Czech Christmas Beehive Cookies Recipe (Vceli Uly)

Traditional no-bake Czech Christmas Beehive cookies recipe made with broken vanilla biscuits and filled with a cream with rum or egg nog.

You can see these at most Christmas markets before Christmas and I’ve noticed that Prague coffee houses have started to sell them with their coffee as well.

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MORE TRADITIONAL CZECH RECIPES

• Breakfast Yeasted Pancakes (Livance) >>
• Potato Pancakes (Bramboracky) >>
• Beef Goulash >>

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Why make this recipe?

• Easy to make recipe
• No – bake
• Can be made last minute before Christmas
• Can be made without rum or egg nog – which makes is a great activity to make with children

What exactly is Beehive Christmas Cookie ?

The Christmas Beehive Cookie (Vceli Uly) is also sometimes referred to as Vasp’s Nest Cookie (Vosi Hnizda) and a traditional non-baked cookie prepared before Christmas, usually as a part of a Christmas Cookie display.

Story or history of This recipe

This recipe and me

As kids, we used to love making these, because they don’t need any baking and they are easy and fun to make. I’m sure we had the ‘kiddies’ version without rum or egg nog, but they were still delicious no matter what.

My top tips on making this recipe successfully the first time round

• Make sure that the consistency of the dough is fairly firm and that it doesn’t crumble
• The cream filling should be soft and fluffy, but not too runny otherwise it will run out
• Don’t overfill the cookies – sometimes less is more!

What makes this recipe work

• The amazing combination of egg nog (or rum) with real butter and soft biscuits makes for a great flavour
• You don’t need to bake this recipe!

Any specialist equipment needed?

• special beehive cookie moulds or use egg carton with clean plastic bag or cling film
• piping bag, which can be made out of a regular small plastic bag

Ideally you’ll need a special beehive mould that is either made with two parts, that open or with just one part, which basically looks like a larger conical thimble.

If you are in Prague or Czech Republic, you can easily buy these moulds in any home or kitchen accessories shop, especially before Christmas.

If you are not in Czech Republic, then Amazon is your friend and you can easily get these moulds very inexpensively directly from Tescoma, who manufactures them.

If you don’t get the chance to buy your beehive mould you can improvise with anything that has a conical shape and is fairly firm (to allow you to push the dough in).

One simple solution is to use an egg carton – either the paper one lined with a cling film or a clean plastic bag and dusted with icing sugar. Alternatively, you can use anything else that is a food saver and can be used as a mould.

Time saving tip

Make sure that you dust the mould with fresh icing sugar every time you push the dough in to create the shape (or dip the dough roll into icing sugar before you place it into the mould). This helps with de-moulding the cookie and it prevents it from sticking to the mould.

Ingredients & Possible Substitutions

150 grams finely broken vanilla biscuits (piskoty) (about 1 cup & 3/4 cups) use any vanilla or plain biscuits

33-35 individual biscuit bases (piskoty or plain vanilla biscuits) small round about 1,5 cm

150 grams icing sugar (fine confectioners sugar)

100 grams unsalted butter

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons rum; leave out if you are making these for children or use vanilla essence (1/2 teaspoon)

1-2 tablespoon cream or milk

1 egg yolk use extra milk or cream if you don’t want to use raw egg

The method – Instructions, How to make this recipe

To prepare the dough

Finely crumble the vanilla biscuits using a plastic bag and a rolling pin or something similar. Alternatively chop them in a food processor.

Cream together the icing sugar and the butter until it’s light and fluffy. You can do this with a wooden spoon or with an electric whisk.

Add the cocoa powder and mix in thoroughly.

Add the cocoa powder, icing sugar and butter mix to the finely crushed vanilla biscuits (piskoty).

Add rum and cream or milk and carefully mix together until you get a fairly firm dough.

Leave to rest, while you prepare the filling.

To prepare the filling

Cream together the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the rum or egg nog and egg yolk (or extra rum or cream) and mix together until you get firm, smooth and creamy filling (but not to runny).

Place the cream into a piping bag with a medium size tip or opening.

To assemble the cookies

Use some of the icing sugar to line the cookie mould (or line the egg carton with a clean cling film and use a some icing sugar).

Take a medium size piece from the dough (about a size of a small walnut) and firmly push it into the mould.

Make a hole in the middle of the cookie dough with the bottom of a wooden mixing spoon or something similar.

Fill the hole with the cream until nearly full and stick on the round biscuit (piskot).

Place down (standing up) the Beehive cookies on a tray and repeat with the rest of the dough.

Sprinkle with an aditional icing sugar and eat within 3-5 days of making. Store in a cool, dry place (not necessarily in the fridge).

Variation on this recipe

There are two main variations for this recipe

Walnut Beehive Cookies – leave out the cocoa powder and about 30 grams of the crushed biscuits and instead add 3-5 tablespoons of ground walnuts. The rest of the recipe is the same

No alcohol Beehive Cookies – leave out the rum or egg nog and replace it with some vanilla essence, rum essence (if you want to) and cream to make out for the lost flavour and liquid.

Allergies & dietary requirements

This recipe includes the following alergens or ingredients that you might like to be aware of:

• Dairy
• Raw egg – can be changed to cream
• Gluten

Recipe batch size

This recipe will make about 33 pieces of Beehive Cookies. I’ve used a regular size mould, so if you use a different size, you might end up with slightly different amount.

can I scale up or down this recipe?

Yes, absolutely! You can easily double or triple this recipe to make more cookies.

If you want to make less, that’s fine too, but you might need a precise weighing scales to make sure you get the ingredients right.

How to serve this recipe

Great on their own or with a freshly made coffee! Beehive Cookies are usually served with other Christmas Cookies displayed in a rows on a trays or large plates. They are usually left around the house, so that guests (and you!) can help themselves as and when they want to.

We always made Christmas Cookies in advance of Christmas Day and then on 24th December in the morning arranged the cookies on the trays and displayed them in the main dinning room. There would be always at least one large tray with several types of cookies, which would always be replenished if they were running low!

Can this recipe be made in advance?

Beehive cookies are best a day after you make them as the cream softens the cookie dough and all the flavours develop throughout the cookie.

I wouldn’t make them too far in advance, as these cookies will only last maximum of 7-10 days and they can’t be frozen.

How to store this recipe

It’s best to store Beehive Christmas Cookies in an airtight container or metal tin box lined with paper towels or Christmas paper napkins.

Store in a cold, dry place, but not in the fridge. Serve at room temperature.

Shelf live

Once made the cookies should be fine for a minimum of 3-5 days, but we usually have some in the cupboard for more than 7 days and they are always fine.