A couple weeks ago, I was joking around with a coworker that I would accept food-related bribes. This particular coworker happens to be a beekeeper and I’ve bought honey from him a couple times. He told me he had leftover honeycomb and I asked if he could bring me some. He brought it into work late last week and I spent the whole weekend using it in different recipes.

I’m going to do a roundup of all the ways to use honeycomb later this week on the blog but I thought I’d start with this recipe for lemon ricotta honeycomb pancakes. They’re light, fluffy, tart, and sweet from the honeycomb. They’re the perfect treat yourself breakfast, or one that you can break out for guests on special occasions. They kind of remind me of eating a ray of sunshine, which feels weird to write and sounds even weirder read aloud, but it’s true. They’re very bright and warming.

Some of you might be wary of using honeycomb in a recipe. Don’t panic. It’s similar to actual honey, except the texture is more crumbly. However, it dissolves in a mix or with added heat, so you don’t end up tasting that crumbly texture in the finished product.

I topped my pancakes with a little broken honeycomb, which I’d highly recommend doing. You can even put some small slices between the warm pancakes so it melts and becomes syrupy.

I essentially used my standard lemon ricotta pancake recipe to make these cakes and subbed in honeycomb for white sugar. The original pancakes with sugar are a bit sweeter, but I found that I preferred these pancakes. They’re not as sweet but it means you can put more sweet ingredients on top, including honeycomb, maple syrup, or even stewed berries. I might repeat this recipe over the summer and throw on some fresh berries from the farmers’ market.

Here’s a song to get you started on your lemon ricotta honeycomb pancake journey.

Lemon Ricotta Honeycomb Pancakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (214 g) all-purpose flour
3 1/2 Tbsp (46 g) honeycomb
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (236 ml) whole milk
3/4 cup (180 g) whole milk ricotta
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 – 2 Tbsp lemon zest
1/4 cup (60 ml) fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp (14 g) butter, melted, for frying

Directions

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, honeycomb, ricotta, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth. Mix in the lemon zest and lemon juice. It’s okay if the milk mixture curdles a little.

Make a well in the flour mixture and pour the milk mixture into the hole. Mix together until the batter is mostly smooth with a few lumps.

Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Once it’s melted, ladle 1/3 cup of batter onto the skillet. Cook the pancakes until bubbles form on the tops. Flip them and cook for another minute or so until golden brown on both sides. Serve with extra honeycomb. Enjoy!