Chrusciki, or There's Nothing Easy About Being Polish

[janradder]

(The picture isn't mine, by the way, but this is how they should look)

Of all the dishes and cookies I make for Christmas, chrusciki (hroos-CHEE-kee) have to be the biggest pain of ass of them all. Mixing up the dough for the cookies is easy enough. It's rolling them out thin enough that's the problem. But when you make them right and the chrusciki literally melt in your mouth, it makes all the trouble almost seem worth it. This recipe comes from my grandmother, who got it from her mother, who got it from their next door neighbor in Union City, CT, Mrs. Karaba.

6 egg yolks
6 t sugar
2 t sour cream
1-1/2 oz. apricot brandy (or plain brandy if that's all you have)
2 cups flour

Beat yolks and sugar, add cream and brandy. Add flour and mix until workable. Cut the dough in half. Leave one half under a damp cloth and put the other on a board dusted with flour.

Now here's the hard part: roll it to within an inch of its life and then keep rolling it some more. Don't stop until it is as close to paper thin as is humanly possible (leave it too thick and they're no good).

When the dough is as thin as you can get it, cut it into long thin strips (about 3 inches long). Cut a slit in the middle of each strip and pull one end all the way through it so that you have something that approximates wings. Fry the strips in fat (or vegetable shortening) about 5-10 seconds on each side (don't let them brown). Drain the cookies on paper towels. Right before serving, dust them with powdered sugar.

Comments

[mia-mcdavid.livejournal.com]

Ummm, there is a part where you invite everyone you know to help with leftovers on the 26th? Please? :-P~~~

[jamiam.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, I used to eat those at Christmas! I think we bought them in bags at some neighborhood bakery, though.

(Apricot brandy, that's just plain genius.)

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I'll have to have Haddayr bring you a box of cookies.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're allowed to be Polish and not eat them at Christmas. When they're good they're quite delicious. Not so much when they're not, though.