Sara Hohn – Food… Brooklyn & Beyond

You may know them as elephant ears, pig’s ears, faworki, bow ties, angel wings or twisters, but in Polish cuisine, all refer to an airy cookie called chrusciki.

I hadn’t thought about chrusciki in years, but I wandered into a Polish meat market yesterday and saw something in the window that was deep-fried and covered in sugar and asked about it.

“What is that deep-fried thing over there?” I pointed.

The gentleman behind the counter responded, “It’s chrusciki.”

I honestly didn’t expect to have heard of the item, as this store sells only Polish specialties. However, I suddenly recalled that my childhood friend’s Polish mother would make enormous batches of chrusciki for holidays. I remembered fondly eating one after another at their kitchen table, almost straight from the fryer, the powdered sugar melting into the hot pastry.

“Oh my God,” I said, “I haven’t eaten this since I was 10.”

The man responded, “My grandmother used to make them for me.”

We shared a moment.

“Well, that settles it. I’ll have a box of chrusciki please,” picking up a box of edible memories I wasn’t even looking for.

A labor-intensive cookie, chrusciki are usually made for Christmas, Easter, and special occasions like weddings. They start with a simple, heavily kneaded dough, are cut into strips and formed into the ring-twist shape, which apparently resembles an angel’s wing. They are deep-fried for about a minute until golden brown, then removed from the oil and dusted with powdered sugar. You may think of typical Polish foods like sausages, horseradish or babka as being very heavy, but chrusciki are incredibly light and delicate.

You can pick up chrusciki this week from Jubilat Provisions, but you can’t miss their impressive kielbasa and good selection of homemade cured meats.

Jubilat Provisions
608 Fifth Avenue

Originally published on Until Monday: Brooklyn