Growing up, I preferred my pancakes plain but loaded with butter. I still love to use butter but I do admit to a love affair with real maple syrup. However, these pancakes are great with just a sprinkle of confectioners sugar or a warm fruit compote or a nice fruity jam. Or, just plain butter 🙂
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes are light and airy, not cheesy tasting but filling in an eggy way rather than a heavy bready way. Loaded with protein, calcium and vitamins, they’re super easy to put together and being gluten free, they’re a guilt-free indulgence. I used this gluten free mix: Cup4cup Gluten Free Wholesome Flour Blend but you could use any you like. Cup4Cup makes several mixes, even a pancake one but this is the one I had on hand and it worked great! It even has crushed flax seeds in it making it a little extra healthy.
This time of year, gorgeous Meyer lemons are in season and I had them on hand so I used one for this recipe. Also, I love to use pure maple syrup. I use it exclusively because I’m doing my best to avoid high fructose corn syrup which is in a lot of conventional syrups. It’s more expensive but it’s also stronger in flavor than say, Log Cabin, so you use less.
I hope you enjoy Lemon Ricotta Pancakes!
- 2 tablespoons coconut or organic sugar
- Zest and juice of one lemon
- 1 Cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 4 Organic eggs, separated
- ½ cup gluten free flour mix or organic all purpose flour
- ¼ Teaspoon salt
- ½ Teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup organic milk, almond milk or coconut milk
- Whisk sugar, lemon zest and juice, baking soda, gluten free flour, egg yolks and salt together in a large bowl. Add the milk, a couple tablespoons at a time until the mixture is just beginning to be pourable. The batter should not be thin but about like cake batter.
- In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with a hand mixture until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes.
- Gently fold egg whites into batter being careful not to over mix. You want a nice fluffy batter, light like clouds!
- Heat a griddle or skillet and when hot, add butter or coconut oil. Drop batter by ¼ cups onto griddle. You can flatten the pancakes slightly with the back of a spoon.
- Cook over medium heat about 3 minutes or until nice and golden on one side. Very carefully flip the pancakes over. They are delicate so I use 2 spatulas sometimes to do this.
- Cook an additional 3 minutes or until golden.
- Serve with butter, syrup, jam or confectioners sugar sprinkled on top.
Kate’s Tips
- Feel free to use orange zest and juice instead of lemon.
- I use whole milk ricotta instead of the part-skim. I think it works better but you can use either.
- Here’s a great maple syrup I love: Ben’s Sugar Shack Grade A Dark Amber Pure Maple Syrup
- If you make more pancakes than you need just let them cool, cover with plastic wrap and then put in the fridge. I haven’t frozen them but I am just about certain they would be fine if you wrapped them well and put them in a freezer bag for no more than a month.
- Here’s another gluten free pancake recipe you might like: Pumpkin Pancakes and Butter Pecan Syrup
- These aren’t gluten free but you can easily use a gluten free mix: Banana Crunch Pancakes
- In case you like to make your own jam for pancakes, here are my two favorites: Strawberry and Raspberry.
thanks Kate! you answered my freezing/ fridge question. I prefer 4 days of ready prepped breakfast, trying hard to wean my kids off gluten, high fructose corn syrup etc, sugar cereals. Looks like a great plan for in the van before church, homeschool co-op mornings etc. Thanks for all the yummy GF breakfast recipes !
You are so welcome Ivonne! Good for you for making healthy choices for your kids. It’s not that difficult to make healthy breakfasts although it can take a little planning. Blessing to you!