Freshly Baked Pastry with Farmer Cheese and Apple Filling
I love eating freshly baked pastries like danishes and turnovers, especially for breakfast. A few days ago I decided to bake myself a pastry treat for the very first time. Turned out it was easy to make and it tasted delicious. I used the same filling that I use to make blintzes - farmer cheese, apple and cinnamon. Below you will find step-by-step instructions on how to make this tasty treat in two different shape varieties. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 package Pastry Dough
- 1 Apple
- 1/2 package Farmer Cheese
- 1 Egg Yolk
- Flour
- Cinnamon
- Few tablespoons Sugar
- Clover Honey
Instructions
- Take a package of pastry dough (bought from the supermarket) and divide in half. Take one of the halves and divide in half again. Set the three pieces aside.
- Take the large piece of dough and roll it into a rectangular shape that is just slightly thick using a large cutting board and a rolling pin. Make sure to sprinkle the cutting board and the rolling pin with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. You can even lightly sprinkle some flour on the dough itself. Place a piece of wax paper onto an aluminum baking sheet and sprinkle the baking sheet with flour before putting the dough on it. Once you do that proceed to shape the smaller pieces of dough.
- Take the two smaller pieces of dough and shape them into thin rectangular pieces using a large cutting board and a rolling pin. Make sure again to sprinkle the cutting board and the rolling pin with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. You can even lightly sprinkle some flour on the dough itself. Since you can only do one piece of dough at a time when you are done with the first piece remove it from the cutting board onto another aluminum baking sheet. Again, place a piece of wax paper onto the baking sheet and sprinkle the baking sheet with flour before putting the dough on it. Once you do that proceed to shape the second piece of dough and leave that one on the cutting board.
- Now it's time to make the filling. Take half a package of farmer cheese, move it into a large bowl and mash it with a spoon or fork so it is not in large chunks but rather in very small pieces. Then wash an apple (I used a Braeburn apple here), peel the skin and shred the apple using a manual shredder. Squeeze out the juice. Take the shredded apple and add to the farmer cheese. Add a few tablespoons of sugar, sprinkle with cinnamon and mix everything.
- When you are done making the filling it is time to place it on the dough that's on the baking sheet. Since you are making two separate pastries make sure that when you do one you have enough filling left for the other. First start out with the thin rectangular piece of dough. Place the filling on it using a spoon. Make sure to leave about an inch of empty dough on each side. When done placing the filling on the dough take the second piece of dough from the cutting board you already shaped and place it on top of the filling. Then take a fork and lightly squeeze the dough on all the sides so the top dough and the bottom one are stuck together and there is no opening. Be careful not to rip the dough or create holes. Make sure to wet the fork every time you do this. You may need to slightly fold the edges of each side if the dough doesn't stick together before squeezing the dough with the fork. Then lightly stab the top of the dough with the fork all around. Do it randomly and again be car
- Place the remaining filling onto the second baking sheet that has the thicker piece of dough. You need to place it closer to the edge of the dough that is nearest you, making sure it only stays there. Don't place the filling too close to the edge or it will fall off when you roll the dough. Roll the dough away from you until the dough cannot be rolled anymore. Then take a fork and repeat the same procedure as you did in step 5 for the other dough.
- Once done with all that you need to baste the top of the dough with egg yolk. Crack open one chicken egg and separate the yolk from the egg whites. Place the yolk into a bowl, add a few teaspoons of water and whip a little bit with a fork. Then using a basting brush, cover entire top of both pastries with egg yolk.
- Pre-heat the oven to 360 degrees Fahrenheit and once heated place the two baking sheets with the pastries inside on the top rack and bake for about 25-30 minutes. Keep an eye on the pastries making sure the top crust is golden brown and not burned. You may need to bake the roll pastry a little bit longer because the dough is thicker and may not cook all the way through in just 30 minutes. If that's the case remove the rectangular pastry from the oven and leave the roll pastry inside some more.
- When done baking remove both pastries from the oven and drizzle with clover honey. Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee or some fruit kompote.
