What are Syrnyky?
Syrnyky are the Ukrainian traditional round fluffy pancakes, usually sweet. Ethnic Syrnyky are made of quark, eggs, sometimes with berries, raisins, fresh fruits. To make them more thick can be added some wholewheat flour or oats. They are fried or baked and served with sour cream, jam (varennya) or honey.
Syrniki history
Ukrainians has used cottage cheese (quark, fresh homemade curd) in ethnic dishes from ancient times. Soft and fluffy Cheese pancakes has been very popular from the very beginning of Slavic cuisine to our days.
The word “syrnyky” is from the ancient Slavic word “syr” that means “cheese”. Syrnyky can be also found in Belarusian, Latvian and Serbian traditional cuisines.
How much cottage cheese is needed for Syrnrky?
The amount of quark for Cheese pancakes differs from recipe to recipe. Actually, everything depends on your taste and on final result that is expected. Cheese is the main ingredient, however, without some flour or oats Syrnyky can easily loose their shape.
So, for three servings it’s needed 500 g of cheese and one tablespoon of flour for every 100 g of quark.
How many Syrnrky do you eat at once?
Actually, Syrnyky are very nutrient and you’ll feel full quite quickly for a long time. Everything depends on how hungry you are and how tasty everything is. Traditional size of one Cheese pancake isn’t big, may vary from five to eight cm in diameter. If any leaven agents are added, like baking soda, they will be thicker and more fluffy. One portion is 150-200 g, the amount of cheese pancakes depends on their size.
Cottage cheese is used as an ingredient in many Ukrainian traditional recipes from Etnocook such as popular all over the world Varenyky, Ukrainian Cheese dumplings (Halushky), it is added in the porridge, in baking rolls and in many other dishes.
Ukrainian Cheese Pancakes without flour are very nutrient and taste really delicious.
Ukrainian Syrnyky
- these pancakes will be thin, low and slightly creamy inside
- for a more puffy consistency add 1 tbs of starch (potato or corn)
- butter for greasing the baking pan or parchment paper can be replaced by a silicone form for baking
- kneading the dough you can add some salt and sugar taste (~ 2 g salt (on the tip of a knife), ~ 10 g sugar (1 tsp))
- quail eggs can be replaced with one chicken egg of small size
- instead of rolled oats (oat flakes) you can take any other to taste in the same proportions
- in case of gluten-free diet replace rolled oats with corn or buckwheat flakes
Ingredients of the Ukrainian Cheese pancakes Recipe (syrnyky) without flour
- cottage cheese 4% - 500 g
- rolled oats (oat flakes) - 2 tbsp
- quail egg - 2
- butter (for greasing) - 30 g
- vegetable oil - 1 tbsp, to taste (optional)
- raisins - 20 g, to taste, (optional)
Instructions:
1. Prepare ingredients
Prepare all the ingredients for Ukrainian Cheese Pancakes Syrnyky: cottage cheese, eggs, oats, and optional vegetable oil (sunflower oil), salt, sugar, raisins.
2. Make the dough and form pancakes
Wash eggs in cold water and separate yolks and whites in two different deep bowls. Add the cheese in a deep bowl with egg yolks, oil, oat flakes, add raisins, mix. Optionally add a little sugar and salt to taste.
In the other bowl we whisk whites, carefully gently pour them into a cheese mass, mix. Make small round cheese pancakes and put them on a greased baking pan or on a parchment paper in a baking pan.
3. Bake the cheese pancakes
Bake the cheese pancakes in a preheated oven 180C ~ 30 minutes
4. Serve cheese pancakes
Serve Ukrainian baked cheese pancakes without flour hot, add sour cream or jam to taste.