The Representative pastry: a recipe filled with nostalgia

It is gradually starting to feel like spring. The weather, while still remaining quite unpredictable, is warming up day by day. At this time of year, people would typically abandon their homes and start to socialise immensely, shaking off their seasonal slumber.

Unfortunately, that is not possible in the pandemic’s current state, but it can not be simply skipped: it is time to start warming up our souls. And since it is not happening naturally this year, we must do it ourselves. This recipe is an attempt at that since many people have fond memories of this forever-favourite dessert.

It is not really possible to know the origin of the name, but there are multiple theories. Some people speculate that Parliament representatives snuck out of their seats to the buffet for a pastry break, and these bite-sized desserts were their favourite. Others say the recipe itself was based on the work of a particular representative who developed it. Despite these uncertainties, it is known that the recipe was of French origin (the dough being basically a choux pastry, similarly to Éclaire) and came to Hungary through Austrian influence during the golden days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Today it is an old classic, one of all Hungarian grandmother’s basic recipes and a great reminder of family gatherings in these increasingly spring-like but still lonesome days. This classic and relatively simple recipe is our attempt to bring a little brightness and possibly some good memories into the monotony of everyday life in a pandemic.

Here are the ingredients you need for this lovely, cream-filled bite of nostalgia (makes around 8-10 pastries):

Instructions:

Boil the water with salt, sugar and lard. Traditionally lard is used because it was more flavourful and widely available, but it can be substituted for butter. Add flour while continuously stirring, and keep the dough on the heat to cook it, or as the Hungarian expression goes: burn it (not literally, of course). The paste should change colour slightly. After the mixture is cooked, take it off the heat and put it in a cold bowl. Quickly mix in the eggs one by one, stirring very carefully, making sure not to scramble them. It should have a very thick, sour cream-like texture that keeps its shape after being piped out of a piping bag.

Preheat the oven to 220 °C. Wet the baking sheet slightly so that the baking paper sticks and the cooking environment can be slightly more humid. Pipe walnut-sized dough balls onto the paper, keeping some distance in between for them to puff up.

Place the sheet into the now hot oven, and do not open before they are ready. They can collapse if you do. The result should be around tennis ball sized. Once they are nice and golden brown, they are ready. Open the oven door slightly and let them rest like that.

Meanwhile, heat the milk with some vanilla. Mix in the sugar and the starch with the egg yolks until smooth. Once the milk is steamy, temper the eggs by diluting them with some of the hot milk. This way, we can even out the temperature differences and make sure that we won’t scramble the eggs.

Once the milk starts to boil, add in the eggs while stirring carefully. Heat the mixture again until it thickens and no longer tastes starchy. Meanwhile, whip the egg whites up with the 85 grammes of sugar until stiff peaks form. Once our cooked vanilla cream is ready, take it off the heat and incorporate the egg whites in thirds very carefully. Whip the cream for the filling as well.

Cut the tops off the cooled pastries and spoon or pipe in the vanilla cream filling first, then the whipped cream. Place the tops back on, and they are ready to eat! If you prefer them soft, wait a couple of hours before eating. Enjoy!

Source: egy.hu, mindmegette.hu, nyest.hu, lajosmari.hu, magyarorszagom.hu