I made the fluffiest pancakes ever by adding 1 surprise ingredient

is here once again, meaning it’s basically the law that you have to eat these delicious pillowy snacks at least once today.

Despite having just a couple of ingredients, it’s no surprise that pancakes aren’t always the easiest to master.

They can be pretty stodgy sometimes, and that’s before we’re even getting into the technique of flipping them – which is something I’ve never quite managed to get right, and the reason I tend to avoid making pancakes every other day of the year.

But it’s a special occasion, so I decided to put my negative thoughts aside and whip up a delicious batch of pancakes using a that, to be honest, sounded rank to me at first.

It involves using cottage cheese, an ingredient that makes my stomach turn at the mere sight of it, but according to the health experts at ZOE, it has plenty of benefits.

Their for cottage cheese pancakes boasts an impressive 27g of protein, and uses other simple ingredients such as oats, banana and egg, making it a very affordable one too.

When I came across on I immediately tuned out at the mention of cottage cheese. Every time I’ve tried to cook with it, the end result has been basically inedible, and the texture made me want to throw it straight in the bin and never look back.

However, these pancakes looked so fluffy and delicious, and there seemed to be no mention in the comments of a lingering cottage cheese taste in the final result.

And I’m so glad I tried them, because it’s the only way I’ll ever make pancakes from now on. Soft, sweet and moreish, they came together in less than 15 minutes and were so easy to make.

Cottage cheese pancakes

Ingredients

• 50g oats
• One banana plus extra for decoration
• 150g cottage cheese
• One egg
• Pinch each of salt, baking powder and cinnamon
• A splash of water or milk (I used oat)
• Chocolate chips (not included in the original but added a delicious touch)

Method

First, put your oats in a blender and whizz them up into a fine powder, or oat flour. I actually didn’t know this was how oat flour was made, but have seen it in loads of recipes, so good to know.

Then, add the rest of the ingredients except the chocolate chips, and blend this up too. You can add an extra dash of water or milk if it looks too thick, but you still want it to be pourable as this is what’s going to make the pancakes fluffy and thick.

Stir in the chocolate chips – these are optional but they melted beautifully and made the pancakes taste so much more indulgent.

Then, grab a pan and place it over medium heat, adding in a little oil or butter so the pancakes don’t stick. You only want to pour in a small amount for each pancake so that they cook evenly.

The key is to wait until sunken bubbles start to appear on the surface before you flip them, to avoid getting uncooked batter everywhere and ruining the look. This was also the moment I discovered my flat must be built on a slant, because none of the pancakes were perfectly round, but I just hoped they would still taste good.

I definitely could have done with a bigger pan, but I’d already committed at this point so cooked them two at a time until I’d made seven. Technically eight, bar the one I had to throw away because it turned to mush in the pan, but that surely happens every time.

I stacked the pancakes up, drizzled with a bit of honey and some more banana, and tucked in.

Despite being concerned about the cottage cheese, I had nothing to worry about. You couldn’t taste it at all, and the pancakes had such a unique texture that I’d never been able to master until that moment.

There was even enough batter left over for three more small pancakes, so this is one that goes a very long way.

To any other cottage cheese haters out there, please don’t let this put you off. This was one of the best pancake recipes I’ve ever tried, and I’ll definitely be making it throughout the year too.