I’m back from Transylvania and I just had to share with you my favorite food discovery! We ate these kurtoskalacs twice and I wish I would have had a chance to eat them a few more times!
Kurtoskalacs are a traditional Hungarian pastry and, depending on who you talk to, they are the oldest Hungarian pastry. History and Geography are two of my worst subjects but Transylvania, which is now part of Romania, was once part of Hungary. Or something like that. Anyway, there is still a sizable Hungarian population in Transylvania and these yummy kurtoskalacs, which I believe originate from Transylvania, are widely available.
So here’s what I was able to determine after eating some of these tasty Transylvanian treats and watching part of the assembly process. They are made with a yeasted dough, similar to a sweet roll dough. The dough is rolled or cut into long strips and then wrapped around a cylindrical mold. Then it gets brushed with oil and rolled in sugar.
Now for the interesting part. They get cooked over open coals, kind of like the way we roast marshmallows.
The spirals of dough are watched carefully and turned so that each part gets evenly browned. When they are perfectly caramelized, they are taken off the coals and rolled in a topping such as crushed nuts, cinnamon, coconut or colored sprinkles. They don’t have to be rolled in the additional topping, it’s up to you. They taste great with just the plain caramelized sugar glaze!
After the additional topping is added, the pastry is slid off cylindrical mold and allowed to cool briefly before being placed in a paper bag and sold to the next lucky customer. The regular-sized kurtoskalacs look huge but since they are hollow, looks are deceiving. I could easily eat one by myself 
They also sell them in a smaller size. The small ones are great if you want to sample a few different flavors at once. The first time we visited the kurtoskalacs stand, we bought the small ones and sampled three different flavors: coconut, cinnamon, and pecan. They were all great but I think I liked coconut the best. Our friends tried one with sesame seeds and loved it!
The second time we visited the kurtoskalacs stand, I decided I had to get a large one. This time we tried it plain and I think it was my overall favorite. The sugar coating is just right…not too crunchy and not too sticky. And the bread is light and airy with a texture that reminded me of the inside of a glazed donut.
But my favorite thing about kurtoskalacs is the way they unravel as you eat them!
Since I wasn’t able to get photos of the bakers rolling the pastry dough onto the molds, I decided to see if anyone had posted a kurtoskalacs video on the Web. Sure enough, one of my favorite bloggers has a great little video clip of the kurtoskalacs being made. Go visit Ms. Adventures in Italy to check it out.
I also found that another one of my favorite foodbloggers has some experience with kurtoskalacs! Check out the photos and description at Habeas Brulee.
As for the rest of my Transylvanian adventures, you can check out my photos on Flickr. I have only uploaded about half of them but the rest should be up by tomorrow.
See you soon!
These look and sound great… All the caramelization with lots of exterior.. I love the open coals thing; anything grilled has to be good!
Nice photos. I’m ready to try one!
4:10 pm Oct 11th, 2007I would LOVE to try this Nicole. I love sweet bread and what a fascinating way to make it! Thanks for the thorough descriptions and photos. I would like my order plain, they way you ate it!
4:13 pm Oct 11th, 2007Yum, cinnamon was my favorite, but they didn’t have coconut, so that’s a must-try! I liked that it wasn’t completely sweet (the bread) so you could just keep unrolling it and scarfing it down.
I can’t wait to see more Transylvanian pics…what were you doing there?
5:07 pm Oct 11th, 2007As always, I enjoyed your photos. I especially liked the one of the old woman sitting on the bench with the flowers! The kurtoskalacs looked so yummy. Thanks for sharing your experience.
5:14 pm Oct 11th, 2007Great find…there ARE foods out there yet to be discovered!
7:28 pm Oct 11th, 2007Oh my GOSH those look delicious. Hmm, maybe I should go eat lunch. Glad you’re home safely!
7:37 pm Oct 11th, 2007The kurtoskalacs look amazing, Nicole. And you look quite happy unraveling that one. Do they have a smoky taste at all, being cooked over open coals? Oh, yeah. And welcome back! You’ve been quite the vagabond of late.
9:09 pm Oct 11th, 2007Kind of like a fruit roll up or “fruit by the foot,” except it’s not sugary fruit, but sugary bread. I dare you to make those.
9:15 pm Oct 11th, 2007I am wondering how I could do that. Sounds so good, and I am with you, I think that just sugar would be best.
By the way, do they celebrate Halloween in Transylvania?
9:51 pm Oct 11th, 2007By the way, don’t forget to purchase a Radioactive Kangaroo shirt. You know you want one.
10:54 pm Oct 11th, 2007What an incredibly yummy treat! So, you’re going to teach us how to make them, now, right?
