I’m not a fan of farmer’s cheese. I love the idea of it because it is popular in Poland, and I am Polish and I have Polish pride.
But the taste? Not so much. I like my cheese to be bold. I want salt and I want intense flavor. I wouldn’t reach for a slice of, say, mozzarella because it’s too mild. But next to farmer’s cheese, mozzarella looks like aged Parmesan.
In the past I described farmer’s cheese as a less-salty version of feta, but that’s not accurate. It’s sour, like plain yogurt, and soft. It’s also a bit firmer than cottage cheese. In fact, farmer’s cheese was once cottage cheese – it’s curds were simply drained longer to remove more water from the final product.
Still, I would never want to eat farmer’s cheese (or cottage cheese, for that matter) on its own.
But in these blintzes? It’s lovely. With sugar and raisins folded into the batter, the blintzes are sweet patties that smell like French toast when they’re frying. When cooked, the texture is dense, as if flour was the main ingredient. But it’s not. The blintzes are primarly made with farmer’s cheese and eggs.
Ever the salt lover, I like to sprinkle some coarse salt on these blintzes before serving. It perks up their flavor and gives them a nice crunch.
Cheese Blintzes
Martha Stewart’s website has the recipe for cheese blintzes. Here’s a few tips on the process:
- The quantities: The recipe calls for 15 ounces of farmer’s cheese, but my local shop sells the cheese by the pound. Without a scale, I had an extra ounce of cheese to work with. After mixing the cheese with eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt, I had a gloppy concoction that wouldn’t hold together when patted into shape. The fix? Add more flour. I can’t tell you how much. Just enough to hold the mixture together. It will still be soft. But the next step – rolling the blintzes in flour – helps with that. Which brings me to…
- The flour: I shaped all of my blintzes, rolled them in flour, and stored them on cookie sheets ahead of time. This does not work. The flour sinks into the blintzes like snow melting on skin, and you’re left with a wet mess. Instead they must be fried immediately. After rolling them in flour, set them directly in a pan of hot oil so they can get cooking.
Are there any farmer’s cheese recipes that you just love (or cottage cheese recipes)? Please share them with us.
So farmer’s cheese is one of those things I always see in the fancy cheese case but have never tried. I can tell you that I’ve successfully used cottage cheese as an ingredient in stove top mac and cheese.
This is very cool! I’m not a fan of farmer’s cheese either, except in blintzes. BUT the blintzes I’ve always had were made by my Russian grandmother and they were flat and then she’d fill them with fruit and farmer’s cheese. Delicious. I’m so curious about these pattie-shaped blintzes! Very cool! The only thing I’ve used cottage cheese for is in pretty predictable things: scrambled in eggs (delicious!) and veggie salads — also delicious!
I must say, i do like cottage cheese, so these look good! Thanks for the tips!
@Wendi: Mac & cheese is the only time I have ever used cottage cheese too. It works well! My suspicion is that you could substitute cottage cheese in these blintzes if you add extra flour to the batter.
@Julia: Your grandmother filled the blintzes with farmer’s cheese and fruit after they were cooked? That’s an interesting idea. I like the combination of fruit and cheese. What did she make the blintzes with?
@offmotorway: Have fun if you decide to make these!
I’ve never eaten a blintze. I think I would like Farmer’s Cheese, though. I’ll have to hop over to Martha’s site…
@Tracy: If you like cottage cheese, you probably would like farmer’s cheese. Give the blintzes a try.
Hi Jen! The blintzes look delicious! I LOVE bold cheeses like Humboldt Fog and mild cheeses like mozzarella….I’m an equal opportunity cheese lover! Nice to see your post!
It’s funny. Here in Poland, my husband is always making farozek, which is probably farmer’s cheese, but he combines it with sugar and I’m not sure what else. He eats it on bread for breakfast, and it’s his version of morning comfort food. I keep thinking that it’s reminiscent of cottage cheese (whose consistency I’ve never been a fan of). I know that low fat cottage cheese is a great source of protein, and I’m wondering if the farmer’s cheese we eat here is over the top in fat content. Probably. In any case, this warrants more investigation. Thanks for a great post.
@Ann: I don’t know if I’ve ever had Humboldt Fog cheese, but I’ll be on the lookout for it. Thanks for the tip!
@Sheila: Farmer’s cheese with sugar sounds pretty good to me. It sounds like it would cut some of the sourness in the cheese. The farmer’s cheese I bought at the store had the fat content listed on the container. I can’t remember the numbers exactly, but I don’t remember thinking they were over the top either. I agree, there’s something about the consistency of cottage cheese that doesn’t sit well with me. I do like it in smoothies though. I had one over the weekend with mixed berries, and…well, I can’t remember what else. It was delicious though. I’ll have to find the recipe.