Kiefel Cookies Food

HOLIDAY KIPFERL COOKIE

Steps:

• Pulse almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Add flour, granulated sugar and salt; pulse until combined. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks and water. Add to almond butter mixture, and pulse until dough forms. Shape dough into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until easy to handle, about 1 hour., Preheat oven to 325°. Divide dough into fourths. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into an 8-in. circle. Sprinkle with pecans and cranberries; lightly press into dough. Cut each circle into 12 wedges. Roll up wedges from the wide end; place point side down 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Curve ends to form crescents., Bake until lightly browned, 12-15 minutes. Carefully roll warm cookies in confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire racks. Sprinkle with additional confectioners' sugar. Store in an airtight container.

HUNGARIAN KIFFLES

Steps:

• Beat butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until pale yellow and creamy. Gradually add 2 cups flour to butter mixture until the dough is too thick for the mixer. Stir remaining 2 cups flour into the butter mixture by hand and knead until dough falls off hands easily. Roll dough into a ball, place in bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Stir walnuts and sugar together in a bowl. Pour milk into walnut mixture and stir to form a paste.
• Turn dough onto a floured work surface and roll to desired thickness. Cut dough into 2-inch squares. Place about 1 teaspoon walnut filling in the center of each square. Roll the dough from 1 corner to the other corner around the walnut filling and transfer to a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until light brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

HUNGARIAN KIFFLES

Steps:

• Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until very smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, mixing just until combined. The dough will be quite moist, but not sticky.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and flatten into a square approximately 1/2-inch thick. Cut into 4 equal pieces and wrap each separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, a minimum of 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Remove one portion of the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a liberally floured surface.
• Dust the top of the dough with flour and cover with a sheet of wax or parchment paper. Working from the center toward the corners, roll the dough out to a 1/8-inch-thick square. It should measure about 9 inches.
• For best results, see our recipe notes below to learn how to roll your dough into a perfect square.
• Using a pastry wheel or a sharp knife, cut your dough both lengthwise and crosswise into small squares.
• Your total yield will depend on how large you make them. We recommend 1-1/2-inches which will give you 36 kiffles per square of dough or about 12 dozen total.
• The best way to keep the size even is to use a ruler and mark all 4 sides of the dough square at intervals with the tip of a knife. You can use the handle of a spatula to guide you as you cut to keep your lines straight as well (similar to drawing straight lines on a sheet of paper).
• Working as quickly as possible, place a small mound of filling (about 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon) in the center of each square. If the filling flavor you're using is relatively smooth you can spoon it into a small freezer bag, snip off a tiny bottom corner and squeeze the filling onto the squares. This works particularly well with the poppy and almond flavors.
• Lift two opposite corners of the dough over the filling and gently pinch them together. Fold that "point" over to one side, moisten the tip of your finger with a bit of water and smooth it down gently on one side of the kiffle. This prevent the kiffles from popping open as they bake.
• Important Note: The various filling flavors spread a bit differently during baking so you may want to fill a few "test" kiffles and bake them to gauge the right amount of filling for each type.
• Arrange the kiffles 1 inch apart on the parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake until barely golden, 12 to 14 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then carefully transfer the kiffles to cooling racks.
• Repeat the process with the remaining 3 portions of dough, using different filling flavors if desired.
• Store kiffles between layers of waxed paper in a tightly closed container and refrigerate. Bring them to room temperature (30 minutes out of the fridge), arrange on a plate and dust lightly with powdered sugar just before serving. It's not advisable to top them with powdered sugar before storing.
• Makes 8 to 12 dozen

VANILLE KIPFERL II

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in the butter until the size of small peas and mix in with your hands.
• Mix 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, the egg, 3 teaspoons of vanilla sugar, and ground almonds into the flour mixture. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Divide the dough into several parts. Roll each section of dough into logs approximately 1/2 inch thick. Cut the logs into 1-inch pieces, and bend the pieces into a crescent shape (just like a croissant). Place the kipferl on the baking sheet and chill them for 15 minutes.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the edges are golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool slightly.
• Combine 6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla sugar and toss to mix.
• While still warm, carefully remove kipferl from the baking sheet and dip them in sugar to coat.

