sweet kitchen

Palacinky: food of the Gods / Palacinky: Pokrm Bohu

palacinky google imageSince February is a love month (i.e. St. Valentine’s Day) I decided to provide you with a sweet recipe – the Palacinky!! Palacinky are the French-style crepes but better. The wonderful thing about them is that you can have them sweet-style (like in the recipe provided bellow) or you can serve them salty-style, filling them up with some warmed-up spinach, bacon, roasted garlic, shredded cheese – and I cannot write about this anymore since my mouth is filling up with drool – you get the point. Enjoy!!!

PS: I attached a very fitting  YouTube video which will entertain the little ones but it can also be used as a language learning tool since the piggies talk quite slow :o )

CZ: Jelikoz unor je mesic lasky, recept na sladoucke palacinky se sem hodi jako ulity! Nic vam o nich nemusim vysvetlovat, kazdy tento bozsky pokrm zna. Co je ale dobre na tomto receptu je to, ze jsem ho predelala do americkeho (nemetrickeho) systemu. Prilozene je take kratke palacinkove video, urcene zejmena  pro ty nejmensi. Dobrou chut! [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Czech language, food, meatless dish, sweet kitchen, YouTube

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Czech christmas magic: Vanocka / Kouzlo Vanoc: Vanocka

vanocka yahoo image 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! [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Christmas, Czech Christmas cookies, food, sweet kitchen, YouTube

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Death by chocolate: walnut tarts / Cokoladova sebevrazda: orechove dorticky

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… [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Christmas, Czech Christmas cookies, sweet kitchen

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The best Czech christmas cookies in the world: Linz Tarts / Nejlepsi vanocni pecivo na svete: linecka kolecka

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! [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Christmas, Czech Christmas cookies, sweet kitchen

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Another Classic Czech recipe: Stuffed fruit dumplings / plnene ovocne knedliky

jahodove knedliky /recepty.atlas.cz imageSummer is almost here so let’s get ready for it! Besides Bublanina, Ovocne knedliky (Fruit Dumplings) are definitely the signature Czech (and Slovak) summer dish. Dumplings in general are eaten by a variety of cultures ranging from the Armenians, Chinese and Jamaicans to the Dutch, Irish and of course the Eastern Europeans. They can taste sweet or savory – both equally good choices. The Ovocne knedliky belong to the sweet-tasting dumpling family as they are filled with fruit. One can stuff them with any kind of fruit imaginable; if you want to you use kiwis, go for it (although I am not sure about the taste)! The strawberry dumplings are the best though and that is what am I presenting to you today. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: food, sweet kitchen

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PERNIK: Czech-style Christmas gingerbread but better! / PERNIK: lepsi nez gingerbread!

cooking imagePERNIK

Pernik (Czech-style gingerbread) has been considered a fancy pastry ever since its beginnings and used to be prepared only for special occasions. Where did pernik come from? No one really knows…some sources point to the ancient Greece and Egypt where it was used as a sacrificial food for various gods. The first pernik was more of a honey-sweetened bread than how it is  known today. In the Czech Republic the word “pernik” was first documented in 1335 in the town of Trutnov. The Mid devil pernik recipe called sometimes for more than 90 different types of spices! The most expensive pernik was made with honey – hence the name – the “white” pernik. In the 18th century the bakers  were making 4 types of pernik:

  1. Marcipan
  2. Pernik
  3. Cerne sisky (black clumps) – used as a sweetener [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: food, history, sweet kitchen

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Czech Christmas magic: vanilla crescents / Ceska Vanocni specialitka: Vanilkove rohlicky

vanilla crescents google image 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 [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Christmas, Czech Christmas cookies, sweet kitchen

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Easy Apple Strudel / Jednoduchy Jablkovy zavin (Strudl)

apple strudel google image Even though Apple strudel is now mostly a Czech/German/Hungarian delicatessen, its origins go back to an ancient Greece where the thin layered dough was perfected into Baklava (http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/AppleStrudel.htm).
This is a great recipe because it is EASY and FAST. Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

  1. 1 portion of “flaky dough” (Listkove testo) or you can buy a package of 2 puff pastry sheets (Pepperidge Farms brand)
    • 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
    • 1/2 cup of water
    • 2 1/5 sticks of unsalted butter (= 250g)
    • speck of salt
  2. some flour to roll out the pastry
  3. 3 -4 tbs. of bread crumbs (or oatmeal flakes)
  4. 3 tbs. of sugar
  5. 1 tsp. of cinnamon
  6. 6 – 8 sliced apples
  7. 1 beaten egg (to spread onto the strudel)
  8. powdered sugar [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: sweet kitchen

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