Sweet Holidays

LET’S COOK LITHUANIAN
with Dana Siliūnas.

HONEY COOKIES
Meduolėliai
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 egg yolks
3 Tbsps. honey
2 Tbsps. melted butter
2 Tbsps. sugar
2 Tbsps. sour cream
1 tsp. spice mixture
1 Tbsp. caramel (burnt sugar liquid)

Add honey, spices, and butter to the burnt sugar liquid and bring to a boil. Cream egg yolks with sugar until white; add the sour cream. Add honey mixture, when cooled, and the flour, mixed with the baking powder. Knead well. Cool the dough, roll out and cut out various shapes of cookies. Bake in a low oven.

POPPY SEED ROLL
Vyniotas pyragas su aguonomis

6 cups flour
1 cup milk
2 oz. melted butter
6 eggs
1 oz. yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups poppy seed
1/2 stick vanilla
Lemon peel

Mix 1/3 of the flour with warm milk. Dilute yeast with a little of the sugar and add to the mixture. Beat well and let stand to rise. Then beat well again, add egg yolks beaten with the sugar until light, grated lemon peel and melted butter. Knead very well and let stand to rise. Divide the dough into two parts, roll each into a thickness of the pinkie finger. Spread with prepared poppy seed filling, roll up loosely. Brush edges with egg white and seal. Put on baking sheet and let rise. Brush with beaten egg and prick the roll using a toothpick, in sev­eral places to allow steam formed by thefilling to evaporate, so that the cake will not burst. Bake the cakes 45 to 50 min­utes. Remove from oven and wrap in a moist cloth while the cake is still hot. This will make the crust of the cake soft and tasty.

Poppy seed filling:
Wash poppy seeds and let stand in hot water. Drain and grind the seeds in a meat grinder. Add sugar, vanilla mixed with sugar, and whipped egg whites of three eggs. Mix lightly and immediately spread on rolled out dough.

FRUIT WREATH
Vaisių vainikas
5 cups flour
1 cup milk
3 egg yolks
2 oz. butter
1/2 oz. yeast
1/2 cup sugar

Filling:
2 cups dried fruit
2 Tbsps. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix a yeast dough using warm milk. When it rises, beat well, add egg yolks beaten with sugar, and flour. Knead well, and when finished kneading add melted butter. When the dough rises again, roll out several layers of one fin­ger-thick and the diameter of the tube pan in which the cake will bake. Cut out the center of the layers using a glass. Carefully place the first layer on the bottom of the tube pan, and sprinkle with finely cut up dried fruit mixture with sugar. Put the next layer on top and sprinkle with the fruit, then add the third layer, until the pan is half-filled.When the cake rises, brush the top with beaten egg and sprinkle with crumbs. Bake in medium oven for 45 minutes. Serve on a cake plate or cut into thin slices.

ALMOND COOKIES
Migdoliniai sausainiai
2 3/4 cups flour
7 oz. butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cups shelled almonds
3 eggs
1 Tbsp. sugar (to sprinkle on top)

Grind almonds and cream with the butter. Then add two eggs and one egg yolk, the sugar, and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add the flour, knead into the dough, and roll out to a thickness of Vs inch. Cut out various shapes of cookies, place on baking sheet. Brush cookies with egg white and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden.

SOUR CREAM COOKIES
Grietininiai sausainėliai
3 3/4 cups flour
10 oz. butter
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 1/2 oz. nuts or almonds
2 Tbsps. sugar (for sprinkling on top)
1 tsp. vanilla sugar
1 egg yolk

Chill the butter before making the dough. Quickly knead remaining ingre­dients into the butter, so that the butter will not melt from the warmth of the hands. Cover the dough with a cloth and put into the refrigerator for one hour. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Using cookie cutters, cut out vari­ous shapes of cookies, brush the cookies with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with sugar and nuts. Bake in a hot oven.