Ciasteczka orkiszowe

Name: Ciasteczka orkiszowe
Pronunciation: ʨ̑aˈstɛʧ̑ka ɔrciˈʃɔvɛ
Translation: spelt cookies/biscuits
Energy: approx. 55 kcal per cookie

Ingredients: spelt flour, butter, eggs, almonds, dark chocolate, raisins, sugar, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla.

Ciasteczka orkiszowe have very recently started to gain in popularity, especially in eastern Poland (the Lublin region). They have nutty flavour (thanks to spelt and almonds) and smell of the spices. They’re said to have calming properties.

Sernik

Name: Sernik
Pronunciation: ˈsɛrʲɲik
Translation: cheesecake
Energy: approx. 120 kcal per serving

Ingredients: cottage cheese, eggs, sugar, wheat flour, raisins, lemon rind, vanilla.

Sernik is a typical Polish dessert prepared on various occasions (Christmas, Easter, birthdays, name days) or without any particular occasion. It consists of a baked or cooked cottage (or curd, quark) cheese mass and dried fruit and/or nuts. Very popular variations include toppings such as peaches, cherries, blueberries, chocolate or jelly. It might have a bottom layer (sponge, shortcrust or biscuit). The so-called Cracow-style cheesecake (Polish: sernik krakowski) comprises a shortcrust bottom, cheese mass and a checked shorcrust top.

Makowiec

Name: Makowiec
Pronunciation: maˈkɔvʲjɛʦ̑
Translation: poppyseed cake
Energy: approx. 190 kcal per serving

Ingredients: Poppyseed filling: poppyseed 40%, honey, eggs, butter, walnuts, raisins, candied orange rind (orange rind, sugar), almonds, dates, sunflower oil, sugar.
Bottom sponge cake: eggs, sugar, wheat flour, potato starch.
Chocolate frosting: sugar, fat-reduced cocoa powder, butter, cream.

Makowiec is probably, along with sernik (cheesecake), the most popular Polish cakes. Traditionally, it’s prepared for Christmas, but since every occasion is perfect to eat some makowiec, people tend to bake it for Easter as well. The poppy filling usually contains, apart from poppyseeds, honey and dried fruit with various nuts. It can be baked with or without a bottom layer (sponge pastry, shortcrust pastry and the like), or as a yeast cake roll.

Babka drożdżowa

Name: Babka drożdżowa
Pronunciation: ˈbapka drɔˈʒʤ̑ɔva
Translation: —
Energy: approx. 200 kcal per serving

Ingredients: Pastry: wheat flour, milk, sugar, butter, raisins, egg, egg yolk, orange rind, yeast.
Icing: sugar, lemon juice, fat-reduced cocoa powder.

Babka drożdżowa is simple yeast cake with dried fruit in a form of a mound. It’s usually garnished with icing and is indispensable on an Easter table.

Pascha

Name: Pascha
Pronunciation: ˈpasxa
Translation: Passover
Energy: approx. 190 kcal per serving

Ingredients: curd cheese, eggs, butter, sugar, raisins, apricots, dates, orange rind, vanilla.

Pascha is a typically Easter cold dessert that originated in the East (Polish Borderlands, Ukraine or Russia). It consists of curd cheese mixed with eggs, butter and dried fruit. It symbolises Christ (its grave-like shape), spring (milk and eggs) and wealth (dried fruit).

 

Mazurek

Name: Mazurek
Pronunciation: maˈzurɛk
Translation: —
Energy: approx. 130 kcal per serving

Ingredients (the one with kajmak): Shortcrust pastry: wheat flour, butter, egg, potato starch, sugar.
Jam: black currants, sugar.
Kajmak: milk, sugar.

Ingredients (the one with marzipan): Shortcrust pastry: wheat flour, butter, egg yolk, sugar.
Marzipan: almonds 50%, sugar, alcohol.
Chocolate frosting: cream, cocoa, sugar, butter.

Mazurek is a typically Easter cake. The name may apply to any kind of pastry (most frequently shortcrust, but also sponge, puff, wafers, etc.) that is garnished in a very elaborate way, e.g. with various creams, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate. Above you can see a mazurek with kajmak (Polish name for dulce de leche) and black currant jam, and another one with marzipan and chocolate. Other variations include icing, apricot, poppy or date mass, lemon cream, or rose jam.

Malaga

Name: Malaga
Pronunciation: maˈlaga
Translation: Málaga
Producer: Wawel Kraków
Weight: 20 g/0.68 oz
Price: 30 PLN/$ 9.50/€ 7.30/£ 6.10 per 1 kg/35 oz
Energy: 95 kcal

Ingredients: chocolate 50% (sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, vegetable fat, emulsifiers: soya lecithin and E476, flavours), sugar, raisins 7.3%, hydrogenated vegetable fat, glucose syrup, cream, condensed milk (milk, sugar), spirit, citric acid (acidity regulator), flavours. Chocolate: cocoa solids min. 43%.

Malaga is a dark chocolate praline with alcohol-flavoured cream-and-raisin liquid filling. It has a distinctive shape of a plump crescent, wrapped in a silver foil with green and purple dots. It’s the eldest brother of a classic Wawel trio (also comprising Tiki Taki and Kasztanki – which the next two entries will be devoted to), having been produced in Kraków since the late 1960s.

Śliwka nałęczowska

Name: Śliwka nałęczowska w czekoladzie
Pronunciation: ˈɕlʲifka nawɛ̃n͇ˈʧ̑ɔfska f ˌʧ̑ɛkɔˈlaʥ̑ɛ
Translation: Plum from Nałęczów in Chocolate
Producer: Solidarność Lublin
Weight: approx. 20 g/0.68 oz per candy
Price: 33 PLN/$ 10.40/€ 7.9/£ 6.6 per 1 kg/35 oz
Energy: 442 kcal/100g

Ingredients: candied plums 38% (sugar, plums), sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, hydrogenated vegetable fat, fat-reduced cocoa powder (2%), skimmed milk powder, glucose syrup, milk fat, emulsifiers (soya lecithin, E476, E492), flavours. Chocolate 40%.

The Śliwka nałęczowska praline consists of a candied plum surrounded by a thick layer of cocoa cream, covered with dark chocolate. It has been produced in Lublin since the early 1960s.