First thing, and don’t let it scare you, is that the next time you roast a chicken you need to save a little of the chicken fat. That ingredient is also known as schmaltz, which you can make from scratch and keep on hand.
Don’t worry if you don’t have any on hand, or if you decide against it, you can still bake this lovely breakfast bread. Just know that the chicken fat adds a certain “je ne sais quoi pas” that is fabulous. Know that it can add flavor to noodles and vegetables, too.
It will feed a family of 6, unless they are swept away by your wonderful home baking talents and gobble more than their fair share.
As with all recipes, you can substitute the fat that you feel best using, add the raisins or not, etc. but if you want the authentically delicious taste, stick with the recipe.
Yeast Raised -Approximate Cook Time
Prep time: 3 hours 30 min Cook time: 1 hour
Ready in: 4 hours 30 min Yields: 6 people
Ingredients
5 cups Flour, Sifted
1 Tbsp. Sugar
Small amount Water, heated
1 package Yeast
1 Tbsp. Chicken Fat, melted
1/2 lb. Butter
1/2 stick Margarine (or butter)
3/4 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
1 Rind of Lemon, grated
3-4 Egg Yolks
1/4 tsp. Vanilla
2 cups Golden Seedless Raisins
2 cups Warm Milk
Cinnamon and Sugar, Mixture
Place flour in a large bowl and make a hole in the middle.
Add yeast, sugar, and warm water in center to activate the yeast. Let stand 1/2 hour.
Cut up butter, margarine and add chicken schmaltz. Then add to flour mixture with the 3/4 cup sugar, salt, lemon rind, vanilla, egg yolks, and warm milk.
Knead until bubbles appear.
Let dough rest until it rises.
While waiting for dough to rise, soak raisins in some hot water for about an hour. Squeeze out water and then add to risen dough.
Then knead dough well. Allow dough to rest.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a large tube pan (angel food cake pan).
Divide dough into 2 pieces shaped into balls. Roll out each like thick pie dough, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and roll up tightly.
Twist each into a rope, braid together, then spiral into the angel food pan.
Allow to rise for final time in the pan, then bake for an hour at 350 degrees.
Oma’s Tube Pan Breakfast Coffee Cake
German cooking has a layover with Eastern European countries such as Hungary, and Czech Republic. Certain cooking techniques are common to many cuisines, thus this video will be a great guide.
Another Name For This Coffee Cake
German’s call this type of cake Kugelhoph
More eggs, less fat, and I love Oma’s helpful tips.
My grandmother’s recipe has more shortening and is a rolled dough, rather than a soft batter cake.
You may notice in some of the old recipes that the amount of eggs and fat can seem more than what you are used to. I think many of the changes came about when sugar was not so dear, and before the large amounts of egg and fat became frowned upon.
Speaking of fat, many older recipes called for lard, and until recently that was the preferred shortening for pie crust. It is still considered more a more flavorsome ingredient than vegetable fats.
When I was first cooking in the sixties and seventies, you find “Oleo” or margarine is widely called for. This is no longer considered a more healthy choice, and I haven’t bought margarine in years.
If you want a healthier diet the answer is probably to take much smaller portions of the carb-laden cakes and add fruits to bring out full flavor, make it more filling and satisfying. I am of the opinion that it isn’t cutting out desserts, but cutting down amounts that is the answer. Maybe that is a cop-out because I love them so much.
European Directions for Similar Coffee Cake
It is sometimes confusing when switching from European to English measures (and vice versa). Yet many solutions online make the process easier.
Using Bundt Pans for Coffee Cakes
Many coffee cakes are simply baked in square pans, but if you have a larger recipe like this one a bundt pan gives a much prettier presentation. In line with the original intent of serving a simple delicious sweet when company drops by, makes this pan a real boon to the baker.
While there are variations in form, most have a decorative shape with a central opening. This center circle is perfect for some flavored whipped cream! Or simply dust the finished, cooled cake with confectioners sugar.
Bundt forms have some beautiful curves for drizzles and glazes, too.
Don’t underestimate how this shape will add to the tempting look of your cake.
