RUSSIAN CHEESECAKE STRAWBERRY BITES (SIROCHKI)

This is one of the most traditional Russian Desserts you can make at home. These are little bars of flavored sweet cottage cheese with a dark or milk chocolate coating filled with strawberry jam. These are healthy and delicious. A rich and creamy dessert made with quark, farmers, ricotta or cottage cheese, vanilla and a few other ingredients. You can make these sirochki into cake pops or like traditional way. Simple and easy to make for summer dessert.

Kids love these so much and it is a great way to get them eating cottage cheese which contains a lot of calcium, vitamins and proteins. I grew up on these and when I was little, my mum used to give them to me as a treat! We only had plain vanilla flavor, but now in any Latvian or Easter European Supermarket you will find around 10-15 different flavors! I hope you make these for yourself with your kids.

Cottage cheese is a delicious source of casein protein, which digests slowly and keeps you full. It’s low-carb and low-calorie, too, so it fits with almost any eating plan. While cottage cheese is tasty plain, trying it in other foods or snacks prevents you from getting bored with your diet. Make sure you use russian/polish/latvian cottage cheese which is at least 9 % fat and is dry. In USA the common thing to replace it with would be quark or farmers cheese, this recipe will not work with wet store bought cottage cheese - as it contains too much liquid. 

Ingredients 

500 gr of dry cottage cheese ( can replace with quark or farmers cheese)

300- 400 gr of condensed milk

200 gr of dark chocolate ( can use milk ) + 50 gr of unsalted butter

120 gr softened unsalted butter

1 tbsp of vanilla extract 

strawberry jam

Directions 

Step 1 : In a bowl add chocolate and butter and place in a microwave for 1 min with 30 second breaks. Make sure you don’t burn the chocolate, mix it and then take any form you prefer for the cheesecake bites, I am using my silicon moulds, using a pastry brush spread a thin layer of chocolate all over. Place in a freezer for 10 min. Repeat the process second time to ensure you have a thicker coating and place back in a freezer. 

Step 2 : Make the filling, in a large bowl, add cottage cheese, vanilla extract, condensed milk and blitz everything together until smooth. You might need to add condensed milk twice, depending on the consistency and how sweet you like it. Once its mixed through, place the mixture into a piping bag. 

Step 3 : Pipe the cottage cheese filling into each mould half way, then add 1 tsp of strawberry jam, and then top it up with more cottage cheese filling. gently press inside, so the filling is full. Then place it back in the freezer for 10 min. In the meantime melt some more chocolate or the left over you have and then coat the top with chocolate. Place the cheesecake bites into the freezer for 1 hour to set completely, or best overnight. 

Step 4 : Take out the cheesecake bites gently from the mould, make sure you place them onto a plate. If you are planning to eat them straight away, its best to leave it in the fridge for 30 min to defrost. If you are planning to eat them later, you can wrap them into foil from both sides and place back in the freezer ( they will last 3 months) or back in the fridge and unwrap when you want to eat it. Just before serving, I like to add extra fruit, some icing sugar and decorate the plate. Enjoy!

Lots of love, Alla xxx