Four desserts from my Serbian grandmother

My grandmother was from Serbia, part of the Yugoslav union when she came to the United States. She didn’t become a US citizen until I was 12 years old. She spoke the Rusyn dialect to her children, including my father, who was born in the US, and her English was broken and heavily accented throughout her life. Grandma was a wonderful pastry chef. Her desserts were many, and some are remembered mainly as Christmas pastries.

walnut pita

In my opinion, Nut Pita is one of the recipes always associated with Christmas. It is not a very sweet dessert, but it is quite rich. My Grandma Nut Pita is two layers of sugar-free puff pastry, with a filling of ground walnut, egg, and sugar. The fillings can also be meat, cheese or fruit fillings. Pita means cake in Serbian, and I understand that the puff pastry part of these pies is generally a puff pastry or puff pastry. Pie can be interpreted as anything made with a crust, usually on the bottom and sometimes also on top of a filling. The fillings can be sweet or savory. In Grandmas Nut Pita, the filling was made with a dozen eggs, separated. The whites are beaten separately and added to the yolks, sugar and ground nuts. The dough he made was leavened, though not puff pastry. It was rolled to fit a 13 x 9-inch pan, filled with filling, and covered with another layer of dough. After baking, it was always cut into a diamond shape, drizzled with vanilla, and then dusted with powdered sugar.

Kifli, Kiflicke, Kiefele

I’m not sure of the spelling of these little cakes. The pastry part of these is rich and flaky, but not sweet dough. It is rolled out into small squares or circles and a filling is placed in the center, opposite sides or corners are brought together and baked. The center fillings I remember most are Prune Lekvar, a smooth purée of boiled plums and apricot filling. Either of these two fillings is easy to make. Just take pitted dried fruits and a small amount of water with a little lemon peel and cook over low heat until the water has evaporated. Puree in food processor until smooth with sugar, to taste. It makes a wonderful filling, and it even tastes great spread on toast. The dough is light and flaky and the fillings are delicious.

strudel

I haven’t had a strudel like my grandmothers since I last saw her, a long time ago. I have ordered strudel in restaurants, and as these are usually German restaurants, the dough part was a thicker, bread-like dough. Grandma’s strudel was made by stretching the dough to cover the entire kitchen table, with an overhang of at least 12 inches. It was so thin that you could read a newspaper through the mass. It would sprinkle over one of several types of sweetened fillings, such as poppy seeds, ground walnuts, apples, cheese, and even cabbage. It always seemed like there wasn’t going to be enough filling as it was very thin, but the dough was also very thin so it was always perfect. Grandma’s strudel wasn’t just for parties, it was always present at her house.

bobalky

Small balls of dough, soaked in hot water and mixed with honey and ground poppy seeds. Unless one has grown up eating this dessert, it seems difficult to enjoy. Those of us in the family find these balls totally irresistible. Grandmas version is sweet with all the honey, but I have seen savory versions as well. It seems that many of the desserts I grew up with are also known in savory versions.

I am very lucky to have grown up in a family with such a rich heritage. Like most children, it’s easy to take for granted the culture and food traditions that become a part of your life. Too many kids today want to skip their family’s traditional meals and head to the local fast food restaurant. My grandparents used to say, “With age comes wisdom.” It took me many years to realize that they were right and now I am trying to pass these traditions on to them.

Thanks for taking the time to read my article. I hope it was informative and helped you on your own culinary journey.