Kifly

What it is

Kifly are small crescent-shaped cookies made from delicate shortcrust pastry with butter and sour cream, rolled from a triangle around a sweet filling. They are generously dusted with powdered sugar while hot. The dough is made with butter, egg yolks, and sour cream, and the nut filling is often mixed with whipped egg whites.

The most common fillings are ground walnuts, poppy seeds, and thick plum lekvar; cheese and cherry fillings are also found. Transcarpathian pastry chef Lyubov Keretsman explains the difference by geography: in the upper, mountainous regions, where plums were scarce, nuts were used, while in the lowlands, lekvar was preferred.

Kifly are baked in almost every Transcarpathian family for holidays and are often placed on wedding tables. When well-baked, they do not stale for several weeks.

In 2021, a two-meter-long kifly with a nut filling was baked in the village of Chynadiyovo — it was entered into the National Register of Records of Ukraine.

History and name

The name comes from the Hungarian kifli, which in turn comes from the Austro-German Kipferl, meaning 'crescent.' The pastry arrived in Transcarpathia through Hungarian cuisine and became established in Hungarian, Rusyn, and Ukrainian families; each housewife has her own recipe.

Halyna Shchuka mentions kifly among Transcarpathian products in her book 'Ark of Taste. Ukraine' — a catalog of culinary heritage that needs preservation.

Ingredients and allergens

Variant: with nut filling

Wheat flour500 gFor the dough of varenyky, palačinky, bobalyok, and pasky.Contains allergens: gluten

Butter200–250 gButter is placed on slices of kulesha, used to grease riplianka, and to fry breadcrumbs for hombovtsi.Contains allergens: milk

Walnuts200–250 gTopping for bobalyok and palačinky.Contains allergens: tree nuts

Also: sour cream (100–150 g), eggs (3–4 yolks (whites for filling)), sugar (1–2 tbsp), powdered sugar (80–100 g, to serve)

Contains allergens: gluten, milk, eggs, tree nuts
Diet: vegetarian

Variant: with lekvar

wheat flour, butter, sour cream, eggs, plum lekvar, powdered sugar

Contains allergens: gluten, milk, eggs
Diet: vegetarian

Variant: with poppy seeds

wheat flour, butter, sour cream, poppy seeds, sugar, powdered sugar

Contains allergens: gluten, milk
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

Butter at room temperature is rubbed with flour into crumbs, then egg yolks, sour cream, a bit of sugar, and salt are added, and the dough is quickly kneaded. It is chilled for at least an hour. For the nut filling, egg whites are whipped with sugar into a foam and gently mixed with ground nuts.

The dough is divided into portions, each rolled into a circle and cut into 8–12 triangles. A filling is placed on the wide edge, the crescent is rolled up, and baked for about 20–30 minutes in a moderately hot oven. Hot kifly are immediately dusted with powdered sugar.

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.

Transcarpathia in general: nut kifly are more common in mountainous areas, while lekvar ones are found in lowlands. They are most associated with Hungarian and Rusyn families. The area is approximate.

When it is eaten

Occasions: Weddings

In tradition

Kifly are festive and wedding cookies of Transcarpathia: they are baked in large batches in advance because they keep well. The filling often depends on what has ripened in the garden: plums for lekvar or nuts.

FAQ