Perfect for a festive brunch, my oladushki are gluten-free Russian pancakes with rose petals and kefir that are a beautiful treat that is unique and simple, to boot. Whip one up this weekend to surprise your favourite people!
One of my strongest childhood memories is waking up on Saturday mornings to the smell of oladushki frying. The sweet scent of cheese would mix with caramelizing sugar and bubbling oil to create an olfactory symphony that would call out my name like no other.
As I would drag myself out of bed, hands clenched into fists rubbing the last remnants of a dream out of my tired eyes, and make my way to the kitchen, I would be greeted by a marvelous sight: my mother, standing in her favourite pink terry robe, her long hair pinned up into a messy top knot that more closely resembled a beehive, frying Russian pancakes at the stove.
Beside her would be a tall pile of already-steaming oladushki, forming the most glorious tower a Russian child has ever seen.
Within minutes, my sister and I would crowd the small kitchen island, serving ourselves generous helpins of Russian pancakes topped with sour cream, honey, homemade strawberry preserves, or the crowning jewel: kefir.
Now that I live nearly 10,000km away from my mother, that scene remains no more than a fond memory. But if I could somehow get my wish and have my mother here for Mother's Day, this year, the tables would turn. It would be me standing at the stovetop, frying a mound of freshly made, steaming gluten-free Russian pancakes with rose petals and kefir.
For my gluten-free Russian pancakes with rose petals and kefir, I use nothing but the best: a homemade gluten-free flour mix (though your favourite store-bought gluten-free formula would do just fine); homemade rose-scented sugar, with the most beautiful pink hue you ever did see; and fresh, tangy kefir, which will give my oladushki, or gluten-free Russian pancakes, the necessary height and spring.
Served with an additional drizzle of kefir and a sprinkling of edible petals, these gluten-free Russian pancakes make a beautiful breakfast centerpiece that perfectly compliments any Mother's Day brunch table.
Give these gluten-free Russian pancake a try, for your mom or any other loved ones this weekend! Share the results with me or check-out additional Mother's Day recipe inspiration and ideas on Facebook, Instagram or Twitterand Pinterest.
See the step-by-step story for this!
Find our illustrated step-by-step webstory on how to make Easter pancakes with roses here.
Recipe
Tried and loved this recipe? Please leave a 5-star review below! Your reviews mean a lot to me, so if you've got any questions, please let me know in a comment.
Gluten-free Russian pancakes with rose petals and kefir
Ingredients
Rose sugar:
- ¼ cup edible rose petals
- 1 kg sugar
Gluten-free Russian pancakes with rose petals and kefir:
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 TBs rose sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (½ litre) kefir room temperature
- 2.5 cups (250 g) gluten-free flour mix I make my own in the following ratio: 20% brown rice flour, 20% sorghum flour, 30% sweet rice flour, 30% arrowroot or potato or corn starch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Additional kefir for serving
- Additional edible rose petals for serving
Instructions
To prepare rose sugar:
- Combine rose petals and sugar in a large jar. Stir well to combine. Let sit in a dark place for at least 24 hours and preferably a week, allowing the flavours to combine. The sugar will keep for months in a tightly sealed jar in a dark, cool place.
To prepare the gluten-free Russian pancakes:
- In a large bowl, whisk the egg with the sugar and salt. It is not necessary to whip vigorously, just stir so that the sugar and salt dissolve in the egg.
- Whisking constantly, gradually add the room-temperature kefir to the egg mixture.
- Working gradually and whisking constantly, add gluten-free flour to liquid mixture, 2 TBs at a time. Whisk well to combine after each addition.
- Once all the flour has been fully incorporated into the batter and there are no lumps, add the soda. If you are adding any additions - berries, raisins or additional rose petals - do so now, as you will not be able to mix the batter later.
- Stir batter once to incorporate the soda and let gluten-free Russian pancake batter rest for 15 minutes - this will give the kefir and soda time to activate. When the batter is ready to continue, you will see little bubbles appear on the surface.
- Preheat a large pan or skillet to medium-high heat. Add 2 TBs of vegetable oil, and lower heat to medium.
- Dip a tablespoon into vegetable oil. Working from the sides of the bowl rather than from the center, remove 1 heaping tablespoon of batter, trying not to disturb the rest of the dough. Transfer it neatly to the pan and fry over medium heat until bubbles appear (about 2 minutes). Repeat until pan is full. With a spatula, flip pancakes and fry on the other side for about a minute. Continue frying until batter runs out, adding 1 TB of oil to the pan on every second batch.
- Serve gluten-free Russian pancakes immediately with additional kefir and rose petals.
Mary says
These sound lovely but I can’t find the ingredients list. Like the idea of using Kefir as one f the ingredients.
kseniaprints says
Hi Mary! Not sure what went wrong with the recipe plugin - it's all fixed now and I added in the ingredients. Thanks for pointing it out!!
Dina says
Keshia, thanks for posting the recipe and the memory that came with it. Why the gluten free? Is this traditional? Would it work with regular flour? I must make this r pie, it is make no me hungry.
kseniaprints says
You can safely use regular flour in the same amount, I've done both and it's totally fine!
Susan says
Hi there! New to your blog. It's very lovely! Lots of interesting recipes and nice photography! I'm a new blogger and have the same theme as you. May I ask how you get two small photos side by side? I was trying to do this recently and couldn't figure it out. Thank you!
kseniaprints says
Hello Susan! Welcome to blogging, it's a load of fun most of the time but can also be a lot of work! Thank you for your kind words.
About the side-by-side photos: I use blocks and simply choose to upload the photos in the Gallery setting rather than the single Image, then I choose two photos per row. You can do more if you'd like. Before Gutenberg and blocks, doing so was more complicated and required you to resize the photos.
Hope this helps!