![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve11Okay, a few things I've learned from my first attempt at baking Hungarian cookies:
1) My Kiflies fluffed up and flaked up much more than grandmom's versions. I think next time I'll use margarine instead of crisco.
2) She must use WAY less sugar in the walnut filling than the recipes call for. they were way sweet. Also, the kitchen store was out of nut mills so i had to use the food processor to grind the walnuts, which was less than ideal.
3) I used some lemon juice in the kifli dough which I think turned out well, and some almond extract in the walnut filling which I think I will probably omit for next time.
4) My first attempt kiflies were like giant mutant versions of grandmom's, and yet still I think I made at least 50 cookies, probably more. I used balls of dough approx. 1.5 inches in diameter. Next time I will (a) halve the recipe (using 2 egg yolks), and (b) make the dough balls smaller.
5) I am AWFUL at rolling dough like a jelly roll. My nut rolls were more like, I dunno, nut "packages" or something. They hardly had any swirl to them.
6) Merengue does not like being rolled into a jelly roll and attempts to squeeze itself out the unrolled end, not unlike (and about as frustrating as) trying to roll up a puffy sleeping bag. I think I might have put too thick of a layer of it on the rolls.
7) It's probably easier to do nut rolls when you can roll the dough square. Mine was circular and that was less than ideal for the tops and the ends.
8) Probably I will use dry activated yeast next time and prime it with some warm water and the 3 tbsp sugar. I think I may have let the dough chill in the fridge for too long, because it really didn't rise all that well on the tops of the giant kind-of rolled up nut rolls. And I think that made them come out tasting rather yeasty. I was planning on sharing them at work but I don't think they're up to snuff. Also next time, since I'm still in the experimental stage, I'm going to reduce the recipe to 1/3 and attempt just to make one.
So in short, cookies are pretty good but not the same as Grandmom's, nut rolls are questionable because of my failures at making bread dough rise more than anything else. Adjustments for next time are documented.
1) My Kiflies fluffed up and flaked up much more than grandmom's versions. I think next time I'll use margarine instead of crisco.
2) She must use WAY less sugar in the walnut filling than the recipes call for. they were way sweet. Also, the kitchen store was out of nut mills so i had to use the food processor to grind the walnuts, which was less than ideal.
3) I used some lemon juice in the kifli dough which I think turned out well, and some almond extract in the walnut filling which I think I will probably omit for next time.
4) My first attempt kiflies were like giant mutant versions of grandmom's, and yet still I think I made at least 50 cookies, probably more. I used balls of dough approx. 1.5 inches in diameter. Next time I will (a) halve the recipe (using 2 egg yolks), and (b) make the dough balls smaller.
5) I am AWFUL at rolling dough like a jelly roll. My nut rolls were more like, I dunno, nut "packages" or something. They hardly had any swirl to them.
6) Merengue does not like being rolled into a jelly roll and attempts to squeeze itself out the unrolled end, not unlike (and about as frustrating as) trying to roll up a puffy sleeping bag. I think I might have put too thick of a layer of it on the rolls.
7) It's probably easier to do nut rolls when you can roll the dough square. Mine was circular and that was less than ideal for the tops and the ends.
8) Probably I will use dry activated yeast next time and prime it with some warm water and the 3 tbsp sugar. I think I may have let the dough chill in the fridge for too long, because it really didn't rise all that well on the tops of the giant kind-of rolled up nut rolls. And I think that made them come out tasting rather yeasty. I was planning on sharing them at work but I don't think they're up to snuff. Also next time, since I'm still in the experimental stage, I'm going to reduce the recipe to 1/3 and attempt just to make one.
So in short, cookies are pretty good but not the same as Grandmom's, nut rolls are questionable because of my failures at making bread dough rise more than anything else. Adjustments for next time are documented.
