Fluffy, lemony ricotta pancakes are shaped like hearts and drizzled with strawberry maple syrup for a Valentine’s Day breakfast that will make your sweetheart swoon.
Are you a Valentine’s Day lover or a Valentine’s Day hater?
Frankly, I’m a fan of any holiday that encourages eating a boatload of heart-shaped sugar cookies. I’ll celebrate Valentine’s Day every day if it means getting to eat my weight in sugar cookies.
I can feel Boyfriend shuddering at that thought as I type.
You know who else is a fan of Valentine’s Day? The rest of my 12 Months – 12 Bloggers – 12 Ingredients friends! In case you missed the announcement in January, on the 12 of each month during 2014, I will be joining 11 other bloggers in posting a recipe with 12 ingredients or less, all tied around a monthly theme. And you guessed it…February’s theme was Sweet Valentine Treats!
I considered all of the heart-themed items I could have shared with you today…most of which were desserts, I cannot lie. But instead I decided to share with you a recipe that would make a perfect Valentine’s Day breakfast for your honey – or a perfect breakfast for the following morning. Whichever floats your boat the most. 😉
The base of our breakfast is a stack of fluffy Lemon Ricotta Pancakes – just barely sweet, and bursting with lemon flavor from both zest and juice. The ricotta cheese makes them sinful without having to add any extra fat to the batter, and the whipped egg whites lighten up the batter to make them into perfect little pillows. Trust me, it’s an extra step that you don’t want to skip. But the thing that brings them all together? This incredibly easy Strawberry Maple Syrup. We’re just taking strawberry preserves and heating it together with some pure maple syrup. The result is a warm syrup with bright notes of strawberry married with maple goodness. Paired with the lemony pancakes…oh, my. This might be Heaven in a pancake stack.
Oh – and if you’re going to make pancakes on Valentine’s Day, you know they better be heart-shaped. It’s just a rule.
Make sure to check out the Valentine-friendly recipes created by my fellow bloggers – you’ll have no shortage of ideas for spoiling your Valentine this year!
Easy Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Hearts from Choosing Love
Sweetheart Popcorn from A Night Owl
Queen of Hearts Chex Mix from Bless This Mess
Valentine’s Jello Popcorn Balls from Mom Endeavors
Valentine’s Chocolate Chip Cookies from Around My Family Table
Heart Shaped Pretzels from Betsy Life
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Strawberry Maple Syrup from Eat Your Heart Out
Heart Shaped Strawberry Shortcake from See Vanessa Craft
Mini Heart-Shaped Monkey Bread from Home Cooking Memories
Raspberry Cream Tart from A Little Claireification
Rice Crispy Hearts from The Rebel Chick
Nutella Filled Conversation Hearts from Million Moments
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Strawberry Maple Syrup
Ingredients
For the pancakes:
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs separated
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup half-and-half
- Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
- Butter for griddle
For the syrup:
- 1/2 cup strawberry preserves
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the strawberry preserves and the maple syrup. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Lower heat and keep warm until serving.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the egg yolks, ricotta cheese, half-and-half, and lemon zest and juice. Add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.
- In a third bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer on medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed to high and beat until they hold stiff peaks. Gently fold into the batter 1/3 at a time until combined.
- Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium-high heat. Butter the hot griddle, then wipe off excess butter with a paper towel - you want just enough to very lightly flavor the pancakes and prevent them from sticking, not so much as to fry them. Ladle pancake batter onto the prepared griddle about 1/4 to 1/3 cup at a time. Cook on the first side until bubbles form and start to pop, 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook until golden on both sides, another 2 (or so) minutes.
- Serve warm with the warm strawberry maple syrup.
Notes
Yes, yes! A thousand times yes! But I’d best double the syrup, because someone in this house would use 3/4 cup for their first serving. 😉
Ha! I almost wrote that suggestion in the notes.
Those look delicious! I would totally make them for a nice brunch with the mister 🙂
Just make sure not to eat them all before you get them to the table 😉
Unbelievable! I’ve been wanting to try ricotta pancakes ever since Aida Mollenkamp admitted ricotta pancakes are her favorite. I’ve gotta get on this bandwagon!
Oh you must do it! I don’t want to eat another kind of pancake ever again!
These sound and look amazing!!
Awwww yeah, lemon ricotta pancakes are my fave! SO FLUFFY. And anything heart-shaped just gets my girly side.
I love pancakes and yours look so pretty! I’ve made pancakes with ricotta before!
I’ve never made a ricotta pancake before, but I’ve got to try them now! I love that they are lemon too…one of my all -time favorite flavors.
Oh they are so divine! You must give then a try.
I’m having a fantasy about a plate of these heart shaped lemon ricotta pancakes with strawberry maple yum in my tum sitting on the table waiting for me Valentine’s Day morning. How did you get them to be such perfect hearts??? I love lemon and ricotta and strawberry and pancakes, and these are just….just perfect.Is it okay if I call them Lemon RicOHtta pancakes? I feel like this is one of those instances ricaaaahtta can appropriately be pronounced ricOHtta, correct me if I’m wrong 😉
As a side note, I love the 12 ingredient idea and this batch of VDay delish has gotten me all fired up for the holiday!
Goads would totally approve of saying ricOHtta. 🙂 and metal cookie cutters to the shaped pancake rescue!
Julia, I was sitting there eating them and thinking about you and your love for pancakes and then wished you were helping us eat these (even though they aren’t gluten free). They are some of the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten. Like fluffy clouds with strawberry syrup. Of course, it didn’t hurt that I used my homemade strawberry jam. My great-grandfather would have approved. You must try them.
I love all things lemon and these sound divine! Pinned!
Our lemon trees are full of beautiful ripe lemons right now…I know what’s in their future this weekend! YUM!
The fact that you have lemon trees makes me crazy jealous
I love those soft batch, heart shaped sugar cookies too, but I also LOOOOOVE lemon ricotta pancakes! These are so cute.
So pretty! I never thought to add whipped egg whites. I have to try this recipe as soon as me and my fave meal, breakfast, are reunited.
They lighten the batter so much, it’s crazy! You’ll love these. Mmm, breakfast.
Found you on G+! These look delicious and I’ve been craving pancakes like no other lately!
Great to have you, Lauren! Thanks for stopping by! Sometimes you just NEED a stack of pancakes, amiright?
What a lovely breakfast/brunch recipe. I am loving the flavor combinations. Thank you for joining us at #purebloglove. We enjoy having you every week on Thursday night at 8PM through Sunday night. ~Cydnee