Breskvice

The story

Breskvice, “little peaches,” are the showpiece of the Croatian cookie plate: two small domes of soft cookie, hollowed out, packed with a filling of walnuts, jam, and rum, pressed together, tinted red and yellow, and rolled in sugar until they look like fruit from the orchard. Croatian food writers count them among the sweets that were already being baked for the Christmas season generations ago, and note that the shells were always colored on the outside so they would pass for real peaches. Because each one has to be shaped, scooped, filled, dipped, and sugared by hand, they are saved for occasions that deserve the work: Christmas first of all, but also Easter, weddings, christenings, and big family parties. They are particularly popular in the east of the country, and one Slavonian cook told a Croatian news site that Christmas there calls for at least seven kinds of cake. Nothing is wasted; the crumbs scooped out of the shells go straight into the filling. For Croatian American families, a tray of breskvice is a fine December project to share, with a job at the table for every pair of hands.