Ingredients
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Cottage Cheese – 1 ⅛ lb (500 g)
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Wheat Flour – 10 ½ oz (300 g)
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Eggs – 2
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Baking Soda – 1 tsp
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Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp
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Vanilla Sugar – 1 oz (30 g)
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Lemon Zest – ½ oz (15 g)
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Salt – 1 pinch
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Sour Cream – 7 oz (200 g)
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Raspberry Jam – 5 ¼ oz (150 g)
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Sunflower Oil – 10 fl oz (300 ml)
Recipe
These cottage cheese donuts have a rich history. Back in the day, the Romanian cuisine, especially in Transylvania, came under a strong influence of Austro-Hungarian culinary traditions. Thus, in all Romanian restaurants, they now serve a unique dessert — papanasi, consisting of two parts: the donut-shaped sweets with delicious preserve and a good spoonful of sour cream!
Papanasi is the Romanian counterpart of cottage cheese pancakes, only more high-calorie. You do not need to go abroad to treat yourself and your loved ones to a Transylvanian delicacy. Cottage cheese donuts are quite easy to make at home from the most affordable ingredients. We recommend using dry and crumbly cottage cheese for this recipe. Otherwise, you will have to add a lot of flour, and the papanasi will turn out very dense.
Steps
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1
Done
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Strain cottage cheese through a cheesecloth into a bowl, add eggs, vanilla extract, vanilla sugar, a pinch of salt, lemon zest, and soda. Mix thoroughly with a spoon until homogeneous. |
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2
Done
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Gradually add flour, thoroughly mixing the mass after each addition. Knead the dough and let it sit for 10 minutes. |
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3
Done
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Tear off a small lump of dough and weigh it: each donut should weigh roughly 4 ounces (120 grams). Then, tear off a smaller lump — it should weigh around 1 ½ ounce (40 grams) (this will be the donut hole). Form 6 donuts and 6 donut holes. |
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4
Done
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Heat sunflower oil in a deep pan, dip both the donut and the donut hole into it. Fry the cottage cheese donuts in oil over medium heat for 2–3 minutes on both sides until golden brown. |
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5
Done
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Remove the finished donuts and donut holes from the pan using a slotted spoon, lay them on a paper towel to remove excess fat. Top the cottage cheese donuts with sour cream and preserve, insert the little ball into the hole and top with sour cream once more. |
Use any preserve you like, and if you want, substitute sour cream with plain yogurt. Serve the papanasi warm, two pieces per serving. Although Romanian cottage cheese donuts taste pretty much like ordinary cottage cheese pancakes, the unique presentation adds a "wow" factor.
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