Hungarian Cheese Latkes

Nuts and Bolts:

I love Lillie Stern Serviansky's cheese latkes recipe from Joan Nathan's Book Jewish Cooking in America. We make this recipe almost every year for Chanukah. It has become a family favorite. My mom gets excited when she has cheese latkes because her mother used to make a similar latke. Although the potato latke is king, this is the queen of latkes for our family.

My Thoughts on Hungarian Cheese Latkes:

1. This is a tricky recipe to make, but it is worth it, trust me.

2. It is crucial to hunt for large curd cottage cheese at your grocery store.

3. The original recipe had you fry the latkes in a lot of oil. I use a griddle with oil or butter brushed onto it.

4. This recipe does not double well. So, make batches if you need a lot of latkes.

5. We do our Hanukkah as a dairy meal. My family loves sour cream.

Method:

For this recipe, you will need: 2 large eggs, 1 cup of sugar, 8 ounces of cream cheese, 6 tablespoons of large curd cottage cheese, ¾ -1 cup of flour, ½ teaspoon of salt, and butter or oil for frying,

Start by putting the eggs and sugar in the food processor and pulse it a couple of times. Then add the cheeses and ¾ to 1 cup of flour.

Add the cream cheese to the food processor.

Important tip: I tend to use the whole cup of flour. It makes a stiffer pancake, so it is easier to flip when cooking it. 

Then process the mixture until smooth and transfer the mixture to another bowl. We use a small ice scoop to get the batter dished up and onto the griddle. You can make the pancakes either small or large, depending on how many you want to make.

Important tip: This recipe originally suggests using 4 tablespoons of batter, but I tend to use a little bit more to make it a larger pancake. So, play around and see what works in your mess.

Here is the finished batter.

Heat your griddle to medium-high, and you can either melt some butter or brush on some oil and let it heat up. After that, do a test pancake to see how fast it cooks. It can take from 30 seconds to almost 3 minutes to fully cook. So, watch the pancakes and try not to let them burn. Once ready, serve immediately with jam, sour cream, and apple sauce. Enjoy them for your Chanukah celebrations.

Final Thoughts on Hungarian Cheese Latkes:

This can be a fiddly recipe, but it is so worth it. My family loves these pancakes, and the leftovers make a great breakfast. Actually, we never have that many leftovers. They are always the first latke gone.

Latkes on the griddle.

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Hungarian Cheese Latkes

Author: Dorothy's Mess

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup of sugar
• 8 ounces of cream cheese
• 6 tablespoons of large curd cottage cheese
• ¾ -1 cup of flour
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• butter or oil for frying

Instructions

1. Start by putting the eggs and sugar in the food processor and pulse a couple of times.
2. Then add in the cheese and ¾ to 1 cup of flour to get the right consistency.
3. Then, process the mixture until it becomes smooth.
4. Then transfer the mixture to another bowl.
5. Next, heat your griddle to medium-high. Either melt some butter or brush on some oil and let it heat up.
6. Next, using either a small ice scoop or tablespoon to drop the batter on the griddle once heated.
7. It is suggested to do a test pancake to see how fast they cook.
8. It can take from 30 seconds to almost 3 minutes for the pancakes to cook. So, watch the pancakes and try not to let them burn.
9. Once ready, serve immediately with jam, sour cream, and apple sauce. Enjoy them on Chanukah, Brunch, or breakfast!

Notes:

Adapted from Joan Nathan's Jewish Cooking in America.