Poppy Seed Crescents

These crescents are a brioche dough pastry. After dividing the dough, the round balls are rolled out into flat oval shapes, which are then filled with a cooked poppy seed mixture. The poppy seed filling should be made the day before (at the same time as the brioche dough) to ensure it has a fine consistency.

For me, the best poppy seed filling is the one that uses the simplest ingredients: poppy seeds (grey poppy seeds), milk, cake crumbs, butter, sugar, egg and a little cinnamon. 

To please the taste buds of all my readers, I have included multiple recipes for the poppy seed filling.

Poppy seed filling 1:

  • 125g finely ground poppy seed
  • 370g milk
  •   75g sugar
  •   50g butter
  •   50g semolina or cake crumbs
  •   50g egg (1)
  •   1g cinnamon

Bring the milk and butter to a boil. Then mix in the sugar, poppyseeds, cake crumbs and cinnamon. Only add in the egg once the mixture has cooled completely. 

Poppy seed filling 2:

  • 200g finely ground poppy seed
  • 320g milk
  •   90g butter
  • 140g honey
  • 130g cake crumbs
  • 100g egg

Bring the milk and butter to a boil and mix in the rest of the ingredients, one after the other. Add in the egg once the mixture has cooled completely.

Poppy seed filling 3:

  • 240g milk
  •   90g crystalized sugar
  •    10g vanilla sugar
  •   1g cinnamon
  • 150g finely ground poppy seed
  •   30g semolina
  • 100g raw marzipan
  •   25g egg whites (from 1 egg)

Bring the milk, sugar and cinnamon to a boil. Mix in the poppy seed and semolina and let it continue to cook for a few minutes (stir constantly!!). Mix in the raw marzipan and let the mixture cool. Then mix in the egg whites.  

Instructions:

  • Divide the brioche dough (see here) into pieces of  60g and roll them into small round balls. After letting them rest for 30 minutes, roll the dough balls out into flat oval shapes. 
  • Fill these with the cooled poppy seed filling (c. 40-50g per piece).
  • Roll up the dough pieces and then bend them so they form a crescent. Set them on a baking tray.
  • Before baking, brush the crescents with an egg (both yolk and white) and sprinkle them with “ground poppy seed”.
  • Bake the poppy seed crescents at 190°C without any steam for 15 minutes (until they are golden brown).
  • Careful: If you don’t bake them long enough, they may not bake entirely through!