Chrusciki - Polish Angel Wing Cookies

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, whole (room temperature)
• 4 egg yolks (room temperature)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 -3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar (plus a little more for dusting)
• 1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
• 1 1/2 ounces brandy (one shot)
• deep frying oil (i like to use lard for these)

Recipe

• 1 using a stand mixer, whisk whole eggs, egg yolks, butter and salt until thick and lemon colored.
• 2 slowly beat in the confectioner's sugar and brandy.
• 3 change to the dough hook and slowly mix in the flour a 1/4 cup at a time until the dough forms and pulls away from the bowl.
• 4 using the dough hook, knead the dough for 3-5 minutes. it should be thick like bread dough.
• 5 keep the dough in the bowl covered with a damp towel to keep it from drying out.
• 6 snip off a baseball sized piece of dough. on a floured surface, roll to 1/8 inch thick at the most!
• 7 using a sharp knife cut the dough into 1 1/2 inch wide strips. then cut the other way in a diagonal to make pieces of dough that are about 1 1/2 x 4 inches.
• 8 next use your knife to cut a slit in the center of each piece.
• 9 to form the wing shape, take one pointy end and poke it through the slit. very gently pull the end through the slit to form a bow shaped cookie.
• 10 in a heavy pot or deep skillet, heat the fat of choice (i like lard) to 350°f use a thermometer!
• 11 drop the cookies, 3 cookies at a time, into the fat. drop 3 cookies at once not 1 at a time. the cookies will sink to the bottom at first then they will puff up and float a couple of seconds later. as soon as this happens use a couple of forks to turn them.
• 12 immediately after you turn them use a deep fry strainer to remove them from the fat to drain on brown paper bags.
• 13 dust the still hot cookies with confectioner's sugar and repeat, cooking 3 cookies at a time until finished.
• 14 store in tightly covered, wax paper-lined tins.