These poppy seed bundles are made from a light and soft dough containing a considerable amount of cottage cheese and lard. The filling is a special mixture of ground poppy seeds, mashed potatoes and sugar syrup. The filling must be cool (preferably ice-cold) in order to prevent the dough from melting.

(Source of the recipe: Szoky’s kitchen)

Ingredients:

The recipe yields 16 poppy seed bundles.

For the dough:

• 200 g (~7 oz) cottage cheese
• 200 g (~7 oz) flour
• 15 g (~4 tsp) baking powder
• 10 g (~2 1/2 tsp) vanilla sugar
• pinch of salt
• 150 g (~5 1/4 oz) lard

For the filling:

• 120 g (~4 1/4 oz) boiled potatoes, passed through a ricer
• 250 ml (~1 cup) water
• 150 g (~5 1/4 oz) sugar
• 150 g (~5 1/4 oz) ground poppy seeds
• 50 g (~1 3/4 oz) raisins
• zest of a half orange
• 20 ml (~1 1/3tbsp) rum

For the topping:

• 1 egg
• powdered vanilla sugar

First, prepare the filling. Place sugar and water in a saucepan, bring it to a boil and cook to make a syrup. After 3 minutes add raisins and keep on cooking for further 3-4 minutes. Once the syrup is done, stir in ground poppy seeds, mashed potatoes, orange zest and rum, and cook for 1-2 minutes until the mixture thickens a bit. Set aside and let it cool, then put it in the fridge until use. (Side note: the sugar syrup is done if you hold your hand over the saucepan and the steam makes your palm sticky.)

For the dough pass the cottage cheese through a fine sieve. In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, vanilla sugar and salt, then rub in lard. Finally, add cottage cheese and knead into a smooth dough. Wrap in cling film and allow it to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or until the filling becomes ice-cold.

Preheat the oven to 190°C / 374°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

On a floured surface roll out the dough into a thin (2-3 mm / 1/8 inch) rectangle, and cut into 16 (4×4) pieces. Put some cold filling in the middle of each piece of dough, fold in half, and seal the longer side of the bundles with a fork.

Place the bundles on the baking sheet, prick them with a fork, then brush them with beaten egg. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Feel free to dust the poppy seed bundles with powdered vanilla sugar.