„Quarkkeulchen“ pancakes with apple compote

Quarkkeulchen are a German speciality in which the dough is made extra light and airy by adding potatoes. They are served with apple purée, plum purée or icing sugar. For this recipe we fry apple chunks in butter and spice them up with cinnamon.
 

APPLE COMPOTE

1. Peel, quarter and core the apples. Cut the quarters into wedges and then into chunks. Heat the butter until foamy. Fry the apple chunks for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Sprinkle with the sugar and allow to caramelise, stirring constantly. Fry for another 2–3 minutes until the apples are soft. Season with cinnamon and a pinch of salt and set aside.
 

PANCAKES

2. Peel and wash the potatoes and cut them into large, even-sized pieces.  Cook in plenty of salted water for approx. 20 minutes until done.  Then strain the potatoes and allow the steam to evaporate, press them through a potato press and leave to cool.

3. Wash the lemon in hot water, dry it and grate 2 tsp of zest. Mix the potatoes with the quark, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest. Sieve the flour over the top and knead into a loose dough.

4. Sprinkle a little flour on the work surface. Shape the dough into an approx. 7–8-cm-thick roll. Cut into twelve 1-cm-thick slices and press to flatten them slightly. Sieve a little flour over the top and wipe away any excess.

5. Heat up 1 tbsp of clarified butter in each of two large non-stick frying pans. Fry the pancakes over a medium heat for 8–10 minutes until golden brown, turning often. If they start to brown too quickly, turn down the heat. When cooked, place the pancakes on kitchen roll to drain, then dust with icing sugar.

6. Warm the apple compote through again if you wish, then plate up the pancakes with the compote and serve.

TIP

You can easily make high-quality icing sugar yourself. Simply whiz raw cane sugar in the food chopper until it is as fine as dust.