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These cheese pancakes are light and puff up beautifully on the skillet. You’ll taste the apples, cheese and hint of cinnamon with each bite. Serve these with a generous amount of jam and sour cream for an unforgettable breakfast!
My husband loves it when I add fruit into breakfast and dessert. These farmer cheese pancakes are a twist on our classic syrniki recipe, which by the way has a semi-famous history if you get a chance to read it! Farmer cheese (tvorog) is similar to cottage cheese minus the moisture.
You can use store-bought farmer cheese for this recipe but it is less expensive to make your own and you’ll feel like a ninja making homemade cheese. If you are a fan of classic tvorog cheese, be sure to check out all of our Farmer Cheese recipes.
Ingredients for Cheese Pancakes:
2 cups farmers cheese, homemade or store-bought
4 large eggs
3/4 cups all-purpose flour + 1/2 cup for dredging
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp white vinegar
1 medium apple (any variety), peeled, cored and finely diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
Light olive oil, canola or vegetable oil, to sautee
How to Make Farmer Cheese Pancakes:
1. In a large bowl combine 2 cups farmers cheese, 4 eggs, 3/4 cup flour, 3 Tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Use an electric hand mixer on medium speed and mix just until well blended.
2. Place 1 tsp baking soda into a small ramekin and add 1 tsp vinegar then stir to combine. It should fizz. Pour this mixture into the batter and mix until well blended. Use a spatula to fold in diced apples. The mixture will thicken slightly as it stands.
3. Heat a large non-stick pan (this Zwilling pan is the best one I’ve ever tried) over medium/low heat and add 2 to 3 Tbsp oil.
4. Fill a shallow bowl with 1/2 cup flour. Add batter a heaping tablespoon at a time (I used a flat ice cream scoop with trigger). Sprinkle flour generously over the top then gently lift pancake and pat from one hand to another to remove excess flour.
5. Saute in hot oil over med/low heat about 3 min per side. Flip when starting to form tiny bubbles on top. Transfer to a platter and serve warm with your favorite topping such as jam and sour cream!
Farmers Cheese Pancakes with Apple (Syrniki)
Ingredients
- 2 cups farmers cheese, homemade or store-bought
- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 cups all-purpose flour + 1/2 cup for dredging
- 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1 medium apple, any variety, peeled, cored and finely diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
- Light olive oil, canola or vegetable oil, to sautee
Instructions
- How to Make Farmer Cheese Pancakes:
- In a large bowl combine 2 cups farmers cheese, 4 eggs, 3/4 cup flour, 3 Tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Use an electric hand mixer on medium speed and mix just until well blended.
- Place 1 tsp baking soda into a small ramekin and add 1 tsp vinegar then stir to combine. It should fizz. Pour this mixture into the batter and mix until well blended. Use a spatula to fold in diced apples. The mixture will thicken slightly as it stands.
- Heat a large non-stick pan over medium/low heat and add 2 to 3 Tbsp oil.
- Fill a shallow bowl with 1/2 cup flour. Add batter a heaping tablespoon at a time (I used a flat ice cream scoop). Sprinkle flour generously over the top then gently lift pancake and pat from one hand to another to remove excess flour.
- Saute in hot oil over med/low heat about 3 min per side. Flip when starting to form tiny bubbles on top. Transfer to a platter and serve warm with your favorite topping such as jam and sour cream!
- What I really mean to say is smothered in jam and sour cream. Absolutely delicious!
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
What I really mean to say is smothered in jam and sour cream. Absolutely delicious!
I keep remembering our first visit to Maui where we visited the Prince Hotel because our Entertainment book had a buy-one-get-one-coupon for their buffet – lol.
Ofcourse we went to a fancy place with a coupon! Anyways, I will always remember that as the best meal of my life. Do you have a best breakfast of your life story? I’d love to hear about it!
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
These did not work for me. I followed the recipe exactly, but the batter was very loose. I could barely dredge it, I tried frying without the flour dredge and they would spread all over my pan. They absorbed so much oil too. Very disappointing. I ended up adding a lot more flour to the batter, they held their shape more but were still very very oily once fried.
