Smooth Ricotta Pancakes with Red Berries and Homemade Peanut Butter

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone. I know many people do not like this commercial holiday, but I do. It doesn’t have to relate to a romantic love only. Love is the most important thing in my life, and that’s why I like to celebrate it anyway. This year I prepare for you Smooth Ricotta Pancakes, which are a great treat for all: kids, adults and elderly. I topped it off with a beautiful strawberry-cranberry marmalade and homemade peanut butter. Let’s dig in and enjoy the day of love!

Smooth Ricotta Pancakes are suitable for kids from the age of 2, because of a possible egg white intolerance.

Total Time: 1 hour

The Ricotta Pancakes

In a large mixing bowl place flour with baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix.

Stir in the Ricotta Cheese, egg yolks, milk, buttermilk and olive oil. Mix with a mixer until there are no lumps within, for about 2 minutes of high speed.

Next, place the egg whites into a small metal bowl and whisk into firm snow peaks. If it doesn’t thicken, just add a pinch of salt.

Add the snow into the pancake batter in 2 parts. Mix with a spatula until you get a homogeneous texture. Done.

Heat up a dry non sticking frying pan/a pancake pan on medium heat. Start making a pancake of your desirable form. No rules there.

The Red Berry Marmalade

Meanwhile your pancakes are baking, place the berries into a small deep pan on medium heat.

Add honey, cinnamon and rum. Cover with a lid and wait until the berry mix starts working. Then, uncover and mix occasionally. First, it gets foamy, then it reduces and becomes a sticky marmalade texture. If you want it to be more jelly like, press with a potato masher. Taste and mold into a clean glass jar. Once it is cooled down, you can refrigerate it for a couple of days.

Homemade Peanut Butter

Is that a tricky part? I don’t know. You can always buy a store-bought jar of peanut butter, but with the homemade you really know what you put in it. You can also roast unsalted peanuts yourself, exactly how I once did with the hazelnuts. However, to have a package of roasted peanuts is gentler for your blender. Trust me on that.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place hazelnuts in a small baking tray and roast them in the oven for about 7 minutes until they smell.

Then, take them out and transfer into a colander. Shake until the skins are loose. Fish them out and put the nuts in a blender. Blend and smell. Awesome, isn’t it?

The secret is to blend it in parts. Do not blend it all at once, if you don’t want to destroy your machine. Peanuts in. Blend for about 1 minute into a crumbly texture. Break.

After 2 minutes, blend again until creamier texture. Break.

Add honey, salt and splash of oil at a time. Blend.

It is starting to look like peanut butter. Taste and blend.

In the finale, it needs to have a really smooth and creamy texture. So you can layer it straight away. Mold the peanut butter into a small and clean glass jar and you can refrigerate it for couple of days.

Presentation

Once the pancakes are done, serve them immediately. No limits to imagination: top them up with My Red Berry Marmalade and sprinkle with hazelnuts.

You can also layer them with My Homemade Peanut Butter and marmalades or bacon of your desires. Enjoy with a cup of coffee.

Makes 12 medium pancakes, 1 medium glass jar of marmalade and 1 small glass jar of peanut butter.