Cheese Buttons (Kase Knepfla)

My grandmother did wonderful German cooking.  One of her specialties was Kase Knepfla (Cheese Buttons).  My mother loved them, and so we were invited over when my grandma made them.  When I was a child I did not like cottage cheese, and still today do not like it.  (OK I can eat it in lasagna!)  So when my grandma made cheese buttons I would not even taste them.  Years later I worked in Bismarck within a block of White Drug.  They have a cafeteria and make Kase Knepfla on Fridays.  So one day I tried them and they were amazing. They are still a treat on trips to Bismarck.  To make them you need dry curd cottage cheese.  I was lucky to find some at the Food Co-op in Rochester.  If you can not find dry curd cottage cheese you could rinse and dry creamy cottage cheese, but you have to dry it well.   If the cheese mixture is too wet it has a tendency to leak out of the dough pocket. 

Kase Knepfla are boiled, and then can be fried, eaten with fried onions and cream, or fried bread crumbs.


Cheese Buttons (Kase Knepfla)

1 1/2 cups cottage cheese, dry
1 small onion, diced in small pieces
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups flour
2 eggs
water

Mix cottage cheese, onion, egg, salt and pepper in a bowl.  Set aside.
Mix flour and eggs with enough water to make a stiff dough. Mix to make into a smooth ball. You may have to work it on a flour dusted board for awhile.  On a flour dusted board roll out dough as thin as you can.  If it does not roll easy, cover it, let it set a few minutes and try again.  Cut into squares and fill each square with the cheese mixture.   Fold in half and press edges together.  Put 3 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons of salt in a large kettle and bring to a boil.   Put cheese buttons in the boiling water and boil for 5 minutes.  Drain.

To fry melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large fry pan.   Add the cheese buttons and fry on each side until lightly browned.

For onion/cream gravy:  Saute some diced onion  in 2 tablespoons butter until soft.  Add as much cream as wanted, maybe about 1/2 to 1 cup.  Heat cream with onions and serve over browned cheese buttons.

For bread crumbs:  Melt 3 tablespoons butter in pan.  Crumble a slice or two of bread and brown in butter. Pour over boiled or browned cheese buttons.