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Easter cream curd with custard nuts

Creamy Custard Paskha with Nuts (Easter Cheese Dessert)

Traditional paskha — a molded farmer's cheese Easter dessert — comes in countless versions! It has graced the holiday table for centuries as a symbol of the Easter celebration and the sweetness of the season. Paskha is traditionally shaped like a truncated pyramid. If you don't have a paskha mold (a special collapsible form), a small round dish works too. This one has a delicate vanilla aroma, the sweetness of dried fruit, weightless airy curd, a creamy richness, and a gentle crunch of nuts. It truly melts in your mouth.

BLUE-EYED

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Farmer's cheese (tvorog) (5%)

Eggs

Sugar

200

Butter (82% high-quality; avoid spreads, they hurt the flavor)

200

Cream (10%)

400

Vanilla sugar

Vanilla extract (I used 3 drops of liquid vanilla-cream flavoring)

Candied fruit mix (dried pineapple)

100

Raisins

100

Hazelnuts (use any nuts you like or have on hand)

100

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 23 % 10 g

Fats 43 % 19 g

Carbohydrates 34 % 15 g

278 kcal

GI: 7 / 20 / 73

Cooking method

Step 1:

Gather your ingredients. The butter should be soft and at room temperature.
Step 2:

Add the sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar to the eggs and beat lightly with a mixer on low speed, just until the sugar dissolves.
Step 3:

For extra flavor and aroma, add 3 drops of vanilla flavoring.
Step 4:

Pour in the cream and stir.
Step 5:

Over medium heat, bring the egg-and-cream mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to its minimum and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. (It sets like a custard or soft omelet — that's exactly the texture you want.) Remove from the heat and let cool.
Step 6:

Prep the dried fruit and nuts. Soak the raisins in hot water for 10 minutes, then rinse and pat dry on a towel. Rinse the nuts, toast them lightly in a dry skillet, and grind them in a blender. (I left the skins on.) If the candied fruit pieces are large, chop them.
Step 7:

Blend the farmer's cheese until smooth and paste-like.
Step 8:

Add the softened butter to the cheese and mix thoroughly.
Step 9:

Next, fold in the candied fruit, raisins, and nuts. Stir to combine.
Step 10:

Add the cooled egg-and-cream custard to the cheese mixture and stir well. The paskha base is ready.
Step 11:

Set the paskha mold upside down on a plate and line it with cheesecloth folded into 2 layers — dampen the cheesecloth first and wring it out very well. Arrange it so the excess gathers into folds at the corners. Pack in the cheese mixture and fold the overhanging cheesecloth over the bottom.
Step 12:

Set a plate on top and weigh it down. After a while, pour off the liquid that's drained out, then refrigerate for 10–11 hours. You'll need to drain off the whey about 3 more times, so keep an eye on it.
Step 13:
When the time is up, carefully unmold the paskha:
- Free the bottom from the cheesecloth, set a flat plate on it, and flip the paskha over.
- Release the clamps on one side and lift off the mold.
- Gently peel away the cheesecloth.
Step 14:

Decorate the paskha. If you observe the tradition, it's brought to church to be blessed. At the Easter meal, the first food shared is an egg, divided among everyone at the table; each person then gets a slice of kulich (Easter bread) and a spoonful of paskha. Only after that are the wine and the rest of the holiday spread set out. Happy Easter!

When I started posting this recipe, I noticed a similar one was already on the site. The difference is small, but the taste can come out quite different — and that version has no step-by-step photos. So I figured my recipe wouldn't hurt and might be just what someone is looking for.