Syrniki (Cottage Cheese Pancakes) with Cinnamon Apples

35 min · Easy · Serves 1

610 kcal per serving · 27g protein

Syrniki are the Ukrainian and Russian breakfast pancakes made almost entirely of cottage cheese, bound with egg and a spoon of flour and fried until golden outside and soft and creamy within. Shared across TikTok as 'cottage cheese pancakes', they are made here with Bulgarian izvara and topped with warm apples cooked in butter, cinnamon and honey. A spoon of Greek yogurt on the side finishes the plate.

Ingredients

• 160 g Cottage cheese (izvara), as dry as possible
• Egg × ½
• 2 tsp Caster sugar
• ½ tsp Vanilla sugar
• 1 pinch Salt
• 20 g Plain flour
• Apple × 1
• 1 tsp Butter, for the apples
• ½ tsp Ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp Honey
• 10 g Flour, for dusting
• 2 tsp Sunflower oil, for frying
• 2 tbsp Greek yogurt

Method

1. Mash the cottage cheese

   Mash the cottage cheese in a bowl with a fork for 2 minutes, pressing the curds against the side of the bowl until the cottage cheese looks smooth and paste-like, with no large lumps.

2. Mix in the egg and sugar

   Beat the egg in a cup, then stir the beaten egg, caster sugar, vanilla sugar and salt into the cottage cheese until evenly mixed.

3. Stir in the flour

   Stir the plain flour into the cottage cheese mixture until no dry flour shows and a soft, sticky dough forms that holds its shape on a spoon.

4. Cook the apples

   Core the apple and cut the apple into thin slices. Melt the butter in a large non-stick pan over medium heat and cook the apple slices for 5 minutes, turning once, until soft and golden at the edges.

5. Glaze the apples with cinnamon and honey

   Sprinkle the cinnamon over the apples, add the honey and stir for 1 minute, until the apples look glossy. Tip the cinnamon apples into a bowl, cover with a plate to keep warm and wipe the pan clean with kitchen paper.

6. Shape the syrniki

   Spread the flour for dusting on a plate. Drop a heaped tablespoon of the dough onto the flour, roll the dough into a ball with floured hands and press the ball into a thick patty about 1.5 cm high, then repeat with the rest of the dough.

7. Fry the first side

   Heat the sunflower oil in the wiped pan over medium-low heat, add the syrniki with space between them and fry for 3 minutes, until the undersides are deep golden.

8. Turn and finish under a lid

   Turn the syrniki with a spatula, cover the pan with a lid and fry for 3-4 minutes more, until the second side is golden and the syrniki feel springy when pressed in the middle.

9. Serve with the apples and yogurt

   Stack the syrniki on a plate, spoon the warm cinnamon apples over the syrniki and add the Greek yogurt on the side.

More to cook

• Plum Cake with Cinnamon Sugar85 min
• Classic Apple Pie175 min
• Tikvenik (Pumpkin & Walnut Filo Pie)105 min
• Bulgarian Fried Dough Puffs90 min