Best Hungarian Kiffles 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.

HUNGARIAN KIFFLES COOKIE FILLING/NUT FILLING

Steps:

• 1. Heat on stove until mixture thickens a little and is heated throughout. It is really done once it thickens up. **If mixture is too thick, add small amounts of milk to make mixture into a wet stiff paste consistency.

HUNGARIAN KIFFLES COOKIES/DATE NUT FILLING

Steps:

• 1. Combine dates with sugar and water. Cook over low heat until thick, stirring constantly (about 5 minutes).
• 2. Add 1/2 cup nuts and mix well.
• 3. ***Add a little more water to filling if needed, to make a soft paste consistency.

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 KIFFLES

Steps:

• In a large mixer bowl at medium speed, beat cream cheese and butter or margarine until creamy. At low speed, gradually beat in flour until moistened and begins to form a ball. Shape into forty-eight balls, about 2 tablespoons of dough each. Place balls in bowl, cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 4-inch circle. Place a rounded teaspoonful of filling or preserves in center ofeach fold, forming a crescent, and press edges together with tines of a fork. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks. Dredge in powdered sugar. Just before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Store loosely covered in a cool dry place.