Baba Nelly never measured with spoons, only with her глаз—her eye—and the feel of the dough beneath her fingers. These biscuits were made on quiet afternoons, when the house smelled of tea and the lace curtains stirred with the breeze. If you asked her where the recipe came from, she would shrug and say, “From before. From my mother. And hers before that.”

After the long shadow of Ottoman rule lifted in 1878 a new feeling spread across Bulgaria. New schools opened, railways stretched across the land, and cities like Sofia began to grow into something modern and hopeful.

In everyday homes—whether in the cobbled streets of the capital or the whitewashed villages tucked into the hills—people marked this new chapter in small, quiet ways. One of them was the sharing of simple treats.

These biscuits—simple flour, eggs, sugar, lemon—sat at the intersection of two worlds:

• The old: hand-mixed dough, wood-fired ovens, recipes handed down through generations
• The new: imported ingredients, European influence, a nation finding its place in the world.

They might be made for:

• A nameday celebration
• A visit from relatives traveling from the city
• A church feast day
• Or simply a rare afternoon when there was enough to share.

The dough would be mixed in large bowls, sometimes by more than one pair of hands. Children would linger nearby, drawn by the scent of citrus and butter, waiting for the moment when a small piece of dough might be given to them.

The biscuits would be eaten slowly, often with strong coffee or herbal tea..

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 120 ml buttermilk (½ cup)
  (or 60 ml milk + 60 ml vinegar — ¼ cup + ¼ cup)
• 25 g baking soda (5 teaspoons)
• 2.5 ml vanilla extract (½ teaspoon)
• 240 ml fresh lemon juice (1 cup)
• 250 g sugar (1¼ cup)
• 110 g all-purpose flour (⅞ cup)
• 115 g butter or margarine, melted (8 tablespoons)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. In a small bowl, beat the egg until it becomes light and slightly foamy.
3. Add the buttermilk and vanilla, mixing gently until combined.
4. Now add the baking soda, one teaspoon at a time, sprinkling it in and stirring until the mixture becomes smooth—like light cream.
5. Pour in the lemon juice all at once and stir carefully. Do not beat it. The mixture should remain soft and creamy, not filled with air.
6. It will begin to thicken and gather into a soft, pasty lump. Use a spatula to turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.
7. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and 150 g of the sugar (¾ cup). Work this into the dough gently with your fingertips, just until it comes together.
8. Roll the dough to about 1 cm thick.
9. With a knife, cut strips about 20 cm long, then twist each one into a loose shape about 10 cm in length. Place them onto a baking sheet.
10. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the top.
11. Brush each biscuit lightly with melted butter.
12. Arrange them about 2.5 cm apart (1 inch) on an ungreased baking sheet.
13. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until they are lightly golden.

From the Hearth of the New Bulgaria
A Household Book of Recipes, Customs, and Good Order for the Bulgarian Family

Collected and arranged by
Stoyanka Petkova in Veliko Tarnovo
Former Instructor of Domestic Arts

Printed in Sofia
Royal School Press, 1908