Make Fresh Lemon Whipped Cream (optional): if making the whipped cream, I'd recommend mixing that up before the batter so it's ready to go right when the pancakes come off the griddle. See notes for instructions!*4
Blend dry ingredients and add zest: using a medium-sized bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients until well blended. Zest your lemons right over the dries so the tasty oils from the lemon rind are caught in the bowl.
Combine with wet ingredients: add in remaining ingredients (buttermilk, egg, lemon juice and melted butter) and stir everything together using a fork or whisk just until well combined with no big lumps of flour remaining (a few small lumps are okay).
Rest batter and preheat pan: allow the batter to sit and thicken slightly for 5 minutes while you preheat your pan or griddle over medium-high heat.
Grease and portion: lightly grease your pan/griddle, and turn the heat down to medium once your pan is fully heated. Pour a scant ¼ cup of batter onto the surface for each pancake, spreading the batter out as needed (this will make about a 4” pancake).
Flip and cook until golden: cook each pancake for 1-2 minutes on each side until golden-brown, flipping over only once the top edges look set and matte, and the tops start to bubble and lose their shine.
Repeat until you have a stack: repeat this process with all remaining batter.
Share and enjoy! Serve warm topped with the fresh lemon whipped cream, butter and maple syrup, or your favorite fresh berries, and watch that stack disappear in no time!
Notes
*1 Milk, not buttermilk: because this recipe has a lot of acid from the lemons, buttermilk took it a little too far into the sour realm. So I recommend sticking with traditional whole, 2%, or skim milk for the best flavor.
*2 Zest then juice: always zest your lemons before juicing them because it can be difficult (and dangerous!) to try to zest a cut lemon.
*3 To make Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes: add 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds to your batter during the first step of blending the dries.
*3 To make Lemon Blueberry Pancakes: stir ⅔ cups fresh or frozen blueberries into your batter after it is fully mixed.
*4 Fresh Lemon Whipped Cream: to make fresh lemon whipped cream, add ½ cup heavy cream, 2 tablespoons sifted powder sugar, and the zest of ½ a large or 1 small lemon to a medium-sized mixing bowl.Whip on medium speed for 2-3 minutes just until stiff peaks form.Be careful not to over-mix, as this small amount can over-mix and become grainy pretty quickly (I used a hand mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes).This recipe produces about 1 cup whipped cream, but you can double it if you’d like more, using 1 cup heavy cream, ¼ cup sifted powdered sugar, and the zest of 1 large or 2 small lemons.
Keep em' warm: If you’re making a bigger batch, you can preheat your oven for 5-10 minutes to 200°F. Then turn the oven off when you start mixing your batter, and as you finish cooking your pancakes, you can put them on a wire rack on a baking sheet in the oven to keep them warm for service. But make sure you’re oven isn’t too hot or it’ll dry them out!
Cooking for a crowd? You can feel free to double or triple this recipe to keep your pancake stack growing sky-high and feed as many people as you like.
It’d mean so much to me if you could please give the recipe card a ⭐ rating on the site and leave a comment to help others find this sweet recipe! Xo, Jocelyn @ Mint+Mallow