Mazurek Kijowski (Kiev, Ukraine) Polish Easter Pastry

Kiev Mazurek on Polish pottery

Cuisines in this part of the world overlap a lot – people moving and borders changing, I guess.  My favorite filling for pierogi (filled Polish dumplings) – ruski (Russian), of course.  With dozens, upon dozens of sausages in my Polish butcher’s display, my  all time favorite is a frankfurtki (the recipe from Frankfurt).  So it’s really no surprise that the Polish Easter pastry that I can’t stop thinking about is version from Ukraine.

In my last post, I discussed the characteristics of typical Polish mazurek.  I got to sample a variety this year and they were wonderful – dishes that I will try to recreate, but there was something about the Ukranian version that caught my fancy.  Similar in ingredients, plainer appearance, I was taken with the way the flavors and textures melded when they were all combined together.  The heavy use of almonds didn’t hurt either.  Squares of this pastry were included in our goodie box from Elzbieta.  I want to thank her for sharing the recipe.

Rather than layering and decorating, this humble mazurek has everything combined and baked like a fruit and nut shortbread.  Try it; I hope you’ll love it as much as I did.

• Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan
• Preheat oven to 200 C (400 F)
• Cream butter until smooth
• Stirring constantly, add the egg yolks
• Sift in flour and sugar, combine
• Add the nuts, raisins, figs or jam, and sesame seeds
• Spread or pat the dough into the prepared pan and prick with a fork
• Bake for one hour
• Remove from oven and slice into squares immediately while still hot
• (This wasn’t part of the recipe, but I’m guessing you cool a bit before removing from the pan)