If you like pancakes you are going to love my sweet cheese fritters syrniki! Russian Syrniki are a pancake and cheesecake hybrid, that makes for a very delicious and special treat.
Take a look at my recipe for Russian Crepes Blini to explore more of that diverse and interesting cuisine.
As a child I always liked Saturday mornings. They meant special breakfast for us. I grew up with a mom who worked full time.
She had an important job as an engineer so every morning my brother and I had pretty simple breakfasts before heading to school.
She loved to spoil us on the weekends by making something special for breakfast like these Kefir Pancakes Oladi. I still remember waking up to the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen.
Syrniki
Syrniki (seer-nee-kee) were one of her Saturday treats and one of my precious childhood memories. I missed them terribly when I moved away from Russia.
Syrniki are made from a farmer’s cheese called Tvorog in Russian or Twarog in Polish. I couldn’t find a good substitute in the US or Canada for the longest time.
Tvorog is a creamy curd cheese very similar to ricotta and cottage cheese but is drier and has a tangy taste. Below is the photo of what tvorog is like in texture. I have used well-drained cottage cheese in the past but it really lacks the slightly sour kick of Tvorog.
Where to buy Twarog/Tvorog
I am getting reports that all major supermarkets in North America carry this item under the name of Farmer’s Cheese. You can always find it in any Russian or Eastern European store if there is one close by.
I bought mine from a local Eastern European shop in my neighbourhood in London. Major supermarket chains in the UK like Sainsbury’s and Tesco carry Twarog in their international or Polish section.
How to make sirniki
The method of preparing syrniki is pretty much the same as old plain pancakes. If you ever attempted to make pancakes you will manage this recipe with ease.
Combine cheese, eggs, sugar, oil, flour, baking powder and vanilla in a medium size bowl and mix all the ingredients with a hand mixer until you get a homogenous mass. No longer than 2-3 minutes. The mixture will be very sticky. Don’t panic, that’s what you are supposed to get!
Put your non-stick or cast iron frying pan on a stove on medium heat and add 3 tbsp of oil to it.
Dust a clean work surface with some flour. Take a regular soup spoon and start scooping the mixture from the bowl.
Put it directly on the floured surface and roll it in the flour, then flatten it with your palm to make it into a patty.
Continue the process with the rest of your cheese mixture until it’s all gone. You should get about 14 patties.
Before you start frying your syrniki make sure the oil in the frying pan is very hot by sprinkling a bit of flour into it. If it sizzles it’s hot enough.
Fry your syrniki the same way you would pancakes. When you turn them over they should puff up a bit. The flour coating will make the outside slightly crispy while the mostly cheese filling will taste light and delicious.
How to serve them
Dust syrniki with icing sugar as the final touch and serve them with your favourite jam or a fruit sauce. If you want a truly Russian experience enjoy them with a bit of “smetana” aka sour cream. I love mine with blackcurrant jam! Yum!
This one tasted just like my babushka used to make. If only my kids had the same appreciation for it. They rejected it and went for the maple syrup. However they LOVED the syrniki and I have one of the pickiest children in the world. I call it- Success!
This recipe was originally published in 11/2012. Updated and republished in 03/2020
Ingredients
- 1 lbs farmer's cheese could use well-drained ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs large
- 2 tbsp oil
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 80g/3/4 cup flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Combine cheese, eggs, sugar, oil, flour, baking powder and vanilla in a medium size bowl and mix all the ingredients with a hand mixer until you get a homogenous mass- no longer than 2-3 minutes. The mixture will be very sticky.
- Put the non-stick or cast iron frying pan on the stove on medium heat and add 3 tbsp of oil to it.
- Dust a clean work surface with some flour. Take a regular soup spoon and start scooping the mixture from the bowl. Put it directly on the floured surface and roll it in the flour, then flatten it with your palm to make it into a patty. Continue the process with the rest of your cheese mixture until it’s all gone. You should get about 14 patties.
