плачында, Plachindas, Platzhindas,Plachinta, Blachinda, Blachinta, However you say it!

плачында, It’s a Pumpkin turnover! I found them being called Plachindas, Platzhindas,Plachinta, Blachinda, Blachinta, and they hail from Russian, Germany, and Moldovia. My memories hail from my mom’s hands. She made it as long as I can remember with a pumpkin filling. Always after the fall decor went down and all the pumpkins needed to be used up. USE FRESH pumpkin! There’s something about the fresh graded pumpkin with a hint of fresh ginger, ground cardamon, honey and brown sugar, that melts together and is just a beautiful flavor.

I love these fresh from the oven and just buttered on top. You can freeze these and take them out to bake any time you want.

I’m including a pumpkin and a cheese filling recipe because that is what my mom has in her recipe book. I tell ya, the cheese ones turned out amazing! For something savory.

Another thing before I get to it; my mom had always baked these in the oven. So, I did as well. I did search to see what others are doing and the Maldovian recipes call to fry these. I’ll stick to baking them. AND, with leftovers, just put them in a toaster oven the next day, or pan fry them without oil or anything.

Dough

50 grams (1/2 stick) of butter, cold, small cubes

1/2 Tbs sugar

1 egg

2 egg yokes

1/2 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2.5 cups all-purpose flour (not bleached), more if needed.

Wisk the eggs with sugar and set aside. Sift flour and baking soda. To the flour add the egg mixture, sour cream, buttermilk, and cubed butter. working quickly not to melt the butter completely, mix all the ingredients with your hands, making a soft dough. You can ass more flour if you need. the consistency if a soft sugar cookie kind of dough. Put the dough in a bowl, cover it and let it rest in the fridge for about an hour. In the meantime, prep the filling.

Pumpkin Filling;

Pumpkins! Use a pie pumpkin or 2. I had 2 small white pie pumpkins. I wish I had more to have more filling.

1 larger pie pumpkin. not a Jack-Olander pumpkin. cut it, peel it, grate it. I cut the bottom and top off my pumpkins, then cut the skin off while it was standing, then cut it in pieces and cut off the seeds and insides out. I will take pictures of this and post when I have more pumpkins and make Plachindi. You want about 6-7 cups of pumpkin for all 8 plachindi.

1-2 Tbs honey

1 Tbs brown sugar

1/2 lemon juice or a drop or two of lemon or orange essential oil.

splash of vanilla extract

Mix it all together, and set aside, ready to fill the dough.

Cheese Filling (savory):

1 cup Farmer’s cheese, I used a crumbled Raw cheese from a local market. Or a packet, It’s about 10 ounces.

1 cup (about 6 ounces) Feta cheese

1 1/2 -2 cup graded Mazzarella cheese

1 egg

juice from 1/2 a lemon

3-4 green onions, chopped

a bunch of dill (finely chopped) I love dill, I use half the bunch that you get at the store.

salt and pepper, and you can add a little garlic powder

Mix it all together and ready to fill

Ok, once the dough rested, divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll out the dough ball pretty thin, on a floured surface. Then, put some pumpkin or cheese filling in the middle. about a 3/4cup of filling of the pumpkin, you want a lot of filling. Of using cheese, about 1/2 cup or more. Fold it up as picture shows. Put on a parchment paper and bake on 375 degrees F preheated oven, until golden brown. As soon as you take the Plachindi out, take a nob of butter and butter the top of the Plachindi. I have that pictured as well.

Allow to cool a bit, cut into fourths and enjoy.

Like I said, these are best fresh. Enjoy.