Kirche Knopf and Kase Knopf

More Russian/German Recipes with Oma (my mother-in-law Emma)....

First a definition:

both of these recipes are basically dumplings with filling. 

Kirche Knopf ("keersha nipf") literally means Cherry Buttons--I never knew that before.  So they are filled with tart cherries and a little bit of sugar.

Kase Knopf ("case nipf") literally means Cheese Buttons

filled with cheese and other yumminess

One thing I know

Many recipes start with the same 4 ingredients

Flour

Water

Egg

Salt

This time I actually got more measurements

Start with:

4 c. flour

2 eggs

 "a little bit salt"  

ok, I said I caught "most" of the measurements, but how do you measure when she just dumps it in her hand???

This is all I got for ya' ...

Next:

1 cup water to start with but she really ended up adding another 3/4 cup or so as she mixed with those amazing wonderful hands of love...

 Kneed until the dough is smooth and not sticky

 Cut dough in 1/2; then each piece in fourths...

 Roll out each piece--thin--

 Cut into pieces---now this is the place where you don't need to stress out too much.  These are not "perfect" dumplings.  They are made with what you have and perfection is not the goal.  Flavor is the goal!

 We started with frozen tart Wisconsin cherries (thanks Randy and Barb for bringing them this spring).  We should have taken them out and let them thaw overnight and drained them well.  Our first attempts were a little watery, but again, this isn't about perfection--the taste was still awesome!  So at this point I would say "drain well"



place just a few cherries on each piece of dough and sprinkle with just a little sugar.

 

 Fold over, and seal.

When you have used 1/2 the dough, move on to Kase Knopf--or pick your favorite and make more of those.  I love both!
Start with Bakers Cheese if you can get it.  If not use Ricotta.  
apx. 12 oz is really enough for 1/2 this batch since the other 1/2 is cherries.

12 oz Ricotta
1 egg
pinch of salt
2 Tbs or so of flour
Apx. 1 Tbs sugar
Mix well

 It will look like this when ready to be put in the Knopf

 Notice the red leaky cherry juice coming from some of them.. we should have drained those cherries better to start with--but in the end--they stayed together just fine and it all worked out.  This is where I learn to relax and not worry so much about the way the food "looks" If you are that picky--then spend the time on that, but honestly it really doesn't matter.

 Boil a pot of water and add salt to it...
Add all the same in one pot--We did Cherry first--
And I suppose you want to know how long you actually boil it right??? What if I tell you
 "till it's done?"--
I'm guessing it was at least 10 minutes or more.  They do begin to float but we did cook them a little longer than that.

almost done

 Now.
what is this?
1 stick of butter
2-3 handfuls of bread crumbs.
Let it get all warm and browned.
Cuz
this goes over the top of the Knopf...

 Pour/spread that yummy buttery bread crumb stuff over the top of both of them and ta da....
you are done!

Prep time???
too long for us today...seriously we started at 4 and ate at 7:45.  Poor Emma had the rooky helping her and we did struggle with those cherries for a while.  And we got interrupted a few times.  But, it can be time consuming.  Serve with a blob of sour cream to "dip" them in.

Was it worth it???
Ask Peter.
Yep, Mr. "Diet" broke the diet today for one of his all time childhood favorites!!!  Doesn't he look happy?????  =) love this picture of my Man!

Normally nothing else is served with it.  But, I needed to have a protein available to keep Lucas happy so once again I made Egg Drop Soup. (I'll post that recipe another day--)
This is my plate...no wonder I felt like a bloated--yet happy-pig when I was done eating tonight!

The thing I really loved about today was the time I spent with Emma in the kitchen.  

and

Lucas walked in as we were forming the Knopf and he said "looks like dumplings"..."good" 

I'm going to share the snipets in a separate post.