These light and fluffy pancakes are a recipe from my mom that has really caught on in the restaurant, and in my own life. Many may disagree with me, but I think they taste better without syrup - just with some melted butter. You must understand that I have nothing whatever against syrup. We buy pure maple syrup from Canada, and we go through a 5 gallon pail every week! I love excuses for eating maple syrup, but ricotta pancakes are not necessarily one of them. 1 c. ricotta 1/3 c. cottage cheese, sm. curd 2/3 c. white flour 2 pinches salt 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 3/4 c. milk

With an electric mixer, mix together all the ingredients except the egg whites until thoroughly blended. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry and fold into mixture.

Pour enough batter on a greased griddle to form a 3 inch pancake. Let it cook until bubbles pop on the top, about 1 1/2 minutes. (There will only be a few bubbles, not the many that are typical of regular pancakes.) Flip and cook another 1 1/4 minutes, until golden brown. Do not press down on the pancakes to "speed up" the cooking. They don't like it; they have to take their own sweet time. (This is also true of hamburgers, by the way.)

If you make the batter ahead of time, keep it in the refrigerator until the moment it is used; this will keep the pancakes from deflating. Do not make batter more than 6 hours ahead of time for best results.