Vatrushka Recipe (Ватрушки)
Vatrushki are baked sweet buns filled with sweet cheese like Tvorog, Farmer's Cheese or Quark. Like a sweet cheese Danish, these Russian pastries are heart warming and tasty just like babushka made.
Servings 12 Buns
Ingredients
Yeast Dough
- 4 cups flour plus more for kneading
- 1 ⅓ cups milk lukewarm
- 1 tablespoon Instant Yeast
- 7 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 5 tablespoons melted butter
Cheese Filling ingredients
- 1 pound (500g) Tvorog Cheese
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste
- 1 egg
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- egg wash 2 egg yolks with 1 tablespoon of whipping cream
Instructions
Making Yeast Dough
- Activate Yeast - mix yeast with ½ lukewarm milk with 1 tablespoon sugar. Whisk in ½ cup flour and allow to site for 15 minutes until it activates.
- Mix - whisk 2 eggs, salt, sugar and melted butter together. Add rest of the milk. Pour into activated yeast mixture and slowly add flour until it forms.
- Knead - on a floured surface knead for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic
- Rise - place in oiled bowl, cover with cling wrap and place in warm spot. Takes about 1½ hours to rise. Punch down down and gently knead before using.
Making Vatrushka
- Preheat - set oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Make Cheese Filling - mix together Tvorog, Vanilla, Egg, Sugar and Sour Cream.
- Prepare Dough - roll dough into a thick log and cut into 12 equal pieces. Using your palms, roll each piece into a round ball and place on parchment paper on a baking tray.
- Fill - using the bottom of a drinking glass, press down in the middle of the dough ball, making an indentation (like a well) to hold the cheese filling. Spoon in the tvorog cheese to fill the pastry. The vatrushki will be around 4" round.
- Rise - allow to rise in a warm place for about 15 minutes. Brush the edges of the Vatrushka Buns with the egg wash.
- Bake - place in preheated oven for about 25 minutes until golden brown.