While my decorating will never be at artistic level (as I have NO artistic talent), I've always felt I have pretty good skill in the kitchen. I hardly make any dessert that is easy and I like challenging myself. I don't make pastries very often, so my repetoire is small, but there was one recipe I wanted to be able to master that would prove myself and I attempted it Christmas eve and this time, I got it! Still needs a little refining, but even my critical MIL was pretty impressed.

It's a Hungarian layered cake/cookie. You roll out 4 layers of cookie/batter VERY thin - like 1mm thick. Then you bake those and then layer them with a melt in your mouth filling and top with chocolate icing. The cookie/cake rises as it has baking powder, but it's still pretty thin (but mine rose a bit too much I think, so next time less baking powder - I'm thinking either the flour or the baking powder is different in the US than in Croatia where this recipe comes from).

Anyway, I tried to make it 4 years ago and instead of calling it Hungarian Ladies, we called it Hungarian tramps because it was WAY, WAY too thick and sloppy. They tasted great, but the look wasn't there. So, with more skills under my belt, I tried it and it's SOOOOOO close to perfection. next year maybe I'll really have it.

My MIL asked why I tried to make them as they are sooooooo difficult to make and I told her because they were my favorite treat in Croatia and since I don't get to go to Croatia often and only had them the one time (11 years ago), that I either had to learn to make them or always yearn for them. She was skeptical, but she tried them and said they were WONDERFUL and she never gives compliments like that YAY!!!!!

That was my Christmas present to myself - a baking triumph!!!! I'll have to scan photos later! It's nothing fancy looking except for the thin layers, but the flavor is to die for! (imho!)

Melissa

Good for you!!!!!! Those sound delicious too. Maybe you can post the recipe when you perfect it!!!!! Oh, I liked the "cake tramps"!!

That is just wonderful! Congrats. It is a amazing feeling when you can be happy with something you did. WAY TO GO!!!

Sounds like another great recipe for CC. I would love to see a play by play photo of your steps to making this treat. I love the name Hungarian Tramps...sounds fun!

Hungarian Lady Layered Cookie Dessert Recipe

Pastry:

300 grams/10 ozs flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
100 grams/3.5 ounces unsalted butter
1 whole egg
100 grams/3.5 ozs sugar
3 tbsp sour cream

Crumb butter into the flour and baking powder mixture. Make a depression in the center, add the suguar, egg, and sour cream, and knead into a dough. Divide dough into four equal weighing portions (this is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT) and chill each flattened ball for one hour. While chilling the dough, make a template of a 12x8 inch rectangle. Place your parchment paper over the template and tape/hold it down. Roll out the chilled dough into four 12x8 inch layers using a floured rolling pin. You can trim off the extra edges to fill in the corners as it will reincorporate well. Bake in the oven at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes. It should just turn slightly yellow/golden (much like a sugar cookie). Let them cool. (I bake one while rolling out the next one). Exact size is crucial.

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Filling:

300 grams/10.5 ounces sugar (divided 200 g/7 ozs and 100g/3.5 ozs)
500 ml/16 fl ozs whole milk
60 grams/2 ozs flour
150 grams/5 ozs unsalted butter
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Put the sugar in a saucepan (not a nonstick, but stainless steel) and cook, stirring frequently on medium/medium high until it becomes dark yellow color. Pour milk over the caramel, cook/stir for a short while until the caramel melts, add flour slowly by whisking it in and cook until it thickens. Leave the mixture to cool. Meanwile mix the butter with sugar and cocoa powder until fluffy and fold into cooled caramel mixture.

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Chocolate icing:

100 g/3.5 ozs semi sweet chocolate
2 tbsp. fresh cream
3 tbsp. heaping caster/powdered sugar
60grams/2 ozs unsalted butter

Combine chocolate and cream over a double boiler and stir until melted, add the powdered sugar and when blended, add the butter. Let cool slightly before pouring over the cookie layers.

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Assembly and Serving:

Lay first piece of cookie into the 12x8 pan, spread 1/3 of the filling evenly, then repeat finishing with the 4th cookie layer on top. Press lightly on the cookie to distribute the filling equally and then pour the chocolate icing on top.

Chill overnight. Before serving, cut into 1x2 inch pieces and serve on a plate. Let the cut cookies/cake sit out 15 minutes or so before serving. This cake/cookie must be kept refrigerated because of the butter.

Dobar tek! (Croatian for Bon Apetit! - My husband is from Croatia, immigrated when he was 23 and we are raising our children bilingual.)

Thank you! I love that you put into oz's...as I just got a digital scale. Will try it out soon and post a pix.

Congrats on a jo well done and for posting the recipe

I would recommend the cookbook these things come from as the recipes are so, so wonderful, however.... nearly every one of them leaves a lot out of the recipe and only on the second or third try and with MIL and DHs insight have I been able to decipher them. Little things like, not telling you to separate the eggs to make the yolk creamed light yellow and the whites to stiff peaks. Instead it says, "Beat eggs"... nice!!!

So, this recipe I typed up is my "translation" to make it doable. The first time I made it I didn't use parchment paper and just rolled it onto an inverted baking tin as it says to bake it on an inverted baking tin (which is not necessary if you are rolling it on parchment paper. Also, it didn't say to whisk in the flour and I had major lumps the first time and had to start over - stuff like that.

Maybe you guys will have more experience with stuff like this and will put mine to shame, but that's OK. I'm happy to share a very, very yummy recipe that will please everyone!

melissa

Well done!

Maybe sometime I will place on CC a very popular Russian style cake - it consists of about 15-20 layers of a VERY thin pastry with either custard type filling or toffy filling and walnuts.
It is delicious!!!!!

I would guess your problem IS the baking powder. The modern style in the U.S. is double-acting, the old traditional stuff is a single acting powder. You can find the older style if you look for SINGLE-ACTING baking powder.
edited to add this:
How to make baking powder
What is baking powder and how does it work?
If you have read How Bread Works, then you understand how the release of carbon dioxide by yeast can cause bread to rise. Many recipes, however, use no yeast. Things like muffins, biscuits, cakes and cookies usually use baking powder instead.
Baking powder is normally made of three different parts:
An acid
A base
A filler of some sort
All three need to be dry powders that can be mixed together. For example, baking soda (a base), cream of tartar (an acid) and corn starch (the filler) are three common ingredients.In school, you may have done the experiment where you mix baking soda (a base) and vinegar (an acid) and get a bubbling reaction. Baking powder works the same way. When you add water to baking powder, the dry acid and base go into solution and start reacting to produce carbon dioxide bubbles.
Single-acting baking powder produces all of its bubbles when it gets wet.
Double-acting baking powder produces bubbles again when it gets hot.

Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, has the chemical formula NaHCO3. Cream of tartar, also known as tartrate salt, has the formula KHC4H4O6.

Many recipes call simply for baking soda rather than baking powder. Usually these recipes use some kind of liquid acid like buttermilk or yogurt to react with the baking soda to produce the bubbles.
The reason why people often prefer baking powder to yeast is because yeast takes so long -- usually two to three hours -- to produce its bubbles. Baking powder is instant, so you can mix up a batch of biscuits and eat them 15 minutes later.
Found at: http://home.howstuffworks.com/question57.htm