Rakvicky (Little Coffins)

Is it too depressive? Believe me it's not as gross as it sounds. These little treats are very sweet and makes you smile rather than sad.

They were given this name for they specific shape - little coffin (in Czech "rakvicka"). Rakvicky are a traditional after-Sunday's-luch dessert and their existence dates back to last century. Though I tried to find out their origin or at least some closer info I failed. Nothing. But I'll try to tell you all I know about them. Even my Granny knows them from her childhood and she was born in 1942, so that's for the imagination about their "age" :) Traditionally they're served with whipped cream and fresh fruit like strawberries, grapes, banana and whatever berries you can think of. The dough is very very sweet and crunchy and it's hollow inside. That's why the whipped cream is not sweetened and the sourness of the fruit complements the sweetness of the coffin dough.

On the net there is a huge lot of different recipes, though many of them require special small baking "forms" shaped as a coffin. As I don't have these and I think it's almost impossible to buy them outside my country I chose a recipe which didn't require them. The old tradition recipe also asks for a specific type of baking powder - ammonium carbonate. Okay, I had no idea where to buy such a sort of thing, but! Thank God for Wikipedia. Here I found out it's just an older type of today's baking powder. And I was like "Fine, this could work." And well, it worked well.

When the dough and everything else was ready (the first half of the photo below) and the first batch was baking in oven I felt pretty cool. Until I opened the oven and the result was (see the second half of the photo below):

Okay, never mind, let's try again. This time I watched them very carefully and right after they raised enough I lowed the temperature in the oven to 160C and when they seemed to be done I took out one of them, broke to see how it looks inside and what a surprise! The one was done and perfect :) Even without the baking form.

Don't be dissapointed if some of them won't be perfect - you can mask these mistakes with whipped cream. The first ones probably won't be good - think of them as a test batch, with the next you'll know the right temperature and time and your reward will be a nice looking sweet dessert. Be confident and try them!

Ingredients:
5 egg yolks
2 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp plain flour
250ml whipping cream
fresh fruit

Directions:

Beat egg yolks, 1 and 3/4 cups of powdered sugar and baking powder until light and fluffy (about 20 minutes). Refrigerate overnight (about 12 hours). The next day mix flour with the rest of powdered sugar in a bowl. Add the egg yolk mixture and mix well using your hands until solid and smooth dough is formed. Roll the dough with rolling pin (it should be 3mm thick, not more) on a slightly sugared surface. Cut the dough into 15x80mm rectangles. Grease a baking sheet more than usually (use either lard or some vegetable fat). It should be really greasy. Place the rectangles on the sheet and bake in preheated oven to 200C. When they raise immediately low down the temperature to 160C and bake until pale yellow. To ensure yourself, break one little coffin to see if it's done inside - it should be crispy and crunchy and completely dry, not wet! Let them cool completely and put into an air-tight container for 1 to 2 days so they can soften a bit. Then serve with whipped cream and fresh fruit.

 

Verdict:

Mmmmh, eating these reminds me my childhood. It was something I loved and devoured within a minute.  So light and crispy, sweet, creamy, juicy - all this together. Yum!


Linked to:
A Themed Bakers Sunday