The classic Soviet cookie recipe is greatly improved by the addition of bright spices.
Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift 180 g of flour with salt and soda. Crush the cardamom pods, take out the dark seeds and crush them in a mortar into a powder. Add cardamom and vanilla sugar to flour.
Cut cold butter into 1 cm cubes. Sprinkle with cardamom and vanilla flour, mash to make crumbs.
Put the cottage cheese in the flour base and mix with a fork. Gather the dough into a ball. If it seems too soft, add more flour. The dough should not stick to your fingers, but it should not be too dense either.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of 2-3 mm. Using a cookie cutter or a glass with a diameter of 8-9 cm, cut circles from the dough (collect the remaining dough, re-roll and cut circles in the same way).
Sprinkle the mugs with sugar and fold in half. Sprinkle the top and fold in half again. You will get quarters of a circle. Sprinkle the top with sugar too. Transfer the cookies to a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes. Cool completely on a baking sheet and serve.