My family, especially my two kids, love to have breakfast for dinner and one of our favorite things to make is pancakes. After having a few dozen of the plain, yet delicious pancakes I needed a little switch up. I came up with the recipe for Lemon Ricotta Pancakes after being invited up to my Grandparent’s Cabin this summer for their annual pancake breakfast. I decided to surprise them with a fun new pancake and after getting great reviews from all of the pancake breakfast goers (almost 90 this year), I knew I had a new recipe that we will be enjoying for years to come. I love to serve these extra fluffy pancakes with homemade turkey sausages just to round out the meal.
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blackberry Thyme Syrup and Homemade Turkey Sausages
Serves 4
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
1 cup low fat ricotta cheese
1 lemon, zested
1 cup fat free milk
2 cups Pancake mix, such as Bisquick
2 eggs, separated
Combine the ricotta cheese, lemon zest, milk and pancake mix. Mix in the 2 egg yolks, mixture will be thick. In a separate bowl whip egg whites to stiff peaks. Gently fold in the egg whites in to the ricotta cheese mixture. Let mixture sit for 10 minutes. Preheat griddle over medium heat. Spray pan and add ¼ cup dollops of the pancake batter to the pan. Let pancakes cook 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Pancakes should be nice and fluffy when done. Sever hot with regular maple syrup or with the Blackberry Thyme Syrup for an extra gourmet touch.
Blackberry Thyme Syrup
1 cup fresh or frozen Blackberries
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 sprigs fresh Thyme
1 T water
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. cold water
In a sauce pan combine the Blackberries, lemon juice, sugar, thyme, and the 1 T water. Bring to a bubble over medium heat just to dissolve the sugar and break down the berries ever so slightly. Turn off heat and let the thyme sprigs steam in the syrup for 10 minutes, then remove. Bring berries back to a boil. In a small bowl combine the cornstarch and 1 tsp. water, stir in to berries and return to a boil. Once syrup has thickened, pour over the hot Lemon Ricotta Pancakes.
Turkey Sausage
Makes 8 patties
1-1lb roll of lean turkey sausage
1 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. whole fennel seeds
1 tsp. kosher salt
½-1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Make 8 2 oz. patties. In a preheated skillet over medium to medium high heat add 1 tsp. vegetable oil and brown off patties until cooked through, this should take about 5-6 min a side. Serve hot.
