Christmas is a long-awaited and cozy holiday. Despite the harsh Ukrainian winters, it is always celebrated with warmth in the heart and kindness in the soul. It seems that love and happiness are in the air.
A big feast is an essential attribute of the celebration. The whole family and invited guests gather at the festive table. Everyone exchanges gifts, proclaims toasts, and enjoys each other’s company in a festive atmosphere.
To create this wonderful atmosphere, try cooking Ukrainian Christmas bakery. Here are 3 traditional recipes that will impress your taste buds.
By the way, we also have wonderful recipes for Ukrainian Christmas poppy seed roll, Christmas bread (kalach), and doughnuts.
Christmas bobalky
Bobalky are small dough balls soaked in honey and sprinkled with poppy seeds. In addition to the sweet recipe, there are also recipes for savory bobalky, for example, with sauerkraut or ceps.
Ingredients:
- 480 ml milk
- 120 g butter
- 900 g wheat flour
- 100 g sugar
- 10 g yeast
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- liquid honey – for serving
- poppy seeds – for sprinkling
Cooking
1. Combine dairy butter and milk in a saucepan and heat to a temperature not exceeding 38 degrees. Next, add yeast to the mixture.
2. Sift flour into a separate bowl; add salt, sugar, and eggs. Gradually pour in the yeast mixture and mix everything carefully with a spatula.
3. Knead the dough until it stops sticking to your hands. Leave the dough to rest for 30-40 minutes. After this time, you need to knead the dough again and leave it in a warm place for another 45 minutes.
4. Shape bobalky – small dough balls. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and leave to rise for 10-15 minutes.
5. Bake bobalky in the oven at 180 degrees for about 12-15 minutes. After cooling, you should pour honey over them and sprinkle bobalky with poppy seeds. It’s better to serve the dish in a deep bowl.
Poppy seed wreath
Such a sweet wreath is an “imitation” of the traditional Christmas wreath made from evergreen needles. Its shape symbolizes life, and 4 candles woven between plants symbolize the 4 cardinal points. The Christmas wreath is a symbol of hospitality and goodwill.
Ingredients:
Dough:
- 2 eggs
- 40 ml sour cream
- 500 g wheat flour
- 200 ml milk
- 8 g yeast
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 10 g vanilla sugar
- 20 ml vegetable oil
- a pinch of salt
Filling:
- 250 g poppy seeds
- 100 g sugar
- 10 g vanilla sugar
Greasing:
- 1 egg yolk
- 3 tbsp milk
Cooking
1. Make the pre-dough: add warm milk (not higher than 38 degrees), 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1 tablespoon of flour into a container. Then stir in yeast.
2. Mix eggs, vanilla sugar, and sour cream in another container. Add the pre-dough and remaining flour.
3. Knead the dough, adding vegetable oil, and leave the dough to rise for 1-1.5 hours in a warm place.
4. Make the filling: rinse poppy seeds, pour them with water and bring to a boil. Then rinse the poppy seeds again, strain, and grind the mass in a blender with granulated and vanilla sugar.
5. Roll out the dough thinly, lay out the filling, roll up the dough, and slightly cut strips of about 1 cm. Form wreaths and put them on a baking sheet.
6. Leave Christmas wreaths for 10-15 minutes, grease them with a mixture of yolk and milk, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Christmas bread with symbols hidden inside
Bread is of great importance for Ukrainians. Proverbs and sayings are composed since Ukrainians have treated bread with care and respect since ancient times. Therefore, it is unsurprising that even at Christmas, Ukrainians prepare special bread.
A particular day was allocated for preparing Christmas bread, so the hostess would not be distracted by other things. Bread necessarily has to be lush, ruddy, and appetizing since it is the bread that symbolizes well-being, generous harvest, and life.
Ingredients:
- 500 ml warm milk
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 10 g yeast
- 3-4 eggs
- 125 g dairy butter
- 320 g flour
Cooking
1. First, let’s make the dough: add warm milk (not higher than 38 degrees), 1 tablespoon of sugar, and flour into a bowl. Next, stir in yeast. Let the dough sit for 1-2 hours.
2. Beat the eggs with a mixer, adding 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of salt. Then pour this mixture into the dough.
3. Add flour and knead the dough, stirring in dairy butter. Leave the dough to rise for 1-2 hours in a warm place.
4. Divide the dough in half: the first part is 3/4 of the total amount, and the second is 1/4.
5. Roll out 4 strips from the bigger part of the dough and braid your bread. When braiding, hide “the symbols” in the dough, for example, a coin, ring, bean, etc. If desired, you can pre-wrap the symbols in food foil.
6. Divide the second portion of the dough into 3 parts and braid.
7. Put the dough on a baking mold greased with soft dairy butter: first, put a big braid, then a small one. Leave to rise for 30 minutes.
8. Grease Christmas bread with a beaten egg and bake in the oven for 1 hour at 180 degrees.
9. Since there is a tradition to bake such bread with various symbols inside for good luck, wealth, and happiness, the bread is eaten very carefully. First, you need to tear off a chunk, carefully examine it and slowly chew it. Perhaps, you will get some kind of symbol, for example, a coin for wealth.
All these Ukrainian pastries are sure to decorate your Christmas table. So, what recipe do you like the most, and which one you’re going to follow?