Fat In Your Diet
People who give you Hungarian recipes so often say, “It isn’t for dieters” or tell you it is unhealthy in some way. The recipes do traditionally incorporate plenty of dairy and fat, usually in the form of sour cream and butter. But also with nuts and eggs, etc.
The new nutritional information that is transforming what we know about healthy diets is that fat is no longer the bad guy.
Usually what we need to watch out for is the modern inclusion of antibiotic and hormones, along with other things that are so different from our grandmother’s food sources; things that cause inflammation in our bodies. Some fats are necessary and they certainly are a source of flavor that make the foods more satisfying to our appetite.
What are you going to do? Tailor your diet to your own health needs, and use the best nutritional information available.
I remember a special jar to save bacon drippings that was always in my mother’s and grandmother’s kitchen. I don’t do that, but I think the idea of using schmaltz might have a place in my cooking future. Jewish cooking often includes it. It is what makes the difference between plain old noodles and delicious noodles, for me.
Served with Nokeldi, a homemade noodle similar to German Spätzle
The Traditional Hungarian Chicken Dish with a Paprika Sauce
Would you like a recipe for chicken that is easy to make, cooks up in an hour, and is great enough to serve proudly to company? You would? Then this recipe for Chicken Paprikash should really be on your list of new dishes to try. Of course, if you have a Hungarian heritage like I do, it is already one of your family’s favorite meals.
My friends were always delightfully surprised at the mellow spiced flavors and the balance in this dish.
Real Hungarian Paprika
Never substitute other paprika if you wish to have the deliciously subtle taste of this authentic chicken dish.
Always use real Hungarian paprika, and not just any store-bought brand for the true flavor of Hungarian paprikas.
Hungarian families cook many variations
There are many ways to tweak this recipe. Some cooks add garlic, potatoes, a little tomato, and change around the basic method of simmering the bone-in chicken pieces, but this is the recipe I have used, and yes, I mix it around a little, but basically my way is as simple as possible.
The one thing that true Chicken Paprikash must always have is authentic Hungarian paprika. It is always a more tender and rich flavor than with paprika grown anywhere else in the world.
Here is my recipe, but with links to many renditions of this well loved dish, because they might tickle your taste buds with their variations. The fine points of Hungarian paprika are included for the true gourmet in you. Enjoy!
Chicken Paprikàs for Company
The aroma and taste will impress your guests.
Arguably the most loved and famous of Hungarian entrees. A dish as traditional as Chicken paprikas is going to have more than one rendition. Try this one for company, it is the classic way to prepare this Hungarian favorite. Cosy homemade food, but with a simple elegance that amkes it special for your guests.
Hungarian Chicken Paprikas
Famously iconic chicken with paprika sauce is a dish Hungary is famous for: tender meat simmered in a piquant and creamy paprikainfused sauce.
1 red sweet pepper or Hungarian banana peppers chopped or slicedchopped or sliced (optional)
2 to 3tbsp2 to 3 TBSP Hungarian sweet paprika
1 tsp saltor to taste
1/4 tsppepper
1 cupwater to cover ( or more)
1pintdairy sour cream
Equipment
everyday pan or large skillet
Method
Sauté sliced onion and the sweet pepper strips in the butter or oil until tender; remove and set aside.
Brown chicken (optionally dredged in flour) in the large frying pan used to sauté the onion and pepper.
Cook at moderate heat, add onions and water, then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika.
Cook until tender; remove to warm serving plate.
Add sour cream to make sauce (use low heat so as to not curdle the sour cream). Adjust flavor with additional seasoning, spice or salt.
Serve sauce over the chicken on a bed of cooked noodles.(Galuska are traditional)
Cooking Term: Dredge
Dredging is done by lightly coating food in a combination of flour and other dry ingredients. It promotes browning and keeps the meat moist.
Hungarian Cooking has the Ubiquitous Hungarian Pepper
Paprika (spice made from peppers) is the most iconic of Hungarian flavors. It is the basis for this famous chicken dish.
What to Serve with Paprikash?
These are the side dishes that complement the chicken:
Noodles, Dumplings, Roasted carrots. Pickled Vegetables, Grilled Mushrooms, Crusty Bread
Family Favorites
Every family has a favorite way of making this famous and delicious dish. Online I’ve seen white wine added to the sauce, tomato puree and other variations.
