Hello Friends!
While in every other country, people are working hard to drop those extra pounds following the Christmas holiday, in Poland the fun continues. Poles take Lent, the time of fasting and sacrifice before Easter, much more seriously than their North American counterparts. But this austerity is definitely evened out with the long "Carnival" season that precedes it.
In Brazil and places like New Orleans, the carnival season means a lot of dancing and naughty behaviour. Here it means you just stuff your face and maybe go out once or twice. The food aspect is the one that we take most seriously.
As this is probably my last Carnival here, I must submit to the traditions of the country I inhabit and just indulge in the all the culinary delights this country has to offer! And some of this I am going to share with you, in the form of a recipe for rogaliki!
Remember when I talked about Rogale? Well rogaliki are like little baby rogale, and can be either made of shortbread or yeast based dough. They can be filled with anything from rose jam to poppy seeds, and even cabbage and mushrooms, so beware! If you ever went to school with Polish kids, sometimes you would see these cuties at bake sales or Christmas potlucks. While the Canadian kids were shoving colourful sugar cookies down their throats, Polish kids would be standing loyally by their crescent-shaped unadorned pastries, secretly hoping no one would catch on to how good they were.
Babcia Marysia is my Mother's Mom and was (and remains) a true beauty. She is always willing to put her family's happiness above her own without complaining or mention of it. Always quick to whip something up from scratch, she loves pleasing her children and grandchildren with their favourite sweets.
And coincidentally, these are always magically around when I visit, and gone before I leave….
Bisouxx,
B[ZU]
Babcia M's Rogaliki Recipe
Ingredients:
Method:
*Babcia M always said to be careful about the filling that I choose. She said that more viscous preserves would work, but to stay away from runny jams. Her favourite filling is a poppy seed blend or very finely chopped apples with a little cinnamon. I love plum preserves or marzipan!
- 2.5 cups of cake flour, sifted
- 1 container of vanilla flavoured serek homogenizowany (In Canada I substituted this with an individually portioned thick Greek yogurt)
- 1 block of margarine (220 g)
- 1 package of vanilla sugar (available at your local Euro store)
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- Your choice of filling (Caution! Savoury fillings will not work with this dough!)
Method:
- Cut the margarine into the sifted dry ingredients.
- Add the serek/yogurt and knead until a nice dough forms. If it's too dry, add more yogurt; too sticky, add flour.
- Divide the dough into portions and roll it out into circles, 1/2 cm thick. Divide each circle into 8 triangles. Add the filling at the outside part of each triangle and roll towards in the inside. Make sure they are tightly wound so that the filling doesn't come out during baking. Bring the two "tails" towards each other to create a crescent shape.
- Arrange the rogaliki onto a parchment lined sheet. Brush with egg wash.
- Bake at 170C for 20-25 minutes, until they begin to turn golden brown.
- Once they have cooled, dust with icing sugar or drizzle with melted chocolate.
*Babcia M always said to be careful about the filling that I choose. She said that more viscous preserves would work, but to stay away from runny jams. Her favourite filling is a poppy seed blend or very finely chopped apples with a little cinnamon. I love plum preserves or marzipan!