It’s Easter Weekend, and in addition to all the breads that I have been making, and cookies, of course, I decided to make this little Passion Fruit Meyer Lemon Tart with Fresh Berries for Easter Dinner dessert. Something a little different but I am pleased with the result. If you’ve never used fresh passion fruit before, do seek them out (and pick the super ripe ones) as they are delicious!
Back to baking things that are “Ukrainian-inspired” although this could also be Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, Czech, or from the Baltics (did I cover everything?!?) …. this is Makivnyk (маківник): a sweet, poppy seed filled sweet bread, with a dough similar to a cinnamon roll, although not nearly as sweet and cinnamony. It’s often baked as a breakfast bread or something for afternoon tea, and often during celebratory seasons like Christmas or Easter. I’ve sprinkled it with raw sugar, but you can also add coarse pearl sugar or confectioners sugar. I love it because it isn’t overly sweet. The original recipe that I found was yeast-based but I converted to sourdough.
Here’s another Ukrainian/Eastern-European-inspired cookie recipe: Ukrainian-Style Walnut Ring Cookies, with Chocolate. In my research, I saw these both with chocolate like this, or with just walnuts held on with an egg wash and sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar. I guess it was how fancy one was being. Or what ingredients are on hand. The cookie dough is quite nice — mostly whole wheat flour (a little unusual for a cookie) and a touch of dark, buckwheat flour honey. As with many of the cookies that I am making, these are mostly made at Christmas time, so it feels a little strange to be making them in the run up to Easter, but oh well. They are yummy no matter what time of year.
