Cheesecakes, as a kind of pancakes from cottage cheese - a dish of East Slavic cuisine. Similar dishes, of course, there is in Western European cuisine. But, for example, Saxon curd makers differ from curd cheese curds with raisins, in the composition of the dough and in the way of heat treatment. For their preparation, mashed potatoes are added to the dough, and they are baked in the oven. In other cuisines of the world, cheese cakes are prepared and served as a main course, with spicy herbs and hot spices. There are recipes for sweet curd pancakes or steamed balls, served in a sweet sauce (jam, syrup).
Cheesecakes with raisins are recognized as one of the best breakfasts in the whole world. But, despite the simple composition of the dough for cheesecakes, their preparation requires experience and a certain level of skill. Let's try to understand this question on the example of one recipe.
Cottage cheese cheesecakes with raisins - basic technological principles
Some connoisseurs of Russian cuisine say that you do not need to add flour to the dough for cheesecakes. In part, this is true: the less flour in cheesecakes - the more tender, dietary and tastier. Flour gives cheesecakes a completely different taste, so adding it to the dough for cheesecakes creates a completely different recipe. But flour also plays the role of a binding component, because it contains gluten, and if the curd contains a lot of whey, then it must be bound.
How to make dough for cheesecakes without adding flour?
First of all, you need to pay special attention to the quality and texture of cottage cheese, as the basis of the dough for cheesecakes. Cottage cheese for the test is wiped to obtain a creamy consistency. According to the degree of humidity, it should be closer to the dry consistency, because otherwise the dough will spread around the pan when frying, and after cooling, the cheese pancakes will immediately settle and stumble into dense semi-pale cakes. High-moisture dough will not be good to fry: the surface of cheese cakes will be baked quickly, and inside they will remain raw. In order not to add flour, curd squeeze under the press. It should not be too wet and oily to be amenable to modeling. Be sure to wipe it through a sieve or smash with a blender to get a creamy texture, convenient for modeling semi-finished products. True, flour for breading is still needed. It can be replaced, if desired, with semolina, corn grits, oatmeal, bread crumbs or ground nuts - as fantasy tells.
If the cottage cheese is too dry and lean, then add eggs to the stickiness of the curd mass. It is advisable to whip them in advance so that the cheesecakes are lush. At the same time, the curd is also wiped through a sieve and combined with the egg mass. Do not overdo the addition of eggs, remembering that they contain more than 80% of water, although they give any baking a dizzying taste, tenderness and pomp.
The third option is adding butter to the curd dough. It is also important to observe a sense of proportion. Butter will help to form semi-finished products, but when baking or frying it will just flow out, and then you will not have to count on success. To low-fat cottage cheese can and should add butter, sour cream or heavy cream, but always in combination with eggs or flour, the protein of which is folded during heat treatment and compacts the texture of the products.
Making dough for cheesecakes is a delicate and delicate matter. No one can correctly tell how to cook it, because every time you have to deal with cottage cheese of different quality and texture. In addition, if you want, besides raisins, add a pumpkin, or apples, or other juicy fruits, you will have to look for the necessary balance of liquid and solid substances again and again.
About heat treatment methods
Cheesecakes are fried, deep-fried and in a frying pan, baked in the oven, in forms. There is a method of cooking cheesecakes for a couple.
Perhaps the most difficult way - frying in a pan. Here it is necessary to choose the right temperature, so that the dough does not burn and does not dissolve when turning. Try to keep the products not too big - then it will be convenient to turn them over. After heating the pan, the fire needs to be made moderate, and in order to bake and seal the cheesecakes, cover the pan with a lid. When the dough grabs, lift the lid, turn the cakes over and the other side - now you can fry without using the lid.
1. Cheesecakes from cottage cheese with deep-fried raisins
Products:
Deep Fat Oil
Cottage cheese, homemade whole milk 1.5 kg
2-3 eggs
Vanillin
Salt
Dried fruits 250 g
Sugar 100 g
Flour 400 g
Cooking technology:
Season homemade cottage cheese with sugar and salt. Curd the mass with eggs with a blender. If the curd mass is too wet, add some flour and let the dough stand until the flour absorbs moisture and stickiness appears. Add vanilla, raisins or other dried fruit if desired. Place flour on the work surface. Spread cottage cheese dough with the spoon into flour. With wet hands, form balls, rolling them in flour.
In a deep frying pan with thick walls or in a deep fryer, heat refined oil to a boil. Cottage cheese balls gently dipped in boiling oil and fry until golden brown. Put the finished products on a napkin or a metal sieve to remove excess oil. Serve with jam or other sweet sauce. You can sprinkle with cottage cheese balls coconut chips or powder.
2. Indian-style curd cheesecakes with raisins
Composition of products:
Lemon juice ? PC.
Fat cottage cheese 1 kg
Small white raisins 300 g
Cherry jam 1.5 l
Cooking:
There is an Indian dish - “Rasgula”, which resembles our lazy dumplings with cottage cheese. But it is a dessert, one of the favorite delicacies in India. Cottage cheese balls can also be considered cheese cakes cooked in sugar or fruit syrup.
The main ingredient of this dish is cottage cheese. No eggs! Therefore, cottage cheese should be made from homemade, unwithled milk. The more fat - the better. Choose cow milk of the evening milking - it is the most fat. Prepare the cottage cheese: heat the milk to 40 ° C. Stir it in a circular rotation and at the same time pour in the juice of half a lemon. Wait for the milk to curl and form a tight clot in the center of the pan. Allow to cool and strain the curd thoroughly through cheesecloth. For information: for 1 kg of cottage cheese you need to buy 9 liters of natural cow's milk.
