I came across the recipe for cottage cheese cookies while randomly browsing Latvian news websites. I had never seen it before and suddenly it was everywhere – sure we do make cookies with cheese, but cottage cheese? Latvian ingredients, my curiosity… Turns out they are very quick and easy to make and taste fantastic – light, crunchy, crumbly and not overly sweet.
The batch yields around 35 cookies.
Cottage Cheese Cookies (Biezpiena cepumi)
Ingredients
- 250g cottage cheese
- 250g softened butter
- 400g flour
- 1tsp baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- half a cup of sugar
Instructions
- Mix together cottage cheese and butter in a medium size bowl.
- Add sifted flour, salt and baking powder. Mix well.
- Knead the dough, add more flour until the dough does not stick to the hands.
- Place the dough in the bowl, cover and place the bowl in the fridge for 30-45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
- Remove the dough from the fridge, roll 3-5mm thick and cut out circles around 5cm diameter.
- Dip one side of the circle in sugar, fold over in half with sugar inside. Then dip one side in sugar and fold over again. Dip one side in sugar. Place on baking tray with sugared side up. Repeat until you run out of dough.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
March 19, 2024
I am a Greek married to a 1/2 Latvian (his dad is from Valmiera (??) 100 kms from Riga. I am making these for the first time to take to work for Harmony Day (Australian celebration of cultural diversity). I hope they are well received! My husband doesn’t remember ever having eaten them. I’ll take a photo & send to my mother inlaw (she is English). For the Greek sweet, I am making Revani (semolina syrup cake – my Yiayia’s recipe).
I want to make a few more Latvian dishes/sweets – it’s important for my girls to know that side of their heritage. It can’t always be my side!!
My FIL (he was 6 mths old) and his family fled Riga in 1940 to Germany in fear of Russian persecution. Fascinating family history.
August 10, 2024
I’m going to make these this week in honor of my Dads birthday . He fled Riga at 6 years old during WWII to Germany, he was a war orphan.
Spent many years at several children homes until coming to the USA at age 12. His story is amazing to our family.