Crispy and buttery pie crust holding plenty of sweet & sour cinnamon-tossed apples, all of it covered under a light, pillowy meringue. Delicious apple pie prepared in a traditional way served year-round but most often during apple harvest season. Mom usually makes this pie at least once a week when we are harvesting apples in…
Category: Traditional
Moldovan Walnut Vertuta
Vertuta is a delicious traditional Moldovan pastry (very common and popular in Romania and parts of Ukraine as well) that can be baked into a sweet or savory pie. When sweet, the pastry very much resembles a typical Slovak hand-pulled strudel and when prepared savory a delicious Greek spanakopita. A base for Vertuta is a…
Hand Pulled Strudel
A traditional pulled Strudel with paper-thin dough layers is a treat and as well as a culinary art. Our grandmas were masters of the technique and could slowly and patiently pull the dough so precisely that at the end it would hang over the edges of a table and you could literally read your newspaper…
Walnut & Cinnamon Wreath
Walnut pastries, rolls, strudels, cakes and (you name it) all kinds of baked goods filled with walnut filling are an inherent part of a Slovak sweet culinary tradition. The abundance of walnuts and walnut trees growing in backyards and gardens behind the houses (both of my grandmas had at least one huge walnut tree in…
Vianočka – Traditional Sweet Braided Bread
Vianočka is a traditional sweet braided or plaited bread with the shape that resembles Challah. The word Vianočka in Slovak & Czech language means “Christmassy” (Vianoce means Christmas) because back in the days Vianočka was baked mainly around Christmas time (when I say back in the days the first mention of bread comes from the…
Veterník – Creamy Choux Pastry
Veternik is a traditional “old-school” cake or creamy puff. It’s a sweet return to the days when my parents were my age and when going to the Pastry/ Cake Store (in Slovak called Cukráreň) was a special “once-a-week” thing. All dressed up, families would head out for a walk (most often after the Sunday lunch)that…
Krupica – Traditional Breakfast Porridge
Krupica (also known as a Cream of Wheat or Semolina Porridge) is a delicious breakfast porridge, a morning staple, and a widely enjoyed breakfast choice (and often a quick & easy dinner as well) in most households back home. I and most kids in Slovakia were served Krupica far earlier than we even knew how to…
Plum & Sweet Cheese Cake with Streusel from Fermented Dough
The fermented (or yeast-based) dough is probably my favorite base to lay delicious toppings on. There is nothing that can beat a freshly baked, deliciously smelling cake with hot, still bubbling fruits on top. The characteristic of the fermented dough is a very flavorful crumb and fluffy texture, that you can enhance even more if…
Marlenka – Honey Cake
Traditional Slovak Honey Cake is a delicious & flavorful layered cake with the main ingredient being Honey. Popular in many Eastern European countries, Ukraine & Russia, each having their own, a slightly different version of the same cake, is this Honey cake prepared mostly around Christmas or during cold, winter months. To make Marlenka, you…
Laskonky
What to do with leftover egg whites? Laskonky! Traditional meringue sandwiches glued together with luscious Caramel & Walnut Cream. Slovak version of a famous Pavlova meringue is widely baked in almost every household during Christmas. Well, even October is a great time to make Laskonky, especially if you happen to have some leftover egg whites…
wandering-senses.com 