It is really getting close to Christmas and most of us are getting ready for some serious Christmas-cookie-baking marathon. I myself will be baking some more of vanilla crescents (there is never enough of those guys) and some vanocka. To make it easier for you here is a complete recipe list of them:
CZ: Vanoce se blizi a s nim i neodlucitelny maraton peceni vanocniho peciva. Aby se vam lepe peklo, udelala jsem list vsech vanocnich receptu tak si ohrnte rukavy a jde se do toho!
- Rum balls/Rumove koule
- Vanocka
- Walnut Tarts/Orechove dorticky
- Linz Tarts/ Linecka kolecka
- Vanilla crescents/Vanilkove rohlicky
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Hi Tanja! I am actually planning to try your vanilla crescents recipe this weekend! I will let you know how it turns out. Thanks for all these recipes.
Hi Bel,
that is a good choice – vanilla crescents are probably the easiest out of all of the recipes. But they are also my most favorite ones 🙂
Hi Bel,
Make sure not to eat them all at once. Vanilla crescents are best kept in paper box at least for two weeks before Christmas. This helps the flavors to sink in. Trust me there is no comparison(: Good luck
yeah, I agree with that. They fall apart, Yummy. And they are even better about half way into April 🙂
Marika, can it be a plastic box or does it have to be a paper box?
I think I am going to be making a double recipe, then! So that there will be enough to last until Christmas (hopefully). Maybe I will hide some away to “age.” 🙂
We used to keep ours in a shoe boxes with paper in there. Of course that is all we had back then when we were little. Now, I use a tupper wear, sometimes I put a paper tower to seal the lid and absorbe all the moisture if any. Worked just great. And you seal in the favore. 🙂
this might sound funny but do you have a recipe for hovinka’s? It might be my grandma’s term for them, but in your picture up top, it looks like the ones second from the right. The little chocolate ones beside the vanilla crescents. Thank you so much for posting all these recipes!
those look like the rum balls. Or a variation of them. We used to make these – just add cocoa powder in the dough for more chocolate favore. You can roll them in cocoa powder, nuts or grated coconut. We also used to make these from piskoty or left over piskot. 🙂
Tana, plastic is just fine, like Lenka said, just make sure that you line it with paper towel. If I don’t have paper boxes around the house I usually get them from Dollar store(:
Anybody has a recipe for vosi hnizda? (wasp hives)
My sme piekli z Lukym perniky a vsetky sme ich zjedli. Tak zaciname od zaciatku, diky moc ze inspiraciu. Musim vyskusat. Milujem Vianocku, ale neviem ci to zvladnem……
Tani keby si si chcela precitat clanok o jednej milej dievcinke z Czechmatediary tu je:
http://slovakmama.blogspot.com/2009/12/vianocne-darceky-alebo-tanja-z.html
Pa pa
Slovakmama
The vanilla crescents turned out great! Thank you! 🙂
@Andrea: Hahaha!! Hovinka – that’s funny! They are also called Rum balls (the link to the recipe is in this post) – they definitely look strange..
Vosi hnizda – t tech musim napsat pristi rok!
Lenko – diky moc!!!
Try this one http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/bread/swallowtail-houska.html
HI dont try to make any czech cookies unless you have a real czech rum (tuzemak)using northamerican rum is not
as tasty!
Thanks for the recipes.
I had a Czech friend who used to give me cookies for Christmas. The crescents were good, but I really liked the chocolate ones. They had a texture like very firm shortbread and were chocolate and not sweet. She gave me the recipe, but I lost it when I moved and can not remember what they were called. I wish I had had that recipe again.
Hi Pat, was she making those walnut tarts? Those have exactly that exact description you gave us. If that’s the case, the recipe is right here 🙂
The only Czech cookie that I’ve never seen since my grandmother died is “ježky”. They’re an extruded cookie, hard and rough on the roof of your mouth. They are made on the same day the pracny are made, because both cookies contain the same ingredients, except that one cookie requires the egg yolk and the other takes the egg white. Any contact with the Czech side of my family, particularly around Christmas, involved these cookies, but no Czech I’ve ever asked about them has ever seen or heard of them.
Oh, so Jamie, your grandma was Czech???? Now it all makes sense ;))
I have never heard of “Jezky” either. I even tried to find in on a Czech cooking webiste and with no luck. Sorry..
Vlastimil, both of my mother’s parents were Czech, but it doesn’t explain anything. They stopped speaking Czech when my mother started school, so my mother couldn’t speak it, and I never learned anything but food names, many of which are not used in the Czech Republic now (for example, my family says houska instead of vánočka).
By the way, is there a specific Czech name for that prune-and-white koláč that I always call chodská pizza?
Sorry, I have not heard of these either. I even asked my mom. No luck. 🙁
Thanks for the recipes. -)
Tanja, I am in hog heaven looking at these recipes. My mother baking at Christmas, me doing all the sprinkling, jamming duties, storing in shoe boxes in the garage, sneaking in to “taste”, intentionally breaking for the taste fest, wow, what awesome memories you bring back with these recipes. My mother’s cookbook is unfortunately out of reach for me so your recipes are a great find. Do you have more? I am racking my brain right now trying to come up with the names but all I can see is the measuring, the rolling and of course the yummy taste.
Thank you for sharing and if you have more recipies I would love to see them.
Hello Tanja, I found your site while searching for the name of a czech holiday cookie. It is two pieces of almond pastry bars with strawberry sandwiched in between. Is there a specific name for those other than cukovi?
hmm…you mean strawberry jam in between?
Yes, strawberry jam.
Hi,
I am wondering about the picture above that shows 6 different cookies. My husband is Czech and I am doing first Czech Christmas traditions. From left to right, what is the fifth and sixth cookies and do you offer recipe for them. Husband explained they have cream inside of them. Any help is appreciated. Thank you very much, Christy
these are rum balls and here is the recipe:
http://czechmatediary.com/2009/11/27/another-christmas-cookie-recipe-martina-rum-balls/
Years ago I worked with a Czech woman who made the most wonderful cookies ever. She taught me how to make a few of those you show above but my favorites were the Beehives, also called Uly I think. Eventually I found a place to buy the forms and now they are a Christmas tradition in my house.
That’s grate Nancy! I hope she showed you how to make vanilla crescents too (vanilkove rohlicky)…
Can anyone help me figure out a Czech cookie. My Grandma called it tczesky (spelling?). She would cut strips of dough and lay them over the back of a rounded bread pan. Then they were covered in powdered sugar and peanuts. They were always a dry cookie and not very sweet. The only cookie I can find that is similar is the vanilla crescents. I was wondering if this recipe cut into strips instead was it.
My grandmother made a pastry called ‘listy’ (sp?) that sounds similar, twisted strips of thin, crispy, puff-pastry like, dusted with powdered sugar. Her version did not include peanuts, however. In English, she called them Angel Wings. Not sure if that helps you at all, but I’m craving them.
Thanks for sharing. I have about 12 recipes, but I’m trying to find as many cookie or other deserts from around the world Christmas recipes I can share and make with my grandchildren, part of a new tradition to go with the ones we’ve shared for many generations, past and present.
What a great tradition!
hmm…did it have any filling?
My mom used to make a cookie that i loved as a kid. So many years ago though, and i cannot find a similar recipe in my searches. It was cut into long rectangles and the bottom was very buttery, crumbly, soft cookie and it had a crisp meringue- like top to it. Any ideas?
My dad is Czech and I want to make these to surprise him 🙂 hope they turn out like he makes them
My grandma used to make these! She would add elderberry into the meringue. Unfortunately, I do not know the recipe.