Pie of shortbread dough and pancakes, with apples, cottage cheese, dried fruits and nuts
This pie with pancakes and three kinds of filling resembles the traditional Russian pie Kurnik. But kurnik is made with meat, fish, or mushroom filling. But it was the sweet version that interested me. The filling of dried fruits and nuts, cottage cheese filling and apple filling are separated by pancakes - all inside a base of shortbread dough. It's tastier than you can imagine! Products
For the shortbread dough:
Butter - 100 g
Sour cream 20% - 90 g
Milk - 50 gr
Egg - 1 egg
Sugar - 50 gr
Flour - 400 gr (3 cups of 200 ml)
Soda - 1/2 teaspoon
6% vinegar - 1 tablespoon
Salt - to taste
*
For the pancakes:
Water - 125 ml
Egg - 1 egg
Flour - 80 gr (0,5 cup 250 ml)
Sugar - 25 g
Salt - to taste
Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp.
*
For the curd filling:
9 % cottage cheese - 180 gr
Egg - 1 egg
Sugar - 75 gr
*
For stuffing with dried fruits and nuts:
Raisins - 150 gr
apricots - 130 g
Walnuts - 90 gr
*
For apple stuffing:
Sweet apples - 3 pcs.
*
For decoration (optional):
Powdered sugar - to tast
Prepare the products.
The butter for the dough must be at room temperature - take it out of the fridge beforehand.
The different types of filling will be placed inside the pie in layers. So that they do not mix, divide them by pancakes.
We prepare the batter for four pancakes.
To do this, beat the egg. You can immediately select one tablespoon of egg to grease the kurnik before baking.
Add 125 ml of water, a tablespoon of sugar, a pinch of salt, 80 gr of sifted flour and half a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Mix until homogeneous.
We need pancakes a little smaller in diameter than the forms for the kurnik.
My form has a diameter of 22 cm, so I took a pan with a diameter of 20 cm.
Before baking the first pancake, it is better to grease the pan with the remaining vegetable oil (if the pan is Teflon, you do not need to grease it with anything).
We fry the pancakes on a well heated pan on both sides.
Done pancakes cover with a dry napkin and set aside.
To prepare the shortbread dough, mix milk, sour cream and egg in a bowl.
Add a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Mix until homogeneous.
Cut room temperature butter into small pieces.
Sift half of the flour into a bowl (200 g - 1.5 cups of 200 ml.)
Put sliced butter into the flour and with your fingers knead it, turning everything into a crumb, adding the rest of the flour little by little.
You get a very delicate airy crumb.
Mix the dry and liquid ingredients.
Pour baking soda with vinegar and add it to the dough. Knead with a spatula.
Place the dough on a comfortable surface and continue to knead with your hands for at least 10 minutes.
You can check the readiness of the dough by making a hole with your finger. If it does not tighten, then the dough is kneaded enough.
Divide the dough into two unequal parts (1/3 and 2/3), wrap in clingfilm and leave at room temperature.
While the dough is resting, let's make stuffing.
Fill dried apricots and raisins with warm water for 10 minutes. Then discard the dried fruits on a strainer and rinse under running water.
Dry the dried fruits with paper towels.
Cut apricots into small pieces.
Roast the nuts in a pan for no more than 10 minutes.
Chop the nuts in a blender in short pulses quite finely.
Mix nuts and dried fruit.
Add an egg and 3 tablespoons of sugar to the cottage cheese.
Peel and core the apples. Grate the apples on a coarse grater.
We have all three toppings.
If desired, you can add vanilla or zest or both to the cottage cheese and a little sugar or honey to the apples.
This way the kurnik will be even more fragrant and the taste will be richer.
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.
We cover the bottom of a cake tin with parchment, do not grease the sides of the form.
From the most part of the dough roll out the basis of thickness of 5 mm. The diameter of the base should be 10 cm larger than the diameter of the cake tin.
For my mold with a diameter of 22 cm, I made a base with a diameter of 32 cm.
Place the rolled out dough in the mold so that the edges hang down on the outside.
On the bottom we put the first pancake.
Next, lay the filling of cottage cheese and form a mound of it.
On top of the cottage cheese put the next pancake.
Then we lay a layer of stuffing made of nuts and dried fruits.
Again we form a mound.
Spread the third pancake on top.
As the last layer we lay a heap of grated apples.
Cover the filling with the last pancake.
Roll out the second part of the dough 1-2 cm larger in diameter than the diameter of the mold.
Cover the form completely.
Cut off excess edges with a knife and with a beautiful scalloped stitch protect dough in a circle.
The scraps of dough can be used to make pie decorations. I gathered them and rolled them out into a thin layer.
Using cookie cutters, I cut out hearts and decorate the top of the pie with them.
Spread the remaining egg on the pie crust to make it ruddy.
In the center you can make a hole for steam to escape.
Put the pie in an oven preheated to 220 degrees.
Bake the shortbread and pancake pie with cottage cheese, apples, dried fruits and nuts for 30-35 minutes, depending on the oven.
Ready pie should cool a little - so it will be easier to take it out of the form.
Transfer the cooled sweet tart to a plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
The pie with apples, cottage cheese, nuts and dried apricots is ready to serve. Thanks to the pancakes, the filling is not mixed, each layer has its own flavor and aroma.
Bon appetit