If you do not want to make cottage cheese yourself, buy ready-made, but for the purity of the experiment, it’s all the same, add lemon juice to it, mix. Hold under the press for at least half an hour. Curd cheese through a sieve, add raisins. Mix thoroughly, start to roll balls, the size of a large walnut. Cottage cheese balls should not have cracks on the surface.
Pour the cherry jam syrup into a pot with a wide bottom. If desired, you can add lemon zest or rum essence, or both, together. If the syrup is thick, add hot boiled water so that when boiling the balls it penetrates faster and not to burn to the bottom of the pan. Let the liquid boil and dip the balls into it with a spoon. For convenience and speed, you can advance the balls on a grid and drop them into the boiling syrup. Boil 10 minutes. They will increase in volume by 2 times.
Serve too in the syrup.
3. Cheese cakes from cottage cheese with raisins in a pan
Composition of products:
Cottage cheese 18% 1.35 kg
Flour 200 g
Sugar 150 g
Eggs 2 pcs.
Fat, vegetable 100 g
Raisin 200 g
Vanilla and salt - to taste
Cooking:
Smash the cottage cheese with a blender. Beat the eggs with sugar, salt and vanilla, add them to the curd, stirring the mass thoroughly. Raise the raisins for five minutes with boiling water, then dry it and add to the cheese mass.
4. Cottage cheese cheesecakes with raisins in the oven
Products:
Flour 180 g
Raisin 100 g
Sugar 70g
Butter 120g
Cottage cheese 9% 700 g
Food Soda 10 g
Salt
Egg 1 pc.
Sour cream (for serving) 150 g
Working order:
Beat the egg with sugar and salt. Add the egg mass to the curd and pound carefully. Add the raisins and half the flour, combined with soda. Grease the mold for small cupcakes with powder and flour. Spoon the dough, smooth and start baking in the oven, preheated to 200-220 ° C. Toasty cheesecakes hot pour melted butter, not removing from the form. After 10 minutes, put it on plates and serve with sour cream.
5. Cottage cheese cheesecakes with raisins and dried apricots
Ingredients:
Dry cottage cheese 1.0 kg
Eggs 3 pcs.
Flour, wheat 300 g
Salt, fine
Dried fruits in an assortment of 250 g
Soda 15 g
Icing sugar 50-80 g
Cooking:
Wash dried apricots, blot with a napkin and cut into small cubes. Combine dried fruits with prepared raisins and honey. Smash the cottage cheese with a blender or pass through a sieve, add beaten eggs to it, mix. Combine the sweet fruit with the curd portion of the dough and add the flour mixed with salt, vanilla. Form round tortillas and fry them in margarine, pre-heating the pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
6. “Bounty” - curd cheese curds with raisins and chocolate sauce
Products:
Cottage cheese (20%) 600 g
Coconut Chips 90 g
Raisin 100 g
Eggs (squirrels) 2 pcs.
Sugar (or powder) 120 g
Figs, dried apricots, prunes, candied fruits (to decorate the dish)
For the sauce:
Sugar 90 g
Oil 100 g
Cocoa (100%) 40 g
Milk 100 ml
Vanilla 5g
Cognac (or rum) 30 ml
Preparation:
Chop coconut flakes (50 g) into powder and combine with sugar. Beat the chilled squirrels to a firm foam and add the grated curd cheese to them. Whisk the prepared mass and then add the raisins. Stir and fill the dough into forms (you can use silicone, for cupcakes). In a wide saucepan, with the grill installed, boil water and put the filled form on the grill. Steam cheesecakes until they become elastic (5-8 minutes).
Put them in a dish to cool and cook the sauce:
Mix cocoa powder with sugar. Boil the milk, add the dry mixture, butter pieces. Over a low heat bring to a boil, before removing, pour in rum and vanilla extract. Pour the sauce over the cooled cheesecakes and sprinkle them with the remaining coconut chips. Put in the fridge. When the chocolate hardens, put the curd cakes back on a clean dish, and in between lay out the dried fruit pieces. You can add a sprig of fresh mint and serve with a milkshake.
Cottage cheese cheesecakes with raisins - tricks and useful tips
- For making cheesecakes, it is important that the curd contains as little moisture as possible - then raw semi-finished products will not lose their shape when baking or frying. To remove excess whey, wrap the curd in cheesecloth and place it under a press or hang it above the dishes to drain the liquid.
- To make the dough for cheesecakes have the necessary consistency convenient for modeling, try not to add too many eggs at once: despite the fact that they make baking fluffy, increasing the humidity of the curd, the excess eggs will interfere with the formation of semi-finished dough. For cottage cheese with moderate whey content, adding 1 egg per 0.5 kg of curd mass is sufficient.
- Do not forget that the addition of sugar and salt to cottage cheese accelerates the release of whey, and the curd dough becomes too wet and inconvenient for modeling semi-finished products. Therefore, observe the measure. If by chance it turned out that the cottage cheese with sugar stood for a long time and whey separated, squeeze it through gauze under pressure.
- You can add flour to sweetened cottage cheese and let the dough stand until the gluten swells. Then the dough will succumb to modeling. When adding flour, it is advisable to use soda or other leavening agents in order to get a more lush baking.
- Flour in dough for curd cheese curds with raisins can be replaced by semolina.
- The higher the fat content of the curd, the lower the serum content in it, and the easier it is to form cheesecakes from such curd. Also, cheese curds from fat cottage cheese have a more delicate and creamy consistency.
- To make it convenient to form dough cakes for cheesecakes, moisten hands in water while making semi-finished products.
