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Papanași

Name: Papanași
Total time: 45 min
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Romania
Ingredients: 250g Cottage Cheese; 1 Egg; 2 tbsp Sugar; 150g All-purpose flour; 1 tsp Baking Powder; A pinch Lemon zest; A pinch Salt; To taste Oil for frying; 150g Sour cream; 100g Blueberry Jam

Dessert

⏱ 45 min

👥 Serves 4

Difficulty ⭐⭐

Fried dough made with cottage cheese, topped with sour cream and jam — Romania's favorite dessert.

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📖 The Story Behind This Dish

Papanași are doughnuts made from dough with fresh cheese worked in, and they're one of Romania's best-loved desserts. Their distinctive shape — a small ball perched on a large ring — is topped generously with sour cream and blueberry or cherry jam. They're crisp outside and fluffy and moist inside, with the tang of cheese.

🌆 Where it's eaten: At an eatery in a mountain resort, snowman-shaped papanași arrive to finish the meal as deep purple jam slowly runs down.

🥕 Ingredients (serves 4)

Cottage Cheese 250g
Egg 1
Sugar 2 tbsp
All-purpose flour 150g
Baking Powder 1 tsp
Lemon zest A pinch
Salt A pinch
Oil for frying To taste
Sour cream 150g
Blueberry Jam 100g

👩‍🍳 Instructions

Press the cottage cheese through a sieve and mix with the egg, sugar, lemon zest, and salt.
Add the flour and baking powder to make a dough that isn't sticky.
Divide into 4; shape the larger portion of each into a doughnut ring and the rest into a small ball.
Fry the rings and balls in 160°C oil until golden.
Place a ring on a plate and top with sour cream and jam.
Set a small ball on top and add more jam.

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