HI Kateryna, are you sure you measured everything correctly? It shouldn’t be that loose as you can see in photos. Also, if they are absorbing too much oil, that means the pan needs to be heated more. If the pan is too cool, it will absorb more oil. I hope that helps.
Just made these for Easter breakfast. They are little more involved than regular pancakes, but SO good. I made the farmers cheese a couple of days ago. We were a little skeptical of the sour cream topping…we were wrong. Our foster daughter used to always ask for sour cream on her pancakes when we went out to breakfast. She meant whipped cream and we would cringe at the thought of sour cream, but it works perfectly on these. Thank you!
You’re welcome and thank you for sharing that with us!
Hi Rubi. I think that could work but I haven’t tested it myself to say for sure. I can’t really recommend it without testing it myself. Sorry I know that’s not very helpful. If you test it out, let me know how it turns out!
Has anyone had any success either halving this recipe, or even quartering it? Or would it keep/freeze well?
I came across it via Pinterest and I think it sounds AMAZING but when I mentioned it to the hubby he exclaimed “GROSS!” so I’ll just be cooking for me.
Hi Brynne, we always make the full batch for our crew, but I think it would work fine to halve the recipe. I hope you love it! 🙂
Amazing!! I grew up eating these, my mom would make serniki from home made farmers cheese but she never followed a recipe. I followed your recipe and they came out wonderful, fluffy with a crispy outer. thank you for the recipe!!
You’re welcome Natalie! I’m happy to hear that! Thanks for sharing your great review!
I bake and cook regularly, and I enjoy many of your recipes, but this recipe did not work for me. I omitted the apples. The end result was a gummy outer skin that was even hard to cut through with a fork, the inside was not fluffy but heavy and flat. When I placed the prepared syrnychky on the heated pan, in the course of cooking, they grew and deformed, moving to the side lopsidedly, and touching another, even when 3 inches apart! . On my pancake griddle it took me double the amount of time to brown on a medium medium high heat. The end result though was flat and gummy, and too salty for my tastes ( farmers sheesh has salt and so does baking soda). My thoughts are that the eggs should be separated, the egg whites beaten separately and blended into batter at the end. There were 4 eggs for 2 cups cheese, which in retrospect was probably too much, giving the outside skin that gumminess, and the inside a beaten down interior. I would mix all dry ingredients, flour and leavening agent, together, and whip eggs with sugar separately, then combine, with egg whites beaten and added in the end. Maybe baking powder and soda combination would be better for the rise. I found the olive oil burning too fast..canola would be better. Sorry, still looking for the light fluffy syrnychky a relative made once using very little flour. But enjoy many other recipes.
Hi Donna, This recipe is modified from our original syrniki to be made with apples. You might follow that recipe instead for omitting the apples completelyI haven’t had to make those modifications. Was your baking soda fresh? Did it give a strong fizzle when mixed with baking soda? Also, the extra light olive oil that I use does have a high smoke point so it works well in this recipe but you can definitely use canola as a substitute if you only have regular olive oil or virgin.
Was busy making your Ukrainian version with raisins until my 3 year old knocked the cup of raisins onto the floor. Huh. Ok. So then I was eyeing the bag of craisins in the pantry but found this recipe using apples instead. Came out great, I even omitted the cinnamon by accident. Still delicious.
My husband and I are Ukrainian and I love all your recipes, keep up the good work!
LOL! That’s great to hear Sofia! Thank you so much for following 😀
My family and I liked these! I had difficulty dredging as the batter was too wet and loose. I added a bit more flour, but I probably should have added more. I have up and just cooked the syrniki without dredging. Still tasty, but missing the crust of the first few that I dredged. I’ll try it again at some point and add more flour.
Hi Dave, the batter is very soft and delicate. Sometimes if the cheese is too moist, the batter can be too loose. Also, using larger eggs can cause the batter to be more loose. I hope that helps 🙂
I picked up some Lithuanian farmer cheese at the local European Market, and this recipe worked really well. Dredging worked well and the syrniki were loved by all!
I gotta say I followed the directions to the exact measurements and my farmers cheese was not wet at all. These did not turn out at all!!! They are way too wet and runny. I think there should be more flour added to this recipe. What a waste of good ingredients!
