Polish Faworki (Chrust, Chruściki)

Close up of a round plate filled with faworki.

5 from 1 vote

Polish Faworki (Chrust, Chruściki)

You will love Polish Faworki. These traditional, deep fried pastry treats dusted with icing sugar are light, crunchy and oh so moreish.

Course Snack

Cuisine Polish

Keyword Chrust, Faworki

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Total Time 50

Servings faworki

Calories 20kcal

Author Jo Allison

Equipment

Kitchen Scales*
Stand Mixer*
Large Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl*
Wooden Spoon*
Digital Kitchen Thermometer
Large Cast Iron Round Casserole Pan, 26 cm* This is what I use but any large pan or deep frying pan will be good.
Kitchen Tongs*

Ingredients

Dough

200 g plain (all-purpose) flour
3 large egg yolks (55g/1.9oz in weight)
70 g soya yogurt or regular yogurt or sour cream
1 tablespoon icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tsps vodka or apple cider vinegar other vinegars can be used as well
pinch of salt

Frying

500 ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil or any other neutral oil with high smoke point

Serving

lots of icing sugar

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Making dough

Add flour, icing sugar, salt, egg yolks, yogurt, vinegar and vanilla extract into a large bowl or bowl of standing mixer.
If using standing mixer, use dough hook attachment and knead until dough starts coming together. First it will have this "shaggy" appearance for a while (it's initially very dry) but it will eventually come together.
If making dough by hand, you can start by mixing it with a wooden spoon and then moving onto bringing dough together with your hand until it forms a ball. Again, it will feel very dry at first but do refrain from adding any extra moisture.
200 g plain (all-purpose) flour, 3 large egg yolks (55g/1.9oz in weight), 70 g soya yogurt or regular yogurt or sour cream, 1 tablespoon icing sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 tsps vodka or apple cider vinegar, pinch of salt
Move the dough to the worktop dusted with flour and start rolling it out.
Once rolled out, fold third of the dough from the top in and third of the dough from the bottom in (you can keep folding it even smaller if you want to) and give it a good "beating" with a rolling pin before rolling it out again.
You will have to repeat the process quite a few times in order to aerate the dough properly which is the key to the success with faworki. I usually allow myself at least 10 minutes of rolling, folding, "beating" and rolling the dough out again.
The "beating" bit is not strictly necessary but it does help in achieving super crispy and light faworki.
***Quick Tip*** If you happen to have pasta machine or meat grinder, you can achieve the same effect by running your dough through one of them.If using meat grinder use the attachment with the largest holes and run the dough through 2 or 3 times.
As you keep going you will notice that dough is getting smoother and smoother and really nice to work with.
After about 10 minutes of hard work you will have nice and smooth ball of dough.
At this point you can cover the dough to prevent it from drying out and let it rest for about half an hour. It is supposed to make rolling it out easier. Personally, I haven't noticed much difference to when I use it straight away so I tend to go straight to rolling out the dough and cutting and shaping faworki.
***Quick Tip*** If you are making faworki ahead of time you would put the dough into plastic bag (reusable ziplock style bag work great) and put it in the fridge for up to 2 days. If you'd like to keep it for longer, I would recommend freezing.

Cutting and shaping faworki

Cut the dough in half or even into 3 pieces (it will be easier to work with less dough at a time) and cover remaining piece(s) with clean kitchen towel.
Dust your worktop and rolling pin well with flour and roll out the dough as thinly as you can. You want to be able to see through it (2mm max).
Using knife or a pastry cutter, cut the dough into strips (3-4cm or 1-1.5in wide) and then each long piece into shorter ones at a slight angle (about 10cm/4in in length each but can be longer or shorter).
Cut approx. 2cm/0.8in incision in each piece of dough and shape faworki by pulling one end of dough through, straightening it gently and placing on prepared tray covered with baking paper to prevent them from sticking.
Repeat with all the remaining pieces.

Frying

In a large pan or deep frying pan, heat up 300-500ml of oil until it reaches 170-180°C (338-356°F).
***Quick Tip***Use digital kitchen thermometer if you've got one or if you don't, submerge the end of a wooden spoon into the oil and if you see bubbles appearing around it, it means the oil is ready. Alternatively, drop small piece of dough into the oil and if it sizzles and floats to the top, you are ready to go.
Fry faworki, few at a time, in hot oil until light golden in colour (30-60 seconds per side). Watch them at all times as they cook very fast.
***Quick Tip*** Use two forks to flip faworki onto other side. Don't overcrowd the pan as that will make oil temperature drop and will make faworki soak up more fat. You want to keep oil temperature at a steady 170-180°C (338-356°F).
Remove them onto a plate or baking tray lined with kitchen towels to soak up some of the fat. Repeat with remaining faworki.
500 ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil
Dust faworki generously with icing sugar and you're ready to serve!
***QUICK TIP*** Dust faworki with icing sugar while they're still warm. It will make sugar stick better.
lots of icing sugar

Notes

Nutritional information is very approximate as number of faworki will depend on the size you choose to make them. My calculations are based on 50 faworki and don't include oil for frying or icing sugar for dusting.
Faworki are best on the day they're made but can be stored on the countertop in the airtight container even for up to 5 days. For more information refer to Storage paragraph.
Dough itself is freezer friendly.

MORE TIPS:

Weigh out your pastry ingredients using simple kitchen scales. In certain recipes accuracy is everything.

Use fluted pastry cutter to cut faworki. It will give them lovely finish.

Really take your time with the dough. The more kneading, rolling out, folding, bashing with the rolling pin you do the better the faworki.

When faworki dough is ready, cut it into 2 or even 3 pieces. It will make rolling it out much easier (unless you have a large countertop). Keep remaining pieces covered with tea towel to prevent them from drying out.

When frying faworki keep an eye on them at all times. They cook super quickly and burn easily.

Keep the oil at steady temperature. If you see that faworki get a bit too brown too quickly, lower the heat. Conversely, if they take much longer than 30-40 sec per side, the fat is too cold so turn the heat up a bit.

To make icing sugar stick to faworki better, dust them when still warm. Having said that, if you don't have many mouths to feed and would like faworki to stay crispy for longer only dust the amount you'll be serving and store the rest "naked". Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Nutrition