Pancakes every day...

...probably aren't a good thing, healthwise.
Among the things I'm finding challenging at the moment, avoiding the temptation for a lavish cooked brunch-style breakfast on a daily basis is just one, but being confined with my kitchen does mean it's right there every morning. Working from home has removed the morning scramble to remember which of our five sites I'm supposed to be driving to today and created a dangerous element of leisure around the breakfast table.

So, while not limiting my self to a small helping of healthy oat-based low glycemic index cereal and a swiftly consumed coffee, I am trying to find healthier options. Pretty sure I'm not going to manage healthy right now. I can't just skip breakfast - it's part of managing my blood sugar and keeping me sane and conscious - but I have been leaning towards options I try to convince myself are better than full on french toast or belgian waffles.

I always have quark on hand - I use it a lot in place of cream or crème fraîche or yoghurt in lots of things. Many sauces are improved by a dollop of quark and if you throw some honey on it, it makes a nice dessert. But I mainly keep quark on hand to make the pancakes I convince myself are a healthier option (hey, quark is low in fat) - syrniki.

There are many recipes out there for syrniki - some involve sugar, a few have raisins in <<makes ugh! raisins in pancakes face>>, some have added cream or waaaay more floury carbs than mine. Seek out your own if you want, mine works for me.

The proper cheese is actually twaróg which, I have to say, is much easier to find these days now there are a healthy amount of Polski Skleps around, but all mine are currently closed or too far for an essential journey. Some argue there is no difference between traditional twaróg and quark. I find twaróg is a bit more solid and crumbly, so quark works for me and I can get it anywhere.

Put a griddle or frying pan on to heat over a low/medium heat.

The three ingredients I choose

Take 2 healthy tablespoons of quark and put in a jug of choice. Add 1 precious medium egg. Take a very slightly heaped teaspoon of flour (this is plain, I've used self raising, also potato flour - experiment, what harm could it do?) and sprinkle on top. You want just enough flour-stuff to bind them and make turning easier, too much and they go rubbery. [I do not add sugar, of any sort (healthy, see!), some would add icing or caster sugar here. Maybe even those yucky raisins. Shudder].

Battered batter

Beat together with a spoon till you have a spoonable batter. Dropping consistency, my gran would have called it.

Oil your griddle/frying pan (I use spray oil which is great for this. Otherwise swipe some kitchen paper with neutral oil on it across the hot surface - watch your fingers).

Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the pancake-making surface. I like to keep them quite small as 1) they are easier to turn and 2) I can pretend I'm eating more pancakes than I actually am.

Pancakes on the way

Give them a minute or two on the first side (hard to judge, too fast and they'll fall apart instead of turning, too slow and they burn...)

Flip them carefully and give the second side a minute or two.

Pancakes nearly here

Enjoy with topping of choice - I've used maple syrup here, jam works, or berries and more quark. Whatever.

Enjoy your syrniki responsibly.

Syrniki and maple syrup