Ricotta Hotcakes; a recipe

“But then we did not think of ourselves as poor. We did not accept it. We thought we were superior people and other people that we looked down on and rightly mistrusted were rich.”
-Ernest Hemingway, “A False Spring,” A Moveable Feast

Every day I notice three things that people seem to be chiefly concerned about ; their waistline, their hip-pocket, and their image. It is entirely possible that this is because of my age, and that these are simply the chief concerns of my peers, but I maintain a fairly wide circle of diversity around me, and venture into society at large from time to time, and my observations remain the same. It doesn’t take long to check out the latest facebook updates – you’ll see that the majority are about looking great, making people think you’re great, having a new thing, or complaining over a lack of new things.

I find myself wondering once again if things have always been this way, or if this is just a symptom of our information rich age. I’m studying sociology for Uni at the moment, and have read that the industrial revolution is to blame for this. When people stopped working for their community, providing a product or service, and began working for individuals and corporations, selling themselves as labour, they began to become more individually focused, perhaps even more self-centred. If I’m honest, I have to say, I find this a little suffocating. The overwhelming theme of so much of the personal content on the web is dissatisfaction.

People tweet about what they’re craving, they write witty comments about what they wish they had, and they sit on Facebook dreaming of a life they don’t lead. I am as guilty as anyone else of doing this, but I admit I have a problem, and that’s the first step on the road to recovery. I’m trying to change my point of view. I often dream of a bohemian life in Paris/Milan/London/Big Sur/Marrakesh/New York/Everest Base Camp/Switzerland and there’s nothing wrong with wanting that. But feeling dissatisfied with your own corner of the world, now that’s a problem. That’s no way to live a life! My family recently lost two people whom we loved dearly, and I can say from the bottom of my heart that neither of them would have countenanced this mind set.

So, out of love and respect for both of them, I say, no more. I will try and squeeze everything I can out of my corner of the world, until I can get out into the rest of it. So today, I make pancakes. Ricotta Hotcakes, that is. I’m writing this even before I’ve made them, so I’m pre-emptively going to tell you that they’re delicious, because I’ve made them before and I know it! I look forward to eating them, photographing them, and sharing this post on the world wide web with you. I am going to try and live up to the quote from Hemmingway at the start of this post, a writer who I have come begrudgingly to love. I think he would have liked these hot cakes.

Ricotta Hotcakes an original recipe by Sarah @ The Sugar Hit

3/4 cup plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, seperated
3/4 cup buttermilk
150g Ricotta


In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder and sugar and whisk to combine. Add the egg yolks, and the buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir well to combine, being sure there are no lumps.
In a seperate bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff. Crumble the ricotta over the batter in the original bowl into large pieces, and dollop about a third of the egg whites on top of this.
Fold briskly together to loosen the mixture and disperse the ricotta. Add in the remaining egg whites and bowl gently fold together, trying not to break up the ricotta too much.
Cook large spoonfuls at a time in a non-tick pan over medium heat, for about 2 to 3 minutes at a time. Serve straight out of the pan with the topping of your choice!