Recipes

Nannie’s Lithuanian Kruschiki

By Patricia and Milunka Radicevic
 

Look up “kruschiki” or “little ears” on Google and you’ll find that many ethnic groups make these crisp, deep-fried treats and eat them on Fat Tuesday, the day before the start of Lent. The Poles who settled on Milwaukee’s south side, where Three Brothers is located, call them faworki.

 

Milunka and her siblings would eat this pastry when they visited their grandparents in New York. Back home in Milwaukee, they started asking their mom to make it. “So just the fact that you would make something or share something during a family function that somebody felt or went, ‘Oh my God, my grandmother used to make this for us.’” Just eating that kruschiki is a shared experience.

 

When combining the cultures, Milunka says they would dip the kruschiki in Serbian coffee and enjoy the interplay of the strong coffee and the light, crunchy sweet pastry. “They’re just delicate, delicate, delicate,” she says. “It's how my mother rolls them out thin, thin, thin, thin, thin and then slices them but shallow fries them. They're dusted with some powdered sugar. And it’s so simple, but it’s delicious. Everybody says, ‘No, I'll just have one and she'll make 100 for a holiday like our Patron Saints Day or for Christmas or for Easter or for every kind of celebration and the person goes for three. You know what, 100 becomes three at the end of the night.”

 

It’s sweet enough to appeal to kids and not so sweet that those who don’t consider themselves dessert people love it, too.

Ingredients

Makes 70 cookies

3 egg yolks, plus 1 whole egg

1/2 pint heavy cream

1 pound flour

1/4 cup sugar

Dash of salt

Instructions

Using a whisk, beat the egg yolks and whole egg with sugar. Then add heavy cream and beat together. Add a dash of salt, then the flour all at once. Mix and knead until well incorporated. It takes time to work the dough and it will be stiff. Divide the dough ball into quarters. Roll it out into a circle or square and cut into strips about a half-inch wide and 4 inches long. Cut a slit in the center and make a bowtie. Roll out all dough, make bowties and cover with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out. Then heat about 1 inch of Crisco until it's bubbling lightly, not smoking. Put four or five pieces in to fry, turning them over carefully with tongs when golden. Be careful not to burn, as they fry quickly. Remove to a large platter. When all are done, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Bio

Patricia Radicevic has been at the helm of the James Beard Award-winning Three Brothers Restaurant, a Serbian institution, for over 51 years. Patricia mastered the recipes and passion of her mentor–mother–in–law Milunka Radicevic. Three Brothers opened in 1956. And it was and still is a family operation. Her daughter, Milunka, grew up with her siblings in the restaurant. She learned to cook early, working in the kitchen, doing the flowers or serving. Patricia and Milunka now work daily side by side preparing the old-country recipes passed down through three generations. Along with earning accolades in many publications, including Bon Appetit and the New York Times, the Radicevics had the honor of cooking for the legendary Julia Child.

Patricia Radicevic

Three Brothers

Patricia Radicevic

Three Brothers

About Three Brothers
 

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