Maxine's Secret Egg Kichel Recipe

Maxine Liszt had a flair for the dramatic, being a red-headed, large, funny lady with a passion for Picasso.  She painstakingly painted copies of his famous paintings, seriously.  They were hanging all over her house.  Her husband Lawrence owned a ladies dress store, The Mary Elizabeth Shop.  Maxine felt it was her responsibility to be very well-dressed to advertise the store, and she did that with flair.  She was an exceptionally accomplished baker, devoting a lot of time and effort to crafting cookies.  Women had way too much time on their hands in the 50's and 60's, so that's how they spent it.
Maxine's kichel (pl. kichelach, but we never used the plural) were legendary.  In a semi-secret cupboard in her very modern house, which I now realize was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright, was a stash of kichel, in a large plastic bin.  They kept a long time.  When friends dropped in, out came the kichel. I don't remember seeing them anywhere but Maxine's kitchen.  I think you had to be on close terms with the Liszts to merit kichel.  It was a big deal when she baked them for our wedding - they couldn't come, but sent a huge box.

On one of my trips home to Fargo in my early married years I talked Maxine into giving me a kichel demo, where I watched and took notes.  I then went back to my parents' house and replicated her technique.  When my dad saw the kichel, he couldn't believe his eyes.  That I had baked kichel that basically was indistinguishable from Maxine's?  A feat!  I don't think anything else I ever did impressed him in quite the same way.

These are an enormous amount of work.   But they are fun, and oh yes, they are incredibly delicious. Just the right sweetness, nice and crunchy, chewy and satisfying.  And pretty.  Maxine always said the burnt ones were the real delicacies.  I baked them for the family b'nei mitzvah.  Helen Koslow Sweig remembers Maxine and her kichel well.  They served them at the party for Aunt Sally and Uncle Rob when they got married in Fargo, 40 years ago!  The Liszts hosted the bridal dinner.  It was Dec 25th and not a restaurant was open in Fargo in those days.

This recipe is actually half of what Maxine baked.  For Jed and Anne's wedding I did the whole dozen eggs and it took FOREVER.

All ready to take these to
Shulamit Zissel's naming!
(this is a double recipe)

6 eggs, at room temperature
2 T. sugar
a dash of salt
2 T. vegetable oil
2 T. brandy, sherry, or bourbon
~3 to 4 cups flour - it depends on how much the eggs absorb
+ Extra oil and sugar for the rolled out dough

In a large bowl, beat the eggs.  Beat in the other ingredients.  Add flour until it forms a stiff, stringy dough suitable for rolling out.  Unless you're using a MixMaster you will probably wind up doing this stage by hand.

Heat oven to 425° - though you might want to wait awhile, as the roll-out takes some time.

I tried using our marble counter, flouring the counter first, and it worked perfectly.  Otherwise, flour a large board. It is handy to have some sugar and a dish of flour - your hands will be full of sticky dough.

Divide the dough into thirds or quarters, rolling one out at a time. You need to stretch it by hand as well as roll it, as thin as possible.
Then comes the fun part.  Generously schmear oil over the flat dough plane.  Then pour sugar over it, spreading evenly and generously.  It is what gives the cookie flavor, and it carmelizes, so the surface needs to be nicely covered.

With a sharp knife or pizza wheel (saw that on YouTube!) make parallel cuts about 1.5 inches apart.  Then start cutting in the opposite direction to create diamond shapes.

Spray about 3 large cookie tins with oil.  Using the pizza wheel, lift up diamond and place the kichel on the tins.  You can dip them in sugar first to get more on the cookie surface. No need to worry about stretching them out, they puff up but don't really spread so you can put them pretty close together.


Put one filled tray on a lower rack.  Keep an eye on it while you repeat the roll out and cookie tin process.  When the cookies are puffy and starting to brown, move them to a higher rack, and add the new ones to the bottom.  Watch carefully because some will start to burn before the last ones are browned.

For the final cookie tin full, you can turn off the oven and leave them in another five minutes or so - a larger number of them will caramelize without burning.

PS One of the versions I saw online said you can use a pasta rolling machine to get really thin dough. That would be perfect.