Every kid of the Soviet Union should remember the taste of golden and crunchy on the outside and fluffy and tender on the inside tvoroznye ponchiki. It’s a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a small ball and covered with powdered sugar. They don’t just look delightful, they taste the same.
You don’t have to take a trip to Russia to get the real taste of ponchiki : I’ll be sharing my recipe with you today.
Ponchiki (Russian Doughnuts)
Ingredients
- 2 cups farmer cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- olive oil or vegetable oil to fry
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, beat two eggs with sugar and salt, add baking soda and vanilla. Continue beating for 30 more seconds. Add two cups of farmers cheese and beat for 20 more seconds. Add flour and stir with a spatula. Dough will be sticky.
- Using a small ice cream scoop, or wet hands form dough into a small balls.
- In a large iron skillet, heat the oil until hot (350 degrees F). Add ponchiki, one at a time, and fry over medium heat until golden brown. Normally ponchiki roll over on their own, and you don’t have to turn them over.
- Lift them with tongs, drain on paper towel. Toss ponchiki in powdered sugar while they are still hot. You can serve them right away.
Potato Pancakes (Draniki)
One of my husband’s favorite food is draniki. Russian style potato pancakes. Perfect for breakfast or branch. I’ve seen draniki recipes that use mashed potato also, but I personally prefer my potato to be coarsely grated, because then you have more crispy ends. Traditionally draniki are served with sour cream, but you can also serve them with ketchup or cottage cheese.
Potato Pancakes (Draniki)
Ingredients
- 6 medium potatoes washed
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 50 ml buttermilk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 50 g all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup olive oil (plus extra)
- 1/2 cup sour cream (optional)
- fresh herbs (optional)
Instructions
- Peel and grate potatoes. Squeeze grated potatoes with hands, extracting as much liquid as possible.
- In a large bowl beet eggs, baking soda and buttermilk, add grated potatoes, salt, pepper and flour, mix well.
- In a large iron skillet heat the olive oil until hot. Place the tablespoons of batter in the pan and flatten with spoon.
- Reduce heat to medium and cook until the bottom is golden brown.Turn over and cook on the other side.
- Garnish with fresh herbs and serve them hot with sour cream.
Chocolate Chip and Nut Cookies
Excellent Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies. I’ve tried a lot of different chocolate chip cookie recipes, and this one is the best one by far. They have the right balance of flavor and texture. My kids remove them from the oven as soon as the edges turn gold. They don’t look done when they are, so be carefully not to burn the bottoms.
Chocolate Chip and Nut Cookies
Ingredients
- 225 g butter softened
- 100 g brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar (optional)
- 100 g sugar
- 330 g all purpose flour sifted
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 350 g chocolate chips
- 50 g walnuts
- 50 g hazelnuts
- 50 g almonds
- 50 g pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 380 degrees F. Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Beat together butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla sugar.
- Add eggs.
- Little by little add sifted flour ,mixed with salt and baking soda.
- Add chocolate chips and mix well.
- Spoon out the cookie dough using a cookie scoop(use your hand if you don’t have cookie spoon) and place on the parchment lined baking sheet. Divide the nuts and seeds on top of the each cookie and gently press down on the dough ball to flatten slightly.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are set but the middle is still soft.
- Let cool cookies for few minutes then transfer them with a spatula to a rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy it with glass of milk or your favorite tea.
