Speaker A
Hello everyone. You are on Evelyn's Kitchen channel. Just look at what a masterpiece you can make from ordinary cottage cheese. A famous dessert that makes you want to return to a coffee shop again and again. And the most amazing thing is that it comes together in minutes using the most accessible ingredients, without cream or chocolate. I will share the secret of the perfect creamy texture of a real Lviv syrnyk. Use the fattiest cottage cheese you can find. Mine is nine percent fat, soft, not sour, and not watery. If there is a lot of whey, of course, it is better to drain it. But still, the cottage cheese should be nice and soft like this. Just like this. Pour 750 g of cottage cheese into a bowl, though you can do it all right in a food processor. Add all the ingredients directly into the processor then. Blend until smooth and it's done. But I will show you step-by-step using an immersion blender. Next, we blend everything with an immersion blender or food processor until smooth and pasty, so there are no lumps left. You get this kind of creamy, homogeneous cottage cheese. Next, add the sour cream. I have 60 g here. That’s two good tablespoons, but it all depends on the cottage cheese. If yours is dry, you can add another tablespoon of sour cream for a delicate texture. Add 100 g of melted butter—that's seven tablespoons—and 150 g of sugar, which is about six level tablespoons. A packet of vanilla sugar. Definitely a pinch of salt to balance the flavor. And grate the zest of one lemon. This is very important for the taste and aroma. While fatty cottage cheese and butter provide the creamy structure, the lemon refreshes the flavor. Next, add three eggs. And the main secret to a smooth, creamy structure is cornstarch. Of course, Lviv syrnyk can be made with semolina or potatoes. In the oldest recipes, you can even find potato. But cornstarch is what will give the syrnyk that tenderness, smoothness, and velvetiness. And the starch must absolutely be cornstarch. 25 g of cornstarch is two tablespoons with a slight heap like this. And we blend again briefly, just until combined. Why shouldn't you beat the eggs for too long? They will create airiness. The syrnyk will become fluffy and crack. Lviv syrnyk doesn't need that airiness. Blend it. Most importantly, break down all the appearing lumps with the blender so that you get a silky, smooth mass. You can check if you’ve prepared the batter correctly. Look, it should fall in a wide, slow ribbon like this. If it’s runny, you need to add a little more starch to thicken it. And if it’s too thick and almost stays on the spoon, then you need to soften the mass with sour cream. Now for the add-ins. Choose whichever ones you like. I will use raisins. I rinsed them well several times with boiling water and dried them. It is important to pat them dry with a paper towel. And I really love adding cranberries too. These are unsweetened, just dried cranberries. It weighs about 120 g. I’ll add just half a teaspoon of cornstarch. Mix it in so they are evenly distributed throughout the cheesecake. They remained at the bottom. And add them to the batter. Stir everything together. And the batter is ready. By this point, the oven should already be preheated to 160 °C. Why not 180? Because the edges will set too quickly on top, while the inside will remain raw. That’s why 160 is better; we cook it slowly, but it bakes through evenly and correctly. For this 24x10 brick-shaped pan, line it with parchment paper and pour in the batter. There should be at least a centimeter or two left at the top of the pan, because the cheesecake will rise. Mine is almost full. Next, you need to tap it against the table a few times. Two or three times to release any air bubbles. That is enough. Then bake the cheesecake on the top-bottom heat setting at 160 °C for 60-70 minutes. After an hour, the edges should be set, but the center should still wobble a bit. After 60 minutes it wasn't done at all, so I added another 20 minutes. Now the edges are firm, while the center is just a little softer than the sides. But that’s normal; it will stabilize during this time. And if you have a thermometer, it should be 72 °C for the internal temperature. Next, let it cool right inside the oven with the door slightly ajar for 15-20 minutes, then at room temperature. Next, take the cheesecake out of the fridge. It cooled for about 15 minutes in the oven with the door ajar, then at room temperature until completely cool, and then I put it in the fridge. Mine was in overnight, but 2-3 hours is enough for it to stabilize. Next, let’s make a delicious, chocolatey, and very quick glaze. We will need cocoa powder. This is 20 g. In tablespoons, that’s about three generous tablespoons. Add sugar. One or two tablespoons. I’ll add two, but you can use less. If your cheesecake is very sweet, for example, then one tablespoon is better. Next, add 20% sour cream. That’s two generous tablespoons, about 70 g. Place on the stove, stir everything together, and heat over the lowest flame while stirring. You just need to dissolve the sugar. There’s no need to boil or cook it. As soon as the mixture is smooth and the sugar is dissolved, take it off the heat. That’s it, just 1 minute over medium heat, and it’s already like Nutella. But if it’s too thick, you can add a tablespoon of milk so it’s not as dense. Remove from the heat and immediately add 30 g of butter to the hot glaze, preferably at room temperature, and mix. And don't forget to add a pinch of salt to balance the flavor. Stir everything once more. The glaze should be slightly thick but still flow slowly in a wide ribbon. Just like this from the spatula. It should be slightly warm. And you can coat the cold cheesecake. Next, carefully remove the cheesecake from the pan. I'll do this on a wire rack. And we remove the mold. Place a plate under the cheesecake so the glaze drips onto the plate. And look at how beautiful it turns out. It's not overcooked, not dried out, it's just perfect, firm, but creamy inside. And we pour the slightly warm glaze over it. Starting from the top. And gradually it will set quickly, because the cheesecake is cold. Well, as you can see, mine is already quite firm, but you can add milk to make it a bit thinner. But with a thick one like this, you can make a good chocolate layer. My glaze isn't runny, so I'm transferring it to a plate immediately. The glaze was setting quite quickly, so I smoothed it out with a spatula. Keep this in mind and work quickly with the glaze. Into the fridge to set. Next, we send the Lviv cheesecake to the fridge to set the glaze for about 30 minutes. That will be enough just for it to set. It's practically not sticky anymore, just soft. 30 minutes will be enough. After half an hour, the glaze has set well. It doesn't leave a mark on your finger, but it's soft, like slightly melted chocolate. And the longer it sits at room temperature, the softer it becomes. But such a glaze is perfect specifically for the Lviv cheesecake. It's soft and delicious, but doesn't stick to your finger. Let's try the Lviv cheesecake, just like in the best coffee shops in Lviv. I want to note right away that the glaze here is soft. Yes, it's not exactly great for transport, but in the fridge, it becomes non-sticky and doesn't smear. That is a very big plus. But it fits perfectly with this incredibly delicate, almost cheesecake-like structure of the cake. Well, let's taste it. I've finally waited for this delicious treat. Mmm, well, it's incredibly delicate. It reminds me of a cheesecake, of course, but it's different. Very delicate structure. Because everything was blended without lumps, it's perfect. It's simply a melting texture. There is absolutely no cottage cheese taste. There's only a creamy, delicate taste, and a very strong lemon note is felt. It really refreshes and fits in perfectly. Uh-huh. Delicate structure, but it's not a cheesecake, not a cottage cheese casserole. It's a bi
