Quick Cheese Buttons

And other North Dakota favorite foods

Last week on The Davises Eat: North Dakota, we showcased a Smith & Kearns cocktail, open-faced beef dip sandwiches with easy homemade gravy from the roast drippings, and cheese buttons.

Cheese Buttons

There is nothing “button” about cheese buttons! These cottage cheese-filled dumplings are relatively large, more like Italian ravioli. Germanic in origin, they go by other names: kase knepfla, knepf, knoephla, or pyrohy (Ukrainian). They are a transplant to North Dakota by German-Russian settlers who immigrated from the Black Sea in modern-day Ukraine.  

Read more about Germans from Russia in What’s a Runza?

What's a Runza?

Many German-Russians were enticed to America as a result of the Homestead Act of 1862 which provided 160 acres of land to citizens - or anyone who intended to become a citizen - and who never raised arms against the government. While the land was free, the claimant had to work the land to improve it. If, after 5 years, the claimant had done so, the land was theirs - free and clear¹. 

It wasn’t as easy as it sounds, however, and many claimants didn’t make it 5 years. However, the promise was enough to attract German-Russian immigrants dealing with crop failures in their home country. They settled in the central part of the state and are still one of the largest ethnic groups in North Dakota². 

As with any migration of people, food and recipes also migrate and are remade based on available ingredients. While we use strained cottage cheese today because it is convenient to obtain, farmers of old would have used homemade farm cheese. 

Farm cheese is similar in flavor to cottage cheese, but is firmer because it has a higher fat content. It also has a lower moisture content, which is ideal for filling cheese buttons. Other store-bought cheeses that are good substitutes are ricotta and  Indian paneer.  

Our recipe for cheese buttons uses strained cottage cheese and premade wonton wrappers to make this a quick dessert for a weeknight. Straining the cottage cheese removes moisture that can wreak havoc on the dough when boiling it.