Okay, Dopers, time to put on your thinking caps. I’ve misplaced a very dear recipe and Google-fu is not my strongest trait. So it is that I turn humbly to you, in the hopes that someone here knows even a smidge about traditional Czech pastries, and can help me slog my way back from the depths of despair, and reclaim my culinary nirvana.
The closest English name for the dish is “Baroness Slices,” although there doesn’t seem to be a literal translation (from what the lady I acquired the recipe said.) I don’t know the actual name, not even a phoenetic spelling, so I’m afraid I can’t help there. It’s a kind of veggie-pizza-like dish, with a crust topped with icing (that may or may not be cream cheese) and the toppings included raisins, walnuts, and apple chunks. I’m thinkng there was a drizzle over the top, but I’m not sure.
I know I’m not giving a lot to go on, here, and for that I apologize. The lady who gave me the recipe is a former coworker of mine, and I haven’t seen her in about three years. I had her e-mail, but it changed when she moved back to Czech, so I have no way to contact her and tell her that I (stupidly) lost the recipe. If anyone can help me, I’d really appreciate it!
Thank you, Baker!! That #21 sounds very similar to the one I had. Killer. Now ifI can just figure out what the “sauce” was, because it definitely wasn’t jam…
freekalette, do you think it could have been sour cream based instead of cream cheese? That’s a fairly popular ingredient in recipes from that part of Europe.
Yeah, it could have been sour cream, but I do know it was very sweet. VERY sweet, as in, most people at my work couldn’t eat more than two tiny pieces. If you add lots of sugar to sour cream, would it turn out that way?
I never actually made the dish; I had the recipe she wrote out for me for ages, then took it to the grocery store so I could buy everything I needed. A week or so later, when I wanted to make it, I realized I had thrown my “list” away as I left the store. D’oh!! It’s been bugging me all this time, which is why I thought maybe I could find help here.
Did you buy sour cream that day when you had the recipe? If not…it probably wasn’t sour cream. You said it was a veggie-pizza-like thing…what veggies, because you’ve only mentioned fruits.I have a Czech cookbook I can look through…
When I heard the description, it reminded me of a recipe I saw in an old Hungarian Cookbook of my Mom’s. Sure enough, there seems to be a Hungarian variation of this kind of pastry with apples and walnuts called Hungarian Lady Fingers. However, there are no raisins, nor quark, instead it has a sweet meringue topping. I think it might be a version of the pastry you are describing, but your description is a bit vague, so it might not be. Also, it does sound like another transliteration of “Baroness Slices”…
This recipe is from Secrets of Hungarian Cooking- 180 Hungarian Favorites, a cookbook compiled and published by the Mother’s Club of St. Stephen’s Church- Toledo, Ohio. There is no date published for this cookbook but I’m guessing it’s from around the mid fifties or early sixties.
Hopefully, this recipe will help. Hungarian Lady Fingers
1/2 lb butter
1C sugar
3 egg yolks
2C flour
2 tsp. baking powder
4 slicesof day old bread, grasted with the crust removed
rind of 2 lemons
FILLING.
4 large apples, grated in small slices
3/4 lb walnuts, ground
1/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
TOPPING.
3 egg whites
1/2 C sugar powdered
1/4 cup groung walnuts
Cream butter and sugar, add egg yolks and rind of two lemons. Mix well, adding sifted flour with baking powder and bread crumbs. Mix well, then put half the dough in a long 9" X 13" pan. Pat dough in the bottom of pan, then add filling and put other half of dough on top by taking pieces at a time patting it between your hands until the filling is covered. Then put it into the oven and bake for 35 min. at 375F. When done, take out and spread with egg whites beaten with powdered sugar.Sprinkle top with remaining walnuts and reduce heat in oven to 350F. Put back in until the meringue is lightly brown. Cool. Cut into squares. Yields about 18 to 20 squares.
Recipe: Mrs. Mary Pocs
For some reason, the thought of Baroness Slices being actual slices of baroness, like ladyfingers and a lady’s fingers, is making me giggle. I mean, they’re both pretty macabre for a dessert.
I don’t remember if I bought sour cream or not. This was several years ago, and my memory isn’t that good. (Dammit. If I’d just joined the Dope back then, and not kept putting it off…)
Maybe veggie pizza was a bad analogy. There aren’t any vegetables in it. I just meant that it has a baked crust, covered in a thick sauce, with little chunks of stuff as toppngs. It’s definitely only fruit.
Thank you to everyone who has responded. The meringue sauce sounds like it may be right. (I don’t do much baking, so I don’t exactly have a lot of intimate knowledge and experience to go on here.)
I will shoot a pm to Pravnik and see if he can help.
Čau! (trans. Whassup!) I’m actually not Czech, (Texan Scots Irish/German/Cherokee, mostly) I just used to live in the Czech Republic. I believe new poster Švejk is honest-to-goodness Czech, and Tomcat lives in Prague, if he’s still around. I think what freekalette might be looking for is žemlovka, a bread pudding similar to Baroness pudding. It’s a baked egg and bread dish layered with fruit and topped with heavy cream, served in slices. I don’t know the exact recipe (and I suspect it varies from person to person), but a google search for žemlovka turns up some versions. Apple bread pudding would be jablková žemlovka.
Here’s a recipe, I’ll try to translate. I can practically guarantee I won’t get this exactly right, though, hopefully Tomcat or Švejk can correct me. If you tinker with it you may be able to duplicate your recipe.
Thank you very much for your help, Pravnik. I’m sifting through recipes from the links you gave me, and every few hours I get a little bit closer to finding what I’m looking for.