Naleśniki with Vanilla Ricotta

Last night, in an effort to use up some extra milk we had sitting in the refrigerator, I made up a big batch homemade ricotta. There are many recipes but I use Carroll's recipe from Home Cheese Making. Using fresh raw milk and some citric acid, I heat the mail up to 185 - 195 degrees and let the milk separate. I usually stir and read a book while the cheese cooks. Once the whey isn't milky anymore, it needs to sit for 10 minutes then be strainer. Pretty straight forward and simple. But what to do with almost 2 lbs of ricotta?

After cooking and straining, my husband gave it a taste. He thought it was sweet and reminded him of something. That's when I told him that it was the same type of cheese his mother uses when she makes naleśniki. His eyes lit up and I knew that would be what I was cooking for breakfast.

Naleśniki is the polish form of crepes. There are all kinds of fillings, just like any other country, chocolate or Nutella, blueberries, strawberries, etc. My husband's (and mine too) are the cheese ones his mom make. She uses ricotta cheese or farmer's cheese and vanilla sugar.

This morning, while the kids munched some banana, I whipped up the crepes (recipe here) and the filling.

Vanilla Ricotta Crepe Filling
1 heaping spoonful of ricotta (depending upon how full you want them)
1 oz maple syrup
heavy splash of homemade vanilla

Mix, adding more maple syrup if desired. Once crepe has been flipped, place filling on on side of the crepe and fold into quarters. Serve immediately (or after a few minutes for the kids).

These were gobbled up so fast I was unable to get a picture. The good news is that they were so popular that we will probably have them again tomorrow, providing another photo opportunity.

Enjoy!