Cottage Cheese Cookies

Christmas week. Ryan had Christmas Eve off as negotiated. My parents came, Matt drove up from Springfield and was staying through the twenty-seventh, Kristin on video call from New York where she had obligations she was vague about. Kristin is always vague about her obligations in a way that implies a life I don't quite have full access to, which I've always accepted as the price of loving someone who moved far away and made themselves new. She looked happy on the screen, which matters more than the vagueness.

Christmas Eve is the Polish one in our family — Wigilia, the twelve-dish tradition, or our approximation of it which is more like seven dishes and a lot of interpretation. Mom made barszcz again. I made Wally's mushroom soup — the real one this time, porcini base, dried mushroom soaking liquid, a splash of cream, fresh dill, served in the small white bowls. Wally had a bowl and said nothing for a moment and then said, in English, "yes." That was it. That was the whole review. I will take it forever.

Christmas morning: the twins at five forty-five, absolute animal energy, dragging the stockings. Owen got foam footballs, which he immediately tried to throw at the tree. Nora got play kitchen pots, which she immediately tried to organize. Ryan and I watched from the couch with coffee, unreasonably happy. Mom called at seven-fifteen, even on Christmas. "Just checking in, Merry Christmas, did the kids sleep?" They did not sleep. It's fine.

I made Babcia Rose's apple cake Christmas afternoon — the one with olive oil and cardamom, the one that says "for when there are guests" in her handwriting even though by now I make it for every occasion and for no occasion. The twins helped me core the apples, their faces extremely serious. Ryan washed up the bowls. The apartment smelled like cardamom and winter and the particular warmth of everyone you love being in the same rooms. It was a good Christmas. I want to remember it the way it was — the foam football hitting the tree, the five forty-five wake-up, Wally saying "yes."

Babcia Rose’s apple cake will always be the one I reach for when the apartment needs to smell like something good — but these Cottage Cheese Cookies are what I make when I want something smaller, easier to pass around, and just as rooted in that same old-world sensibility that runs through everything she left us. Twaróg, the Polish fresh cheese, is cottage cheese by another name, and these cookies have that same gentle tang and soft crumb that feels right after a Wigilia meal, after the barszcz, after Wally’s one-word review of the mushroom soup. They’re holiday cookies that don’t announce themselves — they just sit on the plate and let everyone keep talking.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 14 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 30 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup full-fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for rolling
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (for rolling)

Instructions

Preheat oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat softened butter and 3/4 cup sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then mix in the vanilla extract.
Add cottage cheese. Stir in the cottage cheese until evenly combined. The batter will look slightly curdled — that’s normal and expected.
Mix in dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not overmix. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky.
Chill the dough. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 15 minutes to make the dough easier to handle.
Roll and coat. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon. Scoop dough by rounded tablespoons, roll briefly into a ball, and roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar to coat.
Bake. Place coated dough balls on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12–14 minutes, until the edges are just set and the bottoms are lightly golden. The tops will remain pale and soft.
Cool. Let cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. They firm up slightly as they cool.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cottage Cheese Cookies — The Ones Babcia Would Have Approved Of