🥞 Syrniki

Syrniki are fried patties made from cottage cheese (tvorog). The cheese is mixed with flour, egg and sugar. Sometimes vanilla, raisins or dried apricots are added. The mixture is shaped into small patties, rolled in flour and fried in a pan until golden brown. Inside, a syrnik stays soft.

The name comes from the word “syr”, which means cheese. Among the Eastern Slavs, this word was also used for soft cottage cheese. That is why syrniki are made from cottage cheese, not hard cheese. They are also called tvorozhniki. Syrniki are cooked in Ukrainian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Latvian and other cuisines. There is a similar dish in Germany too.

Syrniki or pancakes? Both come out of a frying pan, but syrniki are built differently: a cottage cheese (tvorog) mixture with flour, egg and sugar is shaped by hand into small patties, rolled in flour and fried until golden, so the inside stays soft. They are not made from hard cheese either, even though “syr” means cheese: among the Eastern Slavs the word also covered soft cottage cheese. Tvorozhniki is simply another name for the same dish.

Syrniki are a dish rather than a product, so on the shelf you are looking for the cottage cheese (tvorog) they are made from. Read the product name and ingredient list; a good syrnik comes out when the cottage cheese is not too moist. You will find cottage cheese in the chilled dairy aisle of a supermarket or at a market stall. If you buy ready-made ones, the first ingredient should be cottage cheese, with flour, egg and sugar after it.

Syrniki are usually eaten for breakfast or dessert. They are served with sour cream, jam, honey or melted butter. There are also savoury syrniki. A good syrnik comes out when the cottage cheese is not too moist.