Hungarian poppy seeds / walnuts rolls { Bejgli II }

Two thumbs up for this recipe! which by the way , will replace the one archived here before.  What I like about this version is the fluffy bread texture as you see below.

With the exorbitant price of walnuts, I've opted to only make the poppy seeds fillings. That being said, both fillings are equally good. For us and especially my mother-in-law, she prefers the poppy seeds type.

The recipe linked below makes 6 rolls; but the quantity I stated below have been adjusted to only 2 rolls. In fact, I could have made into 3 shorter rolls instead of 2 long ones.

Bejgli
source : Receptneked

makes 2 rolls

Ingredients
For the dough
130ml sour cream (20% fat)
83g goose fat
1 medium-size egg
2 Tbsp sugar
pinch salt
30gm fresh yeast
400gm flour

For the filling

200gm ground Poppy seeds
100gm Honey
100gm water
vanilla extract
bunch of raisins, soaked and drained
1 zest of lemon
2 Tbsp of apricot jam
sugar, to taste


For glazing
1 egg, seperated

Preparation
For the dough
1) In a bowl, mix together sour cream, goose fat, egg, sugar and salt.
2) In another bowl, put in the flour and crumble in the yeast. Then create a well in the centre, and pour in the sour cream mixture (1). Mix until all ingredients are combine.
3) On a floured surface, pour out the flour mixture and knead until you get a smooth dough.
4) Let the dough rest in covered bowl , in room temperature for 1 hour.

For the filling
1) Heat water until hot. Combine it with honey and mix well.
2) In a bowl, put the ground poppy seeds, lemon zest, apricot jam, vanilla extract , soaked and drain raisins. The pour in the honey-water mixture. Combine well. Check for sweetness, if needed add sugar to taste. I needed to add sugar in consideration of my MIL taste buds.
3) Divide filling into 2 portions. Set aside until assembly.

To finish
1) 30 mins. into proofing the dough, start pre-heating the oven at 180°c
2) Once dough is fully proof, pour out on floured work surface, and punch out the air from the dough.
3) Divide dough into 2 equal size.
4) Take the first dough, roll out into a rectangle shape. Size according to your preference.
5) Spread a portion of the filling onto the dough , leaving some space on the sides to prevent leakage.
6) Roll up the dough just like Swiss roll, but not too tight to leave room for the dough to grow and not burst.
7) Repeat the same for the next roll. Glaze each roll with only egg yolk. Then let it dry for about 15 mins. After 15 mins. glaze with egg white.  Use a knife or fork to prick the roll all the way to let out the steam during baking.
8) Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-35 mins. until golden brown.

Serving
It is better to let the roll sit for a day or two to enhance the taste even more. Just wrap the rolls in cling film and keep in a cool place.

Easy shortbread cookies and Easy sugar icing

If  you haven't noticed Groot-shaped cookies are everywhere on the web. This batch of cookies turned out good, taste wise. As for the decoration, well, I think brown coloured icing would've been more successful. That said, I am very satisfied with the shortbread recipe and the easy sugar icing.

Easy shortbread
via citromhab (I halved the recipe)

Ingredients
150gm plain flour, sifted
100gm cold butter
75gm powdered sugar, sifted (including 1 packet of vanilla sugar)
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder

Preparation
1) In a bowl, place the sifted plane flour and salt, work-in the butter by using a fork until crumbly in texture.
2) Next add in the sifted sugar and cinnamon powder. Knead lightly until it just come together, do not over work. Flatten the dough and wrap it with cling film and let it rest in refrigerator for 1 hour.
3) 20 mins. before 1 hour resting time, start pre-heating the oven at 180°c
4) After 1 hour resting time, roll out the dough and cut and shape dough in to desired shapes. Work quickly as the dough melt easily.
5) Place in pre-heated oven and bake for 8-10 mins. until base is brown.


