Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Graham Cracker Munchies
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Christmas Morning Bread (Yugoslavian Coffee Cake)
Ingredients:
- 1 package active dry yeast
- ¼ cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
- ¾ cup lukewarm milk (scalded, then cooled)
- ½ cup butter or margarine softened
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- 4 ½ - 5 cups flour
Filling:
- 2 ½ cups chopped walnuts
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
- 1 egg
- 2 tsps. Cinnamon
Dissolve yeast in warm water in a bowl. Stir in milk, margarine, eggs, sugar, salt and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make it easy to handle.
Turn on floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until elasticky. Put into greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place til it doubles (1 to 1 ½ hours). Punch dough down and divide it in half.
On floured surface, roll into a rectangle (15 x 12) put half the filling in each rectangle. Roll up the longways. Pinch the ends of the dough. Curve it into a snail-shape. Cover and let it double (1 to 1 ½ hours).
Bake at 350 for 35-45 mins.
My mom makes Christmas Morning Bread each Christmas Eve. While we sleep, it rises, and then in the morning she bakes it. We eat it in the living room while opening stockings. I called my mom to ask her the recipe and I learned 2 interesting things about it:
1. It’s called Yugoslavian Coffee Cake! I swear I thought it was called Christmas Morning Bread.
2. One year while I was growing up my mom didn’t make it – she probably thought, “We’re very busy this year and I’ll just skip it”, thinking it wouldn’t matter much to anyone. She told me that my dad, brother and I were outraged when there was no bread on Christmas morning. It didn’t feel like Christmas without Christmas Morning Bread. She was laughing when she told me this.