Brânzoaice trandafir cu urdă (Romanian cheese pastries)

Ingredients

For the dough

• 500 g flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 sachet dry yeast (7 g)
• 100 g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 200 ml milk
• grated zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoon oil

For the filling

• 500 g urda
• 2 eggs
• 130 g sugar
• 3 sachets vanilla sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• grated zest of 1/2 lemon

For brushing

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 20 g coarse sugar

Preparation

1. In a bowl, mix the flour with the pinch of salt and the dry yeast. 2. In another bowl, beat 100 g sugar with 3 eggs and 200 ml lukewarm milk, then grate the zest of 1/2 lemon over them. Pour the mixture over the flour and stir first with a spoon, then with your hand, until you get a dough that is no longer sticky. 3. Grease the edges of the bowl with a little oil (1 tablespoon) and leave the dough to rise in a warm place until it doubles in volume, about 60 minutes. 4. Meanwhile, make the filling: mix 500 g urda with 2 eggs, the zest of 1/2 lemon, 130 g sugar, 3 sachets of vanilla sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla essence. My urda came out quite dry, so I worked it with my hand until it all held together. 5. Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto the work surface and divide it into 10 pieces of roughly equal size. Divide the filling into 10 equal portions too, about 50 g each. 6. Take one piece, shape it into a ball and roll it out with a rolling pin until you have a circle about 10 cm in diameter. Place one portion of filling in the middle, about 1 and a half tablespoons, and cut the dough around it so that a six-pointed star remains. 7. Press together first the petals with even numbers, then those with odd numbers, following the numbering in the picture, and wrap the filling inside. 8. Place the pastries in a tin lined with baking paper, brush them with the mix of 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon milk, and sprinkle 20 g coarse sugar on top. 9. Preheat the oven to 180°C, put the tin in and bake for about 60 minutes, until they are nicely golden on top.