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Grandma Stella's Cookies - Kruczyki

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 4 people)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

Ranked #2288 in Food, #63859 overall

Rated G. (Control what you see)

First, Meet Stella

 

This is a picture of my Grandma.  She's not around anymore, but she left some kick-butt recipes around for cookies, cakes and such.  Grandma Stella was definitely cool - and one of my best friends.  She baked over 50 dozen cookies for my brother's wedding, and for my wedding.  She was constantly baking, even when she couldn't see very well.  This lens is the first in a series of her recipes.  Enjoy!

Kruczyki 

What the heck is that?

Well, Kruczyki (say it like Kris Chick eee) is a Polish donut cakey thing. Whatever it is, it's super yummy. There are some detailed instructions, but if you follow them right, the result will be well worth it! Here's how Gram left the recipe ingredients:


By the way, Spry is vegetable shortening. Go figure.
And here are some instructions from my father:

OK. Let's give this a try. These are a deep fried doughnut type cake so you will need a heavy pan that will hold about 2 inches of oil. it should be wide enough to accommodate several cakes at a time or it will become a very long process. Oil will be heated to around 375° .
Mix well all the above ingredients. If you don't have a heavy duty mixer use a wooden spoon because the dough is fairly thick.
Roll out dough on a floured surface about 1/4" thick. Using a floured knife cut the dough into 1 1/2 " strips. It doesn't have to be pretty.

Next cut into sections about 4" long

Make a slit in the center of each of the sections.

Now would be a good time to make sure your oil is heated to 375° Separate a section at a time and put one end through the slit and pull lightly to make a sort of bow.

Drop them in the hot oil. Once the bottom is brown, flip them and brown the top. Remove from the oil and place them on several thickness' of paper towel to absorb excess oil. When cool the can be dusted with confectioners' sugar.

Polish Food 

Sorta, but not quite

This is the closest thing I could find on the web...Pretty close, but yours should be thicker, and more donut-y. I do, however, remember eating these, too. But gram didn't leave a recipe for that :)

Faworki (also known as chrust, chrusty, chru?ciki, angel wings)¹ are traditional Polish sweet crispy fried pastry in the shape of thin twisted ribbons, deep-fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Most often they are eaten in time of carnival and on Fat Thursday the last Thursday before Lent - not to be confused with Fat Tuesday or (Mardi Gras) the day before Ash Wednesday.

Etymology of the word: traditionally "faworki" was the name reserved for colourful ribbons attached to either female or male clothes, especially ribbons given by medieval knights to their ladies. The word came to Poland from Latin via French, and the French "faveur" means "grace" or "favour".

¹ - Faworki (chrusty) is the plural form of the word faworek (chrust).

Faworki:

http://kifa.air-nifty.com/kokusai/images/Faworki.jpg

Rouses

http://visuallyminded.baltiblogs.com/archives/2-5-2006e.jpg

Let me know how they turned out! 

Leave me a line, rate my lens, and let me know what you think!

littlemisspiggy

hello. firstly, i think this is a really great lens. sorry that your grandma isn't here. but i think this lens is full of great stuff. feel free to check out my lens. thanks. keep it up. yummy, i'm hungry already. hehe. 5* for sure and i would love to be your fan. :)

Posted August 04, 2008

collagen

Great lens 5* I am sure will be helpful for many and solving problem for others. Keep up a good work. Healthy Benefits of Water

Posted April 25, 2008

Czerwinski

I have to look up my Mothers receipe, but I'm sure there's a shot of whiskey in the batter.

Posted January 05, 2008

Barkely

Yum, I'll have to try these out, I love new recipes.

Posted November 08, 2007

OutOfSight

Leaving a Blurb so you won't feel intimidated to leave one, too!

Posted November 08, 2007

Polish Cookbooks 

Polish Cookery : Poland's Bestselling Cookbook Adapted for American Kitchens

Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 10/13/2008)

Polish Heritage Cookery

Amazon Price: $29.67 (as of 10/13/2008)

The Art of Polish Cooking

Amazon Price: $17.25 (as of 10/13/2008)

The Best of Polish Cooking

Amazon Price: $9.75 (as of 10/13/2008)

Polish Touches: Recipes and Traditions

Amazon Price: $13.95 (as of 10/13/2008)

Makin donuts on Youtube 

Just a little video to get you psyched!

Donuts

Everyone loves donuts! www.wanderingspoon.com

Runtime: 1:33
1154 views
4 Comments:

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Other cookie lenses and sites 

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