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(Farmer’s) Cheese Cookies aka Envelope Cookies aka “Goose Feet” AKA My Mother’s Favorite Cookie :)

OPEN PRINTABLE VERSION

Ingredients

240 g All Purpose Flour

*Or sub 15% Whole Wheat Pastry Flour by weight: 204 g AP + 36 g WWP

½ tspSalt

227 g Unsalted Butter, frozen and grated or cut into small pieces and frozen

227 g Farmer’s Cheese*, drained if wet

*You may use ricotta in place of farmer’s cheese, but be sure to drain it well.

227 g

2 medium-large Egg Yolks

2 Tablespoons Cold Water

2 Teaspoons Optional Flavor Add-Ins - lemon zest, vanilla extract, orange zest, or whatever your heart desires

50 - 100 g Granulated Sugar (for dipping)

Yield - 30+ cookies, depending on the size cutter you choose

Oven Temp - 375F/190C

These are super simple cookies - there is no sugar in the dough itself, and they are tender and flaky because of the combination of farmer’s cheese and butter. Since the ingredients are so straightforward, best quality butter is recommended. Regardless of their simplicity, eating a dozen in one sitting is too easy.

Method:

Note - this dough warms up very quickly and I recommend putting the shaped cookies in the refrigerator while pre-heating your oven. After baking, store covered at room temperature for 2-3 days.

Combine flour(s) and salt.

Grate frozen butter on the large side of a box grater into the flour mixture. Alternatively, you may cut up the butter into small pieces and freeze, then add to the flour working in with your hands or a pastry cutter until the butter is the size of breadcrumbs.

Add the farmer’s cheese to the flour/butter mixture and mix until just combined.

Whisk yolks with the water until homogenous and add to the dough. Knead until it just comes together, then add any flavor additions.

Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate/rest for at least one hour.

Divide dough into 4 parts, and begin rolling out one part at a time keeping the rest in the refrigerator.

Roll to ⅛” (2-3mm) thin. Use a 3-4 inch cutter (or a glass!) to cut out circles. Save the scraps and refrigerate (you may re-roll them after chilling for more cookies!)

Add sugar to a bowl. Press one circle’s side into the sugar. Fold in half (with the sugar side in) to form a half-moon. Dip the half-moon on one side into the sugar. Fold in half again, with the sugar on the inside.

Press the cookie into the sugar one more time. Put the sugar side up on a parchment-lined sheet pan.

Optional: Use a fork to press down the wide/open side of the “envelope”.

Repeat with remaining cutouts, and roll out remaining dough and scraps. Refrigerate while pre-heating the oven.

Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C).

Bake 18-20 mins until puffed and golden brown, rotating your pan halfway through the bake.

INGREDIENTS

Serves: 6-8

150 grams stone fruit (plums, apricots, cherries), or even sliced apples

100 millilitres flavourless oil plus more (optional) for the tin

20 grams unsalted butter for the tin (optional)

seeds from 4 cardamom pods

200 grams demerara sugar plus 1 tbsp

200 grams plain flour

2 scant teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs

150 millilitres kefir or ryazhanka (baked milk kefir)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

sea salt

METHOD

1. If you are using stone fruit, cut the flesh in half along the seams, then twist and take out the stones. If your fruit is unripe, you may need to use a small knife to prise or cut the stone out; if that shreds one of the fruit halves into smaller pieces, it’s not a big deal, you can still use them.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Line a 20cm cake tin with a circle of baking parchment, then either lightly oil it or butter it heavily. The butter will add richness and flavour, so it really is up to you which one you pick.

3. Pound the cardamom seeds with the 1 tbsp of demerara until well ground. Sprinkle over the base of the prepared tin.

4. Mix the flour with the baking powder and sift them, if you have patience. Mix in 1 tsp salt.

5. Whisk the eggs in a mixer, then gradually add the 200g of demerara sugar and whisk until very pale and fluffy. Gradually add the kefir or ryazhanka, whisking on a slightly lower speed, then trickle in the 100ml of oil and add the vanilla. The mix might look grainy and split, but it will be all OK once you add the flour.

6. Fold in the flour and baking powder with a spatula, making sure there are no dry pockets of flour. Place the fruit into the batter, then scrape it into the sugared-and-cardamomed tin, smoothing it over on top.

7. Put it into the oven and cook for 45 minutes. Check by inserting a skewer, which should come out with no cake mixture stuck to it. But remember the fruit is wet, so it’s OK for the skewer to come out moist. The cake will continue cooking for a bit when you take it out, so be careful not to dry it out.

