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.
Heard of the Hungarian Kifli ?
Quick, all you ethnic pastry fans!
Hungarian Kifli Recipe -- the Ingredients

6 cups flour
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
Hungarian Kifli Recipe -- the Instructions
Makes 20 dozen
In small bowl: add egg yolks, stir in vanilla, add sour cream and mix well.
Sift the sugar and flour and 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.
Roll out pieces like pie dough until 1/8-inch thick. Cut with 3-inch round cookie cutter.
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 non-stick baking sheet, twisting each end with thumbs to form a crescent. Keep pastries with fruit filling separate from those with nut filling. With a pastry brush, brush egg wash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon of milk) across tops.
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. When done, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.
Kifli at a glance
Kifli () is a traditional Hungarian pastry,Kifli a crescent rolldefinition made by cutting sheets of soft unsweeted flour dough into triangular wedges, and wrapping those wedges to create a crescent-shaped morsel, which is then baked (permitting the dough to puff). Kifli is consumed plain or for breakfast. Eaten for breakfast, they are often sliced horizontally, buttered and eaten with cold cuts, cheeses or with jam, honey and a cup of coffee, hot chocolate or milk.
There are a couple of sweet variations of Kifli...
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: $42.99 (as of 07/10/2009)![]()
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
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
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 07/10/2009)![]()
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 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
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: (as of 07/10/2009)![]()
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
Legendary Origin?
Legend has it that kifli is the progenitor of the croissant.

Hungarian Kifli: Plain without Confectioners Sugar
A similar pastry -- Vanillekipferl at a glance
Vanillekipferl are an Austrian, German and Hungarian 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 Hungarian army over the Turkish in one of the many wars between the nations.
They are also widely baked in Germany and are common in Hungary 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.
Croissant at a glance
![]()
Fanciful stories of how the bread was created are modern culinary legends. These include tales that it was invented in Poland to celebrate the defeat of a Muslim invasion at the decisive Battle of Tours by the Franks in 732, with the shape representing the Islamic crescent; that it was invented in Vienna in 1683 to celebrate the defeat of the Turkish siege of the city, as a reference to the crescents on the Turkish flags, when bakers staying up all night heard the tunneling operation and gave the alarm; tales linking croissants with the kifli and the siege of Buda in 1686; and those detailing Marie Antoinette's hankering after a Viennese specialty.
Classic Home Desserts: A Treasury of Heirloom and Contemporary Recipes from Around the World
by Richard Sax
Classic Home Desserts: A Treasury of Heirloom and Contemporary Recipes from Around the World
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)![]()
Richard Sax has it right: the most accomplished pastry-chef creations don't provide the direct pleasures of good-old homemade desserts. Sax's Classic Home Desserts, first published in 1994, more than makes the point.
A classic itself, the book offers more than 350 clear, accessible recipes for the world's home desserts--everything from cobblers and crisps to puddings, pies, and sauces to ice creams, simple pastries, and cakes of all kinds--while providing tips for success, a truly useful glossary of baking equipment, plus 48 color photos depicting the confections in their simple glory. It's hard to imagine a cook--would-be, amateur, or professional--who wouldn't want this comprehensive collection.
Traditional Hungarian cooking
Some great cookbooks ...
Hungarian pastry shop
SohoKind - Hungarian Pastry Shop - SoHa
SohoKind and our designer Children's T shirt collection visited The Hungarian Pastry Shop in SoHa. Want to see more about The Hungarian Pastry Shop, others in the NYC cafe scene and our Designer Kid's T-shirt collection, check out www.sohokind.com.
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Are you familiar with Hungarian Kifli? Love it? Got a favorite recipe for it? What's your favorite pastry?
dc64 wrote...
I wonder if you have to use margarine? I'm allergic to soy, and so only use real butter. From the recipe, it looks like it would be okay. I'm gonna try it one day. It sounds perfect for Christmas, and that's when I do most of my baking.
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