Cottage Cheese Paskha with Condensed Milk

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   How do you make cottage cheese paskha with condensed milk? Prepare all the ingredients listed in the recipe. Any fat content of cottage cheese works, but keep in mind that the higher the fat, the more tender and rich the finished dessert. Use good butter with a high fat content, above 72%. Sour cream with 10-25% fat is fine - you can buy it at the supermarket or market. Note: don't use thick homemade sour cream, or the cheese mixture will be too stiff to blend.

2. Step 2:

   

   Let me walk you through all the details and how I make this cottage cheese paskha. I bought 9%-fat cottage cheese from the store. It's slightly moist, lumpy in places, and a little tangy. Take the butter out of the fridge 1-2 hours ahead so it softens. Add the softened butter to the cottage cheese. Mash with a spoon to combine.

3. Step 3:

   

   Add the condensed milk and sour cream. Stir in the vanilla sugar. Instead of vanilla sugar you can use a tiny pinch of vanillin - no more, or the finished paskha will turn bitter. If you don't like vanilla, leave it out. Now you'll need an immersion blender or food processor to blend the cheese mixture into a smooth, uniform mass. If you don't have one, press the cottage cheese through a fine sieve, preferably a few times.

4. Step 4:

   

   You've probably seen these paskha molds. They're sold in supermarkets, online, and at market cookware stalls, in various sizes. Mine is small - 10 cm tall, with a 10x10 base and a 4x4 top - and holds 400-450 g of cheese mixture. Before I had one, I used plastic containers or yogurt cups, just poking a few holes in the bottom so the whey could drain.

5. Step 5:

   

   Take a flat plate and set the paskha mold on it, narrow base down.

6. Step 6:

   

   Line it with cheesecloth folded in 2-3 layers. Smooth it out well to minimize wrinkles.

7. Step 7:

   

   Pour in the cheese mixture. After blending with an immersion blender, it becomes more fluid.

8. Step 8:

   

   Lift the edges of the cheesecloth and fold them over each other.

9. Step 9:

   

   Set a small flat plate or cutting board on top, along with a light weight - a 400-500 g jar of water, for example. Now this whole setup can go into the fridge for 12-14 hours.

10. Step 10:

    

    One more tip. I propped the mold up on a tall coffee-jar lid so the whey would drain into the plate and the bottom of the mold wouldn't sit in liquid. If you don't use a riser like this, you'll need to drain the accumulated whey after 5-6 hours.

11. Step 11:

    

    Time's up! Now take our creation out of the fridge. Unfold the top edges of the cheesecloth.

12. Step 12:

    

    Set a nice serving plate on top - the one you'll serve the dessert on.

13. Step 13:

    

    Flip it over. Adjust the mold so the paskha ends up in the center of the plate.

14. Step 14:

    

    Gently lift off the mold and peel away the cheesecloth.

15. Step 15:

    

    Here's the cottage cheese paskha with condensed milk I ended up with. Get creative - I'm sure you have even better ideas.