Makes 5

500ml milk

8 teaspoons sugar

vanilla extract

50ml water

20g cornstarch

2 egg whites

30g powdered sugar

250ml sour cream

It is a homemade şarlota [=a type of Romanian custard that we eat separately, as a pudding], which took me back to the walks around my grandparents’ village, stopping at the only sweet shop in the area to buy the inexpensive yellowish dessert that calmed my cravings for ’something sweet’.  

How did I make it?

Mix the milk, sugar, and a little bit of vanilla extract in a pan; leave it for 5 minutes on low-medium heat and 15 minutes more on low heat, without stirring. Then, add the cornstarch dissolved in water and let the mix cool.

Separately, beat the egg whites with the powdered sugar until stiff and easily stir in the sour cream, using a wooden spoon. Pour this cream into the milk mix and split the final mix into 5 cups. Let these cups sit in the fridge overnight.

I served şarlota with whipped cream. What about you? J

Baking pan: 34 x 24 cm | 8-10 portions

Filling:

500g cottage cheese

160g sugar

1 egg

Pie sheets:

400g flour (+50g flour if the dough is too soggy)

1 sachet baking powder

2 medium eggs

120g sour cream

100g butter (melted)

1 drop of vanilla extract

+ powdered sugar for serving

+ butter and flour for the baking pan

At Easter time, we never baked pască (=a round cottage cheese and flour pie with raisins). Actually, this pie was our pască, year after year... and my Mom would always bake it. J

First, make the filling by mixing the cottage cheese, the sugar, and the egg and let it sit in the fridge for 1 hour.

To make the pie sheets, prepare the dough from flour, baking powder, sour cream, eggs, butter, and vanilla extract; let it sit in the fridge, as well, for 1 hour. Then, take it out, let it warm up and divide it into two.

Roll out the first piece and place it in the buttered and floured baking pan. Then, spread the filling. Roll out the second sheet and place it on top of the filling.  

Bake in the preheated oven, at 190°C, for 25-30 minutes.

After taking the pie out of the oven, let it cool and then cut it into squares and sprinkle powdered sugar on them before serving. They taste like childhood to me.  

It’s still summer in the southern hemisphere and we’ve had some springish days, so what about some no-bake mini-cheesecakes?

What did I use (made 2)? [multiply the amounts if you’re making this dessert for more people]

35g Oreo crumbs + 2 tbsp melted butter for the base

200g urdă or cottage cheese mixed with            

25g powdered sugar

65g double cream

a generous amount of organic orange zest

a drop of vanilla extract

15g dark chocolate chips [or 2 tbsp Nutella]

Let everything set in round 8cm shapes; freeze the mini-cheesecake for 1 hour, take it out, let it warm, and decorate it with Nutella or melt the chocolate on a steam bath and pour it over it.

It's a fabulous dessert!