Kuleczki Raffaello (Raffaello Balls)

Raffaello, a cream and coconut sweet, is definitely the biggest treat for me:) And there is no more fun than making your favourite sweets by yourself! So, I’m giving you my secret Raffaello recipe, I’m sure it will become an enjoyable sweetie by many…

Prep time: 20 min, easy

Waiting time: 1 hour

Serves: 30 little balls

Ingredients:

1 butter

1 glass of powder sugar

2medium eggs

150 g coconut shavings

100 g of digestive biscuits, dry waffles or ‘Herbatniki’ from Polish Shop (recommended)

50 g Hazelnuts or whole almonds

Method:

1.     Cream butter in a mixing bowl using an electric mixer. The butter should become soft and creamy.

2.     Add sugar and eggs to the butter. Keep creaming the ingredients.

3.     Put six tablespoons of coconut shavings into a separate bowl and save them for later. Add the rest into the butter and mix it in.

4.     Put the butter into the fridge to chill for about 1 hour.

5.     Crash biscuits or ‘herbatniki’. I use an electric blender, but you can use a rolling pin.

 

6.     Add the biscuit crumbs into the butter and mix them int.

7.     Mold walnut-size balls of the cream. Stuff them with a hazelnut or almond and cot with coconut shavings. To add an element of surprise, stuff some of them with hazelnuts and some with almonds.

8.     Put the ready balls into the fridge to rest. They will be ready in half an hour! Store them in a cool place. Enjoy!

Faworki (Angel Wings)

‘Faworki’ /favorki/ are sweet crisp pastries. They are most commonly eaten in the time of Carnival. In Poland, traditionally, some people make them on ‘Fat Thursday’ – the last Thursday before  Lent, and invite their friends and families to celebrate the last days of Carnival, when many try to eat as many sweets as they can. ‘Faworki’ store very well, and the longer they are kept, the better they become. The only problem is they’re so yummy so you can’t keep them for too long...

Prep time: 40 min, moderate

Cook time: 40 min

Serves: a large pile of faworki

Ingredients:

350g flour

1 tablespoon softened butter

3 egg yolks

1 whole egg

7 tablespoons sour cream (ask at a Polish Shop)

1 tablespoon of rectified spirit, clear vodka or white wine vinegar

Icing sugar (powder sugar)

Method:

1.     Mix all the ingredients together on a board into a pastry. The reason for using alcohol or vinegar is to prevent the dough from soaking up excessive fat from deep frying in oil.

2.     Cut off a piece of the dough and roll it so it is thin. It needs to be very thin so faworki get fluffy while frying.

3.     Cut the rolled piece into small rectangles, and make a short slot along their middles, as shown on the photo:

4.     Fold one end of the rectangle through the hole so it gets a ribbon-like shape. Pull the edges so the ribbon is thin.

*Watch the video below to see how to fold a nice ribbon:

 

5.     Deep-fry the ribbons in oil until they are golden, turning occasionally.

6.     Take them out of the pan, drain on kitchen paper and put on a serving plate. Sprinkle icing sugar over them while still warm.

7.     Now cut off another piece of your dough, roll it, form ribbons, fry, and put them on the previous batch of faworki on your serving plate; coat with icing sugar. Keep adding layers of ‘faworki’ to form a big pile of them. Use another plate if the pile gets too big.

8.     These are lovely to be served with afternoon tea. You can also store them for a long time, even several months, they always will be yummy and crispy.