Faworki — Polish carnival angel wings

i. Origin & history

Fried dough is an old pre-Lenten tradition across Catholic Europe. In the days before the forty-day fast, households used up eggs, butter and lard — foods that were then forbidden in Lent — in a final burst of rich, fried baking. In Poland that moment is Tłusty Czwartek, 'Fat Thursday', the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, when bakeries queue out of the door for pączki (filled doughnuts) and faworki, and the carnival season's last days, ostatki, which follow.

The names reflect where you are in Poland. Faworki is generally said to come from the French faveur, a ribbon — the kind of ribbon given as a favour — which is exactly what the twisted strips look like. Chrust and chruściki come from the word for brushwood, for their brittle, twig-like crunch; the name is especially common in the south and east of the country and among the Polish diaspora in the United States. They are the same pastry.

Almost every European country with a carnival has a version: Lithuanian žagarėliai, Ukrainian and Belarusian khvorost, Hungarian csöröge, Italian chiacchiere or crostoli, French bugnes and merveilles, and the Scandinavian Christmas twists, Danish klejner and Norwegian fattigmann. What marks the Polish faworki is the dough: rich in egg yolks and sour cream, rolled almost paper-thin and fried very briefly so it blisters into a pale, fragile lacework.

ii. Why the dough is beaten, and why there is vodka in it

Faworki break two pastry rules on purpose. First, the dough is worked hard: kneaded for several minutes and then, traditionally, beaten with a rolling pin, folded and beaten again. Polish grandmothers are often remembered for this, and it has a purpose. Beating folds air into the dough in thin pockets; when the very thin strips hit hot fat, that air and the water in the dough expand into the bubbles and blisters that give faworki their light, shattering texture.

Second, there is spirit in the dough — a spoon of vodka, rum or spirytus. Alcohol evaporates faster than water in the hot fat, so the dough puffs and dries quickly, and it limits gluten development so the strips stay tender rather than tough despite all that working. It also reduces how much fat the dough absorbs, which is why well-made faworki are dry to the touch, not greasy. Sour cream adds fat and acidity for tenderness, and the high proportion of yolks gives richness and a pale gold colour.

Thinness is everything. The dough should be rolled until you can almost see the board through it — 1–2 mm. Thick faworki fry into hard, oily crackers rather than airy ribbons. Frying is quick: a few seconds a side in fat at 175–180°C, until pale golden with darker blisters. Traditional cooks fry in lard, which gives a clean, crisp finish; a neutral oil works too.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 12 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 250 g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
• 4 egg yolks
• 100 g thick sour cream (18%)
• 1 tbsp vodka or rum
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1000 g lard or 1 litre neutral oil, for frying
• 80 g icing sugar, mixed with ½ tsp vanilla sugar, to dust

Egg yolks, not whole eggs, give the tender, rich dough; the whites make it tougher. Sour cream should be thick, full-fat Polish-style śmietana; crème fraîche is a good substitute. Vodka is the usual spirit; rum or a clear fruit brandy work, and the alcohol cooks off. Lard is the traditional frying fat and gives the crispest, least greasy faworki; sunflower or rapeseed oil is the common alternative. Dust with icing sugar — never caster sugar, which will not cling.

iv. Method

1. Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt into a bowl. Add the yolks, sour cream, vodka and vinegar and mix into a dough. It will be firm.
2. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Then beat it with a rolling pin for 3–5 minutes, folding it over on itself every so often, until small air bubbles show when cut. Wrap and rest for 20 minutes.
3. Cut the dough in quarters and keep three wrapped. Roll one very thinly, to 1–2 mm, until the board almost shows through.
4. Cut into strips about 3 cm wide and 10–12 cm long, on a slant for neat diamonds at the ends. Cut a 3 cm slit lengthways down the middle of each strip and pull one end through the slit to make a twist.
5. Heat the lard or oil in a deep pan to 175–180°C; a scrap of dough should rise and bubble at once.
6. Fry 4–5 faworki at a time for 15–30 seconds a side, turning once with chopsticks or a fork, until pale golden and blistered. Lift onto kitchen paper.
7. Repeat with the remaining dough, keeping the fat at temperature. Dust heavily with vanilla icing sugar while still slightly warm and again just before serving.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Beat the dough. The bubbles you knock in become the blisters; a merely kneaded dough fries flatter and harder.
• Roll thinner than seems sensible. At 3 mm, faworki are crunchy biscuits; at 1–2 mm they are light and shatter. This is the single biggest difference.
• Keep the dough covered. The thin, rich dough dries fast and cracks when twisted. Roll and fry in batches.
• Watch the fat temperature. Too cool and faworki soak up fat; too hot and they brown before they puff. 175–180°C, checked between batches.
• Pull them out pale. They should be light gold, not brown; they keep colouring for a few seconds after leaving the fat.
• Sugar at the end. Dust once warm and again to serve — sugar added to hot, oily pastry dissolves into a sticky film.

vi. Variations

Róże karnawałowe ('carnival roses') stack three flower-cut rounds of the same dough, fry them into a rose and finish with a dot of jam in the centre. Some cooks use whole eggs or add a little butter; others replace sour cream with milk or yoghurt. Lemon zest or vanilla in the dough is a common flavouring.

Across Europe the same pastry becomes Italian chiacchiere, Lithuanian žagarėliai and Ukrainian khvorost; in Scandinavia, Danish klejner and Norwegian fattigmann are Christmas cousins. For other Polish carnival and celebration bakes, see babka and kremówka.

vii. Serving & storage

Pile faworki high on a plate, dust heavily with icing sugar and serve with tea, coffee or a glass of something warming on Fat Thursday or during the last days of carnival. They are always eaten with the fingers, and the sugar goes everywhere.

Faworki are best the day they are fried. Kept in a tin or paper bag at room temperature — not airtight plastic, which softens them — they stay crisp for 2–3 days; re-dust before serving. They do not freeze well. The dough can be made a day ahead and refrigerated, wrapped; bring it to room temperature before rolling.

ix. More from Eastern European

• Babka — Polish Easter yeast cake
• Kremówka — Polish cream slice
• Sernik — Polish baked cheesecake
• Szarlotka — Polish apple cake
• Klejner — Danish Christmas twists
• Fattigmann — Norwegian fried cookies