Recipe: Shortbread with Curds/ Рецепт: Сочень с Творогом

The place where I worked in Russia had its own cafe and they prepared the food in a home-cooked way, but on a larger scale. One of the delights there was the sochen s tvorogom, shortbread with curd filling.

We had two packs of curds in the fridge and the plastic wrapping was starting to expand. They needed using up and there was only one thing for it... shortbread and curds on an industrial scale!

Russian-style shortbread with curds

Ingredients for the shortbread
Ratio for shortbread is 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter, 3 parts flour. [You could just use this to make shortbread biscuits.] I used:
375g plain flour
250g vegan spread
125g sugar
1tsp vanilla paste

Ingredients for the filling
Ratio for the filling is 1 egg to 200g curds, possibly added a tablespoon of soured cream/ plain yoghurt for a runnier consistency. I used:
550g curds
3 eggs
100g sultanas

How; filling
1. mix the curds, eggs and currents together

the filling

How; shortbread
1. cream the sugar and butter together to make a smooth paste

creamed and waiting for flour

2. mix in the flour until it's like pastry

pastry-like

3. roll out till it's about ½cm thick. [Or a little thinner if you just want biscuits.]
4. use a pastry cutter or a mug to cut out pastry discs. [At this stage, you could leave them a biscuits or continue if you have the filling]

Why buy a pastry cutter when you can do this?!

5. place a disc in your hand; stretch it a little; place about ¾tbsp of the filling in the middle; fold it over, pushing the filling in with your thumb, so you have a semi-circle.

 

6. place on a non-stick tray or a tray lined with greaseproof paper

ready to bake

7. bung it in the oven at 150-160°C (fan oven) for 20-25 minutes until golden. [15-20 for the biscuits]

Home-made shortbread

Variations
If you don't want the fruit in the filling, add sugar.