I just picked up one. Here in Cleveland they are an essential part of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I know they are popular with the European communities in the Great Lakes area. But I have learned that a lot of foods that I take for granted in NE Ohio are not necessary nationwide. What do the dopers say? Is this delicious dessert part of your Thanksgiving elsewhere?
My Hungarian-born grandmother left the family a number of very good recipes, but sadly this wasn’t one of them. I’ve never heard of it.
My grandmother made kifli which were halfmoon pastries. Two varieties: makos and dios. Makos are poppy seed filled (my fav!) and dios are a walnut filling. Yum!
She also made what she called fank. It was pastry dough that was rolled thin, cut into a long diamond shape with a slit in the middle. One of the long points of the diamond is pull through the slit so you end up with a twist in the middle. It was fried, then dusted with powdered sugar. Good, but not as good as the kifli.
ETA: Oh, and my grandmother lived all her life in the US in Ohio. She emigrated as a young teen from Gyor.
Ohio here. Yep, love it.
Diós bejgli in Hungarian (if you want to search for recipes under the original name.) You can find the Poilsh version of them here in Chicago. More popular is the poppy seed variant (also popular in Hungary as mákos beijgli.) Best is to have one of each at the table! 
But, alas, it is not part of our Thanksgiving Day tradition here, though now I would like to make it one.
Are they like rugelach?
Rugelach, I know. “Hungarian nut rolls” are unfamiliar to me.
My mom (Jewish) always made rugelach (she called them nut horns). Our Polish friends make nut rolls that are the same. My gf makes a nut roll variant with apricot filling.
Yum! I like rugelach okay - for some reason I’ve always had friends who are into making it - but the apricot variant sounds like something I’d find superior to the original.
I’ve found rugelach dough to be a little bit softer and a little bit thicker than on the kifli my grandmother made. I find it hard to find decent rugelach … even at Jewish delis. And I’ve never seen a poppy seed one.
Yeah, as I said two posts above yours. Though my grandmother’s pastries were called kifli.
Sounds similar to babka, which my wife makes at this time of year. Many Slavic cultures have something similar.
Yep, when my mom made them both, the apricots would be gone quickly. Then the nut ones would be eaten.
Isn’t babka a whole cake? All I’ve been talking about are individual servings. And they’re filled pastries. Babkas are flavored, but they’re not “filled,” are they?
A friend’s wife made one for their holiday party last year. So yes, I’ve had it once. It was called that, and sounds like that.
Individual pastries? Didn’t know babka came like that.
Yeah, kifli are the small pastries, bejgli are the logs that you cut into slices.
Yeah, my bad.
My (Cleveland) Boy Scout troop used to make nut rolls as a fundraiser, but I have no idea if they were Hungarian. We used meringue as the base for the filling (and the corresponding egg yolks in the dough).
No biggie. Just clarifying.
Cool! TIL. Unfortunately, I lived 2000 miles from my mother’s family, and we didn’t have to money to travel often. I missed out on a lot, I think.