Hořické trubičky

Hořické trubičky are thin rolled wafer pastries made in and around Hořice in the Czech Republic. Thin wafers are warmed and rolled into tubes, so the overlapping thin layers crumble lightly when you bite into them.

Thin wafers, warmed and rolled by hand

According to the specification published by the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic, a liquid batter is baked thin between heated plates, left to cool, and then warmed on a hot surface and rolled into tubes by hand. For the variety with a rolled-in filling, one and a half or two wafers are spread with butter mixed with honey, sprinkled with sugar, hazelnuts, cinnamon and other ingredients, and rolled up. There is also a variety in which the tube is filled with cream.

Because the wafers are not uniform in thickness, the bakers adjust the pressure as they roll them so that they do not crack. Even when the wafers are baked by machine, the rolling is done by hand. The technique of hand-rolling on a hot surface is one part of the work that Hořice producers value highly.

The story of a cook who shared the recipe as thanks

According to a legend presented by the town, Mrs. Líčková nursed a wounded soldier of Napoleon’s army returning from the Russian campaign, and the soldier, said to have been Napoleon’s cook, gave her the recipe for the pastry as thanks. This is a story handed down locally, not a record that proves the pastry’s origin.

From family celebrations to workshops

According to the town of Hořice, a daughter of the Líček family carried wafer irons on her back and visited homes in towns and villages to bake the pastries. Karel Kofránek, a confectioner who became part of this family in a later generation, expanded production into a business. The town states that he obtained a patent for an electric wafer-making machine in 1898. The pastries won awards at exhibitions and were also shipped abroad.

The pastry grew from a treat for family celebrations into a commercial product, and even after nationalization in the second half of the 20th century, the custom of baking it at home continued. From 1990 onward, family workshops reopened and new producers entered the trade, and the regional name and the hand-rolling technique are still being passed on today.

Glossary