Cottage Cheese and Apple pancakes with Berry Sauce

Jackie recently received the Moosewood Cookbook, which is full of delicious vegetarian recipes, and wanted to give a few of them a try.  The first recipe on the list (and there is an ever growing list) was Cottage Cheese and Apple Pancakes. There were 3 options for toppings (I think that "real" maple syrup was one), but we went with the berry sauce because lets be honest, YUM!

So, when I got home last night Jackie was in the midst of a cooking frenzy measuring and mixing ingredients.  I quickly washed up and dove in to try to help where I could, although Jackie had things very well under control.  My first task was to grate the apple which meant it was time for my mandoline...no not the instrument...the amazing kitchen gadget.  By the time I was through peeling and grating the apple the only thing left to do was beat the eggs and fold them into the batter.  We decided to only use the egg whites, but in the future we might include 1 or 2 of the yolks to add a little fat to the pancakes.

Once the skillet was hot enough I dropped the batter onto the skillet and sizzle sizzle sizzle!  A couple minutes on each side and our pancakes were ready.  Jackie made up the berry sauce using a pack of frozen berries, lemon juice and some sugar which we then applied to the steaming pancakes.  Delicious!

Cottage Chese and Apple Pancakes with Berry Sauce
Prep time: 30 minutes
Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:
4 eggs, separated (yolks optional - use all, some or none)
1 cup cottage cheese (lowfat okay)
1 cup (packed) grated tart apple
3/4 cup flour
1 to 2 tsp. lemon juice
optional: 1 Tbs honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
optional: 2 to 3 Tbs finely minced walnuts or almonds
oil or butter for frying
1 cup fresh (or frozen, defrosted) berries
1 to 2 Tbs sugar
a few drops of fresh lemon or lime juice

Directions:
1. Beat egg whites until stiff
2. Combine all other ingredients (except toppings and frying oil) in a medium-sized bowl and mix well. Fold in the egg whites
3. Place berries, sugar and lemon/lime juice in blender or fodd processor and puree. (optional: strain through fine sieve to separate out seeds.)
4. Heat oil or melt butter in a skillet. When it is hot enough to sizzle a drop of batter on contact, add spoonfuls of batter. Fry on both sides until firm and lightly browned.
5. Top with berry sauce and serve right away.