Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes

So, the other week after menu planning and doing all my grocery shopping I realized mid-week that I had come home with a carton or ricotta and totally forgotten what I bought it for. I checked over my menu and didn't find anything there I was planning on using it for so I turned my thoughts toward what I could make with it.

Naturally I went with pancakes. By now, there's hardly a pancake I haven't made, but these just sounded too delicious to not make a go of it. My girls aren't fans of chunks of fruit in their pancakes, in fact the only add-ins they'll usually go for is chocolate chips-go figure! So, in favor of my daughters' no chunky things in pancakes, I opted to puree the strawberries for this one and it SO worked in my favor. The girls were over the top that these pancakes came out pink(-ish).

When I presented my oldest daughter with a short stack of these, just like in the photo, she literally thought she had died and gone to heaven! She somehow got out of that that it was her special party day and she kept telling her friends all day long about it. If that doesn't convince you to try these, I don't know what will.

I love that the ricotta in these pancakes not only gives it that hint of cheesecake flavor, but makes them really moist. You can use whatever syrup you'd like on these. In lieu of making strawberry syrup I just decided to thin out some strawberry freezer jam to pour over the top and it worked out perfectly. And, of course topping it off with sweetened whipped cream is just like the icing on the cake...but totally optional...especially if it's a weekday.


Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup ricotta cheese
3 eggs, separated
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup pureed strawberries
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted*
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar

In a mixing bowl, combine combine buttermilk, ricotta, egg yolks, vanilla and strawberry puree. Whisk to combine well. Add in flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and stir just to combine. (*Note: I don't usually sift my flour for pancakes but I did it the first time and not the second and it made a difference.)

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add 1/3 of the egg whites to batter and whisk to combine. Then add the rest of the whites and gently fold them into the batter.

Heat griddle. Drop batter by 1/4 cup onto the griddle and cook until bubbles start to form and sides are looking dry. Flip and continue cooking another 2 minutes or so.

Serve warm with syrup of your choice and whipped cream, if desired.

SOURCE: Adapted from Annie's Eats