Paskha (Russian Easter No Bake Cottage Cheese Cake) Recipe
Paskha and kulich cakes are traditionally cooked and eaten at Russian Orthodox Easter to break the fast. This is a Paskha recipe that is used in my family for more than 100 years. See this recipe and this recipe for the alternative methods and some useful tips.

- Paskha mould (or pudding bowl, if unavailable);
- Thin cotton cloth (or gauze folded several times) to line the mould;
- A colander;
- A saucepan;
- A meat grinder or a food processor;
- Mortar and pestle, if you are using cardamom pods;
- Small grater, if you are using the whole nutmeg.
- 1.5kg cottage cheese;
- 300ml sugar;
- 500g butter;
- 6 eggs.
- 200ml walnuts and/or almonds;
- 400ml raisins/dry apricots (whatever you like);
- 1tbsp cognac;
- Nutmeg, whole or ground, to taste;
- Cardamom, in pods (7 or 8 pods) or ground, to taste;
- Vanilla extract, to taste.
- Drain cottage cheese: wrap it in a cloth, put it in the colander and put something heavy (1kg+) on top of it, put it all in the refrigerator and leave for a few hours to drain;
- Place raisins and dry apricots into a bowl, wash them if needed, then add some water, and allow them to soften. Pat dry when sufficiently moist;
- If you are using the whole nutmeg, grind it (better quality than ready-made grind nutmeg);
- If you are using cardamom pods, peel the seeds and crush them using a mortar and pestle (better quality than ready-grind cardamom);
- Peel almonds and walnuts and cut them;
- Cut the apricots into raisin-sized pieces;
- Make cottage cheese homogeneous; use a meat grinder or a food processor;
- Melt the butter in the saucepan;
- Beat the eggs and the sugar;
- Incorporate the eggs and sugar mix into the melted butter;
- Gradually incorporate cottage cheese;
- Incorporate the taste ingredients and gently mix (raisins and apricot pieces should not get misshapen);
- Put the saucepan onto a hob on low heat, and stir regularly;
- Line your paskha mould with the cloth or prepare your pudding bowl.;
- Once the content of the saucepan starts to boil (you have seen about 10 bubbles), take it off the hob and let it cool a little so that the butter is no longer very liquid;
- Put the cottage cheese mixture into the paskha mould/pudding bowl, and put something underneath because some melted butter could leak;
- Put it in the fridge and keep it there until you are ready to serve it.
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