Chef Michal Levi Elharar Shares Recipe for Soft Cheese and Red Berry Pastry

Michal Levi Elharar presents a recipe for a rich and airy cheese pastry filled with red berries, combining a soft, buttery dough with a creamy cheese filling and sweet, juicy berries. The recipe allows for variations such as substituting the berries with chocolate or serving the pastry without fruit for an open cheese tart.

The dough is made from bread flour, sugar, salt, yeast, egg, butter, and milk or water, kneaded for about 12 minutes until smooth and left to rise for an hour. The filling consists of white cheese, sour cream, egg, instant vanilla pudding powder, cornstarch, and powdered sugar, mixed until smooth and frozen in muffin molds for three hours.

The dough is divided into 16 portions, flattened, and topped with the frozen filling, then baked at 165 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes until golden. A sugar syrup is prepared by melting sugar in water, and a fruit sauce is made by cooking frozen red berries with sugar, water, and cornstarch until slightly thickened. The pastries are brushed with syrup after baking and served with the berry sauce.

This recipe, shared by Michal Levi Elharar, a culinary expert and ambassador for DAVO Israel, promises a decadent and satisfying treat that balances richness and freshness.