Hungarian kiffels

Preparing For the Storm – Day 764

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Christmas Lights Before the Big Storm – Photo: L. Weikel

Preparing For the Storm

Well, no one can look at the major stories in today’s news cycle and not have the question at least cross their minds, “Huh. I wonder if it was in the stars?” Eclipse? What eclipse? Meanwhile, my neck of the woods, the mid-Atlantic and Northeast region of the United States, is preparing for ‘the’ storm that just might cap off 2020 in the manner in which we’re accustomed to being treated by this year-of-all-years: brutally.

Today was a huge day of enormous contrasts lurching from one spectrum to the other. Not least of these being the United States breaching the appalling record of 300,000 Covid-19 related deaths while on the same day rolling out and beginning administration of a vaccine for that same disease astonishingly ahead of predictions.

And of course we can’t forget the seemingly never-ending saga of the 2020 presidential election. Apparently if we didn’t have the good fortune of a solid civics course growing up, we’re being given a crash tutorial in it over the past six weeks. Sadly, I don’t think the obscure challenges and desperate last-minute attempts to thwart the will of the people will end with today’s formal Electoral College certification, either.

While we were treated to watching the broadcast of arcane but somehow reassuring legislative protocols being enacted by electors across the nation, we were simultaneously reminded that more than one of our states required said electors to be either swept into chambers via secret passages or forced to meet non-locally due to credible threats of violence against them for doing their jobs.

Yep. Must be something in the stars.

Need a Distraction

Beyond the somewhat dramatic events of the outside world, my family has experienced some of its own drama. While I’m not one to share the details of others’ traumas, suffice it to say, the day was marked by two falls and one emergency surgery. Stressful to be sure; but by all appearances, at least two out of three of these events could lead to some essential and long-awaited opportunity for change.

Not a walk in the park, though. And definitely revelatory of some long-suspected obfuscation. How eclipse-like (wink).

All of which leads me to an overwhelming desire for some distraction. In light of the winter storm bearing down upon us (over a foot of snow, perchance?), I’ve decided to revisit my culinary quest down the memory hole to Christmases past that I indulged in last year. Yes, I’m going to bake some kiffels. And this year I’m going to do it before Christmas actually arrives!

To the Grocery Store

Thus I am heading out tomorrow to gather the supplies I will need to recreate one of the best memories of Christmas from my childhood: Hungarian kiffels. I’m hoping that this year I’ll be able to dive right into turning out some decent confections. Last year entailed a significant amount of both trial and error as well as seemingly divine (if niece-conveyed) intervention.

This Christmas promises to have its ups and down, its challenges, and hopefully some unexpected moments of brilliance and love.

I want to savor as much goodness as possible. As I’ve said a couple of times in the past several days, 2020 and its after-effects aren’t over yet, and the next six weeks are probably going to be even more intense than we think we can handle.

But we can. And we will. And Goddess willing, as we weather the snowstorm barreling our way this week, we’ll at least have some kiffels to see us through.

More Christmas Lights Before the ‘Big Storm’ – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-347)

Kiffel Mastery – Day 414

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Aunt Grace would be proud – Photo: L. Weikel

Kiffel Mastery

It’s been days since I embarked upon this quest. I’ve received an assortment of earnest clues from you, my companions on this 1111 devotion; glimpses of possibilities and tantalizing if elusive hints of how I might walk in the footsteps of Aunt Grace and bring forth the resurrection (at least in our household) of her nut-filled kiffels. I thank you for suggestions – they were all frustratingly, as I say, elusive.

Not the Only Tradition

Just as I’ve regaled you with memories of the walnut torte birthday cakes Aunt Grace would bake us (supplemented, of course, by Carol’s Chocolate Cake), I realize, now that I’ve been recently focusing my attention on my childhood, that kiffels were every bit as much a Christmas tradition in our home as the walnut torte was our birthday tradition.

