Kūčiukai: Lithuanian Christmas Eve Poppy Seed Biscuits

A night when small baked pieces sink into white milk

On Lithuanian Christmas Eve, at the Kūčios table, the dishes are set out quietly. It is a night without meat, with small tastes of fish, mushrooms, grains, beans, berries and poppy seeds. Among them is the small baked pastry that children and adults alike reach for: kūčiukai. Fingertip-sized pieces of dough are baked, soaked in poppy seed milk (aguonų pienas) and scooped up with a spoon.

When making them at home, the questions are whether to make them sweet like cookies or leaven them like bread, and how far to go in making the poppy seed milk. This article takes the traditional yeast dough as its base. No eggs, milk or butter are used; the dough is held together lightly with warm water, oil and a little sugar. Fresh from the oven they are fragrant like small hardtack, and in the milk only the surface softens, leaving a crumbly core.

Though also Lithuanian, it is a wintry flour dish entirely unlike a potato dish such as cepelinai (in Japanese). It is not a sweet that pushes with sugar; the stars are the aroma of poppy seeds, the wheat aroma of the leavened dough, and the quiet texture when it sinks in milk. Not only at Christmas, it also works as a small keeping sweet to set beside tea or coffee.

Ingredients: serves 4

Start with a little less water. Made only with soft flour, the dough breaks easily, so bread flour is mixed in for chew. The poppy seeds are divided between the dough and the milk, and those for the milk are soaked first so the aroma comes out more easily.

Shopping notes: only what is worth looking for

Flour, sugar and oil can all come from a nearby supermarket. Look for poppy seeds at baking suppliers, import food stores or the spice shelf, and check under names such as blue poppy seed. The poppy seeds themselves are all that need to be sourced.

Two things are worth considering: a small food processor, to get the poppy seed milk white, and a rolling pin, to even out the thin rope-shaped dough. A thermometer to avoid missing the temperature of the warm water for proofing is enough if you use one you already have in the steps. None are specific to kūčiukai; they can be used again for flour and bean dishes such as ballokume (in Japanese), knish (in Japanese) and ta'amiya (in Japanese).

The whiteness and aroma of poppy seed milk change with how finely the seeds are crushed. In a large blender jar a small quantity may not circulate, so a small food processor makes the work more stable.

For rope-shaped dough, one rolling pin makes things easier. In kūčiukai it is used not to roll thin but to even the thickness before rolling out thin sticks.

Yeast is weakened by water that is too hot. Even when proofing is slow in a winter kitchen, a thermometer makes it easier to judge "should I wait, or raise the temperature?"

How to make them: cut small and do not over-brown

The darker the baking color, the more toasty kūčiukai become, but in milk they turn bitter more easily. The aim is a pale golden outside and a dry center that cracks crumbly when bitten. Baking time varies with the quirks of your oven, so make the last 3 minutes a time for watching the color.

Where it goes wrong: look at dryness more than color

With so few ingredients, differences in proofing, moisture and baking color show directly in the texture. To avoid hard little pellets, cut the dough small and even before baking and do not seal them in a container right after baking.

Kūčiukai left overnight lose moisture and hold up better when soaked in milk. Even if you eat them fresh, cool them at least 15 minutes on a rack. While hot, steam remains in the center, and sealing them brings the moisture back.

How it is eaten locally: the small star of the Kūčios table

The custom of putting 12 dishes on the table on Lithuanian Christmas Eve is often told. Go Vilnius describes a table of meatless dishes, with kūčiukai soaked in poppy seed milk and eaten with a spoon. An LRT article also treats kūčiukai as a small poppy-seed pastry indispensable to the Christmas Eve table.

Tracing the origin, kūčiukai are told of as a small bread pastry tied to the festive table of Kūčios. Even under the same name there are regional and household differences: homes that bake them like dry pellets, homes that cut them a bit larger, homes that put more poppy seeds in the dough. The memory of the texture also differs a little between those bought in city shops and those baked at home in the countryside or among emigrant families.

How they are eaten differs by home. Some serve them dry in a bowl with poppy seed milk beside them, and others pour the milk over from the start and eat them like a sweet soup. Set out with cranberry kisel, mushroom dishes, herring and dark bread, they fit the table less as a sweet and more as a dish of grains and seeds.

To recreate it elsewhere, the atmosphere is better if you do not lean too far toward an after-dinner dessert. Placed beside Eastern European flour dishes such as pierogi (in Japanese) and knish (in Japanese), you can see the difference in wheat used without relying on butter or meat. If you want more sweetness, adding a little honey just before eating, rather than more sugar, preserves the aroma of the poppy seeds.

Storage and making ahead: keep them separate and dry

Always store kūčiukai and poppy seed milk separately. Baked pastries absorb moisture easily, and left in the milk they soften and fall apart. Locally too, it is easy to keep bought kūčiukai in a bag or jar, take out only what you will eat and combine them with the milk.

If eating them the next day, warm the dry kūčiukai in a 160°C oven for 4 to 5 minutes. Avoid the microwave, which brings moisture back and softens the surface. Poppy seed milk separates in the refrigerator, so shake the bottle well before pouring.

Frequently asked questions

What can I use if I have no poppy seeds?

A perfect substitute is difficult. Mixing in a little black sesame adds toastiness, but it differs from the light sweet aroma peculiar to poppy seeds. For the dough you can substitute 8 g black sesame, but for the milk, preparing poppy seeds gives a more faithful result.

Can I make it without yeast?

Yes. A modern recipe introduced by LRT uses baking powder. But in this article yeast is used to give the wheat aroma of leavened dough and a texture close to a small dry bread. On a day you are in a hurry, increase the soft flour and use 1 tsp baking powder, and it moves toward a cookie.

Would adding milk or butter make it tastier?

As a rich pastry it would be tastier, but it moves away from the context of the Kūčios table, which avoids meat and dairy. The recipe in this article assumes a light dough of water and oil, combined with poppy seed milk.

Can I warm the poppy seed milk?

Room temperature or cold is easier to handle. If you warm it, keep it under 50°C and do not let it boil. Heating strongly drives off the aroma and brings out the bitterness of the seeds.

How long should I soak them in the milk?

3 minutes is the guide. It is good when the surface has absorbed the milk and a light bite remains at the center. If you like a soft texture, leave them 5 minutes, but longer than that and they fall apart.

Dishes to make alongside

• Cepelinai (in Japanese): Lithuanian potato dumplings. A main dish for a meal, in contrast to kūčiukai.
• Pierogi (in Japanese): A standard for widening your range of Eastern European flour dishes. Good for comparing the textures of wrapped dishes.
• Knish (in Japanese): A Jewish flour dish wrapping potato. Close in the plain way the dough is handled.
• Ballokume (in Japanese): A spring sweet made with cornmeal and butter. The thinking about temperature control carries over.

Sources