Bejgli is a sweet pastry filled with ground poppy seeds or walnuts, often served during holidays in Central and Eastern European countries. Lemon zest, honey, and raisins are used to flavor the filling, and it can be topped with a glaze. It is traditionally served with red currant wine in Hungary.
Bejgli is a type of pastry made from a sweet dough rolled with a filling of ground poppy seeds. In some cases, walnuts are used in place of poppy seeds, and there are also recipes that call for a combined filling of walnuts and poppy seeds. Regardless of the ingredients, the resulting filling should be sweet, but also a little bitter. Hungarian cuisines are often credited with inventing this pastry, but it is also popular in a number of other Central and Eastern European countries.
It is quite common for Bejgli to be included in holiday spreads. In countries where bejgli is popular, it is quite common for these sweets to be served at Christmas and Easter. Naturally, pastry was also introduced to countries where peoples from Central and Eastern Europe emigrated. There are a number of cuisines that have pastries that are similar, though not identical, to bejgli. These other poppy seed rolls come from Croatia, Poland, Austria and Lithuania.
There are a number of ingredients other than poppy seeds that are used to flavor bejgli. Lemon zest or lemon zest can be used to flavor the dough, the filling, or both. Sometimes oranges are used instead of lemons. Ingredients that flavour, sweeten and add depth to the bejgli filling include honey and raisins. Once the bejgli filling has been rolled in the dough, the pastry is baked until golden brown. In most cases, the resulting loaf is cut up in the kitchen before being presented to the table for everyone to enjoy.
Various seasonings can be used to flavor and sweeten this paste. In some cases, the pastry will be topped with a plain white glaze after it has been properly cooked and allowed to cool. In other cases, the pastry is glazed before being baked. It is traditional in Hungary for bejgli to be served at Christmas time together with red currant wine. In other cases, it is served with dessert and is accompanied by other popular dessert drinks.
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