I’m sorry to hear that! I just made this again a couple days ago and I’m always happy to help troubleshoot. Did you use any ingredient substitutions, such as using a different kind of flour? The batter should be very soft, but not wet. Also, did you use dry ingredient measuring cups for dry ingredients and liquid ingredient measuring cups for liquid ingredients? What was the consistency of your batter like?
Hi, Natasha=)
I love, love sirniki but I’ve never tried to make my own farmers cheese, and we dont have it in stores anywhere by. Do you think I can use Ricotta? I just feel like Ricotta have way more moisture then farmers cheese.
Yulia, Ricotta cheese should work. My friend has a good recipe on the blog for Ricotta Pancakes. I also have recipe for cottage cheese pancakes and greek yogurt pancakes that you must try ?.
This recipe looks delicious and I cant wait to try it. I would probably just put whip cream instead of farmers cheese to make it a little lighter.
The farmers cheese really makes these pancakes. I don’t think whipped cream would provide enough substance to substitute with it.
Hello, Natasha, I am gluten-free; is it possible to substitute oatmeal flour or coconut flour in place of the all-purpose flour and still get good results?
Thank you.
Hi Dee, I think one of those could work but I haven’t tested it myself to say for sure. I can’t really recommend it without testing it myself. Sorry I know that’s not very helpful. If you test it out, let me know how it turns out! 🙂
These look/sound really good. I don’t think that I’m up for making my own cheese and I haven’t seen farmer’s cheese at my grocery store. Could I substitute ricotta or another type of cheese?
Hi Suzanna, I haven’t tested those so I can’t say exactly. Ricotta would need other modifications since it is a wetter cheese than farmers cheese. The same goes for cottage cheese – you might be able to make it work if you can squeeze it dry with cheese cloth like I did with the farmers cheese, although cottage cheese doesn’t have the same tang and depth of flavor as farmers cheese. I do have a good recipe for cottage cheese pancakes posted.
I think that for my type of farmer’s cheese, which is a bit wetter, this is absolute over-kill on the eggs. I tried another recipe of yours and had to add flower to get the consistency right.
So, my suggestion would be to watch the wet ingredients.
Otherwise, keep up the great work!
Hi Liliya, what kind of Farmer’s cheese are you using? Is it store-bought and if so, what brand is it? This cheese is normally not supposed to be wet so that is probably why you had to add more flour. Thanks Liliya! 🙂
This recipe looks soooo good! Thanks for all you do and for sharing so much with the world, you are a blessing! Question… how do you come up with ideas? Like where do you get the motivation to keep posting?
Hi Lina! Thank you 🙂 Since this is our full time job (for my hubby and I), motivation is easy because if we don’t cook we don’t eat (literally in both senses – lol). We love it and we when you are constantly thinking about food and reading about food and pinning food, it just flows. I used to get stuck in ruts way more before I went full time into food blogging. A rut still happens every once in awhile but I get out of it quickly with a successful recipe test 🙂
Wow. Looks delicious. Bookmarked. Thanks. Very nice snaps too.
Thank you Deepa! 🙂
I can eat these Cheese Pancakes every single day for breakfast lunch and dinner, Natasha! I love that you added an apple to this recipe and I’ll will try your variation very soon! Pinned, Yummed, Stumbled and eaten from the screen! 🙂
Ha ha, thanks Tania! And thanks for sharing the recipe. That’s so nice of you 🙂 I agree, I could eat these any time of day and every day!
Hi Natasha. Can I use ricotta instead of a farmer’s cheese?
Hello :). I haven’t tested this specific recipe with ricotta but I think you would have to modify it since ricotta is juicier than farmer’s cheese. Without testing it myself, I couldn’t really recommend it though.
Those look simply amazing! I can’t wait to try them!
Thank you so much Roxana! I hope you love them. They are quite a treat 🙂
hi natasha, would these still be just as good if i skip the flour dredging step?
The dredging forms a nice outer “crust” and helps them keep their form as they puff up. They also seem to splatter less when dredged with flour. I think they would still work without it but it’s best to dredge.