Andruty (wafers)

What it is

Andruty — this is how wafers are called in Galicia: thin crispy sheets made from unleavened dough, which are baked in a heated waffle iron. The singular form, andrut, was used for both a separate wafer sheet and a wafer cup.

Most often, andruty refers to a homemade wafer cake: several wafer layers are filled with cream made from condensed milk, with nuts, cocoa, or chocolate, pressed together, and left to sit so that the wafers soften a bit. A similar Lviv wafer cake with chocolate cream is called pішінґер. The finished cake is cut into small squares or diamonds and served with coffee or tea.

Today, the word sounds old-fashioned: Marianna Dushar lists 'andruty' among Galician culinary terms that are no longer understood by many contemporaries.

The wafer sheet is baked between two heated metal plates of the waffle iron, leaving a relief grid pattern on it. The cake made from andruty does not need to be baked in the oven: ready-made sheets and cream are sufficient, making it easy to assemble at home.

History and name

The word came to Galician cuisine from Polish (andruty). In the glossary 'Galician Cuisine in Words' (journal 'Ї', 2013), andrut is explained as a wafer, alongside pішінґер — a wafer cake layered with chocolate cream. Both terms belong to the vocabulary of Lviv's urban cuisine.

Thin wafers with their own name are also known in Poland (andruty kaliskie), and the wafer cake pішінґер — in Vienna. Andruty belong to the urban cuisine of Lviv and Galician towns, not to the mountainous regions.

Ingredients and allergens

Wheat flourfor the wafer batterFor the dough of varenyky, palačinky, bobalyok, and pasky.Contains allergens: gluten

Condensed milkin the creamSweet thick cream used to layer wafer wafers.Contains allergens: milk

Eggsin the batterChicken eggs — for the dough of hombovtsi, palačint, pasky, and deruny.Contains allergens: eggs

Butterin the batter and in the creamButter is placed on slices of kulesha, used to grease riplianka, and to fry breadcrumbs for hombovtsi.Contains allergens: milk

Milkor water, in the batterCow's milk for the dough of palachyntsi, machanka, and porridge.Contains allergens: milk

Walnutsin the cream, optionalTopping for bobalyok and palačinky.Contains allergens: tree nuts

Also: cocoa (in the cream, optional), sugar (in the batter)

Contains allergens: gluten, milk, eggs
Depending on how it is served, may contain: tree nuts
Diet: vegetarian

Ingredients of the traditional recipe; every cook and every place may do it differently — please ask when ordering. We cannot guarantee the absence of allergens or traces.

How it is made

A liquid batter made from flour, water or milk, sugar, and fat (often with an egg) is poured in a thin layer into a heated waffle iron and baked until light golden. The hot sheets are still flexible, so they can be rolled into a tube or cup; once cooled, they become brittle.

For the cake, several wafer layers are filled with cream — most often based on condensed milk and butter, with nuts or cocoa — pressed together and left to sit, then cut into squares. Ready-made wafer sheets are also sold in stores, so homemade andruty are often assembled from them.

Where it is eaten

The area is approximate and based on the sources below. The dish is cooked outside it too, and ethnographic borders are blurred.

Lviv and Galician towns and settlements of Lviv region; an urban tradition, not a mountain one.

When it is eaten

Occasions: Everyday food

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