A variation on the traditional Hungarian Butter Horns, Kifli is a crescent-shaped pastry.
Kifli is a traditional Hungarian pastry made by cutting sheets of soft flour dough into triangular wedges, and wrapping those wedges to create a crescent-shaped morsel, which is then baked. I think of them as a variation on the Hungarian Butter Horns.
If you've been reading my other lenses, you'll know that I'm of Hungarian and other Eastern European descent. So, you can well imagine that I'm a fan of Hungarian Kifli. I hope you enjoy this lens ... It's sealed with a kiss ... a Hungarian kiss.
Quick, all you ethnic pastry fans ...
Kifli at a glance
Kifli () is a traditional Hungarian pastry made by cutting sheets of soft flour dough into triangular wedges, and wrapping those wedges to create a crescent-shaped morsel, which is then baked (permitting the dough to puff). Its name was adopted by a widely popular early nineties pop group.
The sweeter variant of kifli is a cookie, where the dough often contains vanilla (in which case it can be called a vaníliás kifli), and the wedges are wrapped around a filling of sweetened nuts, usually walnuts "diós kifli", poppy seed "mákos kifli" or pecans, or jam "lekvár" (often plum or apricot), and/or raisins. After baking, they are also lightly sprinkled with confectioner's sugar or cinnamon. Alternatively, they can be dipped into hot chocolate. Hungarian plural: kiflik
Legend has it that kifli is the progenitor of the croissant (q.v.).
The name comes from a Turkish word and can be found all over Eastern Europe - with different meanings, albeit. In Romania for instance, the word "chifl?" simply means "(bread) roll".
Hungarian Kifli
Similar Pastry
A similar Eastern European pastry is the Austrian Vanillekipferl which are small, crescent shaped biscuits.
Vanillekipferl at a glance
Vanillekipferl are small, crescent shaped biscuits. They are usually made with ground almonds or hazelnuts. They are flavored with vanilla or artificial flavoring and have a heavy dusting of powdered and superfine sugar. Vanillekipferl originate from Vienna in Austria. Traditionally, they are made at Christmas, but they can be enjoyed all year round and are often for sale in Viennese coffee shops. They are said to have been created in the shape of the Turkish crescent to celebrate the victory of the Austrian army over the Turkish in one of the many wars between the nations.
They are also widely baked in Germany as a part of the typical Christmas baking. Since in Germany the Advent is celebrated by several denominations of Christianity on the four Sundays preceding Christmas, many kinds of biscuits and sweets are consumed during this time and have become typical for winter time.
Vanillekipferl are small, crescent shaped biscuits. They are usually made with ground almonds or hazelnuts. They are flavored with vanilla or artificial flavoring and have a heavy dusting of powdered and superfine sugar. Vanillekipferl originate from Vienna in Austria. Traditionally, they are made at Christmas, but they can be enjoyed all year round and are often for sale in Viennese coffee shops. They are said to have been created in the shape of the Turkish crescent to celebrate the victory of the Austrian army over the Turkish in one of the many wars between the nations.
They are also widely baked in Germany as a part of the typical Christmas baking. Since in Germany the Advent is celebrated by several denominations of Christianity on the four Sundays preceding Christmas, many kinds of biscuits and sweets are consumed during this time and have become typical for winter time.
Legendary Origin?
Legend has it that kifli is the progenitor of the croissant.
Croissant at a glance
:For other things named Crescent, see Crescent (disambiguation).
Category: Image - :Croissant.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Croissant
Category: Image - :Ham and cheese croissant 1119159785.jpg|thumb|200px|Ham and cheese croissant
A croissant ( , anglicised variously as , , etc.) is a buttery flaky pastry, named for its distinctive crescent shape. It is also sometimes called a crescentOxford English Dictionary, s.v. crescent. or, since at least the early twentieth century, a crescent roll:
"On a small table at her side a tray had been left, with the remains of dejeuner; a jug stained brown with streaks of coffee; a crumbled crescent roll..."Charles Norris Williamson, Rosemary: A Christmas Story, A. L. Burt, 1906; page 43
Crescent-shaped breads have been made since the Middle Ages, and crescent-shaped cakes (imitating the often-worshiped Moon) possibly since classical times:
Hebrew women, in the time of Jeremiah, made in honor of the pagan goddess Astarte (queen of heaven, queen of the moon) cakes, probably in the form of a crescent.