My mother’s family also had a version which I call Homestyle Chicken Paprikash”, which includes tomatoes and potatoes and dispenses with the sour cream thickening, at times. But the recipe for what I consider the best chicken paprikash is the first one posted here, the one I revert to when I want my own idea of comfort food.
Homestyle Variation
Like my Mother and Grandma Used to Make
Made in this manner, it is a more simple way to serve the flavors in a hearty Sunday meal. The pan can keep warm in the oven for a few hours while you are in Church. My grandfather was a pastor and we had Sunday dinner there whenever we visited.
Traditionally it started with soup, but this stewed version of Chicken Paprikas skips that course. I combines the entrée and side dishes into one easy recipe. Serve with rolls and cucumber salad.
Brown the Chicken in oil, with salt and pepper, first, to give the skin a nice color.
This dish can cook in the oven at low temperatures (slow cooked), and is probably fine for a slow cooker, although we always baked it in a glass roasting/baking pan and a large Dutch oven is fine, too.From my posting on Facebook Hungarian Recipes.
Homestyle Paprikash
An easy and delicious chicken stew with all the famous flavor of Hungarian paprikas
Brown the chicken pieces in oil; add to baking pan with quartered potatoes.
Cook onions and green peppers in chicken drippings until soft. Add to chicken in baking pan.
Add water. Sprinkle liberally with paprika, season with salt and pepper.
Bake @ 350 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until done.You can toss in a tomato or two, if you wish.
Notes
Serve with or without noodles. Especially good served with slices of homemade bread!!!!
Which Paprikàs Recipe Do You Prefer?
Paprikas labeled into a bowl with dollop of sour cream
Nokedli Dumplings
Of course, you may use any type of egg noodle, but Chicken Paprikash tastes special with homemade little spaetzle-ype noodles. So easy, too!
You can use any recipe for Spaetzle or Nokedli dumplings.
Serves: 6 Ingredients
3 cups flour
2 egg
a little water added slowly
salt
Instructions
Mix ingredients together to a medium stiff dough. Place on a cutting board and use a knife to separate off little 1/4 inch dumplings into simmering stew or boiling water. When they rise to top they are done.
Dough may also be rolled into lump and grated into the broth using a large-holed grater.
Paprikàs Tips
Sliced onions are not only easiest, they are best. Forget mincing or chopping. Tomato sauce is for goulash, let the taste of the paprika and peppers reign in this dish. Stir a little of the chicken juices into the sour cream before adding it to make the final gravy.
Don’t ever let Paprika burn.
My Paprikash Pan
It can be used on the stovetop or in the oven, which means you can make either style of Paprikash in it. Great for one dish meals, with a large cooking surface and a cover. Sold on Amazon
My Favorite Cooking Pan – an Everyday Pan
I once used a Dutch oven for making hearty stews like Chicken Paprikas, or sometimes a deep sided fryer, but once I purchased an Everyday pan I fell in love with the way it cooks and serves this kind of meal beautifully.
Using a large attractive pan to prepare the meal means that it can be served attractively at the table, no need to plate separately.
The pan above is the exact one I own, it has a tempered glass cover and is made of aluminum encased in stainless steel. its sloping sides and flat bottom are great on my glass top cooking surface.
I Love to Prepare this Chicken Paprikas Method
Why all my Friends Love Paprikas Chicken!
In the Magyar language this dish is known as “Csirkepaprikas”, a staple recipe that can be dressed up enough for company or easy enough for regular family meals.
It may be served as a family dish with the meat picked off of the bone with more sauce. Classically, pieces of bone-in chicken are served on a platter, with a reduced sauce, thickened with sour cream, spooned over the top of noodles.
Unquestionably, freshly prepared noodles are preferred, but any good egg noodles will be almost as delicious.
The flavors of this dish are outstanding, the method of cooking is easy, and the ingredients are quite simple. That makes it an ingenious choice to add to your cooking repertoire.
Because you are a busy mom, what is better loved than a dinner that is easy to make and doesn’t take too long, but can be slow cooked, too? Reheated, it is even better.
I love the fact that the flavors are different enough to pique the tastebuds of most everyone, yet appeals to most palates, as well.
