It's kosher - Andre's Hungarian

This goy gal has been invited to, and happily attended, numerous sabbath dinners. As I myself have never hosted, I don’t do any cooking or food preparation, and so I usually bring something for dessert, and that thing sometimes needs to be kosher.

If you’ve brought maracroons or almond brittle a few times yourself, you might consider Hungarian kosher baked goods. Local favorite Andre’s Hungarian has three locations – two in Manhattan, but the flagship store is in Rego Park on Queens Boulevard. Andre’s was founded in 1976 by native Hungarian, Rose, now 85-years-old and still working seven days a week. All of their baked goods are made using the traditional Hungarian recipes and techniques, brought to Queens by her. Andre’s also serves a select menu of regular Hungarian food, like goulash and paprikash.

Here are a few crowd-pleasing dessert ideas (some more appropriate for Easter, too).

Kuglóf. Easy to whip up, hard to get right. Andre’s does it right. Hard and crispy and sugary on the outside, moist and lovely on the inside, the swirls of chocolate are creamy and rich. The kuglóf also comes in a cinnamon-raisin variety, but chocolate is the national favorite. It’s meant to go with coffee.

Rétes or strudel. Andre’s is particularly proud of its strudel, which is hand-made (see their video demonstration on the site). Shown here is poppy seed, which is a specialty, and other interesting offerings include cheery with cheese and savory cabbage.

Ruglach. These are particularly crunch and multi-dimensional, with cooked-to-a-crisp raisins, nuts and apricot jelly. They only make one flavor, as far as I have seen.

Other Hungarian goodies include the beigli; a pastry shell rolled usually with ground walnuts, Andre’s also offers poppyseed; floden, a walnut and poppyseed square; and pite, a pastry fruit square.

You can also order online – they’ll ship anywhere.

If you bring a treat from Andre’s, there might just be a fifth question: “where did you get this delicious . . . ?”

Andre’s Hungarian, 100-28 Queens Blvd, Forest Hills, NY 11375 (GMAP), (718) 830-0266, andresbakery.com