I made pancakes. But not just any pancakes. These Lemon Raspberry Pancakes are fluffy and tart, and flecked with gorgeous red and yellow colors. Topped with a maple cream cheese drizzle, they become a decadent tasting breakfast recipe with NO refined sugar! Oh man, I could eat these every day.
There’s something about warm, springtime weather and lemon that goes together perfectly. As soon as the sun warms up and things begin to turn green, I start craving lemony things. While I feel for my comrades up in the northeast right now and their mountains of snow they are still getting, I AM enjoying the fact that Texas is green, flowers are blooming, and bees are buzzing. And that these pancakes exist.
Because these pancakes- and the cream cheese frosting- contain no refined sugar, they aren’t very sweet. Which is exactly what I was wanting. The pancakes themselves are sweetened only by the raspberries, and the addition of lemon zest and juice makes them fairly tart. You can add a little sugar, maple syrup, honey, or other sweetener to the batter to counter the tartness if you want.
The cream cheese drizzle, made from a mixture of maple syrup, softened cream cheese, and milk, is fairly sweet on its own. But if you want something sweeter, you can substitute some of the milk with more syrup.
Speaking of the maple cream cheese drizzle. In the unlikely event that you have any extra, I recommend putting it on some fresh berries and topping with a little bit of turbinado sugar for a quick treat or dessert. Somehow we ended up with extra (I have no idea how), but we did, and this was the perfect way to use it up.
I used fresh raspberries for this, but you can use froze. I also chopped them up a bit in order to create a more consistent texture for the pancakes and disperse the flavor a bit more. You can also use whole wheat flour if you want to make them a bit healthier- see recipe notes for how.
Here’s the recipe for Lemon Raspberry Pancakes with Maple Cream Cheese Drizzle! And if you like these, you’ll love these fluffy berry oat pancakes and these healthy pumpkin pancakes!
Lemon Raspberry Pancakes with Maple Cream Cheese Drizzle
Equipment
Ingredients
For Lemon Raspberry Pancakes:
- 3/4 cup milk
- juice and zest of one lemon
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup raspberries roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter for frying, plus more if needed
For Maple Cream Cheese Drizzle:
- 4 oz. cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup milk
Instructions
- Whisk the milk (3/4 cup), lemon juice and zest, and the egg together in a medium to large bowl until smooth.
- Add the baking powder (1 teaspoon), baking soda (1/2 teaspoon), and kosher salt (1/2 teaspoon). Whisk well.
- Add the flour (1 1/4 cup) and mix until just combined.
- Stir in the raspberries with a wooden spoon.
- In a large nonstick or well-seasoned cast iron skillet, melt about a half tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add the batter in approximately 1/3 cup measurements skillet, cooking the pancakes in batches and adding more butter for each batch. Flip carefully when beginning to brown on the sides.
- Meanwhile, to make the maple cream cheese drizzle, beat or whisk the cream cheese (4 oz.) and maple syrup (1/4 cup) together until smooth. Add milk (1/4 cup) gradually, continuing to beat or whisk. If it seems too thick, you can add a bit more milk. If it seems too thin, pop it in the freezer to cool off a bit and then beat or whisk again when you remove it (this will harden the cream cheese a bit).
- Serve the pancakes with the maple cream cheese drizzle and extra berries, if desired.
Notes
- Make them sweeter: These pancakes contain no refined sugar, so they aren't very sweet (which is how I like them). For a sweeter pancake, add a couple of tablespoons of sugar, honey, or maple syrup to the batter. For a sweeter maple cream cheese drizzle, substitute some of the milk with more maple syrup.
- Leftovers: In the unlikely event you have extra maple cream cheese drizzle, serve it on some fresh berries topped with a sprinkle of turbinado sugar for a light and delicious treat.
- Make them healthier: You can use whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose for a healthier option. Use 1 cup instead of 1 1/4 cup, since it's heavier and denser than white flour.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Zoe Hundertmark
I tried making these because they look sooo good, but they were way too moist. I tried turning the temp down thinking maybe they were cooking too fast and not cooking the middle well enough but it didnt help. Any suggestions or comments of what I did wrong?
Elizabeth
Hm, I’m not sure what went wrong! Good idea with turning down the temperature- too bad that didn’t help. I’m thinking maybe the raspberries had a little too much liquid in them. Next time, I’d pat them dry with a paper towel before adding them to the batter. You could also add a little more flour if the batter seems too thin or watery. Hope that helps!
Shauna kutzko
i try to make raspberry pancakes all of the time!! They always come out like that, i know exactly what your talking about because that is why i am looking for a recipe.. to see if anyone else cpuld het a fluffy texture woth fresh berries.. .. thank you .
Also i have tried mashing the berries ina bowl, cutting them, ripping them.jnto little pieces, making a raspberry couli the adding it to tje batter… can not get it right. Always a bit rubbery or just odd… the poc above looks as of the pancakes are split , which look like they are raw on the middle. I dont think its somethjng you did, i think it the raspberries… whole they stick to the pan and are very difficult to flip .. i may try ripping them up and sticking them inside the batter in the pan,, pain in the butt but my kids love both things
Kamal
I feel like these pancakes can help us achieve world peace. Look so good.
Elizabeth
Hahaha that’s the goal! :-)