Your Favorite Hungarian Paprika – Hot, Sweet, or Smoked
sweet red pepper
No Narration, Visual Directions
Types of Hungarian Paprika – I prefer the Sweet for my Paprikash
The two most famous growing regions are Kalocsa and Szeged; you will notice they lend their names to brands of Hungarian paprika.
Extra special (Extra különleges)
Special (különleges)
Delicatess (Csemege)
Noble sweet (Édesnemes)
Rose (Rózsa)
Paprikash or Paprikàs?
What difference does an “h” make? Not much. Drop the “h”, add an accent mark with the diacritical ” à ” for the Hungarian spelling.
Learn How To Make Classic Hungarian Style Chicken
These recipes are as easy as they look- and absolutely delicious.
These are variations. All things considered, I don’t think you should add tomato sauce. That is more of a goulash type of dish, and prefer the simple recipe with less steps and less ingredients. I do sometimes add a tomato or two.
Hungarian Chicken Recipe Links – Other Paprikash Recipes
Sofia’s Chicken Paprikash Recipe | Eating Well Brilliant red paprika, the main seasoning in Hungarian cooking, gives this light version of chicken paprikash its color. Vary the heat by using hot, s
Goulash was originally a camp dish in the Old Country
Beautifully presented bowl of Goulash
Church Cookbooks, Immigrants Legacy
These spiral bound recipe collections aren’t the popular fund raising project they once were. Perhaps reflecting the fact that we aren’t the avid home cooks we once were. I can’t remember the time I swapped recipes face to face with a friend. It must have been a couple decades ago.
Now I get all my new recipes on Pinterest. But if you want a slice of how that important center of life, the kitchen, might have smelled and tasted when your grandparents came to this country… try looking through some of the old Church fundraising publications that featured the Ladies favorite foods.
Ethnic cookbooks published by immigrants of old were the repositories of their favorite everyday recipes. Some locally renowned home cooks of excellent ability and reputation, contributed the own rendition of many common dishes.
There were several paprikash, stuffed pepper and stuffed cabbage variations along with the famous goulash.
My Grandmother’s Recipes
Of course, the culture of the church would be reflected within the cookbook they produced.
As I peruse my Grandmother’s cookbooks, I come into contact with examples of fine Hungarian home cooking. She was the wife of a Hungarian Reformed Church Pastor, and one of her very favorite things in the world besides playing the organ was cooking!
Sadly, I rescued only a few of her many, many recipe books, but I had some of her hand written ones, from swaps with friends. And the thing is with some of these cooks of a bygone time, especially Hungarians, is that they never divulged their very best recipes. It was like pulling eye teeth. But my Grandmother (being the Reverend’s wife and all) managed to lever out a few.
Hungarian Church Recipes
The story of these collections reflects something else going on in the culture of the offspring of the immigrants who originally baked and cooked according to their traditions. Along with everything else in their lives, they became Americanized.
Ingredients Weren’t Always Available
If they couldn’t grow it here, there might have been need for substitutions. Different foods became available, and inventive home cooks added them. Variations of old world foods were as widespread as the adventurous immigrants.
Well Loved Dish In Many American Homes
Anything that is quick and easy and delicious, too, is going to become an family favorite.
You need a Dutch oven- it is a basic pot for cooking so many dishes to perfection. I own a Le Creuset and it is my absolute favorite cooking pan of all time. Mine is a brown color which tells you it is vintage, but this cherry one is gorgeous. What I love about these is the enamel coating over the cast iron which makes cleanup so easy, and the beauty of it allows it to go straight to the table. Great for simmering stews, soups, and one pot meals. Buy Now
Cultural Cooking for American Tastes
This worked both ways, the flavors and recipes of a culture were modified and the American standbys received some tweaking of their own.
I see this clearly in the Church cookbooks which by and large are proudly presenting some family specialities, but also some of the food favorites of the day. For instance, The Dorcas Guild published a cookbook that starts out with Deviled eggs and Moss cheese ball (Bleu cheese rolled in chopped pecans), but then gives some favorites such as Kocsonya (jellied pigs feet) and Majas Nokedli (liver dumplings) and no less than three recipes for Csörōge which are my very favorite “cooky”.
