When we think of breakfast foods, nothing takes a more prominent place center stage than pancakes. Whether you call it a hotcake, griddlecake, flapjack or pankay, there’s no denying how deliciously intoxicating the smell of warm butter is as it wafts in the air and surrounds your senses — making your mouth water that much more. It’s said that the Ancient Greeks made pancakes (or their version of the pancake, recipes change over time), and that the earliest record of a pancake ancestor dates back to fifth century BC (so the 400s).

Truth be told, no two pancakes are alike: what North Americans like to eat is not the same as what South Asians like to eat or what Africans like to eat. So if you’re ever traveling to a different country, run a quick search on the kind of pancakes they make just to be safe (and mitigate expectations). Below, the kind folks at The Cheesecake Factory have shared with us their recipe for their piquant Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes.

©Mae Mu / Unsplash

Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes by The Cheesecake Factory

Ingredients:

Servings: 8 Pancakes

• 1 ¾ cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Tbl. Baking Powder
• 1 tsp. Kosher Salt
• 1 ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 ea. Eggs
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 2 Tbls. Vegetable Oil
• 2 cups Fresh Ricotta Cheese
• 4 Tbls. Granulated Sugar
• 2 Tbls. Lemon Zest (minced)
• 2 ½ tsps. Vegetable Oil

Preparations:

1. Place the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir all of the ingredients together until evenly combined. Set aside.
2. Pour the buttermilk into another mixing bowl. Add the eggs, vanilla and oil into the bowl.
3. Add the ricotta cheese, sugar and lemon zest into the bowl with the buttermilk. Using a wire whisk, gently stir the ingredients together until evenly combined.
4. Add the flour mix into the bowl with the buttermilk and ricotta cheese. Continue to fold the ingredients together until evenly combined with a few small lumps remaining in the batter. Do not over mix the batter.
5. Heat 1/4 tsp. of vegetable oil on a griddle or in a large non-stick pan. Using a 4 oz. ladle, pour the batter onto the griddle or into the non-stick pan, forming one pancake that is 6” in diameter.
6. Cook the pancakes for approximately 2-1/2 minutes or until the edges begin to dry and puff up with little air bubbles will start appearing over the top surface of the pancakes.
7. Flip each pancake over and continue to cook for another 1-1/2 minutes or until done.