Don't be intimidated by this one just because it has the added step of making your own vegan ricotta. No one got anywhere in life by being too afraid to make a damn pancake.

Makes 12 pancakes (It's a double recipe because you'll want LOTS of these.)

1 1/2 cups cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/8 - 1/4 cup water

3 cups flour

2 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

4 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp lemon juice

3 cups almond or soy milk

4 Tbsp oil

1/2 tsp lemon extract

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup vegan ricotta

First prep the vegan ricotta by putting your cashews, nutritional yeast, sugar, salt, lemon juice and 1/8 cup of water in a food processor. Pulse a few times then scrape down the sides. Blend the cashew mixture until it's fairly smooth but not creamy. Add more water if needed but it should not be soupy.  This recipe will make about 1 cup of ricotta. While the pancake recipe only calls for half a cup, you can always put a dollop of ricotta on top of the pancakes or keep it in the fridge for the next day when you want to make these pancakes again!

For the pancakes mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt in a large bowl. 

In a medium bowl combine your lemon juice and almond or soy milk to make vegan buttermilk. Stir and let it sit a minute.

Add the oil, lemon extract and lemon zest to the milk mixture and stir to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and gently combine with a spoon or spatula stirring about 10 times. 

After these first 10 strokes, add your vegan ricotta to the mix by dropping it into the batter by a teaspoon at a time throughout the surface. Now finish mixing the batter with roughly an additional 10 strokes.

Do not over-mix your batter. It should only take no more than 20 strokes to combine and you want to leave some clumps of flour and ricotta. 

Allow the batter to rest for about 10 minutes before you start to cook your pancakes. While the batter is resting, this is a good time to think about which queen you're rooting for on the new season of RuPaul's Drag Race. You can test your griddle to see if it's hot enough by flicking a few drops of water on it. If they immediately sizzle and evaporate, you should be good to go.

Lightly grease the griddle and pour the batter onto it forming pancakes that are roughly 4 to 5 inches in diameter. Once you see the edges of the pancake start to look dry and you see some bubbles coming up to the top, flip the pancake and cook the other side until it's golden brown.

As you make the pancakes, keep them warm in a low temperature oven.

Serve them with vegan margarine or a dollop of your leftover ricotta and real maple syrup.  

Nutritional information: Per pancake 302 cal., 7.5 g protein, 19.25 g fat