These Blueberry Lemon Pancakes will have your brunch guests raving!
This recipe is inspired by the pancakes served at Disney's Riviera Resort's Primo Piatto. Modeled after restaurants found along promenades on Europe's coastline, Primo Piatto serves quick service Italian and French cuisine.
While the food comes out fast, quality isn't sacrificed. Most every dish out of Primo Piatto's kitchen appears table service quality! Topping this list are the Blueberry Lemon Pancakes:
"Fluffy House-made Pancakes filled with fresh Blueberries topped with Mascarpone Cream and Lemon Zest."
The pancakes look unique, but rest assured, their taste and texture are familiar! The key difference here is thickness. So, how do you cook a 1-inch thick pancake without spreading? A stainless steel, round cutter is used during the cooking process. This simple technique also gives the pancakes a perfect shape.
This isn't the first time we've seen thick pancakes in Disney. They are also the key ingredient in Rapunzel's Tower of Pancakes at Boardwalk Resort's Trattoria al Forno.
Rapunzel's version leaves out the fresh lemon and blueberries. So, even if fruity pancakes aren't your thing, you can still have the best breakfast (and day) ever!
Our favorite component of Riviera Resort's Blueberry Lemon Pancakes is the mascarpone cream. This is more than a nice change of pace from butter. At home, our guests kept coming back for more. When the standard scoop of mascarpone cream won't do, it's nice to have more on hand to keep your guests happy.
Finally, topping the mascarpone cream is freshly grated lemon rind (lemon zest). Whatever you do, don't skip the lemon zest! This is where much of the lemon flavor comes from, and it adds a brightness and freshness to the dish that we typically associate with fine dining restaurants. The lemon zest adds a final, fancy touch to a deceptively simple dish. Get ready to impress your guests!
Ingredients
Pancake Batter
- 3 cups pancake batter. Use pancake batter recipe by Life, Love and Sugar, but add the lemon juice and blueberries listed below.
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 3/4 cup fresh blueberries
For Cooking Pancakes
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Cooking spray
Mascarpone Cream
- 1/2 cup mascarpone
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Garnish
- 1 - 2 teaspoons powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest (finely grated lemon rind). This is KEY to the lemon flavor, so don't skip it! If you don't have a zester/microplane, try the smallest setting of a cheese grater.
Special Supplies
- Ateco 4.5'' round stainless steel cutters (this affiliate link for a set of 4). It's helpful to have at 4 of these so you can cook up the pancakes in 2 batches.
- Large frying pan or griddle with lid. We used this Black and Decker griddle with lid set to 300 degrees Farenheit.
Instructions
Mascarpone Cream
- Using an electric mixer, mix the mascarpone and powered sugar until combined.
- Add half of the cream to the mascarpone and mix until stiff peaks form.
- Add the remaining cream and mix to your desired thickness. We mixed just beyond stiff peaks to yield a thick cream. Refrigerate if not using immediately.
Pancake Batter
- Make this pancake batter recipe by Life, Love and Sugar, but add the following: 1) Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to the wet ingredients (milk, egg, vanilla, lemon). 2) Gently fold the blueberries into the batter as a last step. Then use the cooking instructions below.
Cook the Pancakes
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Farenheit.
- Preheat the skillet or griddle for a few minutes to one notch below medium heat.
- Spray the inside of the round steel cutters with cooking spray.
- Lightly butter the skillet or griddle.
- Put the round steel cutters in the skillet or griddle. You'll likely have to bake up the pancakes in a few batches, depending on your pan or griddle size.
- Scoop 1/2 cup pancake batter into each round steel cutter.
- Cover with a lid and cook 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, the top of the pancake should have bubbles and look slighly dry and be pulling away from the round steel cutter.
- Uncover, and using spatula(s), flip the pancakes to the other side. The pancakes should release from the sides of the steel cutter. If they don't, tap them with a spoon until the pancake releases.
- Put the lid back on the pan and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Repeat until all 8 pancakes are made. If you're cooking up pancakes in batches, keep cooked pancakes warm in the oven at 200 degrees Farenheit.
Plate Your Pancakes
- It's time to plate and dress up your pancakes! Add pancakes to the plates.
- Top the stack(s) of pancakes with a dollop of mascarpone cream. If you don't want the mascarpone cream to melt, serve it on the side or wait for the pancakes to cool slightly.
- Finish by dusting the pancake stack(s) with powdered sugar using a wire mesh strainer.
- Top the mascarpone cream with a sprinkling of fresh lemon zest. Enjoy!
AJ
These pancakes from the quick serve restaurant in the Riviera Hotel are on my wife’s top 3 Disney Foods list. Thank you for making this recipe because I surprised her with them on her birthday and she was amazed that they tasted the exact same!
Diznify
We're so glad to hear that! YAY! 🙂