Cheregi Recipe, Eastern European fried cookies.

Fried cheregi dusted with powdered sugar. Photo courtesy of Kiley Melicker.

This recipe comes from the kitchen of Ukrainian-American grandmother Amelia (Cepin) Machingo. These delicate cookies are crispy and not too sweet. You’ll sometimes see these cookies called “Polish angel wings” or “chrusciki”.

I had the opportunity to recreate these cookies with Amelia’s granddaughter, Corinne. Corinne used to make these with her grandmother, and her job was always to cut and twist the cookies. Grandma would make the dough and handle the deep-frying.

Shaped cheregi awaiting their turn in the deep-fryer.

This is a great recipe to make with a handful of friends, or with your family when you get together over the holidays. The recipe is written so you could make them by yourself, but a few extra hands and a bottle of wine make it fun, light work.

They can be a little tricky to get just right. “Just right” means that they’re thin, crispy & flaky. A little too thick on the dough and they’ll be soft and chewy instead. When she and I made these together, I didn’t roll my dough thin enough, but luckily 1) We divided the dough in half and Corinne rolled her’s thin enough and 2) by making that mistake myself YOU won’t need to. (I’m the sloppy hero you didn’t know you needed.)

Check out the recipe below for everything you need to make flaky and delicious cheregi, courtesy of Grandma Amelia.

Cheregi Recipe, fried Eastern European cookies

Flaky, twisted cookies, fried to golden perfection and dusted with powdered sugar. This recipe comes from the kitchen of Ukrainian-American grandmother Amelia Machingo.

Print Recipe

Cuisine christmas, cookies, eastern european, polish, ukrainian

Servings 50 cookies (about)

Equipment

Rolling pin
Parchment paper (optional)
Large, heavy-bottomed pot for deep-frying
Slotted spoon
Thermometer
Paper towels and cooling rack
Food processor (optional, for making dough.)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 T cold butter
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sour cream
1 T red wine
Canola or vegetable oil for deep-frying cookies
Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

In large bowl, mix together flour and salt. Add butter in small chunks to flour and salt, and use a pastry cutter or fork to cut butter into mixture, like you're making pie dough. Set aside. (Alternatively, you can do this in a food processor, but be careful to not overwork the dough.)
In small bowl, mix together egg yolks, sour cream and wine. Add this mixture to flour/butter mixture. Knead together until just combined.
Flatten dough into disc, wrap in plastic, and place in fridge to chill for one to two hours. Chilling the dough will make it easier to handle.
Once dough is chilled, divide into four equal parts. On lightly floured surface, or parchment paper, roll each piece out as thin as possible, about 1/16". It'll be nearly translucent (it reminded me of wonton wrappers.)
Once thin enough, cut dough into strips that measure about 4" by 1 1/2". Cut a small, diagonal slit into each strip of dough. Pull one end of the strip through the hole, and give it a slight pull (helps keep the dough nice and thin.) Repeat with each strip of dough.
Repeat process with each portion of dough.
Heat frying oil in large pot to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Set up a cooling rack next to the fryer, and cover it with paper towels to help things stay clean. Working in batches, fry the cheregi until light golden brown. Use slotted spoon to remove fried cheregi, and allow to cool on prepared cooling rack. Keep an eye on the temperature that oil doesn't get too hot during the frying.
Once all cheregi are fried, thoroughly dust them powdered sugar. Keep in air-tight container, if you can manage to not eat them all in one sitting.