Czechmatediary

Now that Thanksgiving is out of the way (still have a bellyache by the way) let’s talk CHRISTMAS!!! My Czech friend Martina agreed to some truly delicious guest post…

Ted kdyz je Dikuvzdani jiz za nami (porad mam z neho jeste precpane bricho), muzeme se zacit bavit o VANOCICH!! Moje kamaradka Martina (ceska) nam popisuje sve vanoce…plus vyborny recept.

CZECH COOKIE BAKING AND HOW CHRISTMAS IS THE TIME OF PEACE ;0)

- by Martina

When I think about a Christmas time back in Czech – when I was just a little girl – my mind pictures the classroom environment just before the winter break. The blackboard was written all over with notes for our teacher not to test us anymore since we had to be helping our moms with Christmas baking and had no time for studying. That’s right, we had to help with  baking of the cookies, gluing them together with filling and decorating them. The note would usually sound something like this: “Christmas is the time for peace and not for testing; if we get an ‘F’, your fish will not taste the same’ (it rhymes in Czech)”. And to our surprise, the teachers took the note to their hearts and left us alone. Probably they were really afraid that their carp will not taste that good. It worked every year. (more…)

Vanocka ( = “Christmas bread”) has a long history in Czech and Slovakia and without it Christmas is simply just not complete. In the past the Czechs called it pletenice or zemle or ceplik. Before the 18th century it could only be bought at the baker store – people never baked it at home. Since preparing Vanocka wasn’t and isn’t easy, a variety of customs have developed over time to make sure that the baking process is successful. One of those customs, for example, was for the woman to wear a white apron and kerchief while she was cooking so she couldn’t talk, AND she was supposed to jump up and down while the dough was rising (I personally still do that and my Vanocka always comes out perfect; one time I wore an apron that was green and instead of Vanocka I found a baked pig in my oven! So all that to say, please make sure that your apron is WHITE!). Another tradition was (and still is) to bake it with a coin which you insert into a dough prior to baking and whoever finds it in their slice is to be wealthy the following year.

CZ: Jak vsichni vime, bez Vanocky proste nejsou zadne Vanoce. Nagooglovala jsem si jeji historii a predstavte si, ze az do 18. stoleti byla k dostani pouze u pekare! Nikdo si ji “nedovolil” pect doma. Dnes jsou ale jine casy, zeny jsou emancipovane a nejaky ten obtiznejsi recept je preci nezastavi. Tak jdeme na to! Jo, a malem jsem zapomnela; jestlize se bojite toho zapletani copu, nebojte se, je tu YouTube! (more…)

I have already revealed the “secret” recipes of Vanilkove Rohlicky and Linecka kolecka. The Christmas cookie journey is far from being over however. Czech Christmas would not be complete if one did not serve Orechove dorticky (Walnut Tarts). Many of you may know them under a completely different name such as “Grandma’s circles” or “Chocolate circles” or some other names that I am not even aware of. As you will see from the recipe bellow, this Christmas dessert truly is a chocolate suicide. But who cares? It’s Christmas – calories don’t count!

CZ: V nedavne minulosti jsem vam jiz predstavila jak recept na vanilkove rohlicky, tak na linecka kolecka; to ale samozrejmne neni zdaleka konec vanocniho cukrovi – spise zacatek! Dnes se podivame na Orechove dotrticky, ktere jsou zname take pod jmeny jako “babiccina kolecka” nebo “cokoladova kolecka” (a vy je mozna znate i pod jinym jmenem!). Na rozdil od mych predeslych receptu, zdanlive nevinne orechove dorticky jsou prakticky cokoladovou sebevrazdou, nebo-li kalorickou bombou. Nastesti jsou ale Vanoce a kalorie se v prosinci nepocitaji… (more…)

Christmas is just around the corner and I figured I would post some Christmas recipes a little earlier (click here for more Christmas recipes) so that everyone has enough time to practice. This time I am going to show you how to make the most delicious Christmas cookies called Linecka kolecka (or some call them Linecke kolacky).They taste heavenly (I am serious) and are quite easy to make once you get the hang of it. Couple of things you need to be aware of, however: 1/ they are VERY fattening 2/the dough is made mostly of butter (hence the warning no.1) so if it becomes too soft it is almost impossible to work with (the solution to the problem is listed bellow). So roll up your sleeves and let’s go! (more…)

If you haven’t tasted vanilla crescents (vanilkove rohlicky) yet you haven’t quite lived your life into the full. They are absolutely the best Christmas cookies this earth has ever had. Despite the simplicity of the recipe some kind of a Christmas magic happens during the cooking process and an art of perfection is born…

My grandma would always make batches and batches of Vanilkove rohlicky so that we wouldn’t run out during the Christmas season. Since we helped ourselves to them about 10 times a day – despite my grandma’s attempts – we ended up being out of them about 3 days after Christmas. Then we had to “get to work” and finish up the rest of the other Christmas cookies; what can I tell you…life was rough back then!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 Tsp of vanilla extract (more…)