Monday Christmas Cookie (4) - Bratislava Rolls

When craving for a piece of bakery, Bratislava Rolls are an excellent choice. These little croissant shaped fluffed up goodies make a wonderful "dunkable" tea time snack. Traditional Slovakian ones come with sweet poppy seeds, walnut or curd filling, but I am sure any firm filling will do (even the savory ones). This Christmas we made a few with chopped walnuts, but mainly my most favorite - with poppy seed.
This time, I would like to contribute them to Bread Baking Day #6 hosted by Eva over at Sweet Sins. This month´s theme is Shaped Bread. I hope this one does it, Eva.

BRATISLAVA ROLLS:
(Bratislavské rožky)

Prep time: 90 minutes

• 2 egg yolks
• 150 g powdered sugar
• 250 g margarine
• 550 g plain flour
• 30 g fresh yeast
• 1 tsp crystal sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• pinch of salt
• egg (to glaze)
• fillings *
  

Heat the milk until lukewarm (If the milk is too hot, it will kill the yeast bacteria and dough will not rise). Mix in the crystal sugar and crumbled yeast. Let rise for about 15 minutes. Meantime, zap the margarine in a microwave until soft and slightly melted.
In a big bowl, mix the sugar with salt and flour, add the yolks and melted fat. Mix roughly. Next, add the yeasty mixture and process carefully to a dough. If you beat it too hard, it will not rise very well.
Roll out the dough and cut into 6 x 8 cm rectangles. Cut in half diagonally. Add a spoonful of the filling into the middle, spread along the cut part and start wrapping towards the triangular top.
Brush with beaten egg for extra color.

Bake on low heat for about 15 minutes.

* As for the fillings, there are two old-style ones:

POPPY SEED FILLING:

• 250 g black poppy seeds
• 150 g crystal sugar
• lemon zest
• cinnamon powder
• 1oo ml milk
• 1 tsp butter
• raisins
  

Heat the milk in a small pan and add the rest of ingredients. Cook until all the liquid is absorbed stirring constantly. Take off the heat and let cool down.

WALNUT FILLING:

• 250 g walnuts
• 150 g crystal sugar
• lemon zest
• vanilla sugar
• 100 ml milk
• 1 tsp bread crumbs
  

Other, less common Bratislava Roll fillings can be found in my Plum Cocoa Strudel that I like to make for guests. As for the measurements, it is a grandma recipe, and you know how they go - a splash of milk, sugar to taste, lots of garlic...

Oh, btw. Have I mentioned that Bratislava is the capital city of Slovakia? Well, ... now I have ;-)