Romanian Mucenici (Sweet Honey Walnut Pastries)

A tray with 3 pastries topped with finely chopped walnuts.

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Romanian Mucenici (Sweet Honey Walnut Pastries)

Romanian Mucenici Moldovenesti, or honey-glazed pastries with walnuts, some delicious sweet yeast pastries shaped like the number 8. The mucenici or macinici are a much beloved Romanian sweet treat prepared every year on the 9th March to celebrate the feast of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste. Wonderfully soft and pillowy, and baked to a golden perfection, these pastries can also be enjoyed all year round.

Prep Time40

Cook Time20

Proving Time3

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Romanian

Servings: pastries

Calories: 418kcal

Author: Daniela Apostol

Ingredients

500 g strong bread flour (4 cups)
180 ml full-fat milk (6 fl oz)
60 ml melted butter ( 3 fl oz)
75 g granulated sugar (⅓ cup)
3 eggs
zest from one lemon
2 teaspoon dried fast-action yeast
50 g walnuts, finely chopped (⅓ cup)
8 tablespoon runny honey

Instructions

Warm up the milk to a luke-warm temperature, and pour it into a jug.
Add the yeast, a tablespoon of flour and tablespoon of sugar, and mix well.
Set it aside for 10-15 minutes or until the mixture becomes frothy.
In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, add the yeast mixture, eggs beaten well (reserve 2-3 tablespoons of beaten egg to brush the pastries), melted butter, lemon zest and knead everything well into a dough that is elastic, and does not stick to the hands.
Add more flour if necessary.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel, and leave it to prove in a warm place for 2 hours, or until it doubles its size.
Divide the dough into 8 balls, and shape each ball into a rope that is ⅞ inches long.
Shape the rope into a figure 8, then transfer all the pastries to 2 baking trays, leaving plenty of room between them.
Leave them to prove again for up to 1 hour until they double their size again.
Brush the pastries with the reserved beaten egg, and bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes or until golden.
Once the pastries come out of the oven, brush them with honey, and top with finely chopped walnuts.
Allow them to cool down before serving.

Video

Notes

The room temperature plays a crucial role in the proving time. The dough will rise nicely in a warm room, a cold place will slow the proving time, or might prevent the yeast from working at all.
If my kitchen isn't warm enough, I usually turn the oven on to the lowest temperature possible, then turn it off after 5 minutes. Then I prove the dough in the warm oven. Make sure the oven isn't too hot, or the dough will flatten.
Handle the pastries with care after brushing them with honey, they will be very hot once they come out of the oven, and the hot honey can cause burns!

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