DOUGH
4 3/4 cup unsifted all-purpose flour
2 cup butter or margarine
4 large egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
FILLING
1 1/4 lb shelled walnuts (about 5
1 cups), ground
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp almond extract
GLAZE
1 large egg, beaten
1 confectioners' sugar
Directions
Make dough: in a large bowl, place the flour and the
butter. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the
butter into the flour until the mixture resembles
coarse crumbs. Add the egg yolks and sour cream; stir
with a fork until combined.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board or
pastry cloth. Knead the dough with your hands until
it is smooth and can be shaped into a ball. If dough
is too sticky, knead in more flour. If desired, wrap
dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Make filling: in a medium-sized bowl, place the ground
walnuts, granulated sugar, milk and almond extract.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in walnut mixture until
ingredients are thoroughly combined. Prehead oven to
400F. Grease baking sheets with solid vegetable
shortening.
To shape Kifli: divide the dough into quarters; wrap
three of the quarters separately in plastic wrap and
set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the
remaining quarter of the dough to a 15" x 12"
rectangle that is 1/8" thick.
Using a pastry wheel, cut the rectangle of dough into
3-inch squares. Place a heaping teaspoon of the walnut
filling in the center of each square; bring one corner
of the dough over the filling to the opposite corner;
pinch edges together.
Place Kifli on baking sheets; brush with the beaten
egg. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies are golden
brown. Remove from the baking sheet. Fill the bottom
of a pie place with confectioners' sugar. Roll Kifli
in the sugar. Let cool on wire racks. Repeat steps
with the remaining three quarters of dough.
From: McCall's Cooking School: Desserts/Cookies
Servings: 6 dozen
Kifli (Hungarian Walnut Cookies) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Cookie; Hungarian; Nut
The History of Recipes
We can track the history of `recipes` far back into history, in truth as far back into history as ancient Egypt, and potentially, even further back. However, in the main part, these ancient cook books were just very simple hieroglyphic recipes for food preparation.
In fact, the most ancient recipe found, according to experts in ancient history are a few ancient tablets in ancient Sumerian which describe the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who tried it feel `blissful`. Later on, in Roman times around 25BC a roman called Apicius wrote a number of documents which described recipes enjoyed by wealthy roman citizens. He describes how the meals of wealthy Romans were separated into hors d`oeuvre, entrees and afters, a style of dining still practiced today. Aspicius also informs us how the Romans used a good variety of herbs and spices, including a few that are still present in modern kitchens such as thyme, fennel and parsley. Later on, we find a couple of interesting cookery books which appeared in the fourteenth century - a book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another called `Curye on Inglish`. Surprisingly, these are nothing to do with the curry that is popular today, but instead descriptions of the types of food prepared for the nobility of that period. Later on in the 1400s, people returning from the crusades brought back many new foods and herbs from the Middle-East, including spices like coriander, parsley, and rosemary. These new herbs and spices prompted an outbreak in manuscripts on food, many of which are now in private collections. By the advent of the twentieth century, cook books were increasing in popularity mostly as a result of increased literacy, people having increased leisure time and a general increase in wealth. The introduction of the TV gave us celebrity chefs and the recipe books that accompanied them. Which brings us neatly to the present day and the invention of the internet, permitting everyone to access thousands of recipes such as those found on our site. |
We hope you enjoy this Kifli (Hungarian Walnut Cookies) recipe.
