Polish “Angel Wings” {Faworki; Chrust; Chruściki}
Fat Thursday is a traditional Catholic custom celebrated on the last Thursday before Lent in Poland (not Tuesday, like it is observed in the US). This popular tradition is marked by people consuming large amounts of sweet pastries for most meals that day. I often opt for a minimal breakfast then indulge in eating donuts and faworki without reservations for the rest of the day. Cafés are full of happy customers sipping on coffee and enjoying a guilt-free dessert. Many employers will have boxes or sweet pastries delivered for their employees to extend the celebrations. It is a well-known custom and EVERYONE’S participating.
Angel WingsAngel Wings
With access to really delicious donuts fried at many local pastry shops, we rarely made pączki at home. But we always made faworki. Faworki [fah-voh-rkee], also known as chrust* [h-roost] or chruściki [h-roo-sh-chee-kee] are crispy and light, fried pastries covered in powdered sugar. They would be made only a couple of times a year in my home. Once, for Fat Thursday and maybe one other time for a special treat. And special treat they are.
Polish Angel Wings {Faworki; Chrust; Chruściki}
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups / 585g of bread flour + 1/2 c for dusting
- Pinch of salt
- 7 eggs
- 3 tbs of sour cream
- 1 1/2 tbs of butter melted and cooled
- 2 tbs of 75% / 151 proof alcohol
- Oil for frying
- Powdered sugar
Instructions
In a mixing bowl, place flour and salt. In a separate bowl mix eggs with sour cream. Add to flour. Start mixing to combine. Add butter and alcohol and continue to mix until dough forms.
Sprinkle some flour onto a clean surface and transfer dough onto it. Continue kneading and punching the dough for about 10 minutes. Help yourself with a rolling pin.
Cut a small section of the dough and roll out into thin sheet. With a pizza cutter cut into 1 inch / 3 cm strips, and then each strip into a smaller pieces - see photo below.
Cut a small slit in the middle of each piece. Bring the bottom of the piece up toward the slit and pull it through the slit to create the curly sides.
In a deep frying pan / cast iron skillet heat oil (enough oil to be about 2 inches in depth) and fry dough strips until golden brown. You will have to flip them. Remove and place on a sheet covered with paper towels. Once cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar.
*The word “chrust” in Polish means brush; dried sticks used to fuel the fire. I imagine this delicate pastry was called that because of its resemblance to it. All three names (faworki, chrust, chrusciki) are used in Poland to describe this desert currently. The region I’m from (West Pomerania) uses the word faworki most often. It seems the name evolved a bit here in the US and a vast variety of descriptions can be found. Please do share what name your family used to describe this delicious dessert.
Hope you enjoy!
Smacznego Anna
Tools used:
KitchenAid mixer with the hook attachment
KitchenAid pasta roller attachment
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My grandmother made these but we called them cruellers.
Do you have to out the alcohol in it?
Alcohol is used so that by frying, they won’t absorb a lot of oil
How much alcohol and what kind
No, it`s not necessary.
Love the recipes.
do you sell any books on Polish cooking? amateur looking for golambki, pierogi, pickles, all foods my mother made.
Andrew, thanks for your interest! Not yet, but I plan on it. Please subscribe to find out when. Anna
Look forward to sharing your recipes with my daughters.
Napiszę specjalnie po polsku. Faworki to nie to samo co chrust. Mogą wyglądać podobnie ale faworki robi się na śmietanie, natomiast chrust na piwie lub winie. Chrust może być również lany – tak jak lane kluski, tyle, że na rozgrzany tłuszcz. Śliczny blog. Gratuluję.
Dzięki Adam. Nie znałam tej różnicy między chrustem i faworkami. U mnie w domu mówiło się zamiennie. Zawsze dodawaliśmy alkohol (przeważnie spirytus), nigdy piwo czy wino. Muszę spróbować zrobić lany chrust… ciekawa jestem. Domyślam się, że ciasto musi być dużo luźniejsze, jak do klusek. Pozdrawiam! A
What kind of alcohol do you use?
In the US I use Everclear, in Poland “spirytus”.
Do you always use bread flour versus all purpose flour?
Thank you for all your great recipe’s, found a lot that fell thru the cracks from my Grandmother and my Aunts, and I’m so glad to find them and make them for my family now,
Awesome to hear!! 😊
If you’re not a skilled cook or baker at perfect home made level, don’t try making them. It takes lots of time to kneed a dough to pit as much sit into it as possible. The must be very very thin before frying. I don’t recall using oil ever… at my home mom and grandma used lard only. Also, the highest possible percentage alcohol. In Poland it was Spirytus. Can’t make real chrusty/faworki without it.
My grandmother made something similar out of leftover pie dough (?) but dusted them with cinnamon sugar. I thought she baked them in the oven. Is that an entirely different cookie?
One of my favourites! What temperature do you fry them at?
You mentioned your dough board. My husband made me one, please what type of oil did you use on it? Also, how do you clean / store it when not in use? Mine is out of hard rock maple.
Thank you for any response.
Thank you so much for posting this. faworki I remember as a little kid. I didn’t care about the pastry bit, I loved the fruit part! Faworki my great grandmother and grandmother made… but as years went on grandma made them less. I didn’t care, I loved sauerkraut, sausage, Śledź w Śmietanie, and beets and everything.
Now 40-50 years present, I’d like to help preserve. The recipes of our families are a distinct personal connection to all of our families where those recipes originated! That, to me, is more valuable than anything. Food, family, fun. How better can it get?
Is it possible to make the chrusciki in an air fryer?
Can’t wait to make your recipe for chrusty. I was wondering what the benefit is to using bread flour rather than all purpose. Thanks.
My grandmother made these for special occassions. She called them Chrusciki (or a variation of that) and she used Anisette for the alcohol. She always fried these in pure LARD. They were always so light and flakey.