Cheese Knishes

I accidentally bought a second box of instant potatoes when I had a full one, so I was trying to think of a way to use some of them. I started thinking about knishes which I tired long ago when I was in New York City, so I decided to make some cheese knishes.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• ~312 grams (2.5 cups) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil 
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar vinegar
• 1/2 cup water (next time I will use sourdough starter instead of water and 120 grams of flour)
   
  
• Egg wash for coating (1 egg slightly whipped with 1 tablespoon of water)
  

Filling:

• 80 gr spinach
• 1 large clove garlic, minced (about a teaspoon, minced)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 16 ounces cottage cheese, drained on paper towels (I had 14.5 ounces after draining)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup diced fresh herbs
  (I used about 1/3 cup diced green onions (green parrot only) and some parsley, basil, and 2 leaves of Spanish thyme)
• 24 gr (1/3 cup) dry instant potato flakes
  

 

Instructions:

1. Drain cottage cheese for at least an hour on multiple paper towels in s colander.
   
2. Mix up the dough:  Whisk together dry ingredients in a stand mixer bowl. 
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, vinegar and water. 
4. Pour the wet mix over the dry ingredients.
5. Stir together the wet and dry ingredients with the dough hook at slow speed.
   
6. After the the ingredients are mixed together,  increase the speed and knead the dough until it is smooth, about a minute. 
7. Cover the bowl, and put dough for an hour (or in the refrigerator for up to 3 days)
    
   
8. Mix up the filling: Saute the spinach and garlic together in a tablespoon of olive oil until the spinach wilts. Let cool, then dice.
   
9. Mix the cottage cheese and dry potato flakes together. 
10. Stir  the spinach into the cottage cheese.
    
11. Stir in the diced herbs. Cover, and let sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so to firm up.
    
    
12. Assembly: Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a half baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper.
13. Divide dough in half. (I had about 585 gr  of dough.)
14. Mist work surface with some cooking spray, pat dough piece out into skinny rectancle.
15. For small knish, roll dough out into a 16" x 10" rectangle - it will be very thin.
16. Arrange one half of the filling in a log about 2 inches from the long edge of the dough.
    
    
    
    
17. Drape the short edge of dough over the filling, then gently roll together. Seal the edges of the roll.
18. Lightly score 8 even pieces on the log. Use your hand to press indents along the score marks squishing the filling somewhat away from the score mark.
19. Slice the centers of indents. Pinch one of the ends of each segment together to form a sealed knish base.
20.  Settle the base on the work surface, round the shape. (You can also pinch the top partway close, leaving a smaller opening.)
    
    
    
    
21.  Arrange the knish on the baking sheet with a bit of space between them.
    
    
    
    
22. Brush the egg wash over the dough.
23. Bake for 22 - 27 minutes until golden brown.
24. Remove from over, let cool the knishes in a wire rack for a few minutes.
    

Carole's Notes:

I liked this! Knished are Jewish comfort food - I added some spices that I like and a bit of spinach.

Here is an interior view of the knishes:

The dough recipe is adapted from https://smittenkitchen.com/2012/03/potato-knish-two-ways/ and the filling is adapted from https://12tomatoes.com/jewish-recipe-cheese-and-scallion-knishes-1/