A Tale of Two Pancakes

When you go from having no winter to all the winter at once you have to make some pretty quick decisions. Can that trip to the bank wait? Do I have time to get salt for the driveway? And, most importantly, what am I going to make? After shoveling as much as I did, I knew I would need to replenish my carbs, but how? I spied an open container of ricotta and like a snowball to the face, it hit me: ricotta pancakes.

I got the base for my ricotta pancakes from The Kitchn. Follow it exactly; the beaten egg whites take your pancake game to a whole new level. But of course I couldn't stop there. I had things to use in the fridge so I split the batter and made two different versions. In one half, I used a 1/2 cup fresh blueberries, 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of lemon zest. When you top that batch with maple syrup it could easily be a spring day, blossoming with bright lemon and tart blueberry...until you look out the window again. 

In the other half of the batter I added 2 teaspoons of fresh squeezed orange juice, 1 teaspoon of orange zest, and 1 teaspoon of ground ginger. I plopped a dollop  of cinnamon butter on this stack, which was a natural complement to the ginger and orange. It made for a very warm, cozy flavor and I will probably consider adding pecans next time for some crunch. They are superb as they are but I prefer my pancakes studded or stuffed. With me, nothing is ever simple.

The next time you are in charge of breakfast or brunch consider one of these versions of pancake. People will rave for weeks because they are truly unforgettable flavor combinations. Keep warm and until the next dish, ciao!