Saturday pancakes

You ever have a weekday that you wished was a saturday? When you look at the alarm clock as it's beeping at you and just pray that it could magically stop and turn your morning into weekend snoozefest?

For me, today was one of those days. It would be a perfect day to sleep in till about 10:30, turn on some cartoons and really enjoy and savor my favorite meal of the day, breakfast. Every one who knows me will tell you there are few things that make me happier than a great breakfast with a nice big cup of strong coffee and some fresh juice. One of my most favorite breakfast foods are pancakes. Easy to make and sure to please almost anyone, pancakes are generally my go-to breakfast food when I want to show my friends how much I care (even though they are like, retarded easy to make).

Now, to make truly great pancakes, you GOTTA make them from scatch. And no, I’m not one of those people who look down my nose at boxed pancake mix. Pancakes from a box have their place. But when it’s so easy to make y0ur own pancakes from scratch and you’re given so much flexibility in doing so, boxed pancake mix loses a lot of its appeal.

Here’s my favorite recipe for pancakes that’s both easy to make an enjoyed by many. Don’t worry about the fact that you’re putting cheese into your pancakes. You won’t taste it at all. I don’t know what it is about the ricotta cheese, but it makes the pancakes super moist and perfect. They’ll make you wish every day was a Saturday.

Ricotta Pancakes

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 1/2 cup ricotta
* 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
* 2 large eggs
* 2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed orange juice (you can substitute regular oj in here too)
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* Unsalted butter
* 12 ripe strawberries, sliced
* Pure maple syrup

Directions

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the ricotta, milk, eggs, vanilla, and orange juice. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing only until combined.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat until it bubbles. Ladle the pancake batter into the pan to make 3 or 4 pancakes. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and the underside is nicely browned. Flip the pancakes and then cook for another minute until browned. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, add more butter to the pan, and continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used. Serve with sliced strawberries, butter and maple syrup.