"Qu'est-ce que la Bible? d'après la nouvelle philosophie allemande", translated by August Hermann Ewerbeck, 1850, p. 327
Croissants are made of a leavened variant of puff pastry by layering yeast dough with butter and rolling and folding a few times in succession, then rolling. Making croissants by hand requires skill and patience; a batch of croissants can take several days to complete. However, the development of factory-made, frozen, pre-formed but unbaked dough has made them into a fast food which can be freshly baked by unskilled labor. Indeed, the croissanterie was explicitly a French response to American-style fast food. This innovation, along with the croissant's versatility and distinctive shape, has made it the best-known type of French pastry in much of the world. In many parts of the United States, for example, the croissant (introduced at the fast food chains Arby's in the United States and Tim Hortons in Canada in 1983) has come to rival the long-time favorite doughnuts.
Hungarian Kifli: Nuts and Chocolate Topping
A recipe for Hungarian Kifli
1/2 cup sugar
3 sticks butter
2 sticks Imperial Margarine
5 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 pint sour cream
Egg wash
Confections' sugar
Fillings: Apricot butter or European raspberry or 8 ounce ground walnuts mixed with 2/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup milk
In small bowl with egg yolks, stir in vanilla. Add sour cream and mix well. Sift sugar and flour. Cut in butter and margarine. Make a well and add egg mixture to form a dough. Shape into log and divide dough into 8 pieces. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours. (If you refrigerate overnight, let warm the next day at room temperature).
Roll out pieces like pie dough until 1/8-inch thick. Cut with 3-inch round cookie cutter. As you roll out each piece, add whatever scraps you have to the next piece.
In center of each round, place 1 teaspoon fruit filling from a pastry bag, or place 1 teaspoon of nut filling. Fold over in half and notch ends with knife to seal the open end. Transfer to parchment-covered baking sheet, and then twist each end with thumbs to form a crescent. Don't mix pastries with fruit filling and those with nut filling on the same baking sheet because they bake differently. With a pastry brush, brush egg wash (1 egg with 1 tablespoon of milk) across tops.
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. For even browning, turn pan and bake 8 to 10 minutes more until golden brown on top and bottom. If you are baking two pans in the oven at a time exchange the pan on the top rack with the pan on the bottom rack halfway through baking. When done, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.
Yield: 20 dozen
Helen's Hungarian Heritage Recipes
by Clara Margaret Czegeny, Helen Irene Czegeny (Editor), Evangeline Hannah Helena Mackell (Illustrator)
Helen's Hungarian Heritage Recipes
Amazon Price: $49.99 (as of 07/26/2008)
Clara Czegeny's cookbook is a small treasure with a big heart. The loving result of a desire to honour an aging parent, Clara has gathered the best entries from her mother s memories and scribble papers to create a cornucopia of Hungarian dishes that will delight even the most discerning palate. Written in a homey style and packaged in an excellent way to be very useful to the working chef or anyone interested in reading and learning about Hungarian folklore. The book is informative, fun and sensibly priced. A great buy in my books!
Hungarian Kifli: Rolling out the dough
Another recipe for Hungarian Kifli
from Dee Coulter, St. Maries, Idaho - www.spokesmanreview.com
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
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.
Yield: About 16 dozen cookies
The Lost Art of Baking With Yeast: Delicious Hungarian Cakes & Pastries
by Baba Schwartz
The Lost Art of Baking With Yeast: Delicious Hungarian Cakes & Pastries
Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)
Principles of the lost art of yeast baking, with hints for kneading and proving dough to perfection; with Hungarian recipes for cakes, slices, pastries, buns, includes the author's famous Golden Dumpling Cake.
Hungarian Kifli: Cutting the dough
Another recipe for Hungarian Kifli
www.christmas-cookies.com
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
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.
Hungarian Cookbook: Old World Recipes for New World Cooks
by Yolanda Nagy Fintor
Hungarian Cookbook: Old World Recipes for New World Cooks (Hippocrene Cookbook Library)
Amazon Price: $18.21 (as of 07/26/2008)
Excerpt - page 500: "... chicken paprika, palacsinta (crepes filled with cottage cheese or jelly), kifli (small pas- tries filled with apricots, prunes, or nuts), strudel, ..."
Hungarian Kifli: Fancy + Confectioners Sugar
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Drop me a line ...
Are you familiar with Hungarian Kifli? Love it? Got a favorite recipe for it? What's your favorite pastry?
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KimGiancaterino
Our favorite Hungarian baker just retired from the Farmer's Market, and we really miss his baked delicacies. Welcome to Culinary Favorites From A to Z... our first entry in the 'K' category! Posted May 22, 2008 |
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greg2213
Wow, this does look yummy. I think I'll have some for breakfast! I'm fowarding the link to this lens (and your Basa lens) to my favorite cook. Posted April 13, 2008 |
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funwithtrains
Sounds delicious! Posted March 17, 2008 |
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She was my namesake and my superhero ...
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