From the Cookie Jar

Take a break from the traditional Christmas cookie and try this for 2023. It’s called a Portzelky cookie, a warm, sugar-coated cookie filled with raisins and made with yeast dough and then deep-fried to produce a soft inside and crunchy outside. The term, Porzelke, literally means “tumbling over,” which is exactly what the cookies do; they turn over by themselves when they’re done on one side after being dropped into the hot oil.

Try a Portzelky cookie!

The recipe is simple, but it does take time (most of which is waiting for the dough to rise). According to the Mennonite Heritage and Agricultural Museum, these New Year’s Eve fritters were so popular in Mennonite homes that polite young beggars chanted a familiar (Vistula Delta) Low German nursery rhyme:

I saw your chimney smoking.  
I knew what you were making. 
You were baking New Year’s cookies.  
Give me one – I stand still.
Give me two – I start walking.
Give me three, four, five at once,
Then I wish you the Kingdom of Heaven

Let us know if you make them. We love to hear your stories! You can find the recipe here at https://easycookierecipes.com/new-years-cookies/