Well, my dear readers, we're wrapping up the fasting dishes and getting ready for Easter, which is just around the corner! Last year I made a Easter Kulich, and I also have wonderful Brioche and a Cottage Cheese Paskha. This year I found myself craving paskha again — but not just any paskha, something a little special. I remember my mom used to make me fresh cottage cheese from milk when I was little (she'd let the milk sour, bring it to a boil, then drain it through a piece of cheesecloth). I absolutely adored that cheese — it was so tender, soft, and moist, completely plain yet I was crazy about it :) So I decided to make today's paskha using the same method, starting with homemade milk curd. To make it even more tender, moist, and flavorful, I added sour cream and eggs to the milk (the egg yolks play a key role here, really improving the flavor). Butter gives the paskha a delicate, creamy, and smooth texture, while the soaked dried fruits add an incredible depth of flavor. It turned out so delicious I can barely put it into words — I'm absolutely thrilled! The texture is incredibly delicate, literally melting in your mouth, with a very refined vanilla-cream flavor reminiscent of ice cream. It's a total showstopper — like a light, heavenly cloud in your mouth!
Ingredients:
- 2 L milk
- 500 g sour cream
- 5 eggs
- 200 g powdered sugar
- 200 g butter
- 10 g vanilla sugar
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- Mix-ins:
- 60 g raisins
- 60 g dried apricots
- 60 g dried cranberries
- 60 g cashews
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp cognac (or orange juice)
How to cook milk-based easter paskha (without cottage cheese)
I used 2.5% milk, 20% sour cream, and 82% butter. You can certainly use lower-fat versions of these products, but when it comes to paskha, I wouldn't recommend cutting the fat too drastically — it's better to enjoy one small piece of truly delicious paskha once a year than a big piece of mediocre one. Ready to get started?! Thoroughly mix the sour cream and eggs together in a bowl.
Add the sour cream and egg mixture. Stirring occasionally, bring just to the point of boiling — but do not let it boil — then add 1 tbsp of lemon juice.
As soon as it begins to bubble around the edges, immediately turn off the heat and let it sit for 5–7 minutes. If you let it boil actively, the curd will turn tough. The mixture will separate into whey and a thick curd.
Set a large colander over a bowl and line it with cheesecloth folded into two layers. Pour in the mixture and let it drain for 2–3 hours.
Rinse the dried fruits thoroughly, chop if needed (to roughly the size of raisins), and add the lemon zest. Make sure to use very soft, flavorful dried fruits — tough candied fruits can clash with the overall flavor. Pour the cognac (or juice) over them and let them soak.
Place the softened butter in a bowl and add the powdered sugar and vanilla sugar. Do not substitute regular sugar for the powdered sugar — it won't dissolve into the butter and will leave a gritty texture. For the vanilla sugar, it's best to use a fine-grain variety that contains real vanilla. Cream together well with a spoon.
Once the whey has drained, gather the edges of the cheesecloth into a bundle and squeeze gently — but not too hard, as the curd should remain moist and juicy (mine yielded 930 g). Transfer it to a mixing bowl. Beat the curd, gradually adding the creamed butter, until you have a fairly smooth mixture. At the end of mixing, add 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Taste and adjust — you may want to add more powdered sugar or lemon juice.
Fold in the soaked dried fruits and chopped nuts. I used cashews — in terms of flavor and texture, they are the "softest" of all nuts, if I can put it that way. I wouldn't recommend walnuts here; if you don't have suitable nuts on hand, it's better to leave them out entirely — they're not required.
Line a suitable rounded bowl with the cheesecloth used earlier. Since the whey has already been drained, there's no need for the bowl to have holes the way traditional paskha molds do. Transfer the mixture into the bowl and smooth it out.
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