- Before you start frying your syrniki make sure the oil in the frying pan is very hot by sprinkling a bit of flour into it. If it sizzles it’s hot enough. Fry the syrniki the same way you would pancakes. When you turn them over they should puff up a bit. The flour coating will make the outside slightly crispy while the mostly cheese filling will taste light and delicious.
- Dust syrniki with icing sugar as the final touch and serve them with your favourite jam or a fruit sauce. If you want a truly Russian experience enjoy them with a bit of “smetana”-creme fraiche
Notes
Lissa says
I lived in St. Petersburg for two years when I was in my 20s and syrniki were one of my favourite Russian treats. I was never able to reproduce them here in Canada because it is so tough to find tvorog. I recently found it at a new Polish grocery store near my house and I bought a ton! I found your recipe and immediately made some syrniki for my daughter and for our neighbours. They were such a hit that I made them again the following day!
You really need tvorog for these – there is no substitution that properly recreates the taste and texture.
Thank you for this delicious recipe! I will now be making syrniki regularly!
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
Ah I absolutely loved reading this, Lissa! You are so right about tvorog, it’s difficult to substitute for that nuanced flavour. I am so glad you are able to source it now! Enjoy!
Глеб Савельев says
Good evening, Julia! The recipe is great and the taste is absolutely delicious! But I didn’t have to cook to find out what it tastes like, because my mom and granny ordinarily follow this very recipe each time they cook what we call “сырники” 🙂
Frankly speaking, I was way more interested in the name of the dish, not the dish itself. Being a linguist, I came across the page looking for an English equivalent for “сырники” actually. ‘Sweet cheese fritters’ seemed perfect to me, but I couldn’t find it into any English dictionary. Did you make up the name yourself or find it? And do people around you (as I got it, you live in the UK) use it or perhaps instead of saying ‘I’m gonna cook some sweet cheese fritters…’ the just say ‘…syrniki…’? If you could answer, it would be very helpful!
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
Hi there, the name is just a description of what Syrniki are. I made it up. I don’t think any dictionary would have a translation for this dish since no direct equivalent exists in the English cuisine. Some people call them curd cheese pancakes. I decided to call them fritters. Just a personal whim I suppose.
Kamilia says
Your recipe is fantastic. I followed it exactly and the whole family loved it. Slightly crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. I shared the link to your recipe with friends, and they loved the taste too. I used slightly less sugar (3 tablespoons) the second and third time I made it. We served it with light Greek yoghurt, fresh strawberries and blueberries.
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
Sounds delicious, Kamilia! I am thrilled you enjoyed it!
Lisa says
I’m just stopping by to say that I love this recipe! I’ve used it successfully many times. My husband is from Leningrad and my mother in law first made these for our children when we lived in San Francisco. They are so delicious and my kids think they are the greatest. Thank you for sharing.
vikalinka says
You are very welcome, Lisa! I am happy my recipe brought your family so much joy!
Janet says
I tried this recipe but it didn’t turn out with a thick batter, more like a traditional pancake batter consistency. What may I have done wrong? Perhaps the cottage cheese was not drained well enough? Also, when you say roll on flour, is it flattening it onto the flour on both sides to make patty shapes or roll it so more flour combines into the batter and then shaped into a patty? I’m determined to make this work! Thanks.
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
Hi Janet, what type of cheese did you use? I recommend using farmer’s cheese or well drained ricotta. I mean the ricotta needs to be drained in cheesecloth for several hours before using. I am afraid cottage cheese has a slightly different consistency, which would yield different results. You should end up with a batter resembling a paste rather than a runny pancake-like batter. You can see the consistency of both the cheese and the batter in images above. When you roll your patties in flour they should hold their shape already, all you do is coat them.
