Syrniki with Sour Cream – Cottage Cheese Pancakes Recipe

Step-by-step recipe

1. Tasty syrniki with sour cream are best made from homemade cottage cheese that is moderately rich and not sour, as well as large-curd and not wet. Put the cottage cheese in a deep bowl and mash it. There should be no large lumps. You can mash it with a fork or, as many people do, simply run it through a meat grinder.
2. Add sugar to the cottage cheese – syrniki should be sweet, so the amount of sugar is up to you. Add vanilla to taste – natural or extract. Add the egg – it will bind the cottage cheese during frying so the syrniki don't fall apart.
3. Mix the curd mixture thoroughly, mashing it with a fork. Then add the flour in small portions. Keep mixing the dough until the cottage cheese no longer falls apart. After that, no more flour is needed. Give the mixture a final stir until completely smooth.
4. All further steps are best done by hand on a floured table. Roll the dough into a log 6-7 cm in diameter. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape them into round patties that look like thick pancakes, then coat them in flour. The patties should be sized so that they all fit in the bottom of your frying pan at once.
5. Melt the butter in a large frying pan. When the butter starts to bubble, add the syrniki and fry over medium heat until the underside is browned and a nice golden color.
6. Turn the syrniki over. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat to medium-low. Keep frying the syrniki until the underside is browned and the dough is cooked through inside. It's worth turning them from time to time so they brown evenly.
7. Put the syrniki on a plate and pour sour cream over them. Good sour cream with 15-20% fat, like the one used for smetannik cake, works perfectly – or homemade, if you can get it. If you like, serve extra sour cream in a sauce boat. Syrniki with sour cream taste better when there's plenty of sour cream.