Hungarian pancakes (Palacsinta)
Hungarian pancakes are thin crepes, rolled up and sprinkled with powdered sugar. There are several things you can fill the palacsinta with, like apricot, strawberry or blueberry jam, vanilla or chocolate pudding, apple sauce with cinnamon, ground walnut, or cocoa powder. It is a really easy to make recipe, a quick dessert which is done in 30 minutes and tastes great. This kind of pancake is very popular in Hungary. Its origin is not clear, most probably it developed from the roman plazenta, a small round cake that was eaten instead of bread. Hungarian pancakes are thin, similar to French crepes, and totally unlike American hot cakes or griddle cakes. Plus, they are not typically eaten for breakfast.
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 150 grams (5.4 ounces) of plain flour
- 300 ml (1 ¼ cups) of whole milk
- 150 ml of sparkling water or ½ coffee-spoon of baking soda + 150 ml water (2/3 cup)
- Pinch of salt
- Oil for frying (I use sunflower oil)
- 150 grams (2/3 cup) of dry cottage cheese (or ricotta or farmer’s cheese)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 heaping tablespoon of sugar
- 1 little splash of vanilla extract (or 1 sachet of vanilla sugar – around 1 flat tablespoon)
- Zest of half a lemon
- Apricot jam
- Icing sugar for dusting
Takes
Makes 8-10 pancakes.
Instructions
- Break the egg, add a pinch of salt and one teaspoon of sugar and beat until smooth.
- Add some milk and some flour and mix well. I always add the ingredients gradually to avoid lumps.
- When it is smooth, add the remaining flour, milk, and soda water. You can use sparkling water or still water with half a coffee-spoon baking soda.
- The ideal pancake batter consistency is when the batter is not too runny and yet, not too stiff. It is like a thin yoghurt drink.
- Put the pancake batter in the fridge for 5-10 minutes; meanwhile, make the sweet cottage cheese filling
- Separate an egg, you need only the yolk for this recipe. Beat the yolk with the sugar and vanilla until thick.
- Put the cottage cheese in a bowl. Mash the cheese very well until it becomes absolutely soft. Now add the egg yolk and sugar mixture and the zest from half a lemon. Mix all the ingredients very nicely until the mixture reaches a uniform consistency.
- Fry the pancakes: Set a frying pan over medium heat. Add a few drops of vegetable oil. When it is hot, pour some pancake batter into the frying pan. Tilt the pan so that the batter coats the surface of the pan evenly. This should be a very thin coat. If you have holes, fill them with some batter. Always stir the mixture before pouring it into the hot pan, or the flour might settle. Fry the underside of the pancake for approximately 1 minute or until golden brown. You can loosen it with the spatula. Check the underside to be sure it has browned.
- Flip the pancake to fry the topside as well. The pancake is done when both sides are a light brown.
- Spread each pancake with jam or cottage cheese and roll up. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Serve immediately.
Mom taught us how to make these as a kid. I still have a photo of myself standing on a big stock pot (so I was tall enough to see over the top of the stove), with spatula in hand waiting to flip the Palacsinta. And 50 years later they are still a favorite. Only Moms recipe uses veg. Oil instead of soda water in the batter.
My mom always made these and they were a favorite for us kids. She also taught me how to cook these Hungarian crepes so she would not have to cook them since they took so long to cook. She also topped them with sour creme and baked them for about 15 minutes after all the mix contains a raw egg yolk. We sprinkled them with sugar after they were done baking.
My Mum is Dutch but made these every Friday. We are them sprinkled with sugar.
Hungarian father in law schooled at Budapest chef school. Was an amazing baker at 80 y/o. Still trying to discover recipes for apple slices. Base was not just flour. Used raisins
I so miss The Gay Hussar restaurant, an historic fixture on the London restaurant scene for over 50 years. That’s where I first tasted sweet cheese panckes and it was love at first bite! Thanks for the recipe; I shall have a go, although I’m sure it will not be the same as the chef’s rendition at The Gay Hussar. More Hungarian restaurants please.
Thanks for reminding me. I will have to make some again. What I use to do as my mother showed me was to create a palacsinta cake. Layers on top of each other alternating cottage cheese, 2 different jams, chocolate cream (homemade) and the yoke of eggs beat and placed on top then put into oven.
Having a Hungarian gramma and momma, I was brought up on Hungarian cooking. My favorites are stuffed peppers, crepes with cottage cheese filling, chicken paprika, cabbage rolls, nut and poppy seed tortes.
My grandparents came over to US from Hungary in the 1900’s. Lived in Ohio. Their last name was Szechy.
My mother used to make these for us kids. My dad was full Hungarian and taught her. She would use cottage cheese with raisins for the filling. Ahhh….good memories!