whole wheat & oatmeal ricotta pancakes

The other night was brinner night in our household at the request of our two year old son. He hadn’t been eating all that great, which made the fact that he asked for something specific all the more surprising. Plus, he was so polite about it that I couldn’t say no.

Still, I wanted to do something to give them a little more nutrition, so I dug deep into my bag of tricks and decided to throw ricotta cheese into the mix to give them a little more protein. When my wife was pregnant with him I used to make her these tasty, yet dense, ricotta pancakes from a recipe in a pregnancy cookbook I bought.

It’s been a while since I’ve made those and I really wanted to find a way to lighten them up a little. After doing a little research on the Internet I found the framework I was looking for in a recipe on Food and Wine’s website and went to work.

A lot of mixing, whisking, beating and flipping later I put a light, yet flavorful stack of whole wheat and oatmeal ricotta pancakes on our kitchen table and the family went to work on them. After her first bite my wife remarked that they were as light as air.

Upon further investigation she decided that I had just made the Krispy Kreme of pancakes. And, at the risk of sounding like a braggart, she was right. They practically melted into your mouth so much so that chewing was almost optional.

I’m not going to lie, that was one of my proudest moments as the family chef.

Whole Wheat and Oatmeal Ricotta Pancakes

adapted from a Food and Wine recipe

Software

¾ cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup oatmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons Kosher salt
3 large eggs, separated
1 ¾ cups milk
¾ cup part skim ricotta cheese
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon melted butter
fresh banana slices (optional)

Assemblage

• Combine whole wheat flour, oatmeal, baking powder and salt in a bowl, then set aside
• Whisk together the egg yolks, milk, ricotta cheese, sugar, vanilla extract and butter
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until smooth
• Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then fold the egg whites into the rest of the batter until no streaks remain
• Ladle out a ¼ cup of batter onto a hot griddle or pan and cook until the bottom is golden brown and the top has just begun to set (1 to 2 minutes), then flip to finish

Variations on a Theme

When I was making the original ricotta cheese pancakes for my wife they were sweetened with orange marmalade rather than sugar. The hint of orange was nice and I think that the next time I make these I will use orange extract instead of vanilla and will grate in some orange zest to enhance things. You could also exchange the banana for any type of fresh fruit that you choose.