Happy Holidays, my dear blog readers. I cannot begin to thank you for all of your lovely comments and your beautiful support throughout this year. In 2016, Kitcheninspirations is in her 8th year and it’s been quite a joyous ride. Originally this little blog was simply a repository of recipes, an on-line cookbook of some of my favourites over the years. But then someone commented and the rest is history. I cherish each and every one of you and hope to meet you in person soon. I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your family and cherished friends and JT and I wish you the very best for 2016.
One of the things I’ve noticed as a child of immigrant parents is that my generation doesn’t hold as much to tradition as the previous generation did. Case in point, every Christmas my dear Mom would make Beigli, a traditional Hungarian Christmas treat; she would not make it any other time of the year, even though she loved it. I, on the other hand, will make anything as long as I can find the ingredients. Except Beigli. Beigli is an acquired taste; it’s not horrible or weird, it’s just not something Canadians are used to eating so, I generally only make it if we have other Hungarians around. This past Christmas was the second year we were invited to my cousin Lucy’s place for Angyal so I decided to make her Beigli. Beigli is a yeasted buttery dough rolled with a ground poppy seed mixture or a ground walnut mixture. My Mom put raisins in the poppy seed version but I don’t recall them in the walnut ones. This is only the second or third time I have made these treats, the two other times were well before this blog so it was more than eight years ago. Hungarian pastries are not sickly sweet and have only a little sugar in them, so if you are a sweet tooth, these are not for you. You may also wish to avoid the poppy seed Beigli if your work does any type of drug testing.
Beigli
Makes 1 30 cm (12 inch) each Poppy Seed (Mákos) and Walnut (Diós) Beigli
Original recipe from my dear Mom
Ingredients for the Dough:
- 133 mL milk, warm
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 8 g instant yeast
- 33 g icing sugar
- 350-400 g AP flour
- 167 g butter, room temperature
- 3 eggs, divided
- 1 egg white
- pinch of salt
Directions for the Dough:
- Mix the warm milk, granulated sugar and yeast in a bowl and set aside.
- Using the scraper paddle of your stand mixer, rub the butter into 350 g of flour. Switch to the dough hook.
- Add 2 lightly beaten eggs, icing sugar and the salt to the yeast and mix well. Pour into the flour butter bowl and knead for a few minutes until the ingredients are combined and the dough becomes shiny and smooth (you may need to add a bit more flour so it’s not shaggy). Cover with a clean cloth and set aside for 2 hours in a warm, draft free spot.
Ingredients for the Poppy Seed Filling:
- 200 mL milk
- 200 g poppy seeds, ground
- 33 g semolina
- 133 g icing sugar
- 1 lemon, zested
- 67 g raisins
Directions for the Poppy Seed Filling:
- Combine the ground poppy seeds, semolina, icing sugar and lemon zest and mix well.
- Bring the milk to a boil, remove from heat and stir into the poppy seed mixture. Add the raisins and mix well. Set aside to cool completely (don’t worry, it will thicken as it cools).
Ingredients for the Walnut Filling:
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 200 mL water
- 200 g walnuts
- 67 g panko
- 30 mL water
- 1 lemon, zested
Directions for the Walnut Filling:
- In the bowl of your food processor, process the walnuts, breadcrumbs and zest until finely ground. Set aside.
- Combine the water and sugar in a heavy bottom pan and bring to a boil without stirring. Continue to boil until it reaches 110 °C (230 °F). Remove from heat and immediately stir into the walnut mixture, adding the water and stir well.
Beigli Assembly and Baking
- Divide the dough into two equal portions. Roll each portion into 1/2 cm thick rectangles (about 11 1/4″ x 12″). Spread the entire amount of the filling evenly onto each rectangle, leaving about 1 cm wide border all around.
- Roll the dough from the long side and pinch the side to seal. Turn the ends into the roll.
- Place on a cookie sheet. Repeat for the other filling, brush both rolls with the remaining beaten egg. Allow to rest for one hour.
