Orange Rosemary Pancakes

Sometimes you have extra rosemary sitting around from a recipe you made for dinner the night before. And while you could go look up ideas for another dinner recipe that uses rosemary…why not just make pancakes instead?

That’s how these pancakes came into my life. I happened to have extra rosemary, oranges and milk. None of those things are typically in my kitchen so really: these pancakes had to happen. Right then, right there.

These pancakes are a scrumptious brunch treat that’s great for a slow Sunday, Easter brunch or any other time you have a hankering for pancakes. Which, at least in my world, is a pretty regular occurrence. The ricotta gives the pancakes a fabulous, pillowy texture and the orange/rosemary combo is a really nice pairing of fruit with a more herbal flavor.

These require a few steps to get breakfast on the table, but it’s worth it. You need a bit of lead time, because step one is infusing your milk with the rosemary. Steeping the rosemary in milk gives your pancakes a subtler rosemary flavor than if you folded bits of rosemary into the batter itself. This recipe also requires you to whip egg whites to medium peaks. That doesn’t take very long, but you do need to pay close attention to get your peaks justtt right. Thanks to this wonderful internet thing, I’ve found some great egg white tutorials, like this visual guide from The Kitchn.

The original recipe calls for a lavender whipped cream topping. We didn’t do that part (a.k.a. I didn’t have any lavender sitting around) but it sure sounds delicious!

Original recipe: This is a Sweet Blog. I’ve rewritten things a bit and added commentary.

Yield: We got 8 pancakes out of this, but your yield obviously depends on how big you make your pancakes!

Suggested equipment: Mixer

Total Time: ~45 minutes

Cook Time: ~4 minutes per pancake, but will depend on your stove

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 cup ricotta
• 2 large eggs, with the yolks and whites separated into separate bowls
• 2 tbsp fresh orange juice
• 1 tbsp orange zest

Directions

Prep your milk

1. Pour your milk into a saucepan and throw the rosemary sprigs on top
2. Heat the pan until it starts to simmer, then remove from heat
3. Let your milk cool for 15 minutes. Then, remove the rosemary sprigs. You can strain the milk if needed to get out extra bits of rosemary

Make your batter

1.  Whisk your flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl
2. In a separate bowl, whisk your milk, ricotta, egg yolks, orange juice and zest
3. Fold your dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing until it’s all just incorporated. You should still see small lumps in the batter
4. Now, whip your egg whites with a hand mixer or stand mixer, until they form medium peaks
5. Whisk the egg whites into the bowl of batter. When you’re done whisking, there should still be slight traces of egg white whips visible

Cook your pancakes

1. Butter a pan, and heat it up to medium heat
2. Pour your batter into the pan and let it fry until small bubbles appear on the top. Then, flip it over and fry for one more minute on the other side