The apple Mazurek is a traditional Polish Easter cake. A shortcrust base, usually rectangular or square, filled with apples and cinnamon. It can also be filled with chocolate, caramel, or jam.
In the past, the Mazurek was a kind of reward for the faithful who refrained from eating meat during Lent, the 40 days preceding Easter.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 6 People
- Cooking methods: Stove, Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Apple Mazurek
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 5.3 oz butter
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2.2 lbs apples
- 1/4 cup sugar
- lemon juice
- to taste ground cinnamon
- to taste sugar decorations
Steps
To prepare this delicious apple Mazurek, first start with the apple filling, which must cool before being used.
Peel the apples, remove the seeds and core. Cut the apples into cubes and cook them in a pan with sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Cook until the apples are well cooked and a cream forms, then remove from the heat and let cool.
Now let’s move on to preparing the shortcrust pastry.
Sift the flour with the baking powder in a bowl, add the powdered sugar and mix.
Add the eggs, vanilla, and cold butter cut into cubes in the center.
Quickly knead with your fingertips until a ball forms.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 0.6 inches and cut a rectangle measuring 8 x 12 inches.
Place the dough rectangle in the pan.
Roll out the leftover pastry and cut out little flowers to form a border along the rectangle, slightly overlapping the flowers and pressing gently.
Prick the base of the pastry with a fork and bake for about 25 minutes in a preheated oven at 350°F
While the base is baking, cut out cookies for decoration from the leftover shortcrust pastry, such as flowers, butterflies, bunnies, whatever your imagination suggests.
Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 10 minutes, or until golden.
Remove the base and cookies from the oven and let cool.
When the base is cool, pour the previously cooked apples inside and level the surface well, it should reach just under the flower border. Decorate as desired with the cookies.
