Have I mentioned how much I love summer! It yields all of my favorite fruits, and picking our own makes me feel so much more accomplished!
Every year in May we drive 45 minutes north to a local organic blueberry farm and we pick blueberries until we can no longer stand the heat.
We live in Florida, so by May the temps are easily already into the 90s. This means we maybe can last an hour tops before everyone is melting and miserable. The heat, and bugs are well worth the reward, though.
Affordable, beautiful, organic blueberries, pound and pounds of them. I have 4 kids, so thats a lot of hands for picking!
So instead of just making the obvious but favorite blueberry pancake this weekend, I decided to step up my game, and made these beautiful and delicious vegan lemon blueberry compote pancakes with sweet lemon ricotta! I am always looking for recipes to pile sweet tofu ricotta on top of, and these pancakes were the perfect fit.
They were such a hit that I have a feeling we will be eating these all summer! I mean after all, we have 16 lbs of blueberries to get through!!!
If it happens to not be summer time or you can’t get your hands on fresh blueberries, no worries, frozen will work just as well. Like I said, we picked a ton and there will still be some in my freezer come winter. I really love making recipes like this in the colder months as a bright and happy pick me up.
In the south, winter time is actually citrus season, so finding nice fresh lemons in the winter months should be super easy!! I end up making a lot of citrus themed recipes in the winter, which is perfect for cold and flu season. We need all the vitamin C we can get to fight off all those sniffles!!
INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 tablespoons white sugar (If vegan, not plant based, make sure the brand you use is in fact vegan, not all white sugars are. I use Florida Crystals)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups plant based milk
2 tablespoons melted vegan butter
zest from 1 lemon
3/4 cups fresh or thawed frozen blueberries
Lemon Ricottta:
1 block firm tofu
1/4 cup maple syrup, or a few tablespoons agave
Juice from 1 lemon
zest from 1 lemon
Blueberry Compote:
1 and 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cups refined sugar
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:
For the compote: place blueberries and sugar in a medium sauce pan over medium. Mash up the blueberries some using the back of a spoon. Allow the berries to come to a simmer. Let them continue to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and allowing the liquid to reduce. After 20 minutes turn off the stove and let the berries cool in the pot.
For the pancakes: Whisk all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add in the melted butter, plant based milk, vanilla, and stir well.
Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Add a teaspoon of vegan butter or spray the pan with cooking oil. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop out batter into the skillet, 2 or 3 pancakes at time. Sprinkle 4-5 blueberries on top of each pancakes. This works better than mixing them into the batter because they like to sink to the bottom.
Let pancakes cook until tiny bubbles begin to form and pop, once this happens they are ready to flip. Cook on the other side for another minute or two, until cooked through.
Repeat, adding more butter or oil to the pan as needed, until all batter is used.
For the ricotta: Drain the tofu, and break it into a few pieces. Add it along with the sweetener, lemon juice, and zest to a high speed blender, and blend until creamy and smooth.
To serve, stack 3 or 4 pancakes and top with blueberry compote, lemon tofu ricotta, and extra lemon zest if you like.
Serves 4 - 6.
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