Potica!

One of the wonderful sweets that I grew up with was a Slovenian walnut bread called potica (puh-teet-sah). My grandmother (former president of the National Slovenian Women's Union) makes the most delicious potica you could ever imagine. For Christmas and Easter, grandma's potica is a treat that we all look forward to. And for my sister's recent wedding reception, each person was served a piece of grandma Jean's potica along with their slice of wedding cake.

Potica is prized not only because it is so delicious, but because it is so labor intensive. Despite being interested in carrying on ethnic traditions and enjoying cooking as much as I do, I have never attempted to make it myself--until this weekend.

My friend (and fellow potica-lover) Courtney and I planned a day of baking on Saturday. We were thinking we'd make a number of different kinds of Christmas cookies. Then Courtney came across a copy of a Slovenian magazine--the Zarja--that my mom had sent me. It had a recipe for "short-cut" potica that used Pillsbury crescent roll dough (rather than homemade). We decided that we were up for the challenge. Here we are, hard at work.

Here's me rolling out the dough--this step is really tough because you are supposed to get it very, very thin but of course not break it.

Courtney, preparing the walnut filling.

Spreading on the walnut filling. The next step is to roll it all up like a jellyroll.

The final product. Not nearly as good as grandma Jean's but still pretty damn yummy if I do say so myself!

I had been thinking I'd give my potica away as a holiday treat but I'm starting to have second thoughts....

Hope your holiday season is full of much joy and wonderful treats!