Makówki, a Christmas Dessert Recipe

When I was putting together my Christmas menu, I wasn't thinking about this treat yet. Heck, I didn't even know it existed. When tuptusia wrote about makówki (a Polish dessert of milk rolls layered with poppy seed filling) with such enthusiasm, I decided to find a recipe and try it. I have no idea whether it's exactly what tuptusia writes about, but it was delicious. The only things I changed in the recipe were the amounts of sugar and honey. Still, when you make this dessert, I recommend checking how sweet it is. Depending on your taste and the poppy seeds you use, you can add less or more honey, or a little sugar. It also depends on which poppy seeds you use. If they're ready-made, they're probably already sweetened, so I'd skip the honey and sugar. With dry poppy seeds you can, and in fact should, add more honey and sugar.

The recipe was inspired by the Christmas supplement to the “Gazeta” newspaper, written by M. Kuroń.

According to M. Kuroń, “makówki are the last dish of the Christmas Eve supper, served ‘for dessert,’ and have counterparts in other regions of Poland in the form of noodles with poppy seeds, łamańce or kutia.” As a test, this little dish showed up at my place as a pre-Christmas dessert, and it will definitely be on our Christmas table!

makówki

Pour the milk over the rolls and soak them until they soften. It takes a little while. Grind the dry poppy seeds and pour the water over them. Add the honey, butter and all the other add-ins to the prepared poppy seeds and bring to a boil. In a glass bowl or another transparent dish, arrange the rolls, squeezed out of the milk, and cover them with a layer of the poppy seed mixture. Then arrange another layer of rolls and another of poppy seed mixture.

It's best to leave the makówki in a cool place for a few moments. Even better, overnight.

Enjoy!

Tips:

You can pour chocolate over the makówki or sprinkle them with powdered sugar.