Have you ever tried those delicious, mouth-watering kiflice sa sirom (cottage cheese crescent rolls) that you just can’t stop eating? Even the smell from the kitchen while baking these yummy little babies will obsess you.
The original recipe comes from the Balkans, we’ve been making kiflice by this recipe for ages and still today it’s winning the hearts and taste buds of everyone who ever tried it.
What makes kiflice sa sirom made by this recipe different is that they are a lot more buttery compared to other recipes. Crunchy when baked, but perfectly melting and calling for more.
What you’ll love about kiflice sa sirom (cottage cheese crescent rolls)?
The most magical smell in the kitchen comes from the mouth-watering crescent rolls baking in the oven. These crescent rolls are easy to make and so delicious that you’ll want to try making them again and again!
We added tiny pieces of ham to the fresh cottage cheese which filling makes them taste just perfect.
If you want, you can fill them with something sweet, like Nutella or plum jam, even if making them without any filling these rolls will still taste like heaven.
Combining them with a glass of beer makes them a perfect dinner while eating them with a cup of milk you’re going to get the best breakfast.
Ingredients you’ll need
🥐 FLOUR – the recipe is made with white flour, but you can easily replace it with wholemeal flour if you want a healthy version of ham and cottage cheese crescent rolls
🥐 BUTTER – the butter will give the rolls the mouth-watering buttery taste, so don’t skip it or reduce it. You will not add it to the dough, but only between the rolls while baking them.
🥐 COTTAGE CHEESE – if you have a chance to buy fresh cottage cheese from the local market the taste of the homemade cheese really does make a difference.
Usually, half of the cheese and half of the kaymak or the clotted cream from the milk is used in the traditional recipe. If you don’t have these homemade goods, don’t worry at all because cottage cheese from the supermarket will still make the rolls cheesy and tasty.
🥐 EGGS – you will use the eggs mixed with the cheese and ham preventing it from falling apart while baking in the hot oven
🥐 HAM – any ham will do the job, you can use homemade smoked ham or pizza ham from the supermarket. Suggestion: use what you got in the fridge.
🥐 OIL – the dough is made with sunflower oil which gives the crescent rolls that crunchy taste when baked.
🥐 MILK – that’s what makes the dough so tasty, lots of milk 🙂
🥐 YEAST – we used dry yeast in the recipe, but if you wish, the dough is made even better and grows bigger if you are using fresh yeast, mixed with warm milk and a little bit of sugar
🥐 SALT
🥐 SUGAR
Equipment you’ll need
How to make kiflice sa sirom (cottage cheese crescent rolls)
PREPARE THE DOUGH
STEP 1: Warm the milk to a little more than room temperature. In a bowl mix together flour and dry yeast. In another bowl mix the warm milk, oil and sugar.
Add the flour to the bowl with milk and add 2 teaspoons of salt. Mix well together with a spoon till getting a form of dough.
Transfer the dough to a clean surface sprinkled with some wheat and knead until the dough gets soft and elastic. The dough must be well kneaded for making good crescent rolls.
Place the dough in a clean bowl, and sprinkled with flour. Cover the dough with a plastic cover and a clean towel or sheet and let it rest in a warm place to rise, It takes about an hour to rise.
STEP 2: Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C
PREPARE THE FILLING
STEP 3: Cut the ham into small pieces.
In a small bowl mix together the cottage cheese, eggs and salt. You can add another seasoning to your taste, like black pepper or parsley.
FORM THE ROLLS (KIFLICE)
STEP 4: When the dough has risen enough, take it out and evenly place it on a clean surface. Divide the dough into 3 same-sized pieces.
Take one of the 3 pieces and divide it into 4 same-sided pieces.
From each of the four pieces make a ball and roll it out into a circle approximately 5 mm thick and 14-inch diameter.
With a pizza cutter divide each circle into eight same-sized pieces.
STEP 5: Place a small piece of ham and 1/3 teaspoon of cottage cheese and egg mixture on the broader part of each piece of the dough.
Now roll each piece of the dough from the wider part to form a crescent roll.
Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper and place the rolls on it. On each sheet place pieces of 1/3 of butter before baking.
