Chrusty, chrusciki, faworki, angel wings

Ok, so I told you about Polish doughnuts. They are the most important part of the Fat Thursday, but there is something more. Something you can’t buy at a bakery. OK, you can, but it’s very, very hard to find ones that taste good. I’m talking about faworki or chrusty or chrusciki the name differs depending on a region. And apparently, in the US they are called angel wings and in Italy – chiacchiere.

Chrusty (plural) means dry branches broken off trees and this name is popular in my region.
Anyway, it’s only the name. They are simple. It is a deep-fried dough sprinkled with icing sugar, nothing else. But they are very, very good.
I remember once my grandma was frying them in the morning and later at school girls were wondering who has new perfumes and after a while, I understood this was me. They smelled my grandma’s chrusty! I’m not sure if she added some aroma to it, but yes they smell lovely even on their own.
They also work great as a stress relief. Just read a recipe 😉

Unfortunately, it isn’t a family recipe. I should finally go home and grab a recipe notebook and some old cookbooks, but recipe comes from one of my favorites Polish food blogs White plate, you may want to check it even to just look at the beautiful photos.

Also, try the recipe for chrusty with beer.

Little sweet bows perfect for Shrove Tuesday or any other occasion

Recipe from beautiful White plate blog

Ingredients

• 500 g plain flour
• 4-5 yolks
• 2 Tbsp vinegar (I substituted with rum)
• pinch of salt
• 200 g sour cream
• 3 packets of Frytex or different shortening deep-fry (you can use it also oil or lard)
• icing sugar for sprinkling

Directions

Place all ingredients in a bowl. Knead a dough. You can use a mixer. It takes quite a long time. You will know that the dough is ready when it will be smooth and elastic. If it is too dry add an extra one or two tablespoons of the sour cream. And now the fun part. Put the dough on the counter and start beating it with a rolling pin. If you beat it well, you will get more air bubbles and your chrusty will be lighter and better. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and leave it in a fridge for an hour. Split the dough into a few smaller parts and roll it very thin. If you have a pasta roller, use it. The thinner the better. Mine was still too thick. Cut the rolled dough into rectangles 6-cm long and 4-cm wide (they should be longer than wider and shouldn’t be bigger than a pot you are frying them in). Cut a slit in the middle of every rectangle.

And pull one end through the slit.

Heat Frytex or oil in a big pot or saucepan to 175°C. Use enough oil that chrusty can float freely.
Fry chrusty around 1 minutes on every side (or until golden). Don’t overcrowd the pan, as the oil temperature will drop down. Flip them using wooden skewers.
Take them out of the oil and put it on a plate covered with paper towel to absorb extra oil.

Sprinkle chrusty with the icing sugar.

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