Tikvenik

Tikvenik is a Bulgarian pastry made by rolling a pumpkin filling in thin dough and baking it. Grated pumpkin is combined with sugar, walnuts and cinnamon, wrapped in thin pastry sheets and baked into a sweet, fragrant pastry.

Wrapping pumpkin in thin pastry

In one example included in a collection of Bulgarian regional recipes, a dough of flour, water and salt is kneaded, rested and rolled out thin. Each sheet is sprinkled with grated pumpkin, sugar, oil and cinnamon, rolled up, arranged on a baking tray and baked.

The same book also includes another example in which the pumpkin is mixed with apples, crushed walnuts and breadcrumbs before rolling. In this example, the filling is made by combining pumpkin and fruit with breadcrumbs. Both examples share the handwork of wrapping the filling in thinly rolled dough.

A table to welcome Christmas

A culinary record from Vratsa in northwestern Bulgaria includes the story of tikvenik handed down by a woman from Krivodol. In the past, it was reportedly baked on a wood-burning stove and prepared for the Christmas Eve table. On Christmas Day, the following day, the fast was broken and banitsa made with cheese and eggs was baked, according to her account.

In another family’s method, published by the University of Plovdiv, pumpkin is layered with apples, crushed biscuits, walnuts and cinnamon. Vegetable oil is used for Christmas Eve, while on other occasions butter and oil may be combined.

Tikvenik, which makes use of the sweetness of pumpkin, is one of the Bulgarian dishes made with thin pastry sheets. The way it is rolled, the filling and the finish after baking vary from cook to cook.

Glossary