Yumm Yumm! I sure do love the Hungarian Kifli folks! If you have been reading my other lenses, you willl know that I am of Hungarian and other Eastern European descent.
So, you can well imagine that I am a fan of Hungarian Kifli along with other of my grandmother's Hungarian and Slovak recipes, for these comfort foods: stuffed cabbage, hungarian goulash, hungarian spaetzle, polish pierogi, langos, nut roll, poppy seed roll, butter horns, kifli, strudel, apple pie, crepes suzette and oh so many other traditional Hungarian goodies!
Thank goodness for our grandmothers who shared their comfort food recipes which became a family tradition!
I hope you enjoy this yummy Hungarian pastry lens putting the traditional Hungarian Kifli in the spotlight! and, I hope you get to try some Hungarian Kifli soon. I just love the taste of Kifli! Check out the best-ever recipe for Kifli ... Hungarian Kifli! A variation on the traditional Hungarian Butter Horns, Kifli is a crescent-shaped pastry.
Photo Credit: Traditional Hungarian Kifli with powdered sugar by star5112 on Flickr.
Heard of the Hungarian Kifli ?
Quick, all you ethnic pastry fans. Are you familiar with Hungarian Kifli?
- Yes, absolutely--kiss me, I'm Hungarian
- Yes, though I'm not Hungarian
- Nope--just finding out about it
My Confession : I Love Hungarian Kifli
Thank goodness I had a grandma who could cook! "Preserving the delicious foods of my Hungarian and Eastern European heritage is something that gives me great satisfaction, on a daily basis!"
You know, if I didn't have grandma Julia Nagy, I wouldn't be here today! You would have missed out on all the best-ever, authentic and traditional Hungarian recipes for all kinds of comfort foods that grandma shared. Yes! pastries are some of my favorite comfort foods. May I make a tasty suggestion?
After you finish sampling the Hungarian Kifli, do make it a point to try some other delicious Hungarian pastry recipes like Butter Horns, Hungarian Pastry - 5 Fabulous Recipes, Langos - Traditional Hungarian Food, Nut Roll - Traditional Hungarian Pastry, and of course the ever popular Poppy Seed Roll - Traditional Hungarian Pastry. --The Brand Ambassador for Hungarian Kifli, JaguarJulie!
P.S. I was the Official Squidoo Comfort Foods Contributor! Did you know that? Well, you probably guessed it.
Grandma's Cooking the Best!
My grandmother's butter horns were so good that they melted in your mouth. She didn't need icing, but simply sprinkled confectioner's sugar on the horns after they cooled.
Hungarian Kifli Recipe
6 cups flour
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
3 sticks butter [I prefer Land O'Lakes sweet butter]
2 sticks margarine
5 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
Egg wash
Confectioners' powdered sugar
Fillings
Apricot butter is my fruit preference.
Nuts: 8 ounce finely ground walnuts are mixed with 2/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup milk.
Instructions
Sift the sugar and the flour. You will then cut in the butter and margarine. Make a well in the flour mixture. In the well, add the egg mixture to form a dough. You will then work with the dough mixture to shape it into a log shape.
Divide dough into 6-8 pieces. Cover the dough pieces with saran wrap and refrigerate for about 4 hours.
Work with the refrigerated dough by rolling out the pieces to about 1/8 inch thick. It is recommended that you use a round cookie cutter about 3 inches in diameter.
Place 1 teaspoon of your fruit or nut filling In the center of each round dough piece. Fold the filled dough in half. Use a butter knife to seal the open end of the filled dough.
Place on a non-stick baking pan. Form a crescent with each piece by twisting each end. Use a pastry brush to brush the egg wash across the crescent tops.
Bake for approximately 10 minutes in a 400 degree preheated oven. We always use confectioners' sugar through a sieve to sprinkle on top of the finished kifli.
Get a Hungarian Cookbook
In the The Lost Art of Baking with Yeast & Pastries: Delicious Hungarian Cakes, Baba Schwartz introduces the principles of yeast baking and gives handy hints for kneading and proving dough to perfection.
Get traditional recipes for cakes, slices, pastries, buns ... and Baba's famous golden dumpling cake.
These recipes, with their distinctive Hungarian flavor, will delight your family and friends.
