Makowiec

Makowiec is a Polish sweet yeast roll with a rolled filling of ground poppy seeds. It is one of the traditional cakes of the Christmas Eve table and the Easter period in Poland.

What it really is

Makowiec is a sweet enriched yeast dough, made with wheat flour, butter, eggs, milk and sugar, rolled around a dense filling of ground poppy seeds mixed with honey, butter or sugar, and often raisins, candied orange peel and walnuts. The dough is rolled into a rectangle, spread with the filling, rolled up into a log, proved and baked. Some versions are finished with a sugar glaze or icing.

The filling is the defining feature. Poppy seeds are scalded or soaked and ground before they are cooked with the sweetener and other ingredients, which gives a paste that is dark, moist and firmly set when cut. It is distinct from the Polish poppy seed cake known as makowiec in some regions, which is baked as a flat cake, and from the Jewish mohn strudel and other poppy seed pastries, which use a rolled pastry rather than a yeast dough.

How it's served

• Served in thin slices as a dessert or with coffee or tea.
• Traditionally part of the Christmas Eve (Wigilia) table and the Easter sweets selection.
• Often eaten at room temperature on the day it is baked or the following day.
• Usually cut crosswise so that the spiral of filling shows.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the filling as poppy seed (mak) and list the main additions, such as honey, raisins, walnuts or candied orange peel.
• Flag allergens: wheat, eggs, milk, and nuts when walnuts are included.
• State whether the roll is glazed or iced, and whether it is made with butter or a lard-based dough.
• Describe it as a yeast roll rather than a cake, to distinguish it from the flat poppy seed cake.