How to Make Palaschintas (Hungarian Crepes)

All cultures and nationalities have their own version of the crepe, or dessert pancake—and for Hungarians, it’s the palaschinta! As a child at home we always ate our palaschintas as a main course, even though it’s more of a dessert (you can make savoury versions, but we always ate sweetened palaschintas). Sometimes we’d start with homemade vegetable soup as an excuse to put something of nutritional substance in our stomachs first, but the soup was always just a reason to get to the main course: palaschintas.

Start by beating eggs in a mixer over medium; add the flour, sugar and salt and continue beating on low—you’ll get clumps if you add the milk too soon, so stick with the eggs and four first. Also, I always use 2% milk—I would not recommend trying to save calories by using skim milk (in fact, I sometimes add a bit of cream to richen it up even more). Once you have a well-mixed consistency, add the milk a bit at a time, then the vanilla at the end. I like to leave the batter sitting, covered, on a counter for at least an hour before flying, so it will also thicken up a bit over time. The final batter should be velvety, but not too thick.

For the frying, I’ve always used Crisco—some may want to use butter, but be forewarned: butter burns much more rapidly and Crisco actually adds really nice flavour. Add about half a teaspoon of Crisco to a crepe pan over medium heat, then a large ladle of the batter as soon as the pan starts to heat. Quickly tip the pan in all directions to spread evenly. Within about 20 seconds, flip the palaschinta or use a metal knife to gently lift and flip, careful not to tear. Add a bit more Crisco and continue frying, no more than 20 or so more seconds. Slide the palaschinta out of the pan and onto a plate. Continue until all the batter is used.

Spreading jam in the finished palaschinta before rolling up is already mouth watering enough (I’d recommend apricot, strawberry or raspberry jams, but any flavour, I’m sure, will please), maybe even with a tablespoon of ground walnuts, but the typical Hungarian filling is made with cottage cheese. For those who already like or even love cottage cheese—I’d say they’ll go nuts over this filling; for all those who may not even like cottage cheese, I’d recommend to just, please, give it a chance: it may change your life.

Separate one egg; beat the white until light and frothy, and set aside. In a separate bowl, beat the yolk and sugar until thick and lemony. Add the cottage cheese to the yolk mixture and continue mixing on low, then add the raisons and enough grated lemon rind to brighten and flavour. Fold in the egg white at end.

Since the filling has raw egg it should be eaten within a few days. Fill, roll up and refrigerate any leftovers, although I doubt they’ll last the night.


Palaschintas

6 eggs (organic, if possible)
6 to 8 heaping tablespoons of flour
Milk (I use 2%)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbl white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
(makes about 15)

Cottage Cheese Filling

1 egg, separated
500 gram-container cottage cheese (2% is best, organic if possible)
2 Tbl white sugar
Half-cup raisons (I always use black raisons)
Rind of 1 large lemon