This sweet, enriched yeast bread owes much of its deliciousness to its swirls of bittersweet walnut and rum filling, one of the most popular across Romania. The dough is rich with butter, milk, and eggs, and perfumed with lemon zest and vanilla. It resembles golden silk as it’s mixed, and fills every house and bakery with a glorious aroma as it comes out of the oven.
The fact that cozonac is only made twice a year, for Christmas and Easter, turns it into something almost mystical. The entire process of making the celebratory bread is surrounded by traditions and superstitions.
