Ricotta-oat-bran pancakes with maple-raspberry sauce: Healthy protein-packed breakfast

We are big pancake fans. If you're a guest in our house, you’re almost guaranteed a pancake or two during your visit. But while the fluffy cakes are oh so tasty, they aren’t necessarily the healthiest breakfast option — unless you're making Chatelaine’s Ricotta-oat-bran pancakes with maple-raspberry sauce.

With ricotta cheese, eggs, and oat bran, these pancakes pack quite the protein punch. They’re also low in sugar (1/4 cup brown sugar) and have plenty of other goodies in them, such as whole-wheat flour, milk, and safflower oil. And the sauce, made from frozen raspberries mixed with a little maple syrup, not only looks pretty drizzled on the cakes but also adds a yummy fresh fruit flavour.

The mix was easy and fast to pull together, even with my mini sous chef up to her elbows in flour. The sauce took longer, but only because the raspberries were still a tad frozen (Tip: thaw slightly in microwave first), which meant having to use a little more muscle to ladle them through the sieve.Then the pulpy raspberry purée gets mixed with maple syrup and set aside. And might I recommend far aside — especially if you have a sweet-toothed kid who thinks nothing of double-dipping.

These pancakes cooked up evenly, albeit less fluffy than the usual cakes we make. However, they were way (way) tastier. The oat bran, ricotta, and whole-wheat flour made them super hearty without feeling heavy, and the maple-raspberry sauce was a perfect combo of sweet and tart. My chef in training declared the pancakes “Pan-tastic!”... a little cheesy, perhaps, but he wasn’t wrong. This is going to be my go-to pancake recipe from here on out.

Try this recipe: Ricotta-oat-bran pancakes with maple-raspberry sauce