Easy Sugar icing
via Cleverlysimple

Ingredients

1 Cup Powdered Sugar, sifted

4 tsp Milk

Preparation

1. Mix with fork!
2. You can customize this recipe by adding powdered sugar to make it thicker. Add more milk to make it a glaze.

Stained glass Biscuits

Stained Glass Biscuits
via   You too can cook  
 ** I have copy and paste the whole recipe for my easy reference. Please visit the link provided for detailed step-by-step

Ingredients
250gm All purpose flour
100gm Granulated sugar
100gm Unsalted butter, slightly cold
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 Tbsp Milk , or as required
2 pinches Salt
1/2 tsp Baking powder
Hard candies - As required (Different flavors and colors preferably) 

• Take a mixing bowl add flour, salt, baking powder and sugar, whisk well using a hand whisk. 

• Add butter and mix well to this flour mix and mix well using your fingers. 

• Lightly beat egg using a spoon and add it to the mixture, mix well. If your dough is crumbly add milk and knead well to make a soft dough.

• Now wrap the dough in a plastic wrap or just place in a bowl and cover with a lid, then let it rest in a refrigerator for half an hour or until the dough chills and is not soft. 
• Then line a baking tray with parchment or butter paper and set aside. 
• Now place the chilled dough on a rolling board (pastry board / chapati board) and roll it flat until it is thin. 

• After rolling, cut into shapes using a cookie cutter. 

• Then cut out some shapes, in the center using a smaller cookie cutter/mini moulds/any bottle caps. You can be creative here with the design and use your own ideas. (You can prick some holes using a skewer or toothpick or a straw on the cookies to hang it and use as decorators) 

• Then transfer the cut out cookies carefully onto the lined baking trays. 
• After transferring the cookies onto the lined baking tray, place the tray in refrigerator for 10 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 175°C (350 F) for 10 minutes. 
• After chilling, remove the tray from refrigerator and slide the tray into the center rack of the preheated oven. 
• Bake the cookies for 8 minutes at 175°C (350 F). (If your cookies are too thin then bake for 5-6 minutes)
• Meanwhile, unwrap the candies, separate them color-wise into individual plastic bags or ziplock bags and crush the candies using the rolling pin or meat tenderizer, set them aside.
• Now after 8 minutes, remove the cookie tray from the oven.
• Spoon small amount of crushed candies onto the center of the cookies inside the cutout holes. Do not load too much.
• Now slide the tray again into the oven and bake for another 5 minutes or just until the cookies start to brown on sides and the candies gets melted well. It will be bubbling at this stage. (If you take long to fill the cookies with candies then preheat the oven for 5 minutes before baking again)
• Now remove the tray from the oven and set aside until the cookies cool down completely. When done gently remove the cookies from the parchment paper or butter paper. 
• Then set the cookies aside for it to cool completely. Do not attempt to remove the cookies before they completely cool down. (Do the same with the rest of the dough and bake the cookies similarly)
• Store in airtight containers, use as decorators or gift wrap them. 

Ischler Cookies

For this Christmas, I've written Ischler cookies in my baking list, thinking that I would use the recipe featured here before but then I came across this one from The Eccentric Cook . Hers look absolutely scrumptious, so I thought "why not give it a try?".
These turned out crumbly and nutty, just the way I (or we) like it! Since these cookies are better the longer you keep them, you could bake them few days before serving. Just keep in an air-tight container and store in a cool place.

Ischler Cookies
makes about 15 cookie sandwiches (or depending on the cutter you used)
source : http://theeccentriccook.blogspot.hu/2012/12/ischler-cookies.html

Hungarian Walnut Cookies {Diós Kifli}

Hungarian Walnut Cookies {Diós kifli} 
http://www.nosalty.hu/recept/mezeskalacs-kifli


Ingredients for 6 people
125 g of flour
50g ground hazelnuts or any ground nuts
50 g of  powdered sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100g butter, at room temperature
1 egg yolk pinch of salt

For coating
1 tsp ground cinnamon
125 g of powdered sugar

Method
1. Toast nuts in heated pan and grind finely. Mix the flour, sugar and ground cinnamon.
 2. Combine well, soften butter with pinch of salt and egg yolk . Add in dry ingredients to form a smooth dough. Wrapped dough in cling film and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
3. After dough rests in refridgerator for 1-2 hours, start pre-heating oven at 160 ° C.
4. Let dough sit for 5-10 mins. in room temperature after taken out from the refrigerator before working on it.
5. Shape dough into croissants shape, place on baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for 10-15 mins.
6. Coating cookies by tossing in sugar-spice mixture when it is still hot.

