Mazureks, also known as mazurkas, are flaky, flat Polish pastries topped with almond paste, preserves and/or nuts, and sometimes left plain. The one thing they have in common is they are rarely over 1 inch in height.
A mazurka also is the word for a Polish folk dance, a country sparrow and someone from Mazur in North Central Poland.
Traditionally served at Easter, this pastry is so delicious and easy to make, it now appears at tables year-round.
Makes 8 servings of Royal Mazurek
View this photo gallery of How to make Royal Mazurek.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) butter
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 2 ounces (6 tablespoons) ground blanched almonds
- 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 large hard-cooked egg yolks, sieved
- 1 large raw egg yolk
- Pinch salt
- Pinch cinnamon
- 6 ounces apricot preserves
- 6 ounces raspberry or cherry preserves
- Confectioners' sugar
Preparation:
- Cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- By hand, stir in almonds, zest, flour, making sure to measure flour correctly, and hard-cooked egg yolks.
- Add raw egg yolk, salt and cinnamon, and mix into a smooth dough. This entire process, from step 1, can be done in a food processor, if you prefer.
- Place dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut off 1/3 dough and return, wrapped, to the refrigerator. Roll out 2/3 dough and place on an 8-inch-by-11-inch tart pan with a removal bottom or a small sheet pan. Pierce or "dock" the dough with the tines of a fork. Using pastry brush, egg wash (1 beaten egg with 1 teaspoon water) dough.
- Roll remaining 1/3 dough and cut into 1/4-inch strips. Arrange strips lattice-style over dough. Brush lattice strips with egg wash. Bake for 20-30 mimutes, or until light golden brown and crisp.
- Allow to cool completely. Place pastry on a serving plate and spoon fruit preserves alternately into the open spaces of the lattice work. Sprinkle lightly with confectioners' sugar.
[blockquote shade=grur]Anjali writes:
"Despite the troubles with the dough and its texture, the taste was very nice. This was, by far, the MOST difficult dough I have ever worked with! It did not come together after adding the egg yolk. It wouldn't even hold together after being squeezed by hand. I had to add the rest of the egg to bring the crumbles together, then KNEAD it like a bread dough to distribute the moisture. Rolling it out was frustrating and utterly impossible. I had to press the dough into the pan and use fragments of pressed-out strips to make the lattice. All the extra handling made the dough very tough when it baked. It could only be called flaky because it crumbled like concrete! I am wondering if this might have worked better if it were approached like a traditional pie crust, with cold butter cut into the dry ingredients. I've never heard of a pie crust that calls for creamed butter and sugar, and now I might know why."
Anjali makes a good point. This IS a difficult dough to work with, but it is a traditional recipe. The dough on this pastry is not meant to be like pie dough. It is more of a bread dough. As you can see from my step-by-step instructions, I was able to roll the dough. It IS delicate and takes a little coaxing, but as Anjali herself says, the flavor is very good. I'm interested to know if anyone else has this problem.
Barbara Rolek, Your Guide to Eastern European Food
