Oh, this "Soviet" taste of sweet brushwood! Simple cookies appeared in Russian national cuisine in the eighteenth century thanks to foreign chefs and pastry chefs who prepared this crisp brittle product as a dessert for the rich and other nobles.
In Soviet times, brushwood received a rebirth. The general deficit forced people to trick. And many wanted the sweetie. Here mothers and grandmothers were refined as they could. The cookies were called “brushwood” because of their outward resemblance to the fallen branches and leaves of trees. Despite the fact that now the confectionery world is extremely rich, this sweet continues to occupy its place among cheesecakes and strudel. And its taste makes people nostalgic for the wonderful Soviet era.
We offer you several cookie recipes: brushwood without vodka, with alcohol, kefir, sour cream, milk and mineral water.
With vodka
The classic brushwood recipe is incredibly simple. It turns out thin and crispy. The vodka contained in it may frighten someone: "What kind of cookies are these and how do children eat them?" But do not worry - during heat treatment, alcohol vapor completely evaporates. Add vodka, rum or brandy to the confectionery product to enhance its crispness.
Essential Ingredients:
- Two eggs.
- Half a teaspoon of table salt.
- 230 grams of flour.
- One and a half tablespoons of vodka.
- Powdered sugar.
- Refined cooking oil for frying.
Getting started cooking
The dough according to the recipe for classic brushwood is made simply - you just need to mix all the ingredients. Beat the chicken eggs slightly with salt and vodka, then gently introduce the flour to avoid the formation of lumps. The result is a fairly elastic dough that sticks a little to your hands. Wrap it in cellophane and put it in the refrigerator for about forty minutes. Then proceed to rolling. To do this, it is better to divide the dough into several pieces and remove those that are not in action now, back into polyethylene so that they do not dry out quickly.
We roll the dough into a layer as thin as possible, but not so much that it breaks. Just on how well you cope with this task, the airiness of the future dish depends. The layer is cut into strips, in the center of each piece we make an incision and through it we turn one of the ends of the product. If you are unable to twist something from the dough, then you can do without it - the taste of cookies will not change.
Twigs are fried extremely quickly, most likely, you will not even have time to lay new ones and pull out ready ones. Therefore, be as agile as possible. There must be plenty of oil in the pan so that the cookies in it are hidden entirely. As soon as the dough is in butter, it will immediately begin to swell and take on a fun shape.
Ready brushwood should be laid out on paper towels so that they absorb excess oil. The dish is sprinkled with plenty of icing sugar or vanilla. Also, as a topping, you can use raisins, chocolate chips or coconut.
Lush and soft
Such brushwood without vodka is also prepared on kefir. This allows it to be soft and lush, because the food does not have to be hard and crunchy. Required:
- 300 ml of kefir.
- One and a half teaspoons of soda.
- Three glasses of flour.
- Refined oil.
- One chicken egg.
- A bag of vanillin.
- A quarter teaspoon of salt.
- Three tablespoons of sugar.
Beat the egg with sugar and salt. We extinguish kefir at room temperature in a separate container with soda and wait a minute for the reaction to occur. Then we add kefir and three tablespoons of vegetable oil to the egg. Mix thoroughly to completely dissolve the salt and sugar. Without stopping stirring, gradually introduce the flour.
The dough is soft and rather sticky. It should be covered with cling film and allowed to stand warm for half an hour. Then the dough should be rolled into thin layers and made zagulinki, which are then sent to boiling oil.
Kefir brushwood without vodka should also be held on paper towels to get rid of excess oil, and then sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Milk recipe
If you want to make brushwood without vodka, then milk will be the best substitute for alcohol. To do this, beat two chicken eggs with 80 grams of sugar until the sweet sand dissolves. After that, two tablespoons of milk must be poured into the slurry, mix and begin to gradually introduce the flour.
Such a dough does not need to be cleaned in the refrigerator or left warm, you can immediately begin rolling. The procedure for rolling out the test is no different from the above algorithm. This delicacy is tender and very airy.
With sour cream
Brushless vodka with sour cream also cooks faster, since the dough does not need to be kept warm or in the cold. Beat two eggs with 100 grams of sugar until it is completely dissolved, after which we add two hundred milliliters of sour cream and one and a half teaspoons of soda. Flour should be introduced gradually - it will take about three glasses. The consumption of flour depends on the size of the eggs and the fat content of sour cream. The resulting soft, but still sticky dough can be rolled out and fried right there.
On mineral water
From three glasses of flour we form a nest into which we add a tablespoon of sour cream, a little salt, a glass of vodka or other strong alcohol, ten grams of sugar and two hundred milliliters of mineral water. First, knead the contents with a spoon, and then with your hands. The dough should be elastic. After that, you need to cover it with a towel and leave for ten minutes, and after that - knead again. We roll it into a layer and roll it in the form of a roll, which we cut into pieces of 1-1.5 centimeters. Further, as usual.
Crispy brushwood without vodka
To achieve crispness without cookies, a chicken egg is mixed with a pinch of salt and 120 grams of flour. The resulting dough is rolled into a thin layer, cut into strips and fried in oil. This crispy, melting brushwood without vodka in your mouth should also be abundantly sprinkled with powdered sugar or whatever your heart desires. This recipe is extremely simple and quick. No need to wait until the dough is set, and most importantly, you need so few ingredients that can be found in every home.
Tips
It is necessary to fry brushwood exclusively in refined vegetable oil, otherwise the cookies will acquire a dubious taste, and your whole home will smell of a specific and difficult to remove aroma.
Brushwood is served with jam, sugar syrup or condensed milk. But before that, they almost always abundantly flavored with icing sugar - it just so happened.
All ingredients when cooking should be at room temperature - this applies to kefir, eggs, sour cream, milk.
During frying, avoid small pieces of cookies remaining in the butter. They will quickly burn out inside and subsequent batches of brushwood will turn out to be bitter. So arm yourself with a slotted spoon in such a case.