Apricot Butter Biscuits { Thumbprints cookies }

Apricot Butter Biscuits { Thumbprints cookies }

source : Orang Blossom Water


Ingredients
1 cup (226 g) butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar **will lessen sugar the next time
2 large eggs yolks
1 sachet vanilla sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
About 1/2 cup apricot jam
1/2 zest of lemon


Method :-
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed beat butter and sugar until smooth.
Add egg yolks and vanilla and beat until well blended. Mix in the lemon zest
Stir in flour and salt and beat just until dough comes together.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on buttered or cooking parchment lined 12 by 15 inch baking sheets. Press your thumb gently into the center of each cookie to make an indentation.
Bake cookies in a 325 °F (163 °C) oven until lightly browned, 18 to 20 minutes; if baking more than one pan at a time, switch pan positions halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide spatula to transfer to racks to cool completely.
Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon jam into the center of each cooled cookie.

Isler (Ischler) Jam-filled cookies glazed with choclate

I visit and browse No Salty on daily basis, to bookmark recipes that interest me. On 23rd , day before eve of christmas , I've done all my christmas baking but then I found this Isler cookies on the main page and couldn't resist this simple recipe.

I've no idea why the name "Isler" (correction : Ischler) . All I know is that its list of ingredients and that it is sandwiched with jam is very similar to the Linzer cookies. Also, whenever we buy Linzer cookies at the bakery we tend to add a few Isler (Ischler) to the mix.

Isler Cookies
source : No Salty

Ingredients

For cookies

280 g flour
280 g unsalted butter, soften
150 g ground nuts ( I used a mix of walnuts and almonds)
140 g powdered sugar
1 Tbsp rum
a pinch of salt
For the filling
Jam of your choice
Glaze
200 g chocolate
Method
1) Cream soften butter with powdered sugar. Do not over-mix. Incorporate flour, ground nuts, pinch of salt and rum into the butter-sugar mixture until the whole thing come together. Chill in fridge for 1 hour.
2) After an hour, roll out the pastry until the thickness of 3 mm. Use round cookie cutter to cut pastry. Cut until all pastry are used. Baked for 10-12 mins at 175°c
3) Let cookies cooled. Meanwhile, melt chocolate to get ready for assembly.
4) Sandwich cookies with jam and glazed with melted chocolate.
5) Store cookies in a tin can and place in a cool place at least overnight, to allow the flavour to develop.

Own Notes

1) I'll roll the pastry thicker next time. Mine was a bit too thin when baked, making it too fragile to handle.
2) For a more even finish of glazed chocolate , I shall coat the whole of top piece with chocolate next time by either pouring the melted chocolate over it or submerging into melted chocolate instead of spreading on top.

Tripple chocolate cupcake kit

Last minute (or not) gift idea via BBC Good Food

Bejgli { Hungarian walnut / poppy seeds roll }

The real thing doesn't look anything like what I took out from the oven haha!!
My pastry was flaky unlike the traditional Christmas treat. Whatever it is, I am happy with the taste! Also, surpsingly, I enjoyed the poppy seeds filling this time ; which normally is not my first choice .

see step by step instructions here

My poppy seed fillings , mix together:-

100g poppy seeds, grounded
50g honey
50g water, heat and add to honey before combing with other ingredients
a bunch of dried cranberries or raisins - soaked in water
some grated lemon peel

mixture should not be too watery and should just be easily spread on dough easily.