5 Ingredients or Fewer

Gabriella's Farmers Cheese Gnocchi

Name: Gabriella's Farmers Cheese Gnocchi
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 15 ounces farmers cheese; 2 large eggs; 1 dash salt; 1/2 cup all-purpose flour; Pepper if you like it

by: NakedBeet

April 23, 2010

4.5

4 Ratings

Photo by James Ransom

Serves 4

Jump to Recipe

Author Notes

My mom wasn't a baker, but she did make gnocchi -- and, on occasion, savory phyllo pastries. I have a hard time thinking of one specific technique because many of the things I do now, I probably learned by simply being in the room, observing, listening, and doing. Cleaning as you go was a pretty big one, though! With this recipe, I remember being taught about gently dropping the gnocchi into the pot of boiling water, but only on the sides. My Mom told me that this was one of the very first baby foods she made for me because they were so delicate. I make them now when I have a hankering for home. Serve them with sour cream, and you'll be at our Russian table. - Naked Beet —NakedBeet

Test Kitchen Notes

WHO: NakedBeet is a graphic designer, writer, and food blogger living in Astoria, Queens.
WHAT: Soft little dumplings, made with just cheese, salt, and flour.
HOW: Mix your cheese, salt, and flour, form into balls, and boil.
WHY WE LOVE IT: These dumplings are humble food at its finest: easy, quick, and deeply satisfying. Served plain with a little salt and sour cream, it's hard not to fall in love with them. Similar to potato gnocchi or flour dumplings, they're really just salty little balls of creamy cheese. And that is a very good thing. —The Editors

Test Kitchen-Approved

What You'll Need

Ingredients

15 ounces farmers cheese
2 large eggs
1 dash salt
¹/₂ cup all-purpose flour
Pepper if you like it

Directions

Mix the farmers cheese, eggs, and salt together. Incorporate all the flour. The consistency should be that of the dough coming together without looking like pasta dough or bread dough. It should still have a bit of stickiness to it. The less flour you add, the more delicate in taste the gnocchi will be.
Set a pot of water to boil and keep on high until you're ready to place in the gnocchi.
Once all the dough is mixed, start forming little balls of dough, about 1/2-inch wide, giving them a firm push in the center. Drop them gently into the boiling water. They will take a few seconds to cook and when they surface to the top, they're done!
The most humble way of eating them is with some sour cream and salt, but you can also dress them in a more zesty pesto sauce or gremolata.

Tags:

Contest Entries

See what other Food52ers are saying.

BakersFancy
Monica P Steffen
Ursula - Lil Vienna
Anna
KDH9966

Popular on Food52

18 Reviews

BakersFancy May 6, 2023

I enjoy making and baking with farmers cheese so had to try out this recipe. They’re wonderful! I had them with just a light sauce and also browned them and served them with vegetables. They’re delicious!

Monica P. February 5, 2015

Just made these tonight and they were delicious! I found that I had to add a little bit more flour than the recipe called for, and even then it was impossible to form disc dumplings; I just dropped them into the boiling water with a pair of spoons. Perhaps my dumplings were a little too large as well because I found I had to cook them for 3-5 minutes to get rid of that raw flour flavor. I definitely will try this recipe again and will learn and improve from this first experiment! I served them with sour cream and caramelized onions. The onions really complimented them well.

Ursula -. January 14, 2015

Does anybody know where (in which supermarket) to buy Farmers cheese in the US (Boston area)? I am from Austria where a lot of recipes call for the dry and sort of crumbly farmers cheese (Topfen in Austria, Quark in Germany is moister). But I couldn't find it here in the US. So far I helped myself using German style Quark from Whole Foods. Before using it, I would let it sit in a kitchen towel over a colander for an hour to get some of the moisture out. It worked kind of, but I think farmers cheese would be the appropriate ingredient. Any ideas?

Nancy W. January 14, 2015

I get farmer's cheese at Whole Foods where I live. It is kept near the cheese counter.

Ursula -. January 14, 2015

Oh great. Then I'll have a look again!

Pat T. June 5, 2021

Ask the supermarket in Deli section if they carry Friendship loose farmers cheese...check Dairy for small Friendship packaged farmers cheese. Or try Wegman's

Anna January 14, 2015

Looks delicious. Does anyone know what the UK equivalent of farmers cheese would be?

JRG April 7, 2014

So I couldn't find farmer's cheese and used ricotta instead. Mistake, sort of. It was WAY too wet. Needed about 1 1/4 c. flour. No way I could make balls and crease in center, so I just dropped them by teaspoon into the water. I topped with a mix of sour cream and pesto. My husband thought they were great, but to tell the truth, he'll eat anything :^) I thought they were OK, but not much flavor...

KDH9966 March 31, 2014

Is there another name for Farmers Cheese?

lalocook March 30, 2014

I'll be making these and am wondering how they might work with fine semolina. (With apologies for messing with your mom's traditional recipe : )

walkie74 March 28, 2014

These were delicious! Next time, I make a batch of pesto and toss the two together!

Cody W. March 27, 2014

SO SO SO SO SO SO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

walkie74 March 27, 2014

I have a HUGE ball of goat cheese sitting in my fridge right now. This sounds like the perfect way to use it up! Can you freeze gnocchi?

EmilyNunn March 25, 2014

Oh, these look so good! Congrats!

QueenSashy March 24, 2014

This is such a treat! Congrats on the wildcard!

NakedBeet April 29, 2010

Thanks for testing, Stephanie. So glad you enjoyed them!

testkitchenette April 23, 2010

I love the picture. I know how you feel about sort of picking up recipes and techniques by osmosis...just being present while my mom/grandmas cooked the same things year after year enabled me to gain a lot of skills that I am not even conscious of having. My family is Polish and farmer cheese is typically used in pierogies (saurkraut and farmer cheese ones), I can't wait to use the farmer cheese in your gnocchi!

NakedBeet April 23, 2010

Thanks! My grandma made "piroshki," too. Sometimes a sweetened farmer cheese (oh my god, those were good!) or sour cherries or meat dumplings. Love sauerkraut, would love to see one of your recipes up if you haven't posted one already.