A Great Czech Republic Christmas Dinner

Christmas traditions in the Czech Republic are a bit different then they are here in the United States. Christmas in the Czech Republic begins on December 6^th which marks the end of the visit with the Three Kings. Instead of Santa Clause, the Czech Republic believes in Svaty Mikalas, who is believed to have climbed down to earth from heaven on a golden rope. In the Czech Republic, there is a special tradition of a girl being able to tell her future. It's believed that if she puts a cherry twig in a glass of water on December 4^th. If the twig blossoms before Christmas Eve, the girl will get married at sometime during the coming year. As another tradition, Czech's fast for the day on Christmas, and then have a baked carp for dinner and children get their gifts at that point as well.

If you are looking to entertain with some great Czech dishes, here are 3 great recipes you can follow:

Czech Hoska - This is traditional Christmas bread.

You'll need:

1 cake compressed fresh yeast

1/3 cup of hot water

½ cup of granulated sugar

2 tbsp of confectionary sugar

2/3 cup of butter

1 egg and 1 egg yolk

1 tsp salt

2 cups of hot milk

1 tbsp milk (cold)

6 cups of flour

1 tsp of ginger

½ cup of raisins

Step 1: Dissolve the yeast in a bowl of warm water.

Step 2: Mix the cream, sugar and butter into a large mixing bowl. Add the beaten egg and salt, and then stir in the cool milk. Lastly, add the yeast.

Step 3: Add only 1 ½ cups of the flour, mix on high and then cover it. Let it rise for about 2 hours.

Step 4: Divide the dough mixture in to 8-10 pieces and roll out into the length you desire. Let the bread rise another 20 minutes.

Step 5: Grease a baking sheet and bread 3 parts of the dough and pinch ends together. Repeat this for the remaining pieces of dough.

Step 6: In another bowl, beat the egg yolk and milk, and brush this over the pieces of dough.

Step 7: Let the dough rise for another 45 minutes.

Step 8: Bake on 350 degrees for nearly an hour. Remove after it's done, add confectionary sugar and let it cool.

Knedliky - These are Czech Dumplings

You'll need:

1 egg

1/3 cup of milk

2 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp of salt

1 ½ cup of flour

5-6 slices of white bread (cut them into squares).

Step 1: Mix the beaten egg, flour, baking powder, salt and milk (slowly).

Step 2: Add all of the bread into the batter and mix thoroughly.

Step 3: Make 2 balls from the dough (on the smaller side)

Step 4: Fill a larger pot half filled with water, and boil.

Step 5: Drop in all of the dough balls into the pot of water, and let boil for 10-12 minutes and flip them to cook for another 10-12 minutes.

Step 6: Once they are cooked, removed them and cut them in half so they don't keep the heat inside.

Moravian Christmas Cookies -

You'll need:

3 tblsp of Crisco or another type of shortening

2 tblsp of brown sugar

1 tsp of cinnamon

2 cups of flour

1/3 cup of molasses

Step 1: Combine the molasses, shortening, sugar and cinnamon, baking soda and salt together in a large mixing bowl.

Step 2: Add flour slowly as the dough forms.

Step 3: Cover tightly and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Step 4: Divide dough into 4 balls and cover them with a damp paper towel.

Step 5: Roll each ball out to be very thin and use a cookie cutter to cut shapes out.

Step 6: Bake for only 6 minutes (or until browned), at 350 degrees.