Hungarian Autumn desserts from 100 years ago – How did they taste?

Hungarian cuisine is known in several parts of the world, but usually, it is our savoury dishes that get the attention. Still, there are actually a lot of desserts and sweet things in Hungarian cuisine.

Although gulyás and paprika are very well known around the globe, Hungarians also like to eat sweet things, and we have many different main courses that are sweet, such as máglyarakás (bonfire stack) and palacsinta (pancakes). But Hungarians also love their desserts as well.

Csalad has collected some of the Hungarian dessert recipes found in the Magyar Háziasszonyok Közlönye, which roughly translates to Hungarian Housewives’ Gazette from 1903. It contained tips and tricks on how to solve household problems, as well as recipes.

A magyar háziasszonyok közlönye (Hungarian Housewives’ Gazette) Photo: muzeumantikvarium.hu

Peel 12 luscious apples, cut them into fours and take out the pit with the seeds. Cook the quarters in wine with vanilla and sugar to taste until they soften. If they are soft, take them out and put the quarters into a large bowl and add 0.5-litre tejföl (sour cream), 1 tablespoon of wheat starch and the same amount of powdered sugar. Beat them until it becomes foamy. Add 5 egg yolks and the hard foam of the eggs. Mix them and bake until light yellow. It is delicious and can be eaten cold as well.

Cukrozott Ringlotta – Candied (green)gage

Cook a thick syrup using 0.5 kg sugar and 0.25 litres of water. Put some not yet fully ripened (green)gages into the syrup and cook them for 15 minutes. Be careful not to split their peels. Take the (green)gages out and drain them, then sprinkle powdered sugar on them until it covers them and they become white.

Put them into a tepid oven and dehydrate them. While in the oven, you need to turn the fruits over several times and sprinkle them with sugar. This delicacy will stay fresh in silk paper for a long time.

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Szilvásgombóc – Plum dunmplings

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Cook 4 large potatoes, add 1 egg and some flour and knead it until it becomes a pasta-like consistency. Roll the dough to 1-2 millimetres or a bit thicker if you like it that way, and cut it into squares that would fit your plums. The best if it is ripe enough that the flesh easily comes off the pit. You can use it whole or deseed the plums.

Put the plums into the squares and form the dough around the plum and roll it into ball-like shapes. Toast fine breadcrumbs in a bit of butter until it becomes golden brown. Cook the dough balls filled with plum in water, and when they are ready, take them out and roll them into the toasted breadcrumbs. Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top and serve with a side of sour cream.

It can also be a dessert and a main dish. You can also substitute the plums with something else. Other typical fillings include plum or apricot jam, but you can basically use anything you like.

Töltött diótorta – Filled walnut cake

Töltött Diótorta – Filled Walnut Cake Photo: mindmegette.hu

Stir 12 egg yolks with 30 dkg powdered sugar for half an hour. Add half a lemon’s  worth of grated peel, add jut a knife’s point of sieved cloves, 30 dkg of finely ground walnut, 2 dkg breadcrumbs (from crescents), 1 tablespoon of rum and the hard foam of the twelve eggs. Mix it well.

Grease two identical cake tins and add in the mixture, then bake on low heat. When it is cooled off, spread walnut cream on one of the cakes and put the other cake on top. Decorate the middle with fruits cooked in sugar and the edge with halved walnuts.

For the walnut cream:

Mix 10 dkg of finely ground walnut with 1 tablespoon of cream well. Beat hard foam from 0.1 litres of milk, then mix it together with the walnuts and 10 dkg of (preferably homemade) vanilla sugar. Spread the walnut cream on the cake once the cake cooled off enough. It is perfect for holidays.

Read alsoDobos, Esterházy, Rákóczi – This is how the most famous Hungarian cakes were created

Mézes pirulák – Honey pills/balls

Mézes Pirulák – Honey pills/balls (illustration) Photo: nosalty.hu

Put a medium bowl of ground walnut, a little honey, the finely chopped peels of 3 entire oranges and 2 whole lemons into a pot. Add 1 lemon’s juice, 1 tablespoon of rum and 2 coffee spoons (around one teaspoon total) of crushed cinnamon (powder would be fine). Constantly stirring, cook the mixture for 15 minutes.

Wait until the mixture cools off and form peanut-sized pills/balls from the paste, then roll them into grated chocolate.

Source: Csalad.hu, Mindmegette.hu, Nosalty.hu, ottisfozblog.wordpress.com