These popular Russian Soft Farmer’s Cheese Cookies are tender and flaky. The dough is made with cold butter and farmer’s cheese (ricotta can also be used), which results in a texture that resembles puff pastry – crisp and golden on the outside with a multitude of thin layers inside.
My Mom used to make these cookies all the time, especially when I was a little girl. Slavic people use farmer’s cheese in so many different ways, and this is one of the perfect examples of combining such simple ingredients for an amazingly delicious treat. They are still one of my favorite cookies
These cookies are often known by the very uniques name “Гусиные Лапки” (Geese Feet, pronounced gusinie lapki), because of their shape. They sure do look like tiny little webbed geese feet! The dough is based on farmer’s cheese, butter, flour and eggs. How simple is that? It comes together in minutes and can be made ahead of time, since it needs time in the refrigerator to chill.
A perfect mouthful of flaky and tender dough, these cookies are crunchy on the outside from being baked into gorgeous golden crispness, but also from being dipped in sugar. Fill your cookie jars with these dainty, delicate darlings. They don’t usually last long at my house, and there’s only the two of us for now:)
What is Farmer’s Cheese and Where Is It Sold?
Farmer’s cheese is a very popular soft cheese in the Russian cuisine. It’s called tvorog (творог), in Russian. It has a similar taste and texture of ricotta and/or cottage cheese. It is used in many, many Russian recipes.
Ingredients
1 cup butter chilled
7.5 – 8 oz farmer’s cheese
2 cups all purpose flour
2 egg yolks
2 Tablespoons water cold or chilled
1/2 – 1 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
Grate the chilled butter on a box grater.
Add the farmer’s cheese and flour. Use your hands to quickly mix the ingredients together. It will be a very dry and crumbly texture.
Add the egg yolks and water. Mix the dough and knead on the counter until it comes together.
Form the dough into a disc and wrap it up in aluminum foil or parchment paper. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Break off part of the dough and roll it out thinly on a well floured surface.
Use a biscuit cutter (about 3 inches), an overturned cup or glass (preferably with thin edgeor anything else that is round and will be able to cut through the dough and press out as much circles from the dough as possible.
Save the scraps, scrunch them into a little ball and refrigerate until it’s firm again.(Also keep the rest of the dough refrigerated when you’re not using it.)
Put the sugar into a bowl and press one side of the circle of dough into the sugar.
Fold it in half to form a half moon shape. Press one side into the sugar again, fold it in half and press one of the sides in the sugar.
Repeat with the rest of the dough. You will have 80-100 cookies, depending on the size that you make them.
Place the cookies sugar side up on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, until the cookies are puffed up and golden brown.
Notes
Storing the Cookies
Store the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, or in the freezer up to 3 months.Store the baked cookies at room temperature for 2-3 days in a closed box or container, or freeze up to 3 months in a freezer ziplock bag or an airtight container.