Another recipe for Hungarian Kifli
From Dee Coulter, St. Maries, Idaho
Dough
4 cups flour
2 cups butter or margarine
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup powered sugar
1 cup sour cream
Filling
1-1/4 pounds almonds, ground fine
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon almond extract
Instructions
Make dough, blending with pastry cutter or fork. Mix flour and margarine, then add the egg yolks, mixing well. Add sour cream and powdered sugar; knead dough until smooth, adding more flour if it sticks to surfaces. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour.
Roll out 1/4 of the dough at a time. Keeping the rest of it refrigerated until ready to use. Roll to 16-inches by 12-inches and about 1/8-inch thickness. With pastry wheel, cut in 2-inch squares.
Place a rounded teaspoon of filling in center of each square. Bring opposite corners together to overlap in the center and pinch closed. Brush with beaten egg, after being placed on a cookie sheet.
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. Roll in powdered sugar. Let cool and enjoy.
Another recipe for Hungarian Kifli
Ah, Christmas Pastries Hungarian Style
Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup cream style cottage cheese
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 egg whites
2 cups chopped nuts
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
Instructions:
In large bowl, beat together butter or margarine and cottage cheese til light and fluffy. Add flour until dough forms a ball. Divide dough into 3 equal portions. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and grease cookie sheets.
To Make Filling: Combine egg whites, nuts, water, and ground cinnamon. Mix well and set aside.
On a floured surface roll 1 portion of dough into a 10 inch circle. Spread circle with 1/3 of the filling to within approximately 1/2 inch of the edge. Cut circle into 24 pie shaped wedges. Beginning at outer edge roll up each wedge tightly. Place point side down on cookie sheet 1-1/2 inches apart.
Bake 13-15 minutes or until golden (be sure to watch carefully as these cookies burn easily). Remove to rack to cool. Repeat process with each remaining portion of dough and filling. --christmas-cookies.com
Kifli Legendary Origin
Legend has it that kifli is the progenitor of the croissant. "Kifli is a traditional Hungarian yeast bread or pastry rolled into a crescent shape." You know? Just like a croissant!
Are you familiar with Hungarian Kifli? Love it? Got a favorite recipe for it? What's your favorite pastry?
History: Kifli : Traditional Hungarian Pastry was originally created on Squidoo by JaguarJulie on February 2, 2008. Highest lensrank ever achieved: #325 overall. Lens #280 in the quest for Giant Squid 300 Club.
2 comments:
My mother usually made kiflis around this time of year. She would take them to our family's holiday party, not all of time, of course. I remember having some for breakfast on Christmas mornings. Mmmmmmm. Although I don't have her recipe, unfortunately, I remember that she used both raisins and walnuts for the filling. She also added some lemon peel or zest. She ground up the nuts and raisins together for the filling. She also made the kiflis oversized; they were almost the size of mini-croissants. Perhaps she thought they tasted better that way. I think they did.
I have never tried to make them myself. I'd like to buy some for upcoming events but it seems to be difficult to find them anymore. I live near Cleveland, which used to be a Hungarian stronghold. I grew up in an section of the city where there were several Hungarian bakeries. By the way, I am Hungarian, on both sides. I don't know that I could be more genetically Hungarian if I lived in Hungary. When she was younger, my mother would help my grandmother make authentic Hungarian strudel, meaning that they prepared it from scratch. I used to watch them do it, but did not participate myself. I enjoyed the fruits of their labors, however. My grandmother made a few varieties of strudel, with apple, poppy seed, cheese or cherry filling. That was excellent, too. If you come across any kifli recipes that are more like the one my mother used, I would appreciate it if you post it on your website.
Patricia, thanks for dropping by to leave your comment. I think you can easily use one of the recipes here and augment the ingredients. I know my grandma often put the light colored raisins in her nut and poppy seed rolls. She was always experimenting. I actually think I have a handwritten recipe for kifli that my sister had in grandma's writing. I'll have to look for it and include it here.
By the way, you say you are very Hungarian -- me too! Did you happen to do your Ancestry DNA? Mine came back as 76% Eastern European. I was hoping that Ancestry would break that number down into Hungarian, Czechoslovakian, Slovak, Polish ... but they don't. Kind of like a melting pot ... very much like Cleveland, Ohio!
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