Cooking Easter is a long-standing tradition that involves a whole ritual that requires preparation and patience. There is an opinion among the people that it is necessary to cook Easter in a good mood, then they will turn out to be very tasty, airy and tender.
Ingredients:
• 1, 2 kg. good cottage cheese;
• 0.4 kg. butter;
• 3 tbsp. Sahara;
• 1 tbsp. thick sour cream;
• 4 egg yolks;
• 100 g of almonds;
• 70 g of raisins;
• 70 g of candied fruits;
• dried cranberries or cherries if desired;
• 1 tsp. vanillin.
Preparation:
1. Pass cottage cheese with butter at room temperature a couple of times through a meat grinder or grind on a sieve.
2. Mix egg yolks with sour cream, vanilla and sugar, then beat with a mixer until the sugar is completely dissolved.
3. Put the curd mass into the beaten egg mass, mix everything with a spatula until smooth. After mixing, you should get a white mixture similar to thick sour cream. And this is its normal density, since all excess moisture drains off under the influence of the press.
4. Put the raisins in a deep plate, add hot water and leave to stand for 5-7 minutes. Then carefully drain the water, and put the raisins on a paper towel and dry a little.
5. Chop candied fruits finely with a knife. Put the almonds on a plate, pour boiling water over and leave to stand for 7-10 minutes. Then drain the water, peel the almonds, dry in a dry frying pan and grind with a blender (possibly with a knife).
6. Put the prepared raisins, candied fruits and almonds into the curd mass. You can also add some dried cherries or cranberries if desired. Mix everything well.
7. Fold the gauze sheet in half and cut into pieces measuring 50x50 cm. This amount of curd mass requires three pieces of gauze.
8. Put all pieces of gauze in a bowl, pour boiling water over and leave for 5-7 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, collect the three sandbox forms and wrap tightly around them with rope. The ropes will fix the walls of the molds and prevent them from separating under the press.
10. Cover each sandbox mold with squeezed gauze and place in a deep container with a narrow bottom.
11. Molds covered with gauze, fill with curd mass, slightly tamping it. Then wrap the gauze. Place a saucer on cheesecloth, and any press on a saucer.
12. Formed Easter cottage cheese leave to stand for 1-2 hours at room temperature. During this time, the excess serum will run off, and it will need to be constantly drained.
13. After 2 hours, place the filled sandboxes in the refrigerator and leave them there overnight. (It is recommended to do cottage cheese Easter on Saturday, so that on Sunday morning they will be ready.)
14. So, take out the frozen Easter cottage cheese from the refrigerator. Remove the press, unfold the cheesecloth, and turn the Easter mold right onto the plate. Then remove the threads, remove the mold and gauze, and sprinkle the cottage cheese Easter with grated chocolate or powder.
