Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

I make these every Sunday without fail. Well, almost without fail. On occasion, I'll do something different like Pumpkin-Apple Pancakes. I've been making these regularly ever since I encountered Bobby Flay's recipe in an issue of Parade magazine (cue in Stewie from Family Guy proclaiming You read Parade magazine?! ::slap::). The original recipe suggested drizzling lemon curd over the pancakes and topping them off with raspberries. I've adapted the recipe over time and skipped the lemon curd and raspberries and replaced them with sliced bananas because it makes the dish easier, cheaper and reduces the sugar content. I have changed so many things about the recipe that now I'm comfortable with calling it my own. And thus, I'm comfortable posting it. I hope you'll try these pancakes. The ricotta cheese makes them soft and moist. It's a very light recipe in terms of both texture and calories. It has no buttermilk and it's light on flour so these are spongy rather than cakey. You'll never want to go back to regular pancakes ever again. I guarantee it.

Ingredients:

1 cup of flour
1 tablespoon of baking soda
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of ricotta cheese (part-skim)
2/3 cup of Almond Milk
2 eggs
Juice and Zest of one Lemon
dash of nutmeg (optional)

sliced bananas
drizzling of maple syrup

butter for greasing the griddle

Makes 6-8 pancakes.

Add the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix. Add all the wet ingredients (Almond milk, eggs, lemon zest and juice, ricotta cheese) and stir until everything is incorporated. You can make the batter the night before and let it rest in the refrigerator. Just make sure that you cover it with plastic wrap and have the wrap touch the surface of the batter. Otherwise, it'll create it's own skin.

Heat up a griddle (medium low is my preferred temp so I don't burn these) and grease with some butter. Add some of your pancake batter until it's about the size you want it. When the top of the pancake has a lot of popped bubbles, it's time to flip it over. Flip it and cook for a minute more then remove from griddle. Repeat until you've used up all the batter.

Enjoy with some sliced bananas and maple syrup. These are also really good with sliced nectarines and/or peaches and some raspberries.