These crescents are one of my favourite holiday pastries. Traditionally made with a poppyseed or prune butter filling, I’ve also used apricot preserves with great success. Poppyseed and prune butter is readily available at most Eastern European shops, but my Polish friends also use rose jam (marmalada) for their ‘rogaliki’ (Polish spelling). You can use any thick, sweet confectionary paste – get creative and have fun with it. Peanut butter with cranberry jelly is a tasty one to try, reminiscent of Canadian childhood school lunches.

You will need:

4.5 teaspoons of dry yeast, or two packets
1/2 c lukewarm milk
1 tablespoon honey (buckwheat honey if you have it)
5 cups flour
1/2 c sugar
1 c cold butter (82% butterfat or higher is best), chopped.
4 medium-sized eggs
1 c sour cream (14% or higher)
1 tablespoon lemon juice and zest from 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
small dish of milk (3-4 tbsp) for glazing

You will also need:

a pastry brush
a large cookie sheet
parchment paper
a large bowl
a large, clean and flour-dusted surface to knead and shape dough on
4 hours or overnight resting time.

Method:

In a small bowl or mug, sprinkle the yeast over lukewarm milk mixed with the honey, and whisk together with a fork. Set aside and allow it to foam up. In a large bowl, mix together flour and sugar, and cut in the cold butter. Beat together the eggs, sour cream, lemon juice and zest. To the large bowl, add both the egg and milk mixtures, and with clean hands knead until a soft dough forms. Cover with a lid or plastic film, and let it set in the refrigerator overnight (or four hours, if you want them the same day).

Flour a large surface and prepare your filling – Roll out your dough and slice into isosceles triangles – long on two sides and short on one (about four inches by two inches is a good measure). Place a half teaspoon of filling (don’t overfill, because they’ll spill out!) on the wide end of the triangle, and carefully roll it up so that it looks like a croissant. Gently pull each side to the centre, creating a crescent shape. Line a baking sheet with parchment and arrange rohalyky on it, leaving a couple of inches of space between each one.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the rohalyky in batches for 14-17 minutes, keeping an eye so that they don’t brown too quickly. As soon as you remove each batch from the oven, using your pastry brush, brush each one immediately with milk. Set on a wire rack to cool.

Keep in an airtight sealed container for up to five days. Great with a cup of coffee.