INGREDIENTS

450 g flour

200 g cold butter

200 ml sour cream

½ tbsp vinegar

150 ml water

For the cream:

7 yolks

9 tbsp flour

1.35 litre warm water

1½ cans condensed milk

4 tbsp sugar

450 g butter, room temperature

zest of 4 large lemons

seeds of 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla paste

¼ tsp salt

METHOD

STEP 1

Sift flour. Coarsly grate the butter.

Mixing dough by hand:

In a large bowl, rub the flour and butter together with your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add sour cream, vinegar, and water, and knead the dough. The dough should be soft and not stick to your hands. If the dough sticks, add a little more flour.

Mixing dough with a stand mixer:

Pour flour into a mixer bowl, add grated butter, sour cream, vinegar, pour in water and knead the dough. The dough should be soft and easily come off the hook of the mixer.

Sprinkle the work surface with flour, put in the dough and divide it into 8 equal parts. Wrap each piece of dough in cling film and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. ⠀

STEP 2

Cook the cream. Add salt to the yolks. In a bowl, whisk the yolks with the flour until smooth. Pour warm water into a saucepan, add condensed milk and sugar. Stir until the condensed milk and sugar are dissolved. Take 300ml of this mixture, pour into a bowl with yolks and stir until smooth. Make sure there are no lumps. Put a saucepan with water and condensed milk on low heat, and warm to about 40°C. Slowly pour in the mixture with the yolks, stirring vigorously. Cook the cream, stirring constantly, until it thickens. The consistency of the cream should resemble thick sour cream. Leave to cool for 1 hour. When the cream has cooled down, but is still warm, add to the cream lemon zest, vanilla and, while continuing stirring, add soft butter in small pieces. Stir the cream until the consistency is smooth. Set aside to cool.

STEP 3

Heat the oven to 180°C. Sprinkle the work surface with flour. Roll out a round cake layer approximately 2-3 mm thick. The diameter of the cake should be larger than the diameter of the springform tin. Transfer the cake to a baking sheet. Use a fork to prick the entire surface of the dough. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Transfer the cake to a plate to cool. Repeat the process for each part of the dough.

STEP 4

Wrap the bottom of the springform tin with foil. Assemble the mould. Using kitchen scissors, trim the first cake layer so that it fits into the springform tin. Collect the remaining bits from the cake in a bowl. Then put a layer of cream on the cake. Cut off the second cake layer and place in a mould on top of the cream, and press down lightly. Repeat the process so that the last layer is the cream. Leave the cake to sit at room temperature for 6 hours. Then refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

STEP 5

Use a blender or manually chop the remaining bits from the cake. Take out the cake from the springform tin: carefully remove the detachable part, then unfold the foil, remove the cake from the bottom of the mould and put it on a dish so that the foil remains in your hands. Sprinkle the cake with crumbs on all sides and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.

INGREDIENTS

1 kg filo pastry

600 g walnuts

800 ml rose petal jam

To roll out the dough:

100 g butter, plus extra for greasing

METHOD

STEP 1

For the filling, finely chop the nuts or chop in a blender. Mix nuts and jam in a bowl. If the mass is too thin, add some more nuts.

STEP 2

Heat oven to 170°C. Butter a baking dish. Divide the dough into 8 parts. Roll each part into a ball and wrap in cling film or cover with a towel so that the dough doesn’t dry out. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Grease the work surface with plenty of butter. Roll the dough ball with a rolling pin in a circle. Oil your hands. Use your fingers to stretch the dough in the centre so that the table is visible through the dough. Use your fingers to stretch the dough around the edges in small sections around the entire perimeter of the circle until the dough becomes thin like tissue paper. Try to prevent the formation of many holes during stretching.

STEP 3

Along the long edge of the dough lay out the filling like ‘sausage’ and carefully wrap it in the dough. Spread the filling with your hands evenly throughout the roll. Take the roll at both ends and slightly beat on the table so that the filling is better distributed and the roll is even more stretched along the entire length. Put the roll on the table and carefully twist. Ready twists with a filling roll like a ‘snail’ and put in a baking dish. Repeat for the remaining pieces of dough. From this amount of dough and filling you will get 8 twists, 4 for each form. When laying out rolls, don’t fold them too tightly so that they bake better. Put vertuta pastry in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until light brown.