Biezpien Maizîtes

Latvian-style cheese danishes

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 2½ cups flour
• 1 package (1 tbsp) yeast
• 5 tbsp butter
• 5 tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 lbs (dry) cottage cheese
• raisins (to taste)
• 10 tbsp sugar
• 1 package Oetker's vanilla sugar
• 1 package Oetker's vanilla pudding powder
• juice of half a lemon
• 2 eggs, separated

Directions

Dough

1. Put milk in saucepan and heat until bubbles start to form.
2. Let it cool until lukewarm.
3. Then add one tbsp.
4. sugar, yeast, and let stand about 10 minutes.
5. Add enough flour to make a soft dough.
6. Let this rise for 20 minutes.
7. cream butter, add sugar and salt.
8. When dough has risen (for the 20 minutes) add the butter mixture, and remaining flour.
9. Let rise for about one hour.

Filling

1. Beat cottage cheese with a fork (or run through a Cuisinart-type food processor) to break up the lumps.
2. Add sugar, vanilla sugar, pudding powder, lemon juice, egg yolks, and raisins.
3. Beat well.
4. Whip egg whites and fold into cottage cheese mixture.

Pastries

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Roll out batter onto a cookie sheet, and spread with filling.
3. Alternately: make a number of small, Danish-style pastries and spoon filling into centre of each one.
4. Bake for 30 – 50 minutes. Put on a rack to cool.
5. If made in a sheet, cut only when cooled.
6. This has fewer calories than a traditional cheese Danish, but tastes just as good, if not better!