Served Over Medium Wide Noodles
Ingredients For this dish, you add what you have to the mix. Do you love kohlrabi? Add that! Or chopped fresh sweet peppers, carrots, parsnips… you get the idea. Use the given recipe as a base.
Americanized recipes call for some catsup, and Worchestershire sauce. I like those additions, personally, because they make up for the loss of flavor we give up when we use leaner meats (fat gives flavor).
One Pot Meal
Cook everything in a large, heavy pot. A dutch oven is ideal.
You can add potatoes or make your own dumplings to add right into the pot, as well, although I usually cook noodles separately and serve the goulash over those.
Stewing, Slow Cooking Is Best
Prep time: 30 min Cook time: 3 hours Ready in: 3 hours 30 min Yields: Serves 8
Use What You Have
2 lb. Beef, Chuck or Round
1 cup Onions, chopped
2 cloves Garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. Cooking Oil
3/4 cup Tomato Sauce
1 tsp. Vinegar
1 tsp. Brown Sugar
2 stalks Celery, chopped
1 Parsley Root and Greens, minced
Black Pepper, to taste
2 tsp Salt
2 1/2 tsp. Sweet Hungarian Paprika
1 tsp. Dry Mustard
Method
Brown beef chunks in the 3 T. fat (you choose the type of oil for your taste – regular vegetable oil is typical, although I have been substituting virgin olive oil.
Add onions and garlic, stir and cook until softened.
Mix together the spices, salt and pepper, and everything except the vegetables, add to meat.
Add 2 cups water and bring heat to simmer. Add vegetables. Simmer about 2 to 2 1/2 hours
Some cooks add a flour and water mixture to add thickening. Others add bread crumbs. Still others add only some homemade dumpling noodles later in the cooking (like the chef in the video at the bottom of this page.) I add 2 Tablespoons flour dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water. After addition of flour be sure to cook for long enough to thicken and lose the “raw” taste of the flour. Alternatively, add a roux to thicken.
Tips for Hungarian Paprika
I was cooking one of my favorite Hungarian dishes for my son and his supply of Hungarian paprika was outdated. When it turns dark and is out of date there is little flavor. He had grocery store paprika and a smoked version, but the flavors do not yield the same results. I had to make a special trip to obtain the real thing.
When storing your genuine Sweet Hungarian Paprika, consider refrigerating it if you won’t be using it in a reasonable amount of time.It will last 3 to 4 years when stored properly.
Store in a cool, dark cupboard, away from direct heat or sunlight.
Fresh Hungarian Peppers, Test For Hotness
Add fresh Hungarian (AKA “Banana”) peppers. This type may range from sweet and mild to moderately hot. If spiciness is not desired, taste test the pepper before adding to your dish!
Don’t Change This
The source of the paprika spice.
Not if you want real Hungarian flavor, at any rate.
The paprika tastes different from other kinds because of the climate and soils of Hungary.
The Paprika Must Be Hungarian
There are sweet, and hot types, but Hungarian paprika has a particular taste that nothing rivals. No substitutes, please. Regular grocery store paprika will leave a slightly bitter aftertaste. Look for “Sweet Hungarian”. You can also order it online.
I include a table for the various designation of paprika flavors, but I usually use the Delicate. The others tend to be harder to find, although you can find almost anything on Amazon.
Types of Paprika
Designation
Description
Hungarian
Special Quality
mildest and brightest red, excellent aroma.
Különleges
Delicate
light to dark red, a mild yet rich flavor
Édes csemege
Exquisite Delicate
slightly more pungent than Delicate
Csemegepaprika
Pungent Exquisite Delicate
much more pungent Delicate
Csípos Csemege, Pikáns
Rose
Pale Red, strong aroma, mild pungency
Rózsa
Noble Sweet
most common paprika- bright red, slightly pungent
Édesnemes
Half-Sweet
blend of mild and pungent paprikas
Félédes
Hot
Light brown in color, this is the hottest paprika
Eős
What Are You Waiting For?
Make it for your family today! It will become a favorite.