BAKING KIFLICE
STEP 6: Bake the rolls at 350 F or 180 C for about 15-20 minutes until they get a golden color.
In the meantime, while one sheet of rolls is baking in the oven, repeat the procedure and prepare another sheet of rolls for baking from the second third of the dough.
From each third of the dough, you should get one sheet of ham and cottage cheese crescent rolls.
Kiflice tips
🥐 If you want your kiflice rolls to be more prominent in size, or rolled around more times, make bigger circles of the dough which you can divide into longer pieces. Make sure you don’t make them too big, as that would considerably change the baking time.
🥐 When making the crescent rolls dough make sure that the kitchen is warm and that there is no draught; otherwise the dough won’t rise as it should.
🥐 Some ovens with a ventilator can be too hot, for best results turn the ventilator off while baking the rolls.
🥐 Try to be relatively quick to prepare another sheet of rolls while one is in the oven as the dough will rise again quickly and they bake for only about 15-20 minutes.
🥐 Kiflice taste absolutely the best while they are still hot.
Storing and reheating
These tasty kiflice rolls can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days or maybe even a day more in the fridge. But. They are so delicious and so tasty when freshly baked, that it will be almost impossible to store them for more than a day.
Kiflice can be frozen for up to a month in a plastic bag or an airtight container. Thawing them at room temperature and reheating them in the oven or microwave before serving will return the heavenly smell to your kitchen and unforgettable taste to your table.
Kiflice FAQs
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Yes, you can freeze the crescent rolls dough raw. We suggest you make the kiflice rolls, put them on a baking sheet and freeze them. When frozen, store them in the freezer in an airtight plastic bag or container.
Whenever you wish to use them, prepare a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, thaw them at room temperature and let them rise before baking.
Crescent rolls are made with yeast, similar to bread dough, while croissants are made from several layers of preferable fridge-cooled buttery dough which doesn’t need to rise before baking,
Yes, just make sure you choose the filling that won’t completely melt when baking. You can use any of the vegetarian substitutions instead of cheese, kiflice crescent rolls are great made with jam, marmalade, or Nutella.
Other recipes you might like
Simple fruit tarts with puff pastry
Kiflice sa sirom (cottage cheese crescent rolls)
EQUIPMENT
- wooden rolling pin (or use an empty bottle instead)
- pizza cutter wheel (if you don't have one use a knife)
- 2 baking sheets
- 1 sheet of parchment paper
INGREDIENTS
- 8 cups of flour
- 2 cups cottage cheese
- 1/3 cup oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups pizza ham
- 2 tbsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2.5 tsp instant/active dried yeast
INSTRUCTIONS
- Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, yeast and sugar).
- Warm the milk and mix it in another bowl with oil and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until getting a form of dough.
- Sprinkle some flour on a clean working surface and transfer the dough. Knead the dough until the dough become soft and elastic.
- Place the dough in a bowl sprinkled with some flour, cover it with a plastic wrap and a clean cloth or towel and let it rest in a warm place until it rise to the edge of the bowl.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C
- While the dough is resting, cut the pizza ham into small pieces and mix the eggs with cheese, adding some salt and seasoning to taste.
- Separate with a knife the dough into 3 same-sized pieces.
- Cut each of the piece into 4 separate same-sized pieces.
- From each of the four pieces make a ball and roll it out into a circle approximately 5 mm thick and 14-inch diameter.
- Divide each dough circle into 8 same-sized triangles.
- Fill the triangles with a piece of ham and 1/3 tbsp of cheese mixture.
- Roll the wider part of the each triangle to form a crescent rolls.
- When filling up the whole baking sheet, bake the rolls at 350 F or 180 C for 15-20 minutes till you notice a nice, golden color.
- While one sheet is baking, prepare another sheet of ham and cottage cheese rolls.
- Enjoy! Kiflice sa sirom taste best when served hot.
Trying this recipe now and I’m pretty sure I did something wrong lol My daughter and I make this and either I was a little heavy handed with the butter, we didn’t roll out the dough completely, or something. Either way, I’ll try it again because the recipe was really easy!
Chelsea,
maybe the dough was not cool enough when you rolled it out?
If you have any questions please let me know, I’ll be happy to assist!