Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

I first tasted these delicious lemon ricotta pancakes at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, California many years ago. These pancakes are so light and lemony that I can literally still taste them in my memory. My desire to make them at home is impetus for purchasing the restaurant’s cookbook, The Summertime Anytime Cookbook by Dana Slatkin.

With our hot summer weather, the last thing you want is a filling meal in a hot kitchen. We search for light, tasty, and healthy recipes. Not so sure how healthy these are but they do pass the light and tasty test.

This recipe is perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The batter can be made the day before and refrigerated~~allowing for preparation flexibility. Ingredients are pretty straight forward~cake or all purpose flour, butter, eggs, lemons and lemon extract or oil. Of course, I love using this microplane as a zester, making for quick and easy fresh lemon zest.

One key to making these light and fluffy is beating the egg whites and then carefully folding them into the batter. Pour 1/2 cup of batter onto a griddle or pan.

Cook until bubbles begin to form on the tops of the pancakes and the bottoms are golden. Be careful flipping them, as they are delicate.

Continue cooking until the pancakes are golden on the other side and dry in the middle.

The recipe says to sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar~~oops, I forgot to do that. However, they were still amazing when served with warm maple syrup and fresh berries.

The recipe states it makes 6 large pancakes, but we made 10 smaller ones with the batter.

I really hope you try this recipe~~it’s one of my favorites!

Lemon Ricotta Pancake Recipe from The Summertime Anytime Cookbook by Dana Slatkin