Royal Vatrushka – Cottage Cheese Pie Recipe with Shortcrust
This delicious homemade cottage cheese pie, known as royal vatrushka, is very easy to make. As a rule, even beginners have no trouble with it. The dough is an almost ordinary shortcrust, very simple to prepare. The filling is just homemade cottage cheese, sour cream and eggs. That's really all there is to it – barely an hour passes from the moment you feel like baking an amazing treat to the finished pie.
Vatrushki came to us from ancient Slavic cooking and are open pies or small tarts. They are usually round, with only the edges pinched. The filling is most often cottage cheese with various additions. Vatrushki are baked from yeast dough, enriched dough or shortcrust. I once read somewhere that the name comes from the word “vatra” – a campfire.
By and large, royal vatrushka differs little from the familiar, instantly recognizable yeast-dough vatrushka with cottage cheese. The filling is practically the same; the difference is only in the pastry. We make a shortcrust dough, almost the same as for a quiche. Part of it is grated to sprinkle over the cottage cheese. In a way, this bake resembles a grated pie.
Surprisingly, the filling for royal vatrushka is made quite runny. During baking it sets thanks to the egg white, and it firms up further as the pie cools. If you like, you can make the pie thin or quite tall, like a cottage cheese bake, with any level of sweetness or even with no sugar at all.
Homemade cottage cheese works best, but keep in mind that it can be quite fatty. If buying from a store, choose a low-fat, curd-style cottage cheese.
The pie can be eaten warm or left to cool. It is just as tasty the next day. It goes especially well with warm milk or cocoa. By the way, you can add a little cocoa powder to the dough if you like – it changes the flavor, and the pale filling looks beautiful in a darker crust. I once saw the finished pie sprinkled with grated chocolate.
Ingredients
4 servings
- Wheat flour 2 cups
- Sugar 150 g
- Egg 2
- Butter 120 g
- Low-fat cottage cheese 350 g
- Sour cream (15%) 3 tbsp
- Vanilla, salt to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- I start with the dough. While the oven heats up and the filling is mixed, the shortcrust has time to chill a little and firm up. Sift the flour into a large bowl, add half of the sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir with a fork to distribute everything evenly. Separate one egg yolk from the white and add it to the flour. Soften the butter. Knead everything together.
- The dough may be a little sticky, but that's fine. Recipes often add baking soda – I don't know why; shortcrust doesn't need any extra lift and turns out crumbly without it. If the mixture is too dry and falls apart, add 1-2 tbsp of water. Set aside a quarter of the dough, roll it into a ball and put it in the fridge. Frankly, it grates well enough without chilling, so this step is up to you.
- I bake it in a 26 cm round springform pan. There's no need to grease it – shortcrust comes away from the sides perfectly. Spread the remaining dough in an even layer over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. The sides should be high enough to hold all the filling without it spilling over.
- In a bowl, combine all the cottage cheese and add 3 tbsp of sour cream – I use store-bought, 15-20% fat, and only if the cottage cheese is low-fat. For fatty cottage cheese, 1 tbsp of sour cream is enough. Add the other half of the sugar, vanilla (extract or vanilla sugar), one whole egg and the remaining egg white. Mix the filling thoroughly. It will be thick but pourable.
- Pour the filling into the dough-lined pan. If you can see there's too much filling, better to leave some of it out. It must not overflow the edge. Using a knife, carefully loosen the edges of the dough from the sides of the pan and fold them slightly toward the center.
- Take out the reserved dough and grate it over the cottage cheese filling. The grated dough should cover the filling almost completely. The royal vatrushka is ready for baking. Preheat the oven to 180°C and put the pie in to bake.
- Royal vatrushka should brown nicely, so it's hard to say in advance exactly how long it will take. 25-30 mins is enough for it to bake through; browning takes a little longer. Only by watching it can you tell when the pastry is done and the filling has set.
- The finished royal vatrushka comes out of the pan easily. The bottom crust is fairly firm, with a lovely deep golden color. The top is golden yellow, but you can bake it darker – just don't overbake it. Transfer the pie to a large plate and carefully cut it into pieces with a knife.
- Serve royal vatrushka warm or chilled – it's a matter of taste. I recommend eating it with warm milk or tea – that's delicious too.
| Yield: | 4 servings |
| Calories: | 300 |
| Prep: | 15 mins |
| Cooking: | 45 mins |
| Ready in: | 1 h |
| Category: | Baking |
| Cuisine: | European |
| Rating: |
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4.9
(11)
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