Mazurek is a traditional Polish Easter dessert. It´s very simple to make and comes in many forms. The base of mazurek makes a flat free-form shortcrust pastry that is topped with dulce de leche, fruit jams, or nut pastry cream.
Mazurek kajmakowy (dulce de leche mazurek)
Mazurek kajmakowy or dulce de leche mazurek is one of the most traditional kinds of mazurek and Polish Easter desserts. It is basically a flat tart topped with dulce de leche and decorated with dried nuts and fruit. This type of mazurek comes most often in a shape of a rectangle.
Dulce de leche is most commonly associated with Mexican/Latin cuisine but it is a traditional Polish ingredient (I´m not sure how that happened!). It´s called “kajmak” or “krem kajmakowy” (dulce de leche cream) in Polish. Dulce de leche is a sweetened condensed milk that has been slowly cooked for hours until light brown in color and caramelized.
Ingredients
Here´s what you need to make mazurek kajmakowy (scroll down for a printable recipe card with exact amounts and instructions):
Pastry crust – is made from usual ingredients for shortcrust pastry. I make mine without an egg – it is more crumbly. This is my favorite tart crust recipe.
Filling – dulce de leche from a can. Either alone or mixed with a small amount of butter.
Toppings – dried fruit and nuts of your choice.
Chocolate ganache – optional but I love this addition. You will need bittersweet chocolate and heavy cream.
How to make it step by step
Make the pastry crust:
In a stand mixer: Stir the flour with salt and powdered sugar together, add the cold, cut into cubes butter and mix with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size lumps. Add cold water and vanilla extract, mix until almost combined. Gather the dough and gently form a smooth ball, do not overwork it.
In a food processor: Add the flour, powdered sugar, and diced cold butter to the food processor bowl (with the S-blade attached). Pulse a couple of times until the butter pieces are the size of large peas (they can be of different sizes). Add cold water and vanilla extract and pulse until the dough begins to come together (be careful not to overmix it). Transfer the dough pieces onto a work surface, and gather them with your hands, forming a dough ball.
By hand: stir the flour with powdered sugar and salt together, add the cold diced butter, rub the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips (or chop it with a large knife) until it resembles a pea-sized crumble, add cold water and vanilla extract, knead quickly until dough forms a smooth ball (be careful not to over mix it).
Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in a cling film, and put in the fridge for 1 hour.
Bake the tart:
Divide the dough into two pieces: roughly 1/3 and 2/3.
Roll out the bigger part of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper into a rectangle (about 10×12 inches or 25×30 cm).
Roll the smaller part of the dough into logs and use them to make a border of the tart.
Prick the dough with a fork (about 1-inch or 2-3 cm apart).
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). While the oven is preheating, put the dough in the fridge.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the dough is golden. Check it a couple of times to see if it´s not puffing up. If it´s puffed, take it out of the oven and prick again a couple of times with a fork, press it flat.
Take the baked tart out of the oven and let cool slightly (it can be warm, just not piping hot) before topping it with dulce de leche cream.
While the crust is baking, prepare the cream and toppings.
Make the filling: Add dulce de leche and soft butter to a mixing bowl and mix with a mixer for 1-2 minutes or until ingredients are well-combined.
Make chocolate ganache: In a small pot, bring the cream almost to a boil. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until it´s melted. Set aside. I like to put it in a zip lock bag in the fridge to thicken and cool down, then it´s easier to pipe lines if that´s what you want to do.
Decorate:
Spread the tart with dulce the leche cream (I like only a thin layer of cream, so I´m using about half of the recipe for the cream, you can add it to your liking).
Decorate with chocolate ganache, chopped nuts, and cranberries in a desired pattern.
Cut into squares and enjoy!
Other kinds of mazurek
The word “mazurek” means it is an Easter tart and does not specify what kind of mazurek is meant. The word itself doesn´t mean anything. There are many kinds of mazurek – they can have different shapes and toppings but it´s always a free-form tart that is flat.
The most popular shapes of mazurek are: rectangle, square, or oval/egg shape (you can choose any of these shapes to make your mazurek).
Traditional mazurek fillings/topping:
- mazurek kajmakowy (see above) – dulce de leche tart
- rose mazurek (mazurek różany) – topped with rose jam or rose cream
- nut mazurek (mazurek orzechowy) – topped with nut pastry cream (made from hazelnuts, walnuts, or almonds)
Modern types of filling/topping for mazurek:
- eggnog cream (ajerkoniak)
- any kind of fruit jam
- chocolate cream mazurek (either ganache or just melted chocolate with a touch of butter)
- chocolate orange mazurek (see below)
- dulce de leche chocolate mazurek (dulce de leche is mixed with melted chocolate)
- coconut pastry cream
- lemon mazurek (topped with lemon cream and meringue)
Decoration for mazurek:
- traditional: dried fruit and nuts, cross hatch pattern made from shortcrust pastry
- modern: mini meringue kisses, mini chocolate eggs, chocolate sprinkles, or really any topping you can imagine
Chocolate orange mazurek:
The mazurek on the photo above is made from the same pastry crust as the mazurek kajmakowy. It´s toped with a layer or orange marmalade and then with a layer of chocolate ganache (melted semi-sweet chocolate + heavy cream). I personally love this one more than the more traditional dulce de leche mazurek. The decoration on the photo consists of caramelized orange slices although by the next try I prefered fresh orange slices.
