Chrusciki, or There's Nothing Easy About Being Polish

(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.

Speculaas, or the second biggest pain in the ass cookie I make

In the Netherlands, speculaas are a traditional cookie made each St. Nicholas Day. To make them, you need something called a speculaasplank, which is a hand-carved wooden mold. This is mine:



It belonged to my Dutch great-grandmother, and I believe it could be close to a hundred years old now (though I could be wrong -- either way, it's old). If you don't have a speculaasplank, you can use a ceramic mold or even roll the dough out and use a cookie cutter. Anyway, here's how to make them:

1 cup softened butter
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/4 t grated lemon zest
3 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 T cinnamon
3/4 t ginger
1 t allspice
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t cloves
1/8 t baking soda
2/3 cup finely ground blanched almonds
vegetable oil for molds
flour for dusting molds

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and lemon zest. In a separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients (except oil and flour for dusting molds, of course). Slowly beat in dry ingredients until just blended. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

( And now is where you start to wonder why you ever started making the damn cookies . . . )

Poppyseed Roll (makowiec)

There are two parts to this recipe -- the filling and the dough. Make the filling first.

Filling:

1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup poppyseeds
1 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup finely chopped blanched almonds
1/3 cup honey
1 t grated lemon peel
1 egg white, stiffly beaten

Pour boiling water over poppyseeds, let sit for a minute or two and drain. Cover the poppyseeds with the lukewarm water and let stand for 30 minutes. Drain thoroughly. Grind the poppyseeds in a food processor (or I suppose you could use a mortal and pestle, if you like that sort of thing). Stir in chopped nuts, honey and lemon peel. Fold in stiffly beaten egg white. Set aside and make the dough.

Dough:

6-7 cups unsifted flour
3 T sugar
1 t salt
2 pkg. active dry yeast
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water
1 cup butter
3 eggs (room temperature)

In large bowl, mix 2 cups of flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Combine sour cream, water, and butter in saucepan and heat to 120˚-130˚F. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and beat in egg and dry ingredients. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in remaining flour one cup at a time until you have a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured board and knead a few times. Form dough into a ball, cover it with a towel, and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Divide dough into four pieces. Roll each out into a 14"x12" rectangle. Spread poppyseed filling on each to 1/2 inch from the edge. Roll up each from the long side as you would a jelly roll. Seal the edges and place on a greased baking sheet, sealed edges down. Cover with a towel and let the rolls rise in a warm place until they double in bulk (about 1 hour)

Bake at 350˚F for 35 minutes (check to make sure they aren't browning too quickly. If they are, turn the oven down to 325˚F). The poppyseed rolls should be nice and golden when they're done. Put them on a rack to cool (or eat them while they're still warm).

Rye Bread

To go with the herring

2 pkg active dry yeast
1 t white sugar
2 cups water
4 cups rye flour
1 cup buttermilk (room temp.)
1 t baking soda
1 T salt
8 cups white flour
1 T caraway seeds

Dissolve 1 packet of yeast with sugar and s cups of water, let stand until creamy (10 minutes). Stir in the rye flour until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel, and let stand overnight in a draft-free area.

The next day, dissolve the second packet of yeast in buttermilk. Add the rye mixture, baking soda, salt, 4 cups of white flour, and caraway seeds. Stir to combine. Add remaining flour a 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each (you may not need all the flour). When the dough is smooth and coherent, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead until it is supple (about 8 minutes), then form into a ball.

Lightly oil a large bowl. Put ball of dough into the bowl, turn it to coat it with oil, then cover it with a damp cloth and let it rise for 1 hour in a warm place.

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Turn dough onto floured board and divide into 3 pieces. Form each into a loaf and place each on a lightly greased sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled (about 1 hour)

Bake for 35 minutes or until the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.