Firm, juicy cottage cheese pancakes with a rich, pronounced cottage cheese flavor. Whenever we go to a restaurant, my kid almost always orders the cottage cheese pancakes. And in just about every restaurant, they look the same — tall, perfectly shaped, dense little cylinders with an intensely cheesy flavor that isn't weighed down by flour. Today I'm going to share all the secrets to making them just like that at home. The first and most important thing is to start with dry, grainy, fairly high-fat cottage cheese — and then press out any extra moisture. The drier your cottage cheese, the less semolina or flour you'll need to add, and the result will be pancakes with a perfect shape and a rich cottage cheese flavor. You also don't need a lot of eggs, which would thin out the batter — the pancakes will hold their shape just fine without falling apart. Add sugar to taste: at 20 g they'll be barely sweet, at 100 g quite sweet. It really depends on what you're serving them with, and of course on personal preference. By the way, my kid loves exactly this style of cottage cheese pancake, while my husband prefers the soft, spreadable kind made from smooth, wet cottage cheese — the ones that are practically impossible to flip in the pan. So I make both kinds! Personally, I love all cottage cheese pancakes.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg grainy cottage cheese (at least 9% fat)
- 50 g semolina
- 50 g raisins
- 1 egg
- 20-100 g sugar
- 10 g vanilla sugar
- a pinch of salt
- flour for dredging
How to cook cottage cheese pancakes like at a restaurant
Twist it closed and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. I usually recruit my husband for this, but you can manage on your own too. That said, don't go overboard — you want to press it out, but not to the point of wringing it completely dry. If you squeeze too hard, the pancakes can turn out dry.
Next, you need to smooth out the cottage cheese. I did this in a food processor, but you can also run it through a meat grinder or use another method. The goal is to get a smooth, paste-like consistency.
Shape the pancakes. Lightly roll each ball in flour and shake off any excess. Using a wide knife, gently tap the top of each pancake.
Then, rotating the pancake between your hand and the knife, shape the sides. Tap the top lightly again and rotate once more to refine the shape on the sides.
Heat clarified butter — or a mix of vegetable oil and butter — in a skillet. Fry the pancakes on the bottom for a couple of minutes.
Transfer the pancakes to a baking dish or sheet pan and bake in a preheated 180°C oven for about 15 minutes.
If the pancakes have cooled before serving, it's best to warm them up in the microwave — they're so much better hot. Serve with sour cream, of course, and whatever else you like — berries, jam, preserves, honey, and so on. These cottage cheese pancakes have a perfect shape, a rich cottage cheese flavor, and pair beautifully with any topping!
Comments