This is a really yummy dessert. The dough is so fresh, and the cream cheese is just so warm and creamy. Oh, I can taste it already!
The first part of this recipe is preparing the dough. You’ll be making dough from scratch and allowing it to rise. If you prefer you can skip on this step and buy premade dough but if you have never made dough yourself, then you have to do this step. 🙂
You’ll need:
- 3 cups flour
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- Warm water for mixing dough
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 pack of self-raising yeast (to be added: 1/4 cup warm water with 1 tsp sugar)
- 8 oz package of cream cheese (not spreadable or whipped type) left at room temperature when you start
- Syrup: 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, and 1 tsp lemon juice
Dough:
- In a bowl or cup add 1/4 cup warm water, and 1 tsp of sugar. Mix well to dissolve. Then pour 1 package of quick raising yeast. Stir well. The yeast may stick to the spoon or whisk. Just wipe the extra yeast off the spoon back into the mixture.
- Allow this to sit at least 5-10 minutes covered
- In a large bowl add 3 cups of flour (we like organic unbleached flour), 1/2 tsp salt, and 4 tsp sugar. Mix well
- In a small bowl mix together 1 egg, and 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- Once the yeast has risen, add it to the egg and oil mixture. Mix everything well
- Start by adding warm water to flour mixture slowly and mix with spoon or by hand. Add warm water until slightly thickened and sticky. I add warm water as needed and it sometimes gets too sticky. In these cases I then add more flour to the dough as needed until it’s nice and smooth and not sticky.
- The dough can be kneaded right in the bowl or if you prefer on a floured surface
- Then cover and let rest/raise for 1 hour
This video will give you a general idea of dough making/preparation
Make the syrup while the dough rises. In a pot add 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and lemon juice. Lightly boil this mixture until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes or so. Let sit on the side when finished.
Preheat over to 350
Once the dough is ready then you can take round palm fulls of dough and flatten it in your floured hands. Then take about 2 tsp of cream cheese and place right in the center of the dough, and then slowly fold over. See video below
Place each cheese ball on baking sheet. I sometimes run out of cream cheese, so maybe keep some extra on hand just in case. Once completed, break remaining eggs in bowl and beat lightly. Then brush the egg over top of each cheese ball.
Place into oven and bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.
Take out of oven, and lightly brush on syrup onto each cheese ball. Allow to cool and enjoy!
You can store any leftover syrup in fridge until your next batch.
The full video
