Polish · Breakfast

Nalesniki

Thin Polish pancakes folded round a filling of sweet curd cheese and raisins, then fried in butter until golden.

35 min prep and cooking plus 15 min resting 50 min start to finish Serves 4 servings Easy
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Nalesniki

Photograph credit: naleśniki z serem by Sylwester Ficek · Pexels License · Pexels

Making Nalesniki Ahead

Keeps for 2 days in the fridge, filled.

Making Nalesniki

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  1. Whisk the flour, eggs, milk, water, salt and melted butter. Rest for 15 minutes.

  2. Cook 8 thin pancakes in a lightly buttered pan, 1 minute then 30 seconds. Stack under a cloth.

  3. Mash the curd cheese with the sugar, yolk and vanilla and stir in the raisins.

  4. Put a spoonful on each pancake and fold into an envelope.

  5. Fry the parcels in the 40 g butter for 2 minutes on each side. Serve with the soured cream.

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Worth Knowing

  • Sparkling water makes the pancakes lighter.
  • Pour in only enough batter to coat the pan.
  • Fry the parcels in butter for a golden finish.

Behind the Recipe

The first sign they are ready is the smell: butter browning and the sweet scent of vanilla cheese warming inside the pancake. Naleśniki are the Polish pancakes, thin, supple and slightly crisp at the edges, and the best known filling is twaróg, a fresh curd cheese, mixed with sugar, vanilla and raisins.

The batter is flour, eggs, milk, a splash of mineral water, a pinch of salt and a little melted butter. The sparkling water makes the pancakes lighter. Whisk it smooth and rest it for 15 minutes. Pour in only enough batter to coat the pan thinly and swirl it. Cook for 1 minute until the edges lift, flip and cook for 30 seconds. Stack the pancakes under a cloth to keep them soft.

Mash the curd cheese with sugar, an egg yolk and vanilla, and stir in the raisins. Put a spoonful in each pancake, fold it into an envelope, and fry the parcels in butter for 2 minutes on each side until golden. Serve warm with soured cream and a dusting of icing sugar. They can also be filled with jam or stewed fruit.

Serving Ideas

Soured cream · Icing sugar · Fruit compote · Tea

Quick Answers

How long does Nalesniki take to make?

15 minutes of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking, plus 15 minutes of resting, so allow 50 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 4.

The Numbers per Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (how much frying oil the food takes up cannot be known from the recipe). Why some recipes have none.

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .