Ingredients
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60 g butter, softened
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1/2 lemon zest
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1 pinch of salt
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1 egg
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1 egg yolk
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400 g cottage cheese, dry
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150 g flour
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10-15 pcs apricots
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10-15 pcs refined sugar
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For coating:
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90 g butter
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150 g breadcrumbs
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2 tbsp sugar
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1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
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For serving:
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Powdered sugar
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Mint leaves
Directions
Cottage cheese knedles with apricots are one of my most favorite dishes of Austrian cuisine. They taste like vareniki with apricots but their tender cottage cheese dough, rich sour-sweet apricots and a crusty coating with breadcrumbs, cinnamon and sugar make them even tastier. They look fantastic – like small golden balls. But even more I love the moment when you cut off a piece, dip it in sweet juice and eat – it’s a real explosion of a summer taste!
The Austrians also like fill cottage cheese knedles with plumps and strawberries.
It is a wonderful dish – it is home-made, summer and tasty! Children love it!
Tips for cooking:
A few words about cottage cheese. It has to be dry otherwise dough will break. If your cottage cheese is slightly wet, let it drain by placing it in a cotton bag and hanging it on the faucet. It is extremely important!
In order to get smooth and lumpless dough, use small-curd cottage cheese. If your cottage cheese has large curds, mash it through a sieve or in a food processor.
Place cottage cheese dough in the fridge for at least 4 hours. So I would recommend you prepare it in advance. For example, prepare dough in morning, and knedles in evening.
The amount of apricots you need depends on their size. The larger apricots are, the larger but fewer knedles will be. I recommend you chose medium sized apricots as they are handier for forming knedles.
Today's visits: 1.
Steps
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1
Done
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Making cottage cheese dough. To the butter, add salt and lemon zest, mix. Add the egg and yolk. Use mixer to mix until you get the fluffy and creamy consistency. |
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2
Done
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Add the cottage cheese and flour. Knead the dough. Cover with plastic and place to the fridge for 4 h. |
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3
Done
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Preparing apricots. Remove apricot pits so that apricots were not damaged. Push pits out with an end of a spoon handle. |
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4
Done
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Put a sugar cube (the whole or part of it depending on apricot sweetness) inside each apricot. While knedles will be boiling, the sugar will melt and mix with sour-sweet apricot juices creating the wonderful sour sweet juice that runs out when you cut your knedle. |
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5
Done
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Bring to a boil a large pot filled with water and a little salt. |
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6
Done
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Flour a dough rolling board and your hands as well. Take the dough out of the fridge. Roll the dough into a 5 cm thick rope. Cut it into 10-15 equal pieces (depending on the size of apricots – the pieces should be 4-5 mm thick and enough big enough to cover an apricot). |
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7
Done
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Form the pieces into circles. Put an apricot in the middle of each circle, seal the knedles and then roll them until you get a perfect ball-shaped knedle with an apricot inside and with 4-5 mm thick layer of dough outside it. |
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8
Done
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Drop the knedles into the boiling water. Cook for 8 min. Bigger knedles may take more time to be done. Boil the knedles in batches so that they could be apart from each other in a pot in order not to stick to or damage each other. |
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9
Done
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How to check for doneness: take out one knedle with a slotted spoon and stab it with a toothpick right to the center. If it stabs easily – an apricot is soft and done. If not – continue cooking. |
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10
Done
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Take the done knedles out with a slotted spoon letting all the water strain. |
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11
Done
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Preparing breadcrumbs coating. While the first portion of your knedles is being cooked, melt some butter in a pan, add the breadcrumbs and sauté them for a while. Then add sugar and cinnamon and sauté everything together until golden brown. Remove the pan from heat. |
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12
Done
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Take a done knedle out with a slotted spoon, let all the water strain and put it in the pan with the breadcrumbs coating. Coat the whole knedle rolling it with a spatula. Then transfer to a serving bowl and proceed with the next knedle. |
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13
Done
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Immediately serve the coated knedles piping hot. How to serve: How to keep:
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