This Polish Fat Thursdays favorite pastry is also well known in Lithuanian and Germany, and quickly found its way to other regional cuisines such as American, thanks to immigrants. Such as myself.
Angle wings together with carnival roses and pączki (donuts) they are mostly eaten in the period just before LENT (especially on last Thursday just before Lent, commonly known as "Fat Thursday").
In the United States, many ethnic bakeries (Cleveland, Chicago, Buffalo or Detroit) make angel wings. They are very popular not only before Lent but also for Christmas Holidays.
Faworki traditionally are type of crisp pastry made out of dough, prepared from flour, sour cream, eggs, salt and grain alcohol. It is shaped into thin twisted ribbons (that look like angel wings) and later deep-fried. To add some sweetness to them they are sprinkled with confectioners sugar.
TIPS
The more you knead and beat the dough the more air bubbles the FAWORKI will have and the more light and crunchy they will be.
If you do not have grain alcohol to add to the dough, you can use vinegar - any that is 6% acidity (It is not easy to get grain alcohol in some parts of the US).
While beating the dough with the roller you can take out all your frustrations!
For cutting the dough you can use a pastry cutter, or I just use a pizza knife.
Check the temperature of the oil with a thermometer, you can use the laser one. If you do not have one, be patient and take a small piece of dough gently put it in- if it immediately floats to the surface and there are bubbles around it it is perfect.
Faworki are the best when you eat them right away, on the same day.
TIME
Read in 45 min
Preparation: 25- 30min
INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 cup of Flour
1/2 tsp of Salt
4 Egg yolks
1/2 tsp of sugar
5 tbsp of Sour cream
1 tbsp of champagne vinegar 6%
confectionary sugar
lemon zest from 1 lemon
oil to fry
STEP BY STEP
In a bowl mix together flour, salt and sugar. Add butter, sour cream, egg yolks, lemon zest & vinegar. Mix it with a mixing spoon until it forms a ball that you can start kneading.
When it forms a semi ball, move it to a pastry board, or a flat surface, and knead it for about 10 min.
Take a pastry roller and start beating the dough with it, for about 10-15 min. This will make the dough airy and Faworki will have lots of bubbles.
Split the dough in half - put one half in a plastic bag. Roll out a half of the dough to the thickness of about 0.4 inch (0,5- 1cm), cut it into rectangles size 3.5x 1.5 inch (9cmx 4cm).
In the middle of each rectangle make an incision. Take one side of the flat rectangle and turn in through the incision.
In a dutch oven, or a pot with a thick bottom, heat up some frying oil 330-350F. Place a few pieces of dough in the oil and fry it until it is golden.
Take it out of the oil, and place it on the plate with some paper towel to let the Faworek rest and soak out the extra oil.
Move them to a plate and sprinkle on top a bit of confectioners sugar.
SMACZNEGO!
My other Yummy desserts:
