Quarkkeulchen
Quarkkeulchen are Saxon pancakes made from quark and potatoes boiled the day before, fried in butter and dusted with cinnamon sugar. Around Dresden they are eaten for breakfast or as a sweet lunch, usually with apple sauce. The potatoes must be cold and dry — warm ones make a slack mixture and heavy pancakes. They are a fine way to use up yesterday's potatoes, and once those are boiled and chilled they are as quick to make as ordinary curd pancakes.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Boiling the potatoes 25 min
- Cooling 240 min
- Mixture 15 min
- Frying 25 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneBoil the potatoes
Boil the potatoes in their skins in salted water for 25 minutes until tender. Best done the day before.
Ingredients: 500 g floury potatoes · 250 g medium-fat quark, well drained · 60 g plain flour · 1 pcs egg · 40 g sugar · 50 g raisins · 1 tsp grated lemon zest · ¼ tsp salt
Cool them
Drain, peel while still warm and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Cold potatoes are drier and less sticky.
Ingredients: 500 g floury potatoes · 250 g medium-fat quark, well drained · 60 g plain flour · 1 pcs egg · 40 g sugar · 50 g raisins · 1 tsp grated lemon zest · ¼ tsp salt
Rice the potatoes
Press the cold potatoes through a ricer or grate them finely.
Ingredients: 500 g floury potatoes · 250 g medium-fat quark, well drained · 60 g plain flour · 1 pcs egg · 40 g sugar · 50 g raisins · 1 tsp grated lemon zest · ¼ tsp salt
A ricer gives the lightest texture.Soak the raisins
Cover the raisins with boiling water for 5 minutes and drain. They will stay soft and not scorch in the pan.
Ingredients: 500 g floury potatoes · 250 g medium-fat quark, well drained · 60 g plain flour · 1 pcs egg · 40 g sugar · 50 g raisins · 1 tsp grated lemon zest · ¼ tsp salt
Mix
Mix the potatoes with the quark, egg, sugar, flour, lemon zest, salt and raisins. The mixture should be soft but shapeable — add a spoonful of flour if it sticks to your hands.
Ingredients: 500 g floury potatoes · 250 g medium-fat quark, well drained · 60 g plain flour · 1 pcs egg · 40 g sugar · 50 g raisins · 1 tsp grated lemon zest · ¼ tsp salt
Soft but holding together.Shape the pancakes
With wet hands shape 12 pancakes of about 75 g — the mixture weighs around 900 g — 7 cm across and 1.5–2 cm thick.
Ingredients: 500 g floury potatoes · 250 g medium-fat quark, well drained · 60 g plain flour · 1 pcs egg · 40 g sugar · 50 g raisins · 1 tsp grated lemon zest · ¼ tsp salt
Fry
Heat the clarified butter in a pan (about 28 cm) over medium heat and fry the pancakes 3–4 minutes per side until golden. Four fit at a time, so work in three batches, adding more butter as you go — about 25 minutes in all. Too high a heat burns the outside and leaves the middle cold.
Ingredients: 50 g clarified butter or oil · 2 tbsp sugar for dusting · 1 tsp cinnamon
Medium heat — the middle must warm through.Dust and serve
Mix the sugar with the cinnamon and dust the hot pancakes. Serve with apple sauce, plum butter or sour cream.
Ingredients: 50 g clarified butter or oil · 2 tbsp sugar for dusting · 1 tsp cinnamon
Before you start
Dry quark
The quark must be well drained — wet quark slackens the mixture, forcing in more flour and making the pancakes rubbery. Squeeze it in a cloth if needed.
Savoury version
Leave out the sugar and raisins and add chives, marjoram and more salt. Excellent with soup or mushroom sauce.
Storage
Fried pancakes keep 2 days in the fridge; reheat in a dry pan or at 180°C for 6 minutes. Do not keep the raw mixture more than a few hours, as the potato darkens.