To be sure, my father’s mother was an extraordinary baker in her own right, albeit not Hungarian (actually, mostly Irish). Grandma’s coffee cake, apple pie, and biscuits – oh my goodness, her biscuits, that didn’t even need butter on the soft, downy insides revealed when you broke one open – were enough to make you melt into a pool of drool.

And her coffee cake was indeed another part of our Christmas morning tradition – although I seem to recall she would bake that at other times of the year as well. Same with her apple pie, which was extraordinary. (My recollection of her apple pie is all about the crust. I remember eating all the cinnamon infused filling first so I could ever so slowly, bite by bite, savor the crust, baked just to the perfect state of doneness.)

Christmas Tradition

But on Christmas morning, all my nieces and nephews would have to sit on the stairs waiting for the adults to get their cups of coffee and settle into their spots in the living room before the stocking unpacking and present unwrapping extravaganza could commence. (I got to come down maybe a minute or so earlier to claim my ‘spot’ in the room, because I was technically in the generation of their parents.) Part of my parents’ and brothers and sisters’ ritual, once settled, was to pass to each other the round ‘tin’ lined with waxed paper that held the cherished Aunt Grace’s kiffels nestled in confectioner’s sugar. As a child, I favored the powdered sugar and could take or leave the kiffels themselves. But as maturity crept up on me, I began to appreciate the adults’ culinary discernment.

After we married and moved away, and Aunt Grace grew much older, my closest sister and her husband began making the kiffels. For a good ten years or so, they would see to it that a small round tin, lined in waxed paper and filled with kiffels, would be part of our continuing Christmas tradition.

Times Change

As I’ve mentioned recently, I was always under the impression that the desserts made by Aunt Grace were simply too difficult for me to replicate. So it’s only been in the past four years or so when I’ve actually started trying my hand at the walnut torte – and now, this year, the kiffels.

I find it fascinating to realize the pedestal upon which I placed these confections, honestly believing I did not have the baking skills to recreate them for myself. I’ve found I make tweaks to the walnut torte recipe; every time I make it I bring it inch-by-inch closer to capturing the essence of Aunt Grace’s cakes.

Kiffel Challenge

Which leads me to these kiffels and, in particular, the quest to recreate the quintessential nut filling.

So many of you remarked on egg whites, sugar, and walnuts. A few had butter in the recipe instead of egg whites. Nobody had a lot to say as far as proportions of those ingredients. But I’m delighted that you cared enough to give me your best ideas! Thank you!

This morning, though, I decided that I was either going to give it a try and ‘wing it’ as far as proportions – or I would have to let it go for the season. After gathering the ingredients for the nut filling as best as I could guess, I looked over one last time all the comments that were made either on the blog posts or via email. And then a miracle happened!

As if she’d heard me from afar, Aunt Grace had my niece write the exact recipe for her kiffels’ nut filling and post it under my blog post! Let me emphasize this:with exact measurements!  I was delighted! For whatever reason, just having that confirmation of exactly what she would use and in the proportions she used them made all the difference for me.

The Real Deal – Photo: L. Weikel

Eureka Moment

And then, as if the clouds parted and angels started singing, I suddenly fully comprehended that I’d not been rolling the kiffels – I’d been pinching them. Closing them and their fillings up as if they were pierogies. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

So now, all of a sudden, my creations look like kiffels, too!

I also made a point of allowing the balls to sit out a bit more before ‘wrastling’ them into submission with the rolling pin. The results are, if I may be so bold, spectacular.

The delectable deliciousness I’ve been indulging in this evening as the kiffels have come out of the oven and then bathed in a shower of confectioner’s sugar after cooling is so reminiscent of Christmases past that I feel a different sort of connection this year. I’m appreciating the tastes that accompanied the rituals of stockings and presents. The anticipation for and appreciation of Aunt Grace’s baking. And the warm feeling I have deep down that I eventually managed to get it right. Honestly, I think Aunt Grace was watching over me today, especially. It just all clicked into place and my hands knew what to do.

