Ricotta Cinnamon Pancakes

As I was laying in bed way early this morning, tossing and turning to get comfortable, I hear my husband sigh.

“Buddy? (he calls me buddy), are you up?”
“Yes.”

“I can’t sleep.”

“I know, me either. Should we [we really means ‘I’] make pancakes?”

This was 5:30 in the morning, and for the two of us who typically don’t crawl [drag ourselves] out of bed until 7am this wasn’t typical.

Luckily, I had some left over ricotta cheese from earlier in the week that I needed to use up along with an egg white…so I basically had all the ingredients I needed to make some early morning ricotta pancakes. It only took me 10 minutes and we had yummy, fluffy blueberry cinnamon ricotta pancakes.

You know what? It was nice sitting down for breakfast before I sent him off to work…we may have to make this a little tradition.

Ricotta Cinnamon Pancakes
Recipe derived from Cooks.com

Ingredients:
¼ lb. Ricotta cheese
1 egg yolk
2 egg whites
1/3 cup milk
¼ cup flour
Pinch salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Extras:
Blueberries
Canola Oil
Pure Maple Syrup

Directions:

1. Separate egg yolks from the whites. Whip egg whites to stiff peaks.

2. In a separate bowl, break up the egg yolk and whisk in the ricotta cheese and vanilla extract. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Make a well and pour in the milk and lightly stir. Add cinnamon, lightly incorporate. Fold in the egg whites.

3. Turn on a griddle to high and heat up oil (I used canola, you can use vegetable if you want). Pour pancakes in ¼ cup fulls and top with blueberries. Brown on each side, turning once.

4. Serve with pure maple syrup, warmed.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Are we approaching a world of “do it yourself”?

Growing up, my dad was always the ultimate handy man. If something broke, he fixed it. Today, I still consider myself my fathers’ daughter…only not in a sense of ‘fixing’ things, but as the ultimate handy wife in the kitchen. I like doing things myself. Whether it be making my own vanilla extract, rolling out my own chicken stock, making my own ravioli, mashing my own potatoes, and even making my own ricotta cheese. Some may find these projects tedious, but I find them fun.

What you may come to realize by making things yourself is the satisfaction that you can do it, and in the meantime realize…that things taste so much better, fresh. I think we are reaching a new age of ‘fresh foods’, organic, local, or what have you because let’s face it folks, it’s time to get back to the simple way of things. (Oh yeah, it’s probably easier to buy that in the store…but what kind of fun would that be?).

I was so excited when I opened up my January Bon Appétit because they featured a “how to” section on ricotta cheese. The headline alone intrigued me to read it but what actually enticed me to try it was how easy it was…and you won’t believe it’s all from ingredients and tools you most likely have at home.

Really.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese
Recipe from: Bon Appétit, January 2009
Yields: 1 ½ cups

Ingredients:
8 cups whole milk (8 cups= half gallon)
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:
Line a colander with 4 layers of cheesecloth and put over a bowl to collect any drainage. (You can find cheesecloth at just about any grocery store. I found mine at Kroger by all the kitchen tools.)

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, simmer the milk and salt on medium-high heat. Don’t boil it.

Once it simmers, stir in the lemon juice until curds form (This will only take about a minute).

With a slotted spoon, spoon out the curds and put them into the colander lined with cheesecloth. Let them drain for only a minute, then add to a bowl and cover and chill for 3 hours or up to 2 days.

Discard the left over liquid from the sauce pan.