Russian folks incorporate farmers cheese into a whole lot of dishes, from sweet fillings for dumplings and crepes, to pancakes and coffee cakes. I even make little kid treats with it. It is considered to be a perfect food for the sick and also babies, even as young as six months, because it contains virtually no lactose (milk sugar), making it very easily digestible by those with dairy sensitivity. I don’t care about calories in my food, but it’s worth mentioning that farmers cheese has less calories than any other soft cheese. It has grainy and drier consistency, which all the Russian folks love, but if you are funny about textures, pulse the cheese in a food processor for a couple of minutes to turn it into a smooth paste (take a look at the bottom picture where you can kind of see the ‘graininess’). I’ve been using arrowroot powder to stabilize the cake, and you can use anything from cassava to sprouted wheat flour or semolina, whatever your diet style allows.
Because this cake contains to gluten to create strong structure, it’s fairly fragile, unless you add wheat flour, so try to cool it down completely before slicing. It handles like cheese cake after cooling. I absolutely adore it with some jam and a cup of tea after dinner.
HOW TO MAKE FARMERS CHEESE COFFEE CAKE (творожная запеканка)
Ingredients
2 cups farmers cheese (find it at most grocery stores by cottage and cream cheese) – pulse in a food processor for less grainy texture
4 eggs, yolks and whites separated
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 tablespoons arrowroot powder, or potato starch
1/2 cup raisins, dried cranberries or frozen berries (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
Whisk 4 egg yolks with sugar until pale.
Add farmers cheese, vanilla, and arrowroot powder, whisk to combine.
In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites with salt until very stiff.
Fold the farmers cheese mixture into the egg whites (not the other way around) with a soft spatula to just combine. Do not over mix. The batter will be fairly liquid and fluffy in consistency.
Fold in the dried or frozen berries, if using.
Pour into any non stick cake or pie pan of your choice; bake for 30-40 minutes, or until golden. The top will puff up initially, then collapse down, like a souffle.
Cool completely before cutting. I normally cool it in the fridge to eat it faster.
- 2 cups farmers cheese (find it at most grocery stores by cottage and cream cheese) – pulse in a food processor for less grainy texture
- 4 eggs, yolks and whites separated
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 tablespoons arrowroot powder, or potato starch
- 1/2 cup raisins, dried cranberries or frozen berries (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
- Whisk 4 egg yolks with sugar until pale.
- Add farmers cheese, vanilla, and arrowroot powder, whisk to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites with salt until very stiff.
- Fold the farmers cheese mixture into the egg whites (not the other way around) with a soft spatula to just combine. Do not over mix. The batter will be fairly liquid and fluffy in consistency.
- Fold in the dried or frozen berries, if using.
- Pour into any non stick cake or pie pan of your choice; bake for 30-40 minutes, or until golden. The top will puff up initially, then collapse down, like a souffle.
- Cool completely before cutting. I normally cool it in the fridge to eat it faster.
FARMERS CHEESE COFFEE CAKE
