Ricotta Hotcakes with Whipped Honey Butter

We spent most of yesterday in the ED with our son who has a suspected fractured wrist. I got the call from school in the late afternoon to say he had hurt his wrist landing awkwardly during a game of basketball and would likely need an x-ray.  We went straight from the school bus to the hospital and arrived home six hours later in the dark, hungry and tired.  I scrounged some bits and pieces together for a hastily made late supper of vegetable wraps before we all went to bed.  I let him sleep-in this morning and gave him the day off school to recover from the trauma and the late night.  We enjoyed a late, indulgent breakfast of these super fluffy hotcakes with the most divine whipped honey butter, to make up for the deprivation of yesterday.  The x-rays were inconclusive, so he is in a cast and will have another x-ray in a week to see if there has been any movement, indicating a fracture.  Until then, we need to treat it like a fracture... Though I noticed he didn't seem to have any difficulty using a knife and fork!



Ricotta Hotcakes with Whipped Honey Butter
slightly adapted from here
Serves 6 - 8

For the Whipped Honey Butter:
125g unsalted butter
1 - 2 tablespoon honey (depending on how sweet you like it)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Hotcakes:
1 1/3 cups fresh ricotta
3/4 milk
4 eggs, separated
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch sea salt
Butter, to cook the hotcakes

To Serve:
Icing sugar

Make the Whipped Honey Butter:
Put all the ingredients into a small food processor and blitz until smooth.  Spoon into a serving dish and set aside.


Make the Hotcakes:
Put the ricotta, milk and egg yolks into a bowl and whisk to break up the ricotta and yolks and set aside.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.  Add the ricotta mixture and mix until just combined.

Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold them into the batter in two batches.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat.  Put a knob of butter on the end of a fork and smear the surface of the hot pan with it.  Use just enough to lightly coat the pan.  Drop 2 tablespoons of mixture per hotcake into the pan, cooking two at a time.  Cook on the first side for 2 minutes, until golden, then flip and cook on the second side until golden and cooked through.

To Serve:
Stack hotcakes onto plates, generously dollop with whipped honey butter and sprinkle with icing sugar.  Sliced fruit or berries would be nice too.