liza says
Hello,
Really excited to make these in the morning but I just realised that you didn’t specify how many eggs should be used. Hope to hear from you,
Liza
vikalinka says
Hi Liza, I have no idea how it happened. The recipe has been edited several times as it’s one of the oldest on the site and eggs somehow got deleted! Anyway, I’ve added them now. Thanks so much for noticing that and bringing it to my attention. Best,
Julia
Corinne says
How much vanilla extract do you use in these? Is the farmer’s cheese you used here the kind that is unsalted, or the kind that has salt added? I have seen an unsalted farmer’s cheese sold at Winco grocery store, and once bought a salted one at a Russian specialty store. These syrniki sound really good! 🙂
vikalinka says
Hi Corinne, I usually use between 1 and 2 tsp of vanilla extract depending on how strong the product is. The farmer’s cheese I use is always unsalted, which is a standard for what is sold in Russian stores. I’ve never seen it salted unless it was a completely different cheese. What is used here is very similar to quark cheese, and is called ‘tvorog’ in Russian or ‘twarog” in Polish. It’s slightly sour but never salted. I hope this helps! 🙂
Leslie says
Oh my!!! Just made these this morning. They are truly amazing! I am half Russian and also Orthodox. I love Eastern European dishes. The creamy, tangy flavours with a hint of sweet are yum, yum to me! This one just may become the Pascha morning fave!
I have also tried your Coq au Vin and Coq au Chardonnay. Both are now my chicken recipe favourites! Thank you so much for sharing your recipes. I am a huge fan of yours!
Leslie
vikalinka says
That is so great, Leslie! Syrniki without a doubt are my favourite breakfast. Thank you for your feedback and following along! 🙂
Victoria says
I am desperate to attempt these having just returned from Ukraine and trying them for the first time with jam, honey and sour cream. They are utterly delicious and your recipe looks equally tasty and (hopefully) easy enough to replicate!
I also live in (SW) London and could possibly find farmers cheese in a Polish store, however there are none locally as far as I’m aware, therefore what would you suggest I use instead – quark, ricotta or cottage cheese?
Thank you in advance for any advice you can give.
vikalinka says
Victoria, I assure you they are quite simple to make! The farmer’s cheese is actually sold in many Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s branches in their ethnic aisles. Just look for a curd cheese called Twarog next to other Polish goodies. If all fails you can used well-drained ricotta.
Victoria says
Hi, thank you so much for your prompt response, it’s much appreciated. I’ve heard of Twarog and shall have a look in Sainsbury’s or Tesco when I do my shop at the weekend. I know Lidl often do Polish items so will check there too. If not, I will take your advice and use ricotta instead. I can’t wait to try these now! Many thanks.
Lucy says
Love reading your story. Thank you for sharing your memories
vikalinka says
Thanks Lucy!!
Катя says
Hey,
this is a great recepy. Only thing – try to make them without baking powder. That way they will have more “tvorog” taste. Baking powder kind of kills that taste))
Катя
vikalinka says
Hi Katya, I’ve tried a several versions of this recipe and this one is my favourite. 🙂 I love the rise baking powder gives to these fritters and I don’t find it taking away from the taste at all!
Mary Martelette says
Thank you so much for this recipe. I too am Russian and am always looking for recipes of my childhood. I’d watch my mother make this delicious recipes from memory. Everything she made was delicious. She was Yugoslavian. She baked the best walnut torte and a shortbread cookie I wish I could find a recipe for. Thank you.
vikalinka says
You are very welcome, Mary! I know first hand how comforting it is to find something that immediately brings back lovely childhood memories! The walnut torte sounds amazing I would love to get a hold of that recipe!!
Ziz'ka says
Thank you so much for the recipe. It is on my first to do list for the next saturday. I was looking over the internet and constantly searching for great sirniki recipe. I thik i have found. In two weeks you will hear from me again. it was nice to meet you… you got a new follower.
Irene says
This looks so good! Would homemade ricotta cheese be ok in the recipe?