1:02 am Oct 12th, 2007What could be more fun than traveling around and discovering delicious foods that you’ve never heard of before! Sounds wonderful. (And no dieting while you’re traveling so I could just gobble them up!)
2:31 am Oct 12th, 2007Curt: I figured you’d get a kick out of this because of the grilling aspect
Ruby: You would definitely like these!
Sara: I agree that the cinnamon was pretty tasty! The problem with mine was that they rolled it in just straight cinnamon and it was a little overpowering for me. The coconut was good because it was unsweetened dried coconut, a nice balance to the sugar coating.
Coleen: Thanks!
Peter: There were also lots of foods in Romania that I deliberately chose not to discover, such as sour tripe soup
Bethany: Yep, managed to make it out of Transylvania without a scratch (or a bite)!
Terry: The funny thing is that they didn’t taste smoky at all!
Jason: I’m still working on some of the other things you’ve ‘dared’ me to make! I just have to remember what they were…
Sandy: If you do some research online, there are a few suggestions for making these at home. Let me know if you end up attempting it!
Deborah: Well, I’ve actually seen a few recipes online for these but I’m not really sure what to wrap the dough around. I think this will be one of those things that will only be enjoyed on trips to Hungary or Romania or at Hungarian festivals
Kalyn: We ‘discovered’ some not-so-delicious foods while in Romania, too! But I prefer to focus on the yummy things
Other than the sweets (we tried a few other pastries that were wonderful, too!), my favorite food was the soups. They make these delicious ’sour soups’ that I need to research and figure out how to make! After a couple of “interesting” restaurant experiences, I mostly stuck to soups, chicken schnitzel and fries. Oh, and lots of pickles! The problem was that it was an organized group tour so we ended up eating lots of meals together as a group. I didn’t have much of a chance to research and find the best places to get the best food. One of the specialties is stuffed cabbage rolls. One time I had them and they were awful. The next time, they were wonderful! I guess I should write another post about the food rather than try to cover everything in this comment 
6:16 am Oct 12th, 2007Nicole - This is my first “trip” to your blog, and what a delicious way to start! I love traveling, and my grandmother was from Transylvania! (No, not REALLY a vampire!)
I’ve never heard of these pastries, though. Unfortunately, she didn’t bring this recipe with her and make it a part of our family tradition. Too bad, because they look like they’d be fun to unravel and eat!
6:28 am Oct 12th, 2007Toni: So glad you stopped by because now I’ve discovered your wonderful blog! Maybe you know a little about the yummy ’sour soups’ that I ate while in Transylvania?
7:36 am Oct 12th, 2007Those look warm, flaky and yummy! That’s the very best part of travel - discovering unique fantastic foods! I’d eat a whole big one, no problem…
1:05 pm Oct 12th, 2007Aren’t they good? Dave and I had so much fun eating them when we wandered around fairs in Hungary!
There’s actually a book about a Hungarian/Transylvanian bank robber that you might like, which talks a bit about Transylvania’s nationality issues.
3:45 pm Oct 12th, 2007Fascinating! I’ve been pouring through some ‘ethnic’ cookbooks and find myself continuously saying, They did THAT with yeast and flour and a handful of other ingredients. Amazing stuff, yeast. And ingenuity.
11:36 am Oct 15th, 2007how wonderful. not only did i get to dicover your blog but you have also posted on one of my all time favorite sweets from transylvania. i am personally from brasov, but now in belgium so these have become a rare delicacy. we drive on purpose to one of those street vendors every time i am home
8:09 am Mar 20th, 2008delicious!
Hi Nicole,
As a Transylvanian native myself, it brings me great joy to hear you tried our famous kurtoskalacs. I wanted to give you a quick suggestion on trying to make this pastry. One way mom still makes it is on a smaller scale. If you can find some, you can use the stalk of corn (dried and about one foot long) to roll the dough onto. This may be a bit difficult to come by however and you may have to get creative. However since the opening is only about 2 inches wide, you get a mini kurtoskalacs when you are done. Here is the interesting thing to do with it. Fill the hole with whipped creme, preferably home made instead of store bought. We have these every once in a while, and they turn out delicious.
enjoy
5:01 pm Mar 29th, 2008You can find information of baking, ovens, bussiness. Visit http://kurtoskalacshungary.hu for more.
1:24 am Apr 28th, 2008I’m portuguese and I was in Transylvania a few weeks ago. I ate kurtoskalacs by Lacu Rosu, it is DELICIOUS! Does anyone knows the recipe?
7:59 am Apr 30th, 2008