Description

These Polish mazurka bars are traditionally baked on Christmas Eve.

Transcript

Fruit and Nut Bars In Eastern Europe, the most special holiday cookies are baked on Christmas Eve such as these Polish food and nut bars or the mazurka bars. The layer of sweet dried food alone sings out the arrival of the holidays. Let's start with the fruit topping. In small sauce pan, combine four teaspoon or cornstarch and four teaspoons of sugar. Whisk it all together. Now, pour 1 cup of orange juice and whisk until the dry mixture dissolves. Add half a cup of quartered dried apricots, half a cup of quartered dried dates, a quarter of a cup of half dried cherries, a quarter of a cup of dark or golden raisins and three tablespoons of diced candied orange peel. Stir together with the wooden spoon. Place the sauce pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer stirring often. Continue to let the fruit mixture cook. Stirring it constantly until that it’s thickened into a compote. This should take about three minutes. You should be able to draw the spoon along the bottom of the pan and see the pan with no liquid seeping back. Remove the compote from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Now, add half a cup of raw peeled pistachios and then finally grated zest of half a lemon. Start to combine. Stir to combine. Set the compote aside. Now, make the crust in the recipe provided and let it cool. When the crust is ready, spread the fruit evenly over the top of it. Bake the mazurka for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until it's golden brown around the edges and the fruit is set. It should still be slightly glossy and jewel like. Cool in the pan on a rack. To serve the cookies, first oil a knife to make it easier to cut through the crust and cut into 24 bars. Oiling the knife prevents the fruit topping from sticking to the knife, making edges. This mary mazurka will add a blast of color and flavor to your holiday table.