Kūčiukai

Kūčiukai, prėskučiai or šližikai - is a traditional Lithuanian cakes on Christmas Eve, hence at Christmas. Kūčiukai be made from a yeast dough and poppy seeds. They are about the size of a thimble, quite hard, crunchy and slightly sweet in taste. When preparing Kūčiukai with baker's yeast, they are, depending on the leavening of the dough a little softer. The more yeast in the dough, the softer the pastries. Without yeast, the Christmas Eve pastry is dry and hard. For this reason, the round beads are given with poppies in poppy milk and eaten as a kind of soup on Christmas Eve. For the poppy milk you have to pour the poppy with boiling water and leave it to stand overnight.

Kūčiukai are very durable. They bakes traditionally only on December 24 or the day before. They are eaten only on December 24, with or without poppy milk as a pre- but also like dessert. Kūčiukai are very popular as a snack in Lithuania and in the weeks after Christmas.