GRAM'S HUNGARIAN KIFFLE

Steps:

• 1. 1) Cream butter and cream cheese till fluffy; gradually blending in sugar.
• 2. 2) Stir together flour and salt, stir into a creamed mixture. OR...like me, you could just use a food processor for this step to form the dough.
• 3. 3) Divide in half and roll with your hands to form a "Ball" and Cover; chilling dough several hours or overnight. Be advised; the less you handle the dough the more delicate and flakier it will be when it's baked.
• 4. 4) On lightly floured surface, roll each portion into rectangles, THEN cut them down into about 2 1/2-inch squares. (There WILL be "odd triangle" sizes left. You'll USE them too! - Kiffles are a ROLLED, 'cresent-shape".)
• 5. 5) Place a dollop (about one rounded teaspoon) of filling in the center of each square.
• 6. 6) Lift up two diagonal corners of the dough to center, pinching together to seal into crescents.
• 7. 7) Preheat oven to 375°.
• 8. 8) Place dough on ungreased cookie sheet. (I'd STILL spray them with BUTTER FLAVORED PAM! - Better 'safe' than STUCK!) Bake till firm until golden brown (about 12-15 minutes).
• 9. 9) Cool on wire racks. Sift powdered sugar over slightly warm pastries.
• 10. 10) Store loosely covered in a cool dry place.

KIFLE - YUGOSLAVIAN WALNUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Put sifted flour into large mixing bowl. Mix in yeast. Cut in margarine with pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.
• Add egg yolks and sour cream; mix well. Form into a ball. On lightly floured board, knead until smooth, 5 to 10 minutes. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Wrap in wax paper. Chill in refrigerator at least 1 hour.
• Combine walnuts, sugar and vanilla extract. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Set aside.
• On a board sprinkled with confectioners sugar, roll each part of dough into an 8-inch circle; cut each into 8 pie-shape wedges.
• Fill wide end of each wedge with 1 tablespoon walnut filling. Roll up from wide end to point. Place on greased baking sheet, curving ends to form crescent shape.
• Bake at 375 degrees F about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Dust with confectioners sugar.

PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH COOKIES KIFFELS

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, egg yolks and flour; beat until smooth.
• Shape into 1-inch balls; place in a container with waxed paper separating each layer.
• Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• FOR THE FILLING, combine walnuts and 3 3/4 cups sugar (the mixture will be dry).
• In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form; fold into nut mixture.
• Add extracts and a few drops of water if necessary until filling reaches a spreading consistency.
• Place remaining sugar in a bowl; roll cream cheese balls in sugar until completely covered.
• Place a few balls at a time between two sheets of waxed paper.
• Roll balls into 2 1/2-inch circles.
• Gently spread about 2 teaspoons of filling over each.
• Roll up; place seam side down on ungreased baking sheets.
• Curve the ends slightly.
• Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Cool on wire racks.
• Yield: about 8 dozen.

KIEFEL COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. Let stand in 3 lumps for 2 hours.
• 2. Roll thin on lots of sugar. Cut in 3 inch squares.
• 3. Put 1 teaspoon jam in center of square.
• 4. Round bottom of corner to top corner, then form crescent.
• 5. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until lightly brown.

KIPFEL

Steps:

• In a medium mixing bowl cut butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Stir in the 1/4 cup sugar.
• Make a well in the center.
• Combine egg yolks and sour cream; add to flour mixture and stir until mixture forms a ball.
• Divide dough in half, and keep one half of the dough tightly covered.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the other half of dough to 1/16" thickness, and cut into 4" rounds.
• For filling, beat egg whites slightly.
• Add ground nuts, the 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice& the 3/4 tsp cinnamon.
• Spread a rounded teaspoon of filling onto each round to within 1/4" of edge.
• Roll up jelly-roll style; with seam sides down, press ends with tines of a fork to seal.
• Place on ungreased cookie sheets with seam sides down.
• Bake at 375°F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.
• Sprinkle with a mixture of powdered sugar& cinnamon.