Crescents of Pozsony

So I see a thematics here; sweets are taking over the blog. I admit I am a born sweet tooth. I was planning to add something savory, but just couldn't resist the poppy seed in my refrigerator. Yes, this one is made with an overlooked ingredient in the US that is actually very popular in Eastern Europe. Thanks to the influx of immigrants of that region, poppy seed or 'mák' is becoming more available in ethnic stores even in the South. So instead of smuggling warily the precious black speckles from home once a year, now I can indulge anytime in some wonderful pastries that remind me of my native country. 
Pozsony or Bratislava is located in Slovakia, but used to be part of Hungary before 1920. In baking the term "pozsonyi" stands for poppy seed- or walnut-filled pastry. It is common on weddings, family gatherings, but mostly at Christmas.


First you should start with the filling as it has to cool before assembling the cookies. The ingredients are:
4 fl oz milk, 4 oz sugar (by weight), 1 packet vanilla sugar, 4 oz ground poppy seed, 1/8 tsp ground clove, rind of 1/2 lemon

Start by bringing the milk and sugar to a low simmer, remove from the heat and mix with all the other ingredients. You can grind the poppy seed in a coffee grinder but take about half of the sugar of the recipe and add to the batches of grind. The oil in the seeds can clog up your machine! 
This is how my mixture looked before mixing with the milk. Yes it does look like dirt, but I  promise it's awesome!

Once it is mixed thoroughly, set it aside to cool.

Next, work on the dough. It contains yeast but doesn't need to proof before assembling. You will need:

1 lb +1/2 cup AP flour, 2 sticks + 2 tbsp butter, 2 oz powdered sugar, the rind of the other half of lemon, 2/3 cup sour cream, 1 egg (one more for the egg wash), 2 tsp active yeast

First you have to cut up the butter into small cubes and mix with the flour until it resembles crumbs. I actually like to use my mixer with the whisk attachment as it seem to incorporate the butter nicely. In the meantime warm up the sour cream and let the yeast get comfortable in it. Then I add the rest of the ingredients (sugar, lemon rind) to the flour and mixing the egg into the sour cream finally combine the wet and dry parts. Here is my mix before kneading:

When it is uniform in texture, or as my mom would say: when it separates from the bowl, you are ready to roll out your dough! It should be malleable but should have a nice structure!

On a floured surface roll out the dough to about 2 mm (or about crepe thickness) and cut out 3 1/2 in circles with a cookie cutter. Place about 1 rounded teaspoonful of the poppy seed filling onto each round and wet the outer half edge of the dough with egg wash before pressing one half to the other. Make sure that the dough is sealed using a fork or the handle of any utensil to press. 

Transfer the closed pockets to a baking sheet with parchment paper and let it rise for 30 minutes. When time is up, preheat the oven to 350 F and use the rest of the egg wash to glaze the dough. My cookies before entering the oven:

Bake them for about 30 minutes, let them cool and dust them with extra powdered sugar if necessary! Enjoy!

This is the original rolled-up crescent version with a similar, walnut filling!I like when the dough rips a tad when baking revealing a little of what's inside!