Looking for a super cute, healthy way to celebrate Easter? These Easter bunny pancakes are just adorable. Made with creamy ricotta and decorated with fresh fruits, these pancakes are delightful and fun to make for your kids. They are very simple to whip together and need just the tiniest bit of maple syrup to be the perfect sweet treat for the holiday.
To transform regular ricotta pancakes into Easter bunny faces, slices of fresh fruit are used as decoration. Although the dish itself is more than enough food for a meal, you’ll probably have some extra fruit on hand. Toss your fruit in a blender with some milk and yogurt, and you have a healthy, sweet smoothie to serve alongside.
You’ll be making pancakes of two sizes, one for the head of the bunny, and one size for the nose. When you make the pancakes, it’s ok to make more than one pancake at a time, but just make sure you don’t crowd the pan. The pancakes won’t cook properly if you do.
What You Need To Make Easter Bunny Pancakes
The ingredients you need for Easter bunny pancakes are all-purpose flour, baking powder, large eggs, salt, butter, buttermilk, ricotta, granulated sugar, baking soda, lemon, bananas, strawberries, and blueberries.
You can substitute all of the fruits I suggest here, but be careful if you switch out the bananas. Those are going to make up the bunny ears and eyes, so you’ll need to think about the shapes you can cut or arrange your fruits if you use something else. In a pinch, I would try some wedges of mango or apple.
Ingredients:
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Large eggs
- Butter
- Salt
- Buttermilk
- Ricotta, part-skim or whole milk
- Lemon
- Bananas
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
Equipment:
Easter bunny pancakes only require a bowl, a whisk, a knife, a cutting board, a microwave-safe bowl, a zester or grater, a spatula, and a large non-stick skillet. The eggs need to be whipped really well, so you can also use a hand mixer to make that process easier if you want.
How To Make Easter Bunny Pancakes
Prepare the fruit: Slice two bananas in half, and then lengthwise down the middle, creating four ‘ears’. Take another banana and slice rounds, around ½ inch thick. With the rest of the banana, and one other banana, create small strips around 1 inch long and ¼ inch thick.
Wash and dry the blueberries and the strawberries. Take the tops off the strawberries and slice 6 of them in half, leaving the rest with just the tops removed.
Make the batter: In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter and allow it to cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, vigorously whisk the eggs so that they are light and airy.
Add in the sugar and lemon zest and whisk until evenly combined. Whisk in the ricotta and buttermilk until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until the batter is thick but pourable and well combined.
Make the pancakes: Heat your pan on medium heat. Add the butter and allow it to melt. When you put a tiny drop of water in the pan and it immediately sizzles, you know the pan is hot enough.
Make the big pancakes. Pour around ⅓ of a cup of batter into the pan in a large circle. Allow them to cook for 2-3 minutes or until little bubbles begin to form and pop in the batter. Flip the pancake and cook on the other side.
You can cook more than one pancake at a time, but be sure not to crowd the pan. Then, make 8 little ones. Use 2 tablespoons of batter to make silver dollar-sized pancakes. These will cook much faster, 1-2 minutes per side. Remove from the pan.
Decorate: Put two silver dollar-sized pancakes on top of the larger pancake, towards the bottom half of the pancake in the middle. Place a whole strawberry on top. This is the nose. To make the whiskers, add three ¼ inch thick banana slices on each side of the strawberry nose.
Then, add two circle slices of banana above the nose and put a blueberry in the middle, making the eyes. Add the two half-strips of banana at the top of the large pancake, making ears.
Finally, to make a bow tie, add one whole strawberry to the bottom of the large pancake for the knot and use four strawberry halves to make the bow.
Serve: Serve with maple syrup and enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
Besides maple syrup, what other toppings can I use?
These pancakes are delicious with whipped cream, blueberry compote, or even lemon curd. If you’re serving this at a party, set out a few options and see what your guests prefer!
I don’t have buttermilk. What can I do?
It’s easy to make a substitute for buttermilk at home. From 1 cup of milk, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar and allow to rest for 5 or so minutes. You should see the milk slightly curdle. I also (and more commonly) replace buttermilk with yogurt. I will thin out my yogurt with a little milk until it is pourable. For recipes like this, these substitutes are great alternatives.
Easter Bunny Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 3 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- ½ cup Buttermilk
- ¾ cup ricotta part-skim or whole milk
- Zest of one lemon
- 2-3 bananas
- 8-10 strawberries
- 8-10 blueberries
Instructions
- Prepare the bananas, strawberries, and blueberries for the Easter bunny face.
- Melt the butter.
- Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk vigorously with a whisk or with a hand mixer until the eggs are foamy and light.
- Add the sugar and lemon zest and mix until well incorporated.
- Add the butter, ricotta, and buttermilk and whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda, and combine until thick, but pourable.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet on medium heat.
- Add the butter and allow it to melt.
- When the pan is hot, add ⅓ cup of batter.
- When small bubbles form and begin to pop, flip the pancakes, cooking for 2-3 minutes per side.
- Repeat until you have made 4 large pancakes.
- Make the small pancakes, using 2-3 tablespoons of batter.
- Cook each small pancake for 1-2 minutes per side, flipping when small bubbles form in the batter and begin to pop.
- Repeat until you have 8 small pancakes.
- Plate the large pancakes first, then add the two smaller pancakes to the bottom half of the large pancake.
- Add a strawberry and strips of banana to the small pancakes to create a nose and whiskers.
- Add 2 rounds of banana to create eyeballs, and use two blueberries to create the pupils.
- Using the remaining prepared strawberries to form a bow tie.
- Serve with maple syrup and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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Arielle is a food and drink photographer based in Washington, D.C. She was previously a social science researcher before she fell in love with photography.