Cottage Cheese Balls with Fig Jam

for 8 balls, 65-70 g each

COTTAGE CHEESE DOUGH (total ~505 g) Ingredients:

• All-purpose flour — 150 g
• Baking powder — 3 g
• Whole eggs — 100 g
• Sugar — 70 g
• Sea salt — 2 g
• Cottage cheese — 180 g
• Vanilla — ½ pod

Instructions:

1. Rub the cottage cheese through a fine-meshed sieve using a stiff spatula. It’s important to obtain smooth and silky mass, with no visible lumps of cottage cheese.
2. Add the whole eggs, sugar, sea salt, and vanilla seeds to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using a whisk attachment, whip the mixture until it becomes an airy and voluminous foam.
3. Add the smooth cottage cheese to the whipped eggs and continue mixing for several minutes until all the ingredients are well combined, and a smooth and airy texture forms.
4. In the meantime, sift the all-purpose flour and baking powder into a separate bowl.
5. Gradually fold the flour mixture into the whipped egg-cottage cheese mixture. Mix thoroughly with a spatula until all the flour has been incorporated and a smooth and slightly sticky dough forms.
6. Use it straight away.

FIG JAM HEMISPHERES (total ~263 g) Ingredients:

• Fig pulp — 100 g
• Fresh raspberries — 50 g
• Fresh blackcurrants — 50 g
• Sugar — 50 g
• Lemon juice — 10 g
• Pectin NH — 3 g

Instructions:

1. Add the fig pulp, lemon juice, raspberries and blackcurrants to a saucepan. Bring the mixture to 35 °C / 95 °F over medium heat.
2. Mix together the sugar and pectin in a separate bowl, then gradually add this mixture to the berries while stirring constantly.
3. Bring this mixture to a boil and let it simmer for around 2–3 minutes.
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and transfer the jam into a measuring cup (or any other container convenient for pouring). Cover the jam with cling film touching the surface and allow it to cool down at room temperature.
5. Once the jam has cooled down enough, pour it into the 8 hemisphere molds (d=2 cm) and place it in the freezer until frozen. This should take around 2–3 hours.

SHAPING AND FRYING THE BALLS Ingredients:

• Cottage cheese dough
• Frozen fig jam hemispheres
• High oleic sunflower oil — 1000 g
• All-purpose flour — sufficient quantity

Instructions:

1. Dust your hands with some flour and sprinkle it onto the working surface.
2. Divide the dough into 8 pieces (60 g each), then roll them into smooth balls. You may add some flour, if needed, but make sure not to add too much.
3. Unmold the frozen fig jam hemispheres. Slightly flatten the dough balls, and use your fingers to make an indent in each one. Insert the frozen fig jam into the dough balls and pinch tightly to make a seam. Roll the balls to make them evenly round and toss them in a little flour, if they are sticky. Repeat the same process with all dough pieces.
4. Pour the oil into a saucepan and heat it up to 170 °C / 338 °F.
5. Using a skimmer, transfer the cottage cheese balls to the hot oil. Fry them for about 3 minutes until golden. Flip and swirl the balls, using a skimmer, to obtain an even golden crust. TIP: When frying the dough balls, make sure not to overload the saucepan – you should have enough space to swirl the dough balls.
6. Transfer the fried cottage cheese balls to a cooling rack to let the oil drain off. Then leave them to cool down.
7. These cottage cheese balls are best served straight away. Alternatively, you can store them in a closed container in the fridge for up to 12 hours.