Remember:
Use real Hungarian Sweet Paprika, never a substitute
Make the beef base, then create your goulash with your favorite stew vegetables
Don’t add the paprika during the beef browning, add it with the liquid. (paprika must not burn)
Are You Ready For A Comforting Beef Stew?
This is no run of the mill beef stew, and it is the paprika and the method that sets it apart. Trust me, this is real comfort food. Make it into the perfect meal by baking some homemade bread to serve with it, maybe instead of having it over noodles.
Are you ready to make this recipe? I hope so. And it is good enough to serve to friends at the bowl game get together, or have some simmering on the stove during busy holiday time.
Hungarian Cowboy
The csikós is a horse-mounted herdsman of Hungary.
Hungarian Goulash
This is probably the most well known Hungarian cooking term. The original word is spelled “Gulyas” and it is something between a stew and a soup, but always highly flavored with paprika.
The Hungarian Cowboys and shepherds made it in a big iron pot cooking over an open fire out on the Puszta.
There are so many ways to make this dish that you just have to try a few to see which type is your favorite. I suppose it is the Hungarian version of chili. Hearty, easy to make, and flavorful way to cook beef stewmeat.
In our vernacular it also came to mean a hodgepodge or jumble of elements (1)
Trivia From Out On the Plains
In Magyarol (Hungarian), “gulyás” means “herdsman” which gave the name to this quasi stew/soup we call goulash. Goulash is the phonetic way English speaking people pronounce the Hungarian sound for “s” . This is an “sh” sound to us. The herdsmen on the Puszta the cooked their meat in cauldron over an open fire. (The “Puszta” or open plains.) Most often beef was the main ingredient. Today we can use the recipe for any stewing meat we choose.
Why was paprika not added to the recipe for goulash until the 17th-century?
Because the plant was brought to the country by the Turks only in the 16-17th centuries. It was the herdsmen on the plains who first introduced it into their cooking… then the peasants got wind of it… and finally, the Aristocrats caught on that this was a delicious flavoring.
Not until the 19th century was the production of paprika refined enough to control the amount of hotness in the spice. Kalocsa and Szeged are the two main areas still famous for their paprika. People from those areas were instrumental in improving the production process that results in the best paprika in the world.
How Accurate Are Self Published Recipes?
Obviously, they don’t have the same professional checking and testing that a Cook’s Magazine might, but overall I found that they produce a quality food product. Missing is the nutritional info, sometimes the baking pan sizes, and occasionally the details of cooking method.
I guess those old time cooks took for granted that we would know all that.
Because of the tested quality of a professional cookbook, we should look over the amateur recipes of a personal collection with a bit more scrutiny. Although the Hungarian ladies had much more trustworthy recipes than the ones published by my own Church (which shall remain unnamed).
My advice: test a recipe before serving to guests.
This Recipe
That said, this recipe is so simple, basic, and forgiving it will turn out well (and become one of your favorites) no matter what – as long as you follow the basic directions.
Cakes and baked goods aren’t quite so forgiving!
Trinkets of Hungarian culture
A Word On Church Cookbooks
Church Cookbooks often hold sayings and poems, along with sweet little line drawings. Occasionally they have mistakes or repetitions of the same recipe. However, nothing is better for giving you a taste of the time and the interests of what often was the last bastion of the old country culture is ther loved, but strangely new world.
Authentic Goulash
The video gives the basics on Hungarian Goulash
There are a number of videos online, but this one is easy to follow with all the basics. Forget about the advice that you can use Spanish paprika.
Some people like a bit of fire added with jalapeno pepper.
This video advises caraway, while others say cumin. I don’t usually add either of these.
If you have typical American tastes (love the meat, but not too spicy, this is the version for you)
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.
Variations On Kossuth Cookies
I think the lemon flavor is the best way to enjoy these treats, but if you wish to vary them, there are traditional recipes which have cocoa or vanilla added instead of the lemon zest. I’ve also seen a variation with cinnamon sugar, as well.
Whip up a batch next time you want something special for guests, or for a quick family dessert.
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.
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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Paprika (spice made from peppers) is the most iconic of Hungarian flavors. It is the basis for this famous chicken dish.
It can be used on the stovetop or in the oven, which means you can make either style of Paprikash in it. Great for one dish meals, with a large cooking surface and a cover. 
