Polish Pancakes {Naleśniki}
This is kids’ all time favorite food in Poland. If all fails, make naleśniki. They’re golden brown, thin, just slightly sweet pancakes filled with jelly or mixture of white cheese (a form of cottage cheese, in America known as farmer’s cheese) and aromatic cinnamon sugar. Polish Pancakes
I often also stuff them with…. surprise… sauerkraut and mushroom mixture (savory version) and then, they’re called krokiety (or paszteciki)… but that’s next time.
It takes a steady hand to pour the thin batter to make naleśniki, but I’m here to help. Watch this video below, and you’ll get a hang of it.
Polish Pancakes {Naleśniki}
Ingredients
- BATTER:
- 2 eggs
- Pinch of salt
- ½ c / 120 ml of buttermilk*
- ½ c / 120 ml of milk
- 1 c / 250 ml of water
- 1 tbsp of melted butter
- 2 tsp of sugar
- 1 ½ c / 190 g of all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp of oil / butter for frying
- FILLING:
- 8 oz / 220 g of farmer’s cheese (or cream cheese, softened)
- ½-¾ c of plain yogurt or sour cream (skip if using cream cheese)
- 1 tbsp of sugar (or more if you like it sweeter)
- ½ tsp of cinnamon
Instructions
Beat eggs with salt, add the remaining ingredients (except oil) and blend until it makes a smooth liquid batter.
Heat a non-stick medium pan with a tiny bit of butter / oil (medium heat).
Pour about ½ cup of batter onto the pan and move the pan around to distribute into a thin layer.
When the top of the batter dries and the edges start curling up, flip.
Cook for another minute or two, until golden brown. Remove from pan, set aside.
Mix together ingredients for the filling to make a thick paste.
Spread a portion of the mixture onto each "naleśnik", fold in half and in half again.
They are ready to be served, but I like to sauté mine in a tiny bit of butter. They get crispy on the outside and the filling warms up a bit.
Notes
*If you don’t have buttermilk, just use regular milk, but it’s so worth using buttermilk.
This recipe makes about 15 naleśniki, not counting the first one that you MUST eat plain, fresh off the pan. Caution: hot!!! Don’t say I didn’t warn you… I can’t afford a lawyer. 🙂
Have you had these before? Leave a comment below!
Smacznego!!
Anna
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Today was a naleśniki kind of day. Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Made these for dinner with apricot preserves for the filling. Yummy! Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
My Lithuanian Nan made these.
My grandma made these. They are so delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Wonderful, Aniu. Dziękujemy.
You may know this already, but in “American”, naleśniki are called “crepes”. Racuchy are closer in thickness to American pancakes.
Serdecznie pozdrawiam.
Smacznego!! 😉 Anna
My grandma used to make these. How do you pronounce the polish name in English? She used to call them “Paul-a-chink-kis”.
Nah-leh-shnee-kee 😊
Palacsinta is the Hungarian version of naleśniki. Or the French version of crepes.
Yes, my Momma was Slovak and we pronounce them paul-a-chink-kis. I don’t remember the correct spelling. They sure are delicious.
My father was Polish and like many of the other people leaving comments I miss my childhood food. Made with sweet cheeks these are delicious! I have been searching so thank you for this recipe!
Sweet cheese!
Aleksandra, welcome! Keep cooking!
Sweet cheese!
Really love your videos. It has me started making Polish food again. Both sets of grandparents were born in Poland Unfortunately only one was alive during my childhood. My cousin and I visited Poland and 2017. Do you ever run classes for visitors to Poland?
If you ever visit Szczecin, I will. 😊
Looks wonderful, can’t wait to try them. Thanks for the lovely recipes…
My pleasure!😊
Can’t wait to try them.
They sound like crepes.
Only better 😉😊
Babcia used to make these and I remember she had a cast iron skillet she would only use for them. Probably one of my favorite Polish dishes of all time!!! I can’t wait to try and make them myself.
Good luck!! They are delicious!!