Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Geshmearta Matzo

I remember my father making Geshmearta matzo ever year for Passover.  This recipe was created (so I'm told) by my great-aunt.  While I was never a huge fan of cottage cheese, I always looked forward to eating this treat every year.  When I moved out on my own I started making it myself and continue to whip up a batch every Passover.  Even my husband who doesn't like sour cream thinks this is tasty!  I eat it for breakfast or as a snack.

***Update from 2015: due to the decreasing size of the matzo, the number of matzo you end up with increases every year.  The original recipe said it made 11 pieces, when I posted this in 2012 I made 16 pieces, this year I got 21 pieces!  I use Manichewitz matzo, for reference.  I may start making smaller amounts in future years, or giving away a lot of geshmearta!





Geshmearta Matzo (an old family recipe)

Ingredients
¼ lb butter (1 stick), melted & cooled
3lb cottage cheese (I use 2lbs small curd, 1lb large)
4 eggs
½ pt sour cream
¾ c sugar
matzo meal
approx 21 pieces of matzo
Cinnamon to sprinkle

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, eggs, sour cream and sugar.  Let sit until it comes almost to room temperature.
- Mix in the melted butter.
Add enough matzah meal to make it a good “shearing consistency” (I used about ¾ cup at first, then sprinkled a little more in a few batches in). 
- Schmear 1/3 cup of the mixture onto whole pieces of matzo, leaving some room at the edges; sprinkle cinnamon on top
-Bake for 25-30 min (until the edges of the topping begin to brown).

2 comments:

  1. Hey there, Joanna! I finally figured out that this Kosher Kitchen thing is YOUR food blog. (I guess it just took some time for me to catch on!) Well, just wanted to fill you in on some of the slight changes I would make to this entry. First of all, the gshmearta matzah originated in Kiev from Uncle Ef's mom, my Grandma Ida. And, as I accidentally found out when living in Chicago about 30 years ago, it is actually not a family recipe from her, but rather a local one to that community in Russia. The other thing that I wanted to share was that you should really top each matzah with enough of the cheese mixture so that there is a generous layer when it gets baked. That way, it will taste more like a cheese danish than a Passover matzah. Okay, that's it. Hope you get to actually read this post. And hope we get to see you all again really soon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nancy, thanks for clearing up where this recipe originated. I'll go in and edit the post in a bit. My dad had said that it was from your mom, so I just went with it. I love the real story of where it comes from!

      Delete