Submitted by Henry Crevensten, MD, Deputy Chief of Primary Care, SFVAMC
My Story
My paternal grandmother, Catherine “Kitty” Crevensten, was born in 1916 in Akron, Ohio to Josef and Magdalene Blechl. They were Germans who had emigrated from the village of Ernestinovo, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Croatia. Josef came through Ellis Island in 1909, followed by Magdalene and son Peter in 1912. It is hard to imagine what they went through to come to America.
Although their background was German, much of the food that my grandmother cooked from the “old country” when I was growing up has a Hungarian origin, such as chicken paprikash, palacsintas, and these cookies. My grandmother called them “crescent cookies” but in Hungarian they are known as “dios kifli”, which I only found out recently. Of course, she would also make German and American dishes but they were all foods that were simple, cheap, and delicious.
These are a great holiday cookie. In fact, I cannot remember a Christmas season when we have not had these. Our traditional dessert at Christmas is boiled custard (from my mother’s Southern side of the family) and crescent cookies on the side. A great melding of traditions!
You can make them ahead and freeze and defrost when needed. They go well at breakfast dipped in coffee or tea. Enjoy!
Recipe
Yield: Approximately 90 cookies
Total Preparation Time:
30 minutes preparation
3 hours to overnight, chilling
60 minutes assembly (depending on assistants)
Total Cooking Time: 10 – 15 minutes
Ingredients
For the Dough:
4 cups (600 grams) All-purpose flour
½ pound (2 sticks) Unsalted butter, slightly softened
½ pint (8 ounces) Sour cream
2 Egg yolks (save the egg whites for the filling)
1 teaspoon (7 grams) Salt
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Vanilla
For the Filling:
2 Egg whites (from the egg yolks in the dough)
2 cups (230 grams) Walnuts, shelled. Chopped finely or use a nut grinder.
1 cup (230 grams) Granulated sugar
1 Lemon, juiced
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) Vanilla
For wash prior to baking: A few ounces of milk, cream, or canned milk
For serving: Sifted confectioner’s sugar, about ½ cup
Method
Make the dough: (at least 3 hours ahead, or the night before)
In a large bowl, mix together all of the dough ingredients: flour, butter, sour cream, egg yolks, salt, and vanilla. I usually just use my hands but you can use a stand mixer. You are just trying to get the ingredients distributed and coming together in a soft, smooth ball.
Using your hands, grab a pinch of dough and roll between your palms to make a ball the size of a small walnut and place in another bowl. Keep going until all the dough is used, about 90 balls
Cover the dough balls with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight. This will allow the butter to solidify and enable you to work the dough balls during assembly.
Make the filling: (do this just before assembly)
In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until starting to make stiff peaks
Fold in the walnuts, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla
Assemble and bake the cookies:
Having a group of people to help do this in an assembly line fashion makes it more fun and go faster (one person rolls the dough balls, and then two people can add filling and roll up the cookies).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, or slightly less if using convection oven (use your oven’s guidelines)
Remove a few dough balls at a time from the refrigerator (you want to keep them cool so they do not get too soft and sticky)
On a floured surface, roll out a dough ball into a thin circle about 3 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick.
Place a small amount of filling (about ½ tsp) near the edge of the circle and roll up from that edge, like a cigar.
Pinch the ends together to seal and shape into a crescent.
Place on baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. There’s enough butter in the dough that they shouldn’t stick but you can use cooking spray if you wish.
Repeat until all dough and filling is used
Just before baking, brush with the wash of your choice (I usually use milk)
Bake for 10-15 minutes until turning slightly golden on top, the bottom will be browner.
Cool for 2 minutes then remove cookies from baking sheet
Cool for another 10-15 minutes before serving. Chef(s) may eat one or two at this point just to make sure they are okay.
Sift confectioner’s sugar on top to serve
Tips
This is not a fussy recipe; you don’t have to be precise in the measurements. My grandmother did not use a written recipe, so this is from my mother’s observations.
If your filling and dough do not quite come out even you may use jam for filling
These may be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks. They also freeze really well. You can actually eat them straight from the freezer or warm in the microwave for 10-20 seconds.
Some traditional recipes use heavy cream instead of sour cream
You could use 3 eggs instead of 2 for an even richer dough
For a browner cookie, cook at 375 F for about 10 minutes
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