Sue tossed many a pancake during her eleven happy years as a breakfast cook at Bette’s Oceanview Diner. This is one of her favorite pancake recipes. You’d expect the cheese to make the pancakes heavy, but the opposite is true. During cooking, the cheese and egg whites work together to make these light. You can use cottage cheese or ricotta.

1 pint strawberries, halved
1/2 cup sugar
6 eggs, separated
1/2 cup whole milk
1-1/2 cups cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tbs. sugar
Vegetable oil, for the griddle
4 Tbs. melted unsalted butter
Crème fraîche, for accompaniment
In a medium pan, toss the berries and sugar over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick. Add the milk and beat for another 30 seconds. Gently fold in the cottage cheese.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and sugar and pour into the cheese mixture, stirring lightly.

With an electric mixer or whisk, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until they are stiff but not dry. Gently fold the whites into the batter, just until combined.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or skillet over medium-high heat. Ladle 1/4 cup of the batter onto the hot griddle for each pancake, leaving space between pancakes. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes, then flip.

When done, spoon on berries and crème fraîche and serve.