Cottage Cheese Clouds: Easy Homemade Cookies from Voronezh

Sheer tenderness — that«s how you can describe this cottage cheese cookie that melts in your mouth. Finding good baked goods in stores nowadays is like searching for a needle in a haystack. It»s all palm oil in the ingredients. But you can make incredibly aromatic cookies for your family«s tea time with your own hands. Nothing complicated!

Classic Cottage Cheese «Cloud» Cookies

Ingredients:

Cottage cheese — 200 g (better to use dry, crumbly, not pasty. If the cottage cheese is moist, squeeze it through cheesecloth)

Butter — 100 g (softened, room temperature, not heated in the microwave)

Flour — 200-220 g (+ a little for dusting)

Sugar — 100 g (can replace some with vanilla sugar if the cottage cheese is sour — increase the amount of sugar)

Egg — 1 pc. (can use only yolk for a more crumbly texture)

Baking powder — 1 tsp. (level)

Pinch of salt

For coating:

Granulated sugar or vanilla sugar

Cinnamon

Step-by-Step Recipe:

1. Preparing the dough:

In a deep bowl, mix softened butter and sugar. Beat with a whisk or fork until lightly fluffy.

Add the egg, cottage cheese, and a pinch of salt. Mix well until relatively homogeneous (small cottage cheese grains may remain — that«s normal).

Sift the flour with baking powder. Gradually add the flour to the cottage cheese mixture, kneading a soft dough that doesn«t stick to your hands. The amount of flour may vary depending on the moisture of the cottage cheese.

Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and be sure to refrigerate for at least 30-40 minutes. This is a key moment: the dough will stop being sticky and will be easy to work with.

2. Shaping the cookies:

Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F).

Lightly dust the table with flour. Roll out the dough into a sheet about 5-7 mm (0.2-0.3 in) thick.

Cut out cookies with molds or simply a glass. Gather the scraps, roll out again, and cut out.

Coating option: Roll each cookie in sugar (or a mixture of sugar and cinnamon) on both sides.

3. Baking:

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the cookies 1.5-2 cm (0.6-0.8 in) apart, as they will expand slightly in size.

Bake in the preheated 180°C (356°F) oven for 20-25 minutes, until a light golden color appears on the edges.

Important: Don«t overbake! The cookies should remain light, soft inside, and only slightly browned on the bottom.

Let the cookies cool a bit on the baking sheet (5 minutes), then transfer to a rack. Serve completely cooled. They will taste even better the next day when they have well «rested».

To make the baked goods more aromatic — you can add lemon zest, cardamom, nutmeg to the dough. The cookies can be made with filling — if you put jam or boiled condensed milk between two pieces, seal the edges, and bake.