Raspberry Orange Pancakes

These pancakes were amazing. My family gobbled them right up and we will be doing them more often. I got the recipe from elleapparel@blogspot.com, but I changed the recipe a bit.

• zest from 1 orange
• 1 pint fresh or thawed frozen raspberries
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp. sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 4 large eggs, separated

1. Working over a bowl, use a grater to zest the orange, being careful not to remove any of the bitter white pith. Cut the zested orange into wedges, and set them aside.
2. Add the raspberries to the bowl containing the orange zest. Stir in 1/3 cup sugar, gently crushing the raspberries with a wooden spoon. Set aside while making the pancake batter.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, 1 tbsp. sugar and baking powder. In another bowl, beat the ricotta cheese with milk and egg yolks. Add the flour mixture to the ricotta mixture, and stir until just combined. Let the batter sit for 10 minutes.
4. Beat egg whites with a handheld mixer until they hold soft peaks. Next, gently fold the raspberries with their juices into the batter, and then fold in the egg whites. (You want little clumps of whites in the batter. The important thing is not to overmix it.)
5. Heat a large nonstick skillet over moderately low heat.
6. Cook the pancakes. We put the homemade buttermilk syrup on our pancakes.