vikalinka says
Yes, as long as it’s well drained, Irene. 🙂
Corina says
I make these too just that instead of flour I use cream of wheat/ farina. When they are done I top them with a mixture of sour cream and sugar and then with jam. Yummy
vikalinka says
Sounds delicious, Corina! Thanks for the tip. 🙂
Julia m says
Came across your blog and this particular recipe for syrniki today and smiled to myself a couple of times reading it. I LOVE them with sour cream and black currant jam, it’s the most luxurious way of eating syrniki! I was missing our tvorog too when we first moved to Canada, a lot of other food items as well, but tvorog especially. I’m very persistent in getting everything I need to cook “my stuff”, so I found the way to get the right cheese for my syrniki. It’s simple and very, very good! I use 2 litres of buttermilk, 1 litre of coffee cream and 0,5 litre of milk. To make it less fatty, one can use 10% cream instead of coffee cream, which is 18%. Mix well, and heat up on a medium to low until it starts to boil. Reduce the heat to very low and cook for 10 minutes uncovered. Then turn off the heat, cover and let cool off completely, strain in the cheese cloth. It’s amazing for anything that requires tvorog, even just on its own with sour cream and some honey! I hope you try it sometime, I’m sure you’ll love it!
By the way, great blog! Thank for the inspirations!
vikalinka says
Thank you for the recipe, Julia! I will definitely try it. So glad you’ve enjoyed this post and my blog in general. 🙂
Lisa Ide says
I was lucky enough to participate in an exchange program in (then) Leningrad about 25 years ago and lived with a lovely retired couple. The wife was an amazing cook and was very resourceful, given the rationing and limited availability of ingredients at the time. She would make her own “farmer’s cheese” by leaving her milk out to spoil and then boiling to create the curds and straining. To get the “tang” she would add some sour cream. From this cheese she would make syrniki and filling for blinchiki s varenyam, both served with homemade strawberry jam. I’ve tried to recreate her methods for tvorog here in the US, but couldn’t get the correct consistency. Using farmer’s cheese never occurred to me – I’ll give it a try. Thank you for your post!
vikalinka says
What a lovely comment. Thank you Lisa. 🙂 We went to Leningrad (yes, it was still called Leningrad) on family vacations several times when I was little. I absolutely fell in love with that city. I am still planning on taking my own kids and my husband there. One day!
Ирина says
Замечательный рецепт. Я тоже так их готовлю. Но, не очень люблю жарить в масле, поэтому, приспособилась запекать их в духовке. Бывает, обжарю по быстрому, а потом запекаю еще минут 10. А бывает, что и сразу ставлю в духовку минут на 15-20. Творог вообще долго готовиться.
vikalinka says
Hi Irina, thank you for your comment. I’ve never tried to bake ‘syrniki” but now I want to try! 🙂
Karen Peavy says
What is “farmer cheese” ?
Vikalinka says
Karen, “farmer’s cheese” is explained in the post with a picture of what it looks like. Thanks for stopping by!
Lynn Burnip says
You write very well. Julia…and the blog looks very professional..receipes seem wonderful
freydomabroad says
Thanks Lynn, I hope to see you here again!
freydomabroad says
I am so pleased that you are adventurous enough to try them! As far as fat content, the cheese I used was semi-skimmed and surprisingly enough many Russian women eat that kind of cheese ‘Tvorog’ when they diet! So I am guessing the cheese is not very high fat but of course, everything is healthy in moderation!
Melissa says
…just made your awesome Syrniki. Emily said, “These are the best pancakes you should make them all the time!” You’ll be horrified to know they tried them with ketchup and then decided on honey. I agree jam would be best, but we were out. Thanks! My only thought was these can’t be low-fat.
Eva says
Julia, your blog looks amazing and your recipes delicious!
freydomabroad says
Thank you, Eva! So nice to hear from you!
Jessica says
mmmm… sounds lovely… i hope to try this someday soon. typically we do a special breakfast on sat and sun mornings too, it’s fun to make the kids something special! thanks, julia. 🙂
freydomabroad says
Thank you Jessica! I do hope you try the recipe! It’s truly delicious!
Tony Hedrick says
You are an absolute GENIUS… My comment should make your evening.
freydomabroad says
Thank you! And thank you for pushing me to start this blog!
freydomabroad says
Thank you so much, Julie! Your comment made my day!
Julie Jones says
Julia~ Your food blog is wonderful!! I am thrilled to be able to read it, learn from your experiences and heritage, and it’s fun to get glimpses of your childhood as well as your current stage of life! You are doing an amazing job, keep cooking! ~Julie Jones