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If you like pancakes you are going to love my sweet cheese fritters syrniki! Russian Syrniki are a pancake and cheesecake hybrid, slightly crispy on the outside and soft and delicious on the inside. All that makes for a very delicious and special treat!
There’s something special about a brunch with hot and fresh fritters. Want even more? You’ll need to try my Easy Apple Fritters!
As a child I always liked Saturday mornings because they meant special breakfast for us. I would get most excited when my mum whipped up a batch of these hot and fluffy cheese fritters.
It took me far too long to introduce syrniki to my own family, but when I did they were an even bigger hit than I hoped. And who can blame them?
Pillowy soft on the inside, with just a light crisp outside, and just the right amount of sweetness balanced by the slightly tart tvorog. So good, I just might go and make another batch!
Syrniki
Syrniki (seer-nee-kee) are made from a farmer’s cheese called Tvorog in Russian or Twarog in Polish. They are a traditional dish, and very popular across Eastern Europe where they are enjoyed as a breakfast or dessert.
They are essentially small pancakes, but with a hint of cheesecake as well.
The tvorog gives them a rich and creamy texture, while frying in oil means that they are lovely and golden on the outside.
What is ‘tvorog’?
Tvorog is a creamy curd cheese very similar to ricotta and cottage cheese but is drier and has a tangy taste. Below is a photo of what tvorog is like in texture.
I couldn’t find a good substitute in the US or Canada for the longest time. I have used well-drained cottage cheese in the past but it really lacks the slightly sour kick of Tvorog.
The good news is that major supermarkets in North America now 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.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Tvorog or farmer’s cheese can often be found in supermarkets, but if it proves to be a challenge then it is possible to use well-drained ricotta cheese. Cottage cheese that has well-drained and then processed in a food processor or blender is also an option.
- Make sure the syrniki are not too big or they will take too long to cook all the way through and might burn on the outside. Using an soup spoon or ice cream scoop will help you achieve the right size and make sure you are using a consistent amount of batter each time.
- Syrniki should be slightly crisp on the outside but fluffy inside, and to achieve this, the pan needs to be hot enough. After the pan and oil have had the chance to heat up, test the temperature by sprinkling a small amount of oil into it. If the oil is hot enough the flour should sizzle.
- If the pan and oil are too hot, the syrniki will look done on the outside but be undercooked inside. Don’t panic, as they can be placed in the microwave for 30 seconds to finish cooking!
- I don’t recommend using olive oil for this recipe as it has a low smoke point. Canola oil or vegetable oil are better options.
- Because of how syrniki are cooked, I like to remove them onto a plate with a couple pieces of paper towel to remove excess oil.
Serving suggestions
Dust the 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 my suggestions and went for This is an affiliate link.maple syrup. However they LOVED the syrniki, which I call a success!
Although I prefer syrniki for breakfast or brunch, there’s not reason to stop there. They also make for a pretty amazing dessert!
Storage and leftovers
Syrniki are at their best best when served hot. But if you do have leftovers they can be kept in the fridge for five days or in the freezer for up to three months.
Make sure they are kept in an This is an affiliate link.airtight container. To heat them up, pop them in a microwave for 30 seconds, or in a 190C/375F degree oven for five minutes or until they are hot throughout.
They can also be reheated in an This is an affiliate link.air fryer, with the time required changing depending on your model.
More pancake recipes
- Oatmeal pancakes
- Russian crêpes blini
- Buckwheat pancakes
- Classic American pancakes
- Kefir Pancakes Oladi
Sweet Cheese Fritters Syrniki
Ingredients
- 450g / 1lb farmer’s cheese, can use well-drained ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs, large
- 2 tbsp oil
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 80g / 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp This is an affiliate link.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
- Tvorog or farmer’s cheese can be found in many supermarkets, but if that is a challenge then well-drained ricotta is a good option. You can also use cottage cheese that has been well-drained and processed in a This is an affiliate link.food processor or This is an affiliate link.blender.
- Don’t make the syrniki too big or they will take too long to cool al the way through and can burn on the outside. An ice cream scoop is about the right size, and helps make sure you are using a consistent amount of batter every time.
- You want syrniki to be slightly crisp on the outside but fluffy in the middle. For this, the pan needs to be hot enough. Let the pan and oil heat up, then test by sprinkling a small amount of flour. It should sizzle if the temperature is hot enough.
- But if the pan is too hot, they will look done outside but be undercooked inside. Don’t stress – they can be finished by putting them in the microwave for 30 seconds.
- Canola oil or vegetable oil are the best options here. The smoke point of olive oil is too low for use here.
- Because they are cooked in a bit of oil, I like to remove the syrniki to a plate with a couple of pieces of paper towel to soak up any excess.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I am so looking forward to make these! Do I need to use full fat tvorog or half fat or low fat would also work?
You can also use half fat or low fat cheese for them, Sarah!
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
Sounds delicious, Kamilia! I am thrilled you enjoyed it!
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.
You are very welcome, Lisa! I am happy my recipe brought your family so much joy!
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.
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.
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
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
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! 🙂
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! 🙂
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
That is so great, Leslie! Syrniki without a doubt are my favourite breakfast. Thank you for your feedback and following along! 🙂
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.
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.
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.
Love reading your story. Thank you for sharing your memories
Thanks Lucy!!