HUNGARIAN HONEY RECIPES

Steps:

• DAY BEFORE BAKING:.
• Sift together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and baking soda.
• Melt together the butter and the honey, pour over the flour combination and stir to mix.
• Add 1 egg and knead together. The dough should be soft (you can add a bit of lukewarm water if necessary), since it will harden a bit during its resting period.
• Cover the dough in a bowl and let it rest at least one day at room temperature.
• BAKING DAY:.
• Rolling out the dough is easiest between two pieces of waxed paper.
• Cut desired shapes out of the dough (of about 3/8 inches thickness on average).
• Before baking, brush with the yolk of an egg to which a few drops of red food coloring have been added. If you are decorating with seeds, brush dough with egg white to "paste" seeds on top of dough before baking.
• (Alternately, let the honey cakes rest a few days and then decorate with colored sugar icings.).
• Place cut out pieces of dough on a cold, greased cookie sheet, bake at 350 degrees F. (or less) for about 6-8 minutes. Thicker pieces may need a longer time (ovens temperatures also vary).
• DECORATION:.
• If icing cookies, let the honey cakes rest a few days and then decorate with colored sugar icings.
• MAKE VARIOUS COLORED SUGAR ICINGS:.
• Colored sugar icing, one version: To one egg white, add as much sifted powdered sugar as needed to make fairly stiff paste. Add desired food colorings, separated by color. (Do not use a mixer!)
• Spoon this mixture into a small nylon baggie, cut a tiny hole in one corner, roll up and use like a pencil to draw and color.

Steps:

• Sift the flour, baking powder and icing sugar into a large bowl. Add butter, rubbing it into the flour mixture until it becomes crumbly. Make a hole in the centre of the mix and add the acacia honey, eggs and sour cream, kneading the mixture together thoroughly.
• Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. Shape the dough into a stumpy roll shape and divide it into four equal pieces. Flour the surface and roll out each piece of dough to between ½ cm to 1cm thick. To get an even shape, draw the shape of your baking tray on the baking paper, add another sheet on top which will be your baking sheet. Put the pastry on top and cut to shape.
• Bake each layer separately to ensure even cooking, for around 10-15 minutes or until a light golden colour, and the dough is firm to touch.
• To make the cream filling, add half the milk and heat on low heat in a small saucepan. Mix custard powder, cornflour and the remaining milk together to a paste and add it to the heating milk. Stir continuously until the custard is very thick. Remove from the heat, cover custard directly with baking paper and allow to cool completely. Cream butter, vanilla, icing sugar and meringue powder with electric beaters until soft and fluffy, add enough icing sugar to make it sweet to your taste. When custard is cool add a large spoonful at a time to the butter mix, beating slowly after each addition, until it is all incorporated. Place covered in fridge until you are ready to assemble the cake.
• For the topping, simply melt the chocolate and stir in softened butter until completely mixed.
• Place a layer of cold pastry on a board, spread evenly with 1/3 of the butter custard cream. Place the next layer of pastry and repeat until all pastry is used. Pour chocolate on top, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with the chopped walnuts while the chocolate is still warm. Put in a covered container in the fridge for over 24 hours to set and soften.
• Trim the edges of cake to make it straight and slice the cake into small rectangles-remember it's a very rich cake so don't make the pieces too big. Keep it refrigerated.