, go ahead and flip it.
Batter makes about 12 pancakes.
Blueberry syrup recipe adapted from mybakingaddiction.com. Pancake recipe adapted from cookingclassy.com.