Best Kiffles A Hungarian Pastry Recipes

HUNGARIAN KIFFLES

Steps:

• Beat butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until pale yellow and creamy. Gradually add 2 cups flour to butter mixture until the dough is too thick for the mixer. Stir remaining 2 cups flour into the butter mixture by hand and knead until dough falls off hands easily. Roll dough into a ball, place in bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Stir walnuts and sugar together in a bowl. Pour milk into walnut mixture and stir to form a paste.
• Turn dough onto a floured work surface and roll to desired thickness. Cut dough into 2-inch squares. Place about 1 teaspoon walnut filling in the center of each square. Roll the dough from 1 corner to the other corner around the walnut filling and transfer to a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until light brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

KIFFLES, A HUNGARIAN PASTRY

Steps:

• 1. (Original recipe called for 2 yeast cakes, but they are so hard to come by, that Dee Dee had to do the yeast conversion.) Mix the Yeast and Hot Water together first, then, add to sour cream. Finally add in egg yolks.
• 2. Mix the four and lard together with pastry blender, then by hand.
• 3. Add sour cream mixture to flour mixture; mix initially with a spoon, then with hands. Knead as with bread dough several minutes. If too wet, add 1 tablespoon at a time. Place in refrigerator overnight.
• 4. To roll out: Sprinkle sugar on board (like flour). The sugar is your friend in rolling this out. Take a handful of dough at a time from bowl in refrigerator. Roll out dough on sugared board. Use bread knife to cut dough into 2" squares. Place filling on one end, fold over twice. Place on ungreased cookie sheet with seam side down.
• 5. Bake 11 - 15 minutes in preheated oven set at 375 degrees.
• 6. Filling: I used 2 cans of Solo's Apricot Cake and Pastry Filling. DO NOT MAKE THIS WHEN WEATHER IS HIGH HUMIDITY.
• 7. Filling notes: My grandmother made her own apricot filling: 1 lb Apricot through a blender with water. Cook covered with sugar and water. She also made a nut filling: Grind walnuts very fine in blender. Add about 3 Tablespoons of sugar for every 12 ounces of nuts. Heat a little milk. Add a little at a time to nuts until it becomes a pasty.

HUNGARIAN KIFLI II

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream butter and cream cheese. Stir in the egg yolks and vanilla. Stir together the flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture a little at a time until it is fully incorporated. Divide dough into 5 parts, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate overnight.
• in a medium bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks, add sugar a little at a time while continuing to beat to stiff peaks. Fold in ground walnuts, and set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into 3 inch squares, place 1/2 teaspoon of filling in the center of each square and roll up from corner to corner. Place on cookie sheets and refrigerate until hardened.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Roll in confectioners' sugar when cool.

AUTHENTIC HUNGARIAN PASTRIES

Steps:

• Prepare the fruit filling by putting the apricots in a saucepan. Add water just to cover.Cook until soft, being very careful not to let it burn. You may have to add more water to prevent this.
• When fruit is soft, add the sugar and cook until thick. When thickened, remove from heat and puree in a food processor. Let cool slightly, then put into a freezer bag. When you are ready to use the filling just snip off the corner of the bag. (You may have extra filling left over at the end- it can be frozen for the next time).
• Prepare pastry: Mix the dough ingredients together with a pastry blender. Roll out onto parchment paper or a lightly floured board to about 1/4" thick rectangle.
• Using a sharp knife (or a pie crust wheel), cut the dough into 3" X 3" squares.
• With a sharp knife, cut the dough diagonally from each corner to within 1/2-inch of center of each square.
• Put about 1 teaspoons of the filling in the center of each square.
• Fold every other corner of the square to the center to form a pinwheel shape, overlapping the dough at the center and pushing down gently to seal in center.
• Transfer cookies to a lightly greased cookie sheet. (They dont really expand so you dont have to worry about leaving a lot of space in-between.).
• Bake at 350 for 20 minutes on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Do not let get brown or burn.
• Dust with powdered sugar when cooled.