Walnut and Poppy Seed rolls — Diós és Mákos kalács (bejgli)
At Christmas time we’d travel to visit Grandma and Grandpa and as soon as we walked into the front door of their house we would be overwhelmed by the mingling of smells coming out of the kitchen. Every surface available from the entryway down to the basement would have pans covered with clean cloths that would be hiding cookies, hoska, and other sweet breads, and our favorite walnut and poppy seed rolls.
House on a Mountain–Julian
For the dough:
750 g/1 lb. 7 oz. Flour
350 g/12 oz. Butter
30 g/1 oz. Sugar
pinch of salt
6 egg yolks
150 ml/ 5 fl. oz. Milk
15 g/half oz. yeast
Fr the walnut filling
80 g/3 oz. Honey
120-130 g/ 4 and half oz. Sugar
250 g/9 oz. ground walnuts
50 g/2 oz. finely chopped sultanas
1 T of rum
cinnamon
grated lemon peel
For the poppy seed filling
80 g/3 oz. Honey
125 g/ 4 and half oz. Sugar
250 g/9 oz. ground poppy seeds
1 T of rum
grated lemon peel
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter, add the sugar and the egg yolks and mix in the yeast in lukewarm milk. Blend well together and knead. Put aside to rest in a cold place for few hours. Then roll into rectangle and cut into strips. Spread with the walnut and poppy seed filling. Roll up, brush with egg white and bake in a moderately hot oven until golden brown.
To make the walnut filling, dissolve the sugar and honey in a saucepan over heat. Add the walnut and cook for a few minutes. Remove from heat and mix in the sultanas and rum. Finally add the cinnamon and grated lemon peel to taste.
For the poppy seed filling, cook the honey, sugar and poppy seed in saucepan. Remove from heat and add the rum and lemon peel to taste.
Rich crescent rolls filled with nuts or cheese, very similar to Hungarian beigli.
1/2 cup warm milk
2 T yeast
1 T sugar
1/2 cup sugar
6 1/2 cups flour
1 lb. butter
1 t salt
6 egg yolks
1-1/2 cups sour cream
Dissolve yeast in warm milk with 1 tbsp sugar. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, flour, butter and salt until crumbly.
Form a well in center and add the yolks, sour cream and yeast mixture. Knead lightly.
Refrigerate overnight, covered. Roll into tennis-sized balls. Roll each ball into a circle. Fill and roll into crescents (see fillings, below). Let rise.
Bake at 350F until golden.
Nut Filling:
Beat 1 egg. Add 1 cup ground nuts, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar and 1 T cinnamon.
Cheese Filling:
Combine 1/2 lb. cottage cheese, 2 to 4 T sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp lemon peel, 1/2 cup raisins
Mix flour, salt and 1-1/2 tsp sugar. Cut in butter. Dissolve sugar in water and add yeast. Add beaten egg yolk to milk. Add this to flour, blend well. Add yeast and water mix. Cover and chill 2 hours.
Roll sticky dough 1/3″ thick and cut into 6×1/2″ strips. Twist into spirals on greased baking sheet. Cover and let double. Bake at 400ºF for 10 minutes. While still warm, ice with thin icing sugar/ butter/ vanilla topping and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
