Wednesday, December 28, 2016

In The Kitchen: Our Hungarian Christmas - Keeping the Memories Alive



By Jen | December 28, 2016
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Growing up we were never that traditional “English” or “Hungarian” family, rather we had our traditions that would embrace both sides of our ethnicity.  When it came to food, on the English side we would enjoy the traditional roast beef and Yorkshire pudding on a somewhat regular basis. And on the Hungarian side it was chicken paprika. But what I looked the most forward to each and every Christmas was grandma’s Hungarian cookies.  Every year she would bring over a plate of Hungarian nut strudels, apricot foldovers, butter cookie cutouts and Russian teacakes. This was my favorite Christmas memory. As time went on, my uncle and mother would carry on the tradition, but what I never truly understood until recently, is just how much time and effort they would put into this and why, perhaps, now is the time for the torch to be passed to other family members.

Now, being married to my own Hungarian, seemed like the perfect time to throw on our aprons, dig out the old family (very vague) recipes, and get to work! The last time we attempted one of these recipes it was the nut strudel. With little patience, if memory serves, they were somewhat of a disaster, at least in appearance.  They did taste OK. My other “a-ha” moment was realizing just how much flour, sugar and butter these cookies required.  Eeks!!!  But, then again, isn’t that what New Year’s resolutions are forto get back to the gym?

This year we decided to start small. And by small I mean, choosing a recipe that seemed reasonable for us to attempt – together – and still end up married by the time all the cookies made it out of the oven. We decided on what we call, Apricot Foldovers, but more traditionally called Apricot Kolaches.

The following is our first attempt at making these cookies.  Truth – we got tired and did not finish the first batch. Scroll down and you will see our second attempt, which, did not come out much better! But, we are learning and will continue until we have this recipe mastered!









TAKE 2: Our second attempt as we were very hopeful for success!











Well, we tried!  And we will try again until we get it right!  Anyone up for raspberry foldovers for Valentine's Day?