Blue redux: Fluffy ricotta pancakes with honeyed blueberry sauce

No, as a matter of fact, I haven’t yet had my fill of blueberries.

The season is getting long in the tooth, but the stragglers still trickle in, and they make for a delectable honey-spiked sauce that really dresses up a pancake.

Unfortunately, we are not really a house full of pancake people. We love America’s favorite breakfast food as much as the next family, but refined-flour, syrup-sweetened flapjacks don’t love us. To be honest, you do not want to hang around a post-pancake me. An hour after I eat them I have a sugar crash, and then I’m grumpy, woozy, and hungry all day. Yes, we live a sad and mostly pancake-free existence—or rather lived, because I found a solution: ricotta. 

Ricotta cheese is mild, and the slightest bit sweet. If you have ever set foot in a kitchen, or know someone who has, you have seen it work well in a variety of dishes, from pasta to cheesecake. Most important to me is the fact that ricotta put hotcakes back on the menu. Combined with the eggs in this recipe it packs the protein that many people require to get them all the way to lunch, while still allowing you (ok, me) to enjoy something that tastes and feels like a genuine pancake.

While it's true that cheese in flapjack form is a huge selling point for the simple-carb-intolerant among us, the word ricotta doesn’t usually belong in the same sentence with “fluffy.” Some ricotta-based recipes are very heavy, resulting in a final product that can best be described as leaden. Turns out the cure for that is beaten egg whites. They add a nice puff of air to the batter that makes it almost soufflé-like, so you won’t feel as if you’ve just eaten a 2-year-old’s mud pie.

Pour a cup of coffee and dig in.

Honeyed blueberry sauce

2 cups fresh blueberries

1/4 to 1/3 cup honey, depending on the sweetness of the berries

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Stir the blueberries, honey, lemon zest, and juice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Stir occasionally until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. (You want the sauce thickened, but not so thick that the juices have turned to jam.) Remove from heat and set aside.

Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes


makes 8, recipe adapted from The Kitchn

1 cup ricotta cheese

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

pinch salt

3/4 cup milk

3 eggs, separated

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

About 30 minutes before you start cooking, set the ricotta in a fine mesh strainer, to drain off excess liquid.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, nutmeg, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Combine ricotta, milk, egg yolks, and vanilla in a separate bowl. 
Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Add the dry ingredients to the ricotta mixture, stirring gently until just combined. There will be some lumps. Don’t over mix, or you’ll end up with a tough cake. Whisk in a small amount of the egg whites—just a few tablespoons—to lighten the batter, then gently fold in the remaining whites. You don’t want to stir because you’ll force out all that air the egg whites have captured for you.

Heat a griddle over medium-high heat, and brush the surface with oil. Use a 1/3 cup dry measure to pour batter onto the griddle, flattening slightly if necessary. Cook pancakes for about 3 or 4 minutes, then flip, cooking until both sides are golden brown.

Serve topped with warm blueberry sauce and sprinkled with powdered sugar.