Cottage Cheese Strudel Recipes

COTTAGE CHEESE PUFF PASTRY

Steps:

• Beat cottage cheese and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined with most cottage cheese curds intact, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times.
• Stir flour into butter mixture gradually with a wooden spoon just until a soft dough forms that is no longer sticky; turn dough out onto a floured surface. Bring dough together with floured hands; knead 3 to 4 turns.
• Roll dough gently into a fairly thick square, fold in half, and pat to flatten again; fold dough in half again in the opposite direction. Repeat rolling and folding process 2 more times. Roll dough into an 8-inch square; divide into 4 equal portions. Wrap each portion in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 4 hours or up to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll one portion of dough out on a lightly floured surface 1/4-inch thick. Cut dough into 4-inch squares with a sharp knife; cut each square diagonally to make 2 triangles.
• Roll each dough triangle from the long edge toward the triangle point to form crescent shapes; place on prepared baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden, about 20 minutes. Remove to cool on a wire rack.
• Whisk confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest together in a bowl until smooth; brush or drizzle lemon glaze over tops of cooled crescents.

TRADITIONAL CROATIAN BAKED STRUKLI

Steps:

• Make the dough: this is the traditional way, but you can make it with your stand mixer too: Sift flour combined with salt onto clean working surface and make indentation in the middle. Put one egg into that indentation, add oil and combine all ingredients using fork. Mix some lukewarm water with vinegar and gradually add to the dough, until it all comes together. Knead the dough with hands until it's smooth-it should be smooth and elastic, not too soft and sticky. Divide dough into three equal parts, brush each with oil and cover with warm pot. Leave for 30 minutes.
• While the dough rests, prepare the filling: Mix softened butter with fresh cottage cheese, add eggs, sour cream, salt and pepper.
• Take a clean tablecloth and dust with some flour. Put 1 part of the dough onto it, roll out with rolling pin until thin and then begin stretching it with your palms. Be gentle and patient, stretch it from the middle. Don't stress out if it breaks. The dough should be thin, but for strukli you don't need to make it too thin (like when making strudel). Cut out thick edges. It's good to leave the dough for 15 minutes to dry slightly, but you can skip this step if you're in a hurry. Then sprinkle it with some melted butter. Brush the filling over the dough-brush only half of the dough. Roll it, using tablecloth-take a look at the video in the link above for this. Using your hands, separate the dough into equal parts and cut them with a plate. We do this instead of using knife in order to firmly seal the edges and ensure the filling doesn't pour out of strukli.
• Take a baking pan, brush it with some butter and assemble strukli in it.
• Preheat oven to 200 C.
• Make the topping: combine sour cream with some salt and pour it over strukli. Place a couple of cubes of butter on top and finish with some grated cheese. Bake for about 40 minutes, until nicely golden. Let cool slightly and serve warm.

COTTAGE CHEESE STRUDEL

Steps:

• Place one of the pie crust on the bottom of either an 8x8 inch or a 9x9 inch pan.
• Cut off some of the crust that goes up the side of the pan and set aside.
• Pour half of the cottage cheese mixture into the pan, then lay the crust that you cut off of the sides on top of the cottage cheese mixture.
• Pour the remaining cottage cheese over the crust.
• Top with the remaining pie crust.
• Pour a little milk over the top crust and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake at 350°F for about an hour or until the crust is nice and golden.