Lemon Souffle Pancakes

The only thing better than waking up and realizing it's Saturday is waking up and realizing you actually managed to sleep in on a Saturday. Usually, I do savoury breakfasts, but for Christmas I wanted something special and sweet instead. I found this recipe on Christmas eve, but quickly ruled in out because it requires ricotta. Sadly, I ran out of butter and eggs over Christmas as well, so pancakes in general were put on hold. Fast-forward a month and half, and I found myself this morning with extra ricotta in the fridge and all of the other ingredients on hand. The wait was worth it. These pancakes are light and fluffy with just a hint of lemon (you may want to up the lemon slightly even). I scaled the recipe down to an amount that serves 2 (scaled version below). I also used regular milk instead of buttermilk without bothering to make a substitute as the amounts are so small.

One year ago: Variations on Sun-dried Tomatoes, Spinach, Feta, and Pine Nuts

Lemon Souffle Pancakes (from Gourmet Today)

Ingredients
3/4 cups flour (cake is ideal, but I don't keep it on hand)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
zest of one lemon
2 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup whole-milk ricotta
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp lemon juice (I used 1 which was underscaled and thought it could use more)
1/4 cup milk (or buttermilk)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
oil for brushing griddle
confectioners' sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 200F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and zest.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks, ricotta, melted butter, lemon juice, butter, and vanilla.
4. Whisk flour mixture into wet mixture.
5. Beat egg whites with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks.
6. Fold 1/3 of whites into batter.
7. Fold in remaining whites, gently but thoroughly.
8. Heat griddle or 12" heavy skillet over moderate heat. Brush with oil.
9. Drop 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto griddle and cook until bubbles appear and undersides are golden, 1 - 2 minutes. Flip and cook until undersides are golden and pancakes are cooked through, 1 - 2 minutes.
10. Transfer to a heatproof platter and keep warm, uncovered in the oven while you cook the rest of the pancakes. Brush the griddle with more oil as needed.
11. Dust pancakes with sugar before serving. Some fresh raspberries would also be amazing with these!