Name: Farmer's Cheese Pancake Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 300 g 10 oz farmer’s cheese; 2 medium eggs; 1/4 cup granulated sugar; 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar or liquid vanilla; 1 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp baking soda; 1/4 tsp salt; 1-1/2 cup of flour - check the post for more info; 2 TBSP Oil of your choice for frying

Ready for farmer’s cheese pancake recipe? Follow along. Farmer’s Cheese pancakes are a staple in almost every Russian family. Those of us who grew up with Russian influence also wasn’t spared from its effects either. Hey, there are no complaints. Perfectly crispy shell, soft and fluffy core of these pancakes will not leave you indifferent. I love every bite of these pancakes. I hope you like them, too. Originally these gems are called “Сырники” (Syrniki), or “Творожники” (Tvorojniki) which approximately mean small cheese pancakes.

What is farmer’s cheese?

Farmer’s cheese is a dairy product made out of either cow, sheep or goat milk. It is also known as quark. In Russian, it is called “творог” (tvorog). It is similar to unpressed cottage cheese, without the addition of rennet and cultures. Just like cottage cheese, farmer’s cheese has fully coagulated protein grains or curds, which have some content of liquid (water) and fat. The addition of rennet and cultures create harder and more pronounced grains in cottage cheese. Therefore farmer’s cheese and cottage cheese are not the same things. Cottage cheese is not a very good substitute for farmer’s cheese. The easiest way to obtain farmer’s cheese is to make it at home. It is fresh, you can whip one up quite easily and you can keep it in your refrigerator as a substitute for yogurt. If you follow this link I have a simple recipe for farmer’s cheese. I also love to make farmer’s cheese from kefir I make from kefir grains. If you happen to have kefir grains and have leftover kefir quite often, you can easily use it to make farmer’s cheese and it will be the best farmer’s cheese you could ever make.

Can you substitute farmer’s cheese with Ricotta?

Yes, absolutely! The only difference between farmer’s cheese and ricotta cheese, the latter happens to be a lot softer. If you would like to use ricotta as a substitute for farmer’s cheese, I recommend straining ricotta through a cheesecloth to get excess whey out. Also, ricotta happens to be a little more expensive than farmer’s cheese. I have no idea why! If you find your way into some sort of an international grocery store, you can easily buy 500gr farmer’s cheese for around 5 bucks. if you have any questions regarding any of the information here, please feel free to let me know. I will always respond to your comments.

My helper in the kitchen with these pancakes was my 6-year-old daughter. Although she is aspiring to become a doctor, I see quite a bit of cooking in her future, as she loves to tinker in the kitchen. That being said, if my 6-year-old can do it, trust you’ve got this! This is a straightforward recipe, without the addition of fancy ingredients. We will get to the fancy ones, I promise.

Ingredients:

300g (10 oz) farmer’s cheese – You can increase the amount of farmer’s cheese. If you do so, decrease the amount of flour you use or add another egg.
2 medium eggs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla sugar or liquid vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 cup of flour – be cautious with flour as the consistency and density of flour we each use can be very different. Start off with 1/2 cup first and increase to reach the consistency of the batter as you see in the photos.
a little extra flour for dipping the pancakes in
2 TBSP Oil of your choice for frying (FYI, I love, love, love coconut oil to fry my pancakes).

Directions:

The farmer’s cheese I am using is homemade and is very well strained. I stopped using cheesecloth to strain cottage cheese and instead I am using a special mesh you can buy from Amazon. Although the initial use of the mesh may not have been intended for straining cheese, it works remarkably well for this purpose. The cleaning is a breeze and there is virtually no stinky smell which lingers on when you use a cheesecloth. This mesh will also be a perfect material to strain the ricotta cheese if need be.

In a medium bowl place the farmer’s cheese, crack two eggs, add sugar, vanilla and thoroughly mix everything together.

Mixing will be a little tough since the farmer’s cheese is quite dense. You can use a hand mixer for this purpose. Combination of sugar and eggs will loosen out the density of the farmer’s cheese and within 2 minutes you will have a more workable concoction of sorts.

Some people prefer the cheese to completely become grainless and smooth. I personally prefer having tiny chunks of cheese in my pancakes.

Add baking powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl and mix everything well. Remember, baking soda helps the batter expand while frying and baking powder helps it rise. These two ingredients complement each other very well when combined with dairy which has some acidity to it.

Slowly add flour 1/2 cup at a time. Mix well before adding another 1/2 cup. When the batter reaches a thicker consistency and doesn’t easily fall off the spoon, you are ready for the next step. Do not make it too thick though. While the batter needs to hold its shape on the spoon, it should also start sliding as you keep it upside down. This consistency is important to help us build small, sticky patties.

On medium heat warm the skillet and add the oil of your choice. Once the oil has melted, turn the heat down a couple of notches (warmer than low and lower than medium).

Place the bowl with the batter next to your skillet, have a small bowl of flour ready. You will also need a big spoon and a dessert spoon. Grab a tablespoon of the batter and with the help of the dessert spoon plop it down on to the flour bowl. Grab some flour from the bowl and sprinkle it on top of the little batter ball. The idea is to lightly coat the batter ball without overwhelming it with flour. At the same time, you should coat it enough so that the batter ball doesn’t stick to your hands much. During this process create a small pancake in your hands, giving it a nice round shape. Pat the excess flour out.

Gently place the patty (remember that the batter should not be dense) on to the skillet. Work quickly and cover the skillet with patties. Cover the lid of the skillet and cook the patties for 2 minutes on low heat.

Since the batter is somewhat thicker than a regular pancake batter, patties will need a little more time to cook thoroughly. Closing the lid is essential here.

Once the bottom side is golden brown color flip the pancakes and cover the lid again for 1-2 minutes.

Once both sides are golden brown, move the pancakes on to a larger plate. Repeat the frying process with the rest of the batter and add oil as needed. Usually, 2 TBSP is enough for my needs. Oil helps the pancakes from drying out and along with patted flour they create a nice crisp to the outer shell of the pancakes.

You can dust the pancakes with confectionars sugar, dizzle some maple syrup or honey. My kids love enjoying it with some homemade fruit syrup or jam. If you have any questions, ask! We grow by asking and I grow with your help, too!

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