I’m committing these recipes to electronic and handwritten recipe cards. These traditions are too delicious and nurturing to the soul to lose.

(T-697)

Kiffel Debrief #1 – Day 411

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
First kiffel display – Photo: L. Weikel

Kiffel Debrief #1  

Yes! I finally managed to make my first-ever batch of Hungarian kiffels, aka “Aunt Grace’s Kiffels.”

I’m totally puzzled by this experience. The recipe, first of all, is decidedly incomplete at written. There is no mention of adding flour gradually – and by hand, nonetheless. This potentially game-changing detail was only conveyed orally. (OK, in a text message from one person and an email from another – but the salient point remains, nonetheless, that this detail was not included in the recipe itself!)

First Impression

My primary hope as I jumped right into Phase Two of this effort was that this should be fairly straightforward. Phase One entailed creaming the butter and cream cheese, adding flour, rolling that mixture into little balls, and then “chilling them overnight.”

Surely Phase Two, which only consisted of rolling out the little balls on a powdered sugared board, filling each with ½ tsp. of filling, baking them the requisite minutes, and then dusting each with another coat of powdered sugar sounded, again, pretty darn straightforward and, dare I say, easy.

Wrong!

I couldn’t have been more wrong. First of all, the little balls of dough essentially became pellets of iron as they chilled innocently in my refrigerator. Good grief. I could’ve more easily loaded them into my old neighbor’s musket (thinking of you, Earl) and done serious damage to intruders than I could effortlessly roll them out and fill them with filling.

So here I was. I’d set up my living room as a miniature assembly line, with tray tables set up where I would roll, fill, and load onto the cookie sheets. This enabled me to create the kiffels while watching a sci-fi series with Karl (The Expanse on Amazon Prime – it’s good!) instead of being relegated to the kitchen, where I have no counter space anyway.

I know I’m going to be sore tomorrow from stooping over the tray tables. It took a considerable amount of weight and pressure to roll out those iron balls! And I just never seemed to get the knack of creating a rolled out ball of any consistency. Each and every one was a study in avant-garde artistic expression.

They may have effused artistry (if you looked at them with only one eye, perhaps) – but I assure you, they were irritatingly labor intensive and actually, in a word, ugly.

They did not harken back even remotely to the kiffels I remember of my youth. Nor did they resemble my youngest sister and her husband’s efforts over the years to produce kiffels just before Christmas.

In fulfillment of my commitment to full frontal honesty with my wonderful readers, I offer you this photo of the very first batch’s arrival from the oven. Not a pretty sight:

First ever batch of kiffels (poppyseed filling) – Photo: L. Weikel

Christmas Cat

As can also be seen in my main photo at the top of this post, I did reach a point where they at least looked somewhat remotely like kiffels. They don’t look half bad adorning the Christmas Cat plate.

But I assure you, due to the shocking labor intensity required of me, I only ended up baking about three dozen. And I only used poppy seed and sour cherry preserves as fillings. I’m feeling a major yearning for the sugar/cinnamon/crushed walnut topping that goes into them as well – but have to date found no one who definitively maintains that part of the recipe.

I may have to improvise.

Why Puzzled?

You may be wondering why I stated early on in this post that this experience has me puzzled. That’s because the recipe is literally only one simple paragraph long. I assumed it was easy – and therein lay my folly.

I’ve felt an unspoken intimidation whenever I considered baking anything of Aunt Grace’s. I believed with all my heart that my baking could never be as good as hers. So when I started challenging myself a couple years ago with baking “Aunt Grace’s cake” – and discovering that, with just a little practice I could make a pretty terrifically yummy cake – I got cocky. I thought the kiffels would naturally be easier than that magnificent cake.

But I was wrong. The kiffels are crafty. And I will not rest until I figure out how to fill them with that elusive nut mixture.

Until then, it’s Lisa vs. kiffels.

(T-700)