This lovely Hungarian dessert is made of the crescent shaped Hungarian bread-roll “kifli”, but can be substituted with plain bread rolls, brioche buns or sliced milk loaf. It is a favoured pudding at the Christmas festivities as the plentiful poppy seeds traditionally were believed to bring luck and fortune.
Ingredients
- 300g (~ 11 oz) sweet bread, like milk loaf, brioche or just breadrolls – or 7-8 Hungarian “kifli” if available
- 450ml( 1.8 cups) milk
- 4 tablespoons of honey
- 1 vanilla pod seeds and shell, or substitute with 1 tbsp of vanilla essence
- 40 g (1.4 oz) butter, at room temperature
- 75 g (2.6 oz) poppy seeds grinded – check that they are not bitter, I bought a bad batch before
- 75 g (~ 6 level tbsps) granulated sugar
- grated rind of 1 unwaxed lemon
- 1 cup of morello or sour cherry (jarred compote or preserve is fine)
- vanilla custard to serve with – optional
How to make
- Grind the poppy seeds in a coffee or spice grinder together with the sugar. Poppy seeds are oily, the sugar makes the process easier.
- Grease a medium sized ovenproof dish, approximately 1 quart/1 liter capacity, 25cm x 17cm size with a little butter, and start to preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Slice the bread into disks and place in a mixing bowl or similar.
- Put the vanilla seeds and the pod shell into the milk, add the honey and warm to simmering point, add the grated lemon rind.
- Remove the vanilla pod shell and pour the sweet milk onto the sliced bread and carefully move the pieces around so they soak th milk up more or less evenly.
- Sprinkle with the grinded poppy seeds, carefully fold around to distribute evenly. Finally mix in the sour cherries if using, they are delicious with poppyseeds.
- Transfer the prepared mixture into your ovenproof dish, spread evenly.
- Dot butter shavings/cubes around the top and bake it 180°C (350°F) for about 15 minutes.
- Serve warm with vanillia custard, optional.
I don’t usually post on recipe blogs, but I just had to say how delicious this was. I made it exactly as the recipe states, and it was just absolutely divine. Making it again this weekend for a friend who doesn’t eat dairy. Thanks so much!
Thanks for the nice comment Hannah, pleased to hear the recipe worked well! Poppyseed desserts are one of my favourites.
I think the size of chicken breasts has changed dramatically since Julia Child’s day, which could account for some of her shorter cook time.Kelly Hubbard