My Favorite Cookie and Pastry Recipes

Hello everyone. Today I'm sharing my favorite cake and pastry recipes with you. These are the ones I make regularly and trust the results. Recently we've been making a lot of these for the guests visiting our home.

My first recipe is Kurniki. All the ingredients need to be at room temperature. The ingredients you need are:

Kurniki

Ingredients:

Filling:

• Chicken breast (you can also use thighs) - 300-350g
• Onion - 300g
• Potatoes - 300g
• Black pepper - 0.5 tsp
• Salt - 1.5 tsp
• Butter

Dough:

• Flour - 515g
• Sugar - 10g
• Eggs - 2
• Baking powder - 10g
• Salt - 15g
• Butter - 180g
• Sour cream (20%) - 200g

For the topping:

• Milk - 1 tsp
• Egg yolk - 1
• Flour (for dusting)
• Sesame seeds (optional)

Instructions:

Sift the flour and mix it with baking powder, salt and sugar. Then add the eggs, sour cream and butter and mix. Knead the dough. If the dough is too sticky, you can add a little more flour, but not too much, as you'll use flour when rolling the dough out.

Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for about half an hour. Meanwhile prepare the filling. Finely chop the onion and mash it with salt until it releases juice. Then add finely chopped potatoes, chicken and black pepper and mix. You can also use chicken breast, which is very tasty with this recipe. This recipe makes 10 kurniki. I first roll out five large circles and five small ones. I gather the leftover dough and place it in the fridge.

When placing the tray in the oven, I prepare the second batch of kurniki from the dough. I have more ingredients because I make 15 kurniki. If you'd like to make more, you can increase the ingredient amounts. Place the filling on the large circles, adding two tablespoons to each. Brush the small circles with egg yolk, add butter on top of the filling and fold the two circles together to form the kurnik shape. Place them on the tray and make holes in the centers. Brush the tops with egg yolk and a little milk, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 40-45 minutes, until golden brown.

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Salmon and Broccoli Quiche (French Tart)

Ingredients:

Filling:

• Eggs - 2
• Mozzarella cheese
• Red fish (salmon or salted trout)
• Broccoli
• Cream - 200 ml
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

Dough:

• Sifted flour - 250g
• Egg - 1
• Butter - 120g
• Ice water - 2 tbsp
• Salt - 0.5 tsp

Instructions:

In a food processor add sifted flour, salt and cold butter. It's a good idea to chill the butter in the freezer beforehand. Process until it becomes fine crumbs. If you don't have a food processor, you can do this by hand, but you need to work quickly.

Add one cold egg and two tablespoons of cold water to the mixture and stir. You don’t need to knead the dough for a long time,just form it into a ball and knead it lightly. Put the dough in the fridge for an hour. Afterward, roll out the dough and place it in a greased tart pan. My pan is 28 cm in diameter and 4 cm high. Poke holes in the dough with a fork, cover with parchment paper and add a weight. I used buckwheat, but you can also use peas or corn.

This is necessary to prevent the dough from losing its shape during baking. Bake the dough with the weight in a preheated 200°C oven for 15 minutes. After that remove the weight and bake for another 15 minutes. While the dough is baking, prepare the filling.

I use salted trout, but you can also use salmon or fresh fish. If using salted fish, don't add too much salt to the filling. Grate the mozzarella cheese and whisk the eggs with cream, salt and pepper.

Pour the filling over the dough and then pour the cream mixture over the top. Bake the quiche at 200°C for 30-35 minutes. The quiche should be golden brown when it comes out of the oven.

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Cottage Cheese Cookies

Ingredients:

• Cottage cheese - 200g
• Flour - 150g
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• Butter - 80g
• Sugar - 50g

Instructions:

If the cottage cheese is granulated, use an immersion blender to smooth it out, then add warm butter and mix. Sift the flour with the baking powder and add it to the cottage cheese, then knead the dough.

In this post I’m doubling the recipe. I recommend making a larger batch as the single recipe may not be enough. With my doubled recipe, I divide the dough into two equal parts and refrigerate for 30-40 minutes.

After the resting time, I begin rolling out the dough. I roll it a bit, then sprinkle sugar on top. I cut the dough into four pieces, then slice each piece into four or five triangles. I don’t coat all the triangles in sugar because my 3-year-old daughter prefers them sugar-free, so the sugar is just on the inside. I bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 200°C. The original recipe suggests 10-15 minutes, but my oven takes about 20 minutes. Adjust the baking time according to your oven. The cookies should be golden brown.

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Apple Cookies

Ingredients:

• Sugar - 100g
• Apples - 2
• Eggs - 3
• Butter - 100g
• A pinch of salt
• Vanilla sugar
• Flour - 280g
• Baking powder - 1.5 tbsp
• Dried raisins - 50-60g

Instructions:

This recipe is quite simple and quick to make. In a bowl crack the eggs, then add salt, vanilla sugar and sugar and mix. Next, add the butter and continue mixing. Sift the baking powder into the flour, then gradually add it to the mixture. The dough will be a bit dense.

I dice the apples into small cubes, then add the raisins that I had soaked in boiling water and dried. After mixing, I place the dough on parchment paper, about one tablespoon of dough per cookie. Leave enough space between the cookies as they will expand while baking.

My recipe yields about 20 cookies. I bake them in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 23 minutes. The tops will be crisp, while the inside will be incredibly soft and fluffy.

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And that’s the end of my post. I hope you enjoy my recipes. Thank you for reading. Enjoy your meal, take care and see you in the next post.