- Whisk the egg white and brush the rested rolls. Set aside for 30 more minutes. Pre heat the oven to 375° F (190° C).
- Once rested, lightly poke the sides of the rolls with a fork to avoid the dough breaking. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and baked through.
- Serve the rolls sliced into 1-1.5 cm slices.
Dear Eva, thank you for sharing your childhood memories.
Poles have exactly the same poppy seed cake! Can you believe it? It looks and tastes 100% same (I did taste it in Hungary once). Every supermarket carries now the poppyseed roll mixture, though the best is when one soaks and grinds the poppy and then makes it from the scratch. The walnut one is typically Hungarian I think. I must say Hungarian and Polish sweets have two things in common: they are not as sweet as North American (or French!) but they are very floury and more suited for an afternoon tea than as the end of a meal (in my opinion). I’m impressed by the perfect shape of your rolls! I know they are very difficult to master (I haven’t even tried…).
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Thank you so much Sissi. My cousin’s wife said she was quite impressed with my rolls too, hers always split. I wonder if the Polish version has the same dough, made with yeast and butter? Im not sure if I’ll make it again, it was fun to make and tasty but it was a lot of work.
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I’ve not heard of these, Eva, but I bet that for you, some of the enjoyment is derived from the memories they bring to the table. I bet you sat and watched her prepare these almost every Christmas of your childhood. Those memories are sweeter than any holiday treat.
Wishing you and JT the very best of everything in 2016, Eva.
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My mother also has recipes she loves but only makes at Christmas. She says that’s what makes enjoying those recipes so special – you only get them once a year! I haven’t heard of beigli but it looks really good – very pretty with the layering xx
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I know I will like both your poppy seed and walnut beigli, more so because they have little sugar in them. Asians in general do not like overly sweet pastries. I am glad we had the opportunity to meet in person and hoping to meet again in the future.
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Happy Holidays Eva! These are perfect absolutely perfect!!! Could it be your mom put raisins in the poppy seed beigli because it tends to be a bit drier than the walnut filling? Or because adults were the ones eating it? I cannot remember any of us children going for the poppy seed beigli or for anything with raisins in it. Even though my grandma made twice as many walnut beigli the last remaining beigli was always the poppy seed. The drug testing never occurred to me, poppy seeds being a staple food item in Eastern Europe haha. You are so right about the sweetness, my palate never adjusted to it. Too much sugar kills so much of the flavor. HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
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Beigli. A kedvencem XX
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Wish I could share it with you Liz.
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I’m intrigued Eva. I love poopy seeds and walnuts both in small quantities. I’d love to know how an entire roll of them would go down. Probably fine if it came with a glass of Baileys!
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Yeah I’m not a sugary-sweet kinda gal so these seem right up my alley.
Merry belated Christmas, you beautiful woman you.
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Congrats on nearly 8 years Eva! So happy that we have had the opportunity to get to know one another over the years. I hope you are having a fabulous holiday season, here’s to a happy New Year and a fantastic 2016!
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I hope 2015 has been a great year for you and that 2016 continues with the trend.
My mom used to make the poppyseed (mac) and walnut (nuc) rolls as well but since yeast was tricky for her, not too often. I don’t recall either semolina or breadcrumbs ever being included … or raisins in the walnut version either. The filling to dough ratio is just like hers. Not too much and not too sweet.
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Wishing you and JT a wonderful new year. I’m sure your mother would be happy to know that you have kept and used her traditional recipe.
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My brother-in-law’s mother makes Croatian versions of these (throughout the year) and they are great. I prefer the walnut ones, but the poppyseed ones are nice too. Thanks for posting the recipes so that we can make them too! Happy holidays to you and JT, and all the best for 2016!
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Beautiful. Happy 2016 !
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They are so good for the afternoon tea! We always love the poppy filled bread rolls. Next time I gotta try one with nutty filling.
Happy New Year, Eva.
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