Cottage Cheese Fritters

This recipe is a part of my life since childhood and it plays an important role to me, because every time I make it, it reminds me of my grandmother – the master of cottage cheese fritters/pancakes. She used to make them in the morning before I went to school and now whenever I visit her, I often call beforehand to ask for these. I won’t lie if I say it’s one of the most popular meals among her grandkids, me being the youngest at the age of twenty-five. I know how nostalgic this recipe is to every Lithuanian and I’m excited to see it travel to other countries, too.

For a gluten-free version, use a gluten-free flour mix instead of wheat. I suggest choosing neutral tasting flour, therefore I usually go for a mixture of rice and tapioca flours. They’re both slightly sweet, but neutral in taste. They have the right properties to mimic wheat: rice for fluffiness and tapioca for stickiness.

In my home country, we have a wide variety of cottage cheese, which are different by the fat amount, the texture and coarseness. For these pancakes I like to use 9% fat dry cottage cheese. By dry I mean the kind that has no liquid in the pack. If the only kind of cottage cheese you can find is really moist, I’d suggest draining it through a cheese cloth until all you have is dry crumbs. We need it to be dry so that we can use a small amount of flour and end up with a firm, but extra-creamy pancake.

Instructions

Mix cottage cheese with egg and sugar until well incorporated. Add the flour and only mix until just incorporated (overmixing might lead to harder pancakes).

Heat a large non-stick pan with a bit of frying oil. Form small pancakes using your hands and gently place them in the pan. Fry on medium heat until bottom side develops a golden brown crispy surface.

Flip all of the pancakes, cover and cook on low heat until the other side browns evenly. Low temperature will help them cook through without burning too fast.

Serve with light sour cream and jams or preserves.