Cheesecake, poppy seed roll, apple cake and other home baking.
A summer meal from childhood: cooked pasta topped with strawberries mashed with sugar and sour cream. Includes tips on how to make the sauce smooth or chunky, and what pasta and cream to use as substitutes for Polish products in the USA, UK, and Germany.
Honey gingerbread cookies made with sour cream, cut out with cookie cutters and decorated with royal icing, soft right after cooling. Includes tips on how to chill and roll the dough, what to do if the cookies harden, and how to substitute gingerbread spice abroad.
A homemade version of rogale made from half-puff pastry with a filling of white poppy seeds, almonds, and dried fruits, inspired by the EU-protected St. Martin's rogale from Poznań. Learn how to layer the dough with butter, roll the rogale into crescents, and where to buy white poppy seeds abroad.
Christmas Eve homemade dumplings mixed with a filling of poppy seeds, honey, raisins, walnuts, and candied orange peel, served warm or cold. Learn how to make soft dumplings and moist poppy seed filling, and what to buy abroad instead of łazanki and Polish poppy seeds.
Round rolls made from fluffy yeast dough with sweet cheese filling inside and buttery crumble on top, just like in a Polish bakery. The recipe yields 12 pieces, includes a method for a thick cheese filling that doesn't leak, and substitutes for cheese and yeast abroad.
Two layers of crispy puff pastry filled with thick vanilla custard and a layer of whipped cream, dusted with powdered sugar. This recipe includes how to bake flat layers from ready-made dough, cook a lump-free cream, and cut the kremówka evenly, as well as how to substitute Polish products abroad.
Fluffy yeast cake from a baking tray, densely topped with halved plums and sprinkled with fine buttery crumble: a cake of late summer and early autumn. This recipe is for one tray measuring 23×33 cm (9×13 inches), with a method for plums that won't make the cake soggy, and substitutes for plums, yeast, and flour abroad.
Two wavy layers of choux pastry filled with fluffy custard cream and butter, dusted generously with powdered sugar. Learn how to bake choux pastry so it doesn't collapse, how to make cream that won't curdle, and what to substitute for Polish pudding powder abroad.
Dumplings made from potato dough with a whole plum inside, topped with browned breadcrumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and sour cream. This includes how to make a thin and delicate dough, how to cook the dumplings so they don't fall apart, and what to substitute for plums abroad and out of season.
Moczka is a Silesian Christmas dessert: a thick, sweet mixture of gingerbread, almonds, nuts, and dried fruits cooked in compote.
Silesian lemon szpajza, a fluffy cream made from egg yolks whipped with sugar, egg whites, lemon, and gelatin, served in glass cups. This includes how to avoid weighing down the yolks with hot gelatin, what eggs to buy abroad, and how to convert gelatin to Knox packets.
A rectangular yeast cake from Silesia: thin dough under and over a cottage cheese filling, topped with a thick, buttery crumble and powdered sugar. This recipe is for one home baking tray, with a method for the crumble that doesn't slide off, and substitutes for cottage cheese and yeast abroad.
Easter mazurek on a thin shortcrust base with a rim, covered with kajmak and decorated with almonds, walnuts, and raisins. Learn how to make kajmak without boiling a closed can and what to buy abroad instead of Polish kajmak.
Fluffy yeast pancakes with apple slices, fried to a golden brown and dusted with powdered sugar. Learn how to make the starter, when to add the apples, and how to substitute fresh yeast abroad.
A quick gingerbread made in a 20×30 cm pan with honey, cocoa, and gingerbread spice, layered with plum jam and covered in chocolate. Learn how to avoid drying out the cake, what to substitute for gingerbread spice abroad, and how to bake traditional aging gingerbread.
Buttery sand cake made with wheat flour and potato starch, flavored with lemon, baked in a fluted tube pan. Tips on how to mix to avoid a soggy bottom and what to buy abroad instead of starch and a bundt pan.
Crispy, thin faworki made with egg yolks and cream, fried in lard and dusted with powdered sugar, traditionally enjoyed on Fat Thursday and during the last days of Carnival. This includes tips on how to aerate the dough, the frying temperature, and what to buy instead of spirit and lard abroad.
Christmas kutia made from wheat, poppy seeds, and honey with nuts, almonds, and dried fruits, served cold. Includes tips on how to cook wheat bought abroad and how to avoid bitter or watery kutia.
Makowiec zawijany is a yeast dough roll filled with a thick layer of homemade poppy seed filling with dried fruits and honey, baked in paper and drizzled with icing. It includes tips on preventing the roll from cracking and what ready-made poppy seed filling to buy in the USA and Germany.
Homemade pączki made from yeast dough with egg yolks, deep-fried, filled with rose petal jam and topped with icing or powdered sugar. Tips on achieving a light ring and substituting fresh yeast and rose jam abroad.
Cheesecake on a crumbly base with a filling made of ground twaróg cheese, raisins, and whipped egg whites, topped with a lattice of dough and lemon icing, baked in a rectangular pan. Includes tips on how to prepare twaróg so that the filling is not wet or lumpy, and what to substitute abroad.
Thin pancakes made from a runny batter, filled or folded into triangles with sweet cheese and pan-fried in butter. This includes how to fry thin pancakes without tearing and what to substitute for twaróg abroad.
Homemade apple pie on a shortcrust pastry with sautéed apples and cinnamon, topped with grated, frozen dough. With tips on which apples to buy abroad and how to avoid a soggy bottom.