More Polish Easter Recipes
- Yeast Babka with Raisins
- Sernik (Polish Cheesecake)
- Mushroom Deviled Eggs
- Żurek (Polish Sour Rye Soup)
- Barszcz Biały (White Borszcz – Polish Sour Wheat Soup)
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
Mazurek – Polish Easter Tart
Ingredients
Mazurek Kajmakowy (Dulce de Leche mazurek)
for the pastry crust:
- 2 1/4 cups (280g) flour spooned and leveled, not scooped
- 2 sticks (230g) cold butter
- 1/3 cup (40g) powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cold water
for the filling (makes extra):
- 1 (14-oz/400ml) can Dulce de Leche
- 3 tablespoons (45g) soft butter
decoration:
- 2 ounces (60g) bittersweet chocolate
- 3 tablespoons (45ml) heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon candied orange peel
- a couple of tablespoons chopped walnuts
- a couple of tablespoons chopped cranberries
- a couple of tablespoons flaked almonds
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Instructions
Make the pastry crust:
- In a stand mixer: Stir the flour with salt and powdered sugar together, add the cold, cut into cubes butter and mix with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size lumps. Add cold water and vanilla extract, mix until almost combined. Gather the dough and gently form a smooth ball, do not overwork it.
- In a food processor: Add the flour, powdered sugar, and diced cold butter to the food processor bowl (with the S-blade attached). Pulse a couple of times until the butter pieces are the size of large peas (they can be of different sizes). Add cold water and vanilla extract and pulse until the dough begins to come together (be careful not to overmix it). Transfer the dough pieces onto a work surface, and gather them with your hands, forming a dough ball.
- By hand: stir the flour with powdered sugar and salt together, add the cold diced butter, rub the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips (or chop it with a large knife) until it resembles a pea-sized crumble, add cold water and vanilla extract, knead quickly until dough forms a smooth ball (be careful not to over mix it).
- Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in a cling film, and put in the fridge for 1 hour.
Bake the tart:
- Divide the dough into two pieces: roughly 1/3 and 2/3.
- Roll out the bigger part of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper into a rectangle (about 10×12 inches or 25×30 cm).
- Roll the smaller part of the dough into logs and use them to make a border of the tart (all of this is shown on the photos).
- Prick the dough with a fork (about 1-inch or 2-3 cm apart).
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). While the oven is preheating, put the dough in the fridge.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the dough is golden. Check it a couple of times to see if it´s not puffing up. If it´s puffed, take it out of the oven and prick again a couple of times with a fork, press it flat.
- Take the baked tart out of the oven and let cool slightly (it can be warm, just not piping hot) before topping it with dulce de leche cream.
- While the crust is baking, prepare the cream and toppings.
Make the filling:
- Add dulce de leche and soft butter to a mixing bowl and mix with a mixer for 1-2 minutes or until ingredients are well-combined.
- Make chocolate ganache: In a small pot, bring the cream almost to a boil. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until it´s melted. Set aside. I like to put it in a zip lock bag in the fridge to thicken and cool down, then it´s easier to pipe lines if that´s what you want to do.
Decorate:
- Spread the tart with dulce the leche cream (I like only a thin layer of cream, so I´m using about half of the recipe for the cream, you can add it to your liking).
- Decorate with chocolate ganache, chopped nuts, and cranberries in a desired pattern.
- Cut into squares and enjoy!
Notes
- Many Polish recipes call for topping mazurek kajmakowy with pure dulce de leche without butter. I like to add a small amount of butter to reduce the sweetness and improve flavor. If you don´t want to add butter you need to slightly warm up dulce de leche to make it more spreadable or mixed it with a mixer.
- Another way to make this mazurek is to top the pastry crust with some kind of sour fruit jam, for example raspberry jam or red/black currant jam, and then top with with dulce de leche, to cut through the sweetness and richness of dulce de leche.
Chocolate ganache can be omitted, it is not usually added to dulce de leche mazurek but I love this addition. - This tart stores very well and tastes also very good the next day.
- Don´t cut the tart into large squares – they will crumble. The tart is also rather sweet so the servings should not be big.
- My personal favorite mazurek is chocolate orange mazurek (not really traditional). It´s made from the same pastry crust, then it´s top with a thin layer of orange marmalade (about 4 ounces/120g) and then with chocolate ganache (3 1/2 ounces/100g bittersweet chocolate + 2 ounces/60g milk chocolate + 1/4 cup/60ml heavy cream). I decorate it with thin fresh orange slices and flaked almonds. It´s not as sweet as dulce de leche mazurek.
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