This recipe was a family recipe given to me many years ago by a friend. It was passed down through her family and is one of my personal favorites. It makes a large amount of cookies, but they can be frozen and are coveted treats, so give them as gifts (including a printed copy of the recipe).
I have a short list of cookies that must be baked for Christmas time. This is on the short list. I put this recipe on the web back in 1999 when I first started the Loving Christmas site on Geocities, then it was on this site in 2015, but temporariy lost. Now I have it posted again!
There are probably many copies of this online now, but this is the one that I have personally baked throughout the years. Try it! I guarantee it will become a favorite.
Hungarian Nut-filled Kifli
Rich dough surrounds delicious nut filling in little pocket cookies. Traditional Hungarian cookie which requires refrigeration time before rolling out.
Cut butter into flour with pastry blender 'til mixture resembles coarse crumbs
Add egg yolks and sour cream. Stir. Turn out on lightly floured surface knead until smooth and shape into ball. (If too sticky, use more flour.)
Refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight.
Make Filling: Combine nuts, sugar, milk, extract, and egg white; blend well.
Heat oven to 400℉ and grease cookie sheets
On floured surface, roll out quarter of dough at a time to measure, 16 by 12 inches, 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 2 inch squares.
Place generous 1/2 tsp.filling in each square, then overlap two opposite corners. Pinch edges to seal. Place on cookie sheets and brush with beaten egg.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes til golden. Cool. Roll in confectioners sugar.
Notes
This recipe can be halved if you wish to make smaller batches. Try other fillings such as Lekvar (prune filling) or Poppy Seed, both equally traditional fillings for Kifli cookies.
Kifli simply means “crescent” and there are many types of this form of baked good. Rolls, cookies, filled pastry cookies, all called “Kifli” …the shape is about the most that they have in common. The crescent shape commemorates when the Bakers of Budapest foiled the impending attack of Turks by sounding an alarm in their early pre-dawn working hours.
I have several kifli cookie recipes I like to bake, but this one is my mother’s very favorite. It is a light, lemon-nuanced cake, with lots of air incorporated into them. I think one of the things my mother liked so well was how easy it was to whip up a batch for appreciative members of the family.
General Louis Kossuth was a revered hero, and like many things in Hungary, this cookie was named in his honor. Reputed to have been his favorite, as well as my mom’s.
What The Lemon Zest Adds
American cooks of my mother’s generation loved to use extracts, and lemon extract does give a good flavor as well as being one of the few natural flavors of this kind of flavoring. Real lemon zest, the scrapings of the yellow peel of the fruit give more.
If you have a tools that scrapes the shreds of the rind without the bitter white pith, it will add oils that are redolent of fresh lemon and give depth to the taste of the cookie.
Don’t skimp on the Lemon Zest!
Source: L.Krisztina
Cook Time
Prep time: 30 min Cook time: 30 min Ready in: 1 hour Yields: two dozen
Ingredients
8 egg yolks
8 egg whites, beaten stiff
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 lemon rind, grated zest
pinch salt
1 cup walnuts, ground
Method
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beat thoroughly after each. Add salt, lemon zest, (or other flavoring like vanilla), mix in.
Sift flour and baking powder together, add to egg mixture. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into greased and floured 12 by 18 inch pan. Sprinkle with ground nuts evenly over batter.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until done. Cut into crescent shapes with sugared drinking glass or crescent cookie cutter. (You could also score into diamond shapes). When completely cooled, sprinkle with confectioners sugar.
Ground Walnuts
Adding the nuts will give depth to flavor and add to the nutrition value. Only those with allergies should forego this dessert. The rest of us can enjoy a quick treat.
Another Type Of Hungarian Kifli
Remember, there are lots of types of Kifli. The Kossuth lemon cookies are among the easiest, and have a wide range of appeal for any season of the year.
This is the perfect size for family use. A jelly roll pan that combines the heat conductive properties, easy cleaning, and never rust characteristic of aluminum. I use this pan for all sorts of things, from baking cookies to heating up sweet potato fries. The brand is one I’ve learned to trust, I also own a Nordic Ware bundt pan that has lasted me more than twenty years.
Grated Lemon Zest for Flavor
Microplane 40020 Classic Zester/Grater High quality cooking tool with 18/8 stainless steel with grating edges. I love that it has a handle, which saves your fingers. I need to have lemon zest for baked goods and some entrees, and it adds a pretty garnish, too.
Grab this for ginger or hard cheeses, also; it will prove itself useful.
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