Community Cookbook: Bert’s World Famous Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Growing up in my household, Saturday mornings always meant one thing — pancakes. And my dad, Bert, makes the best. While the pancakes he made when I was a kid were chock-full of M&M’s, the recipe developed over the years. One Mother’s Day, my dad found a recipe for lemon ricotta pancakes, and eventually, they became our standard weekend pancakes. They’re fluffy and tangy, dusted with powdered sugar and always served with bacon.

What makes these pancakes world-famous, you might be asking yourself? Mostly it’s a catchy name, but we’ve hosted two different exchange students over the years, who have eaten them, so that counts enough as “world-famous” in my book. Make them for Mother’s Day or any time of year. Last week’s Community Cookbook recipe can be found here.

Yields about 12-16 three inch diameter pancakes

Ingredients

• 8 oz pancake mix
• 2 eggs
• 3 medium lemons
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 4 oz butter
• 4 oz milk, whole or 2%
• 16 oz whole milk ricotta cheese
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• Pinch of salt
• Honey or maple syrup

Optional

• Blueberries, 4-5 each pancake
• 12 oz or 10-12 slices of bacon

Bacon

Hint, put aluminum foil on the baking pan for ease of clean-up

• Set oven to 425
• Place bacon on the rack
• Using a brush, generously brush maple syrup on the bacon
• Liberally pepper the bacon
• Place in 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on desired crispness of bacon and variations in oven temperatures

Pancakes

To make the batter:

• Preheat the pan to medium heat. Hint, if in doubt make the pan slightly cooler than hotter.
• Separate the whites of two eggs into one bowl, and the yolks into a second bowl.
• In the first bowl, whisk the whites until stiff. Set aside.
• In the second bowl with the egg yolks, add zest and juice from all three lemons, vanilla, milk, one teaspoon powdered sugar, and a pinch of salt. Mix thoroughly.
• Gently add the pancake mix to the mixture until thoroughly blended.
• Melt the butter in the microwave or a small saucepan, add to the mix and blend thoroughly.
• Fold in the egg whites from the first bowl.
• Fold in the ricotta cheese. Hint, folding with a spoon or ladle yields a better consistency for the batter than using a whisk or a fork.
• Hint, try a small sample pancake to test the heat of the pan….gentle brown is the desired color.

To cook the batter into pancakes:

• Using a tablespoon, place two full tablespoons of batter on the pan…..this should spread into a 3” or so pancake
• If you want to add in blueberries, add them now……4 or 5 per pancake
• Watch for bubbles, and the outside starting to brown….then flip!
• When done, plate the pancakes and put the remaining powdered sugar into the sieve, and sprinkle onto the pancakes.

Enjoy!