Cozonac is a traditional Romanian Easter/ Christmas Bread that is fun to make and ridiculously and moist and delicious!
What is cozonac?
Cozonac is a slightly sweetened yeast bread that is traditionally served around Christmas and Easter. It can be compared to other traditional, maybe more well known, European sweet breads such as the Italian panettone.
It is filled with various ingredients. Orange, lemon, rum extract, cocoa powder, nuts or Turkish delight. Like many traditional recipes, it varies between regions.
My daughter in law is from Romania and we have had fun making this bread and pasca the last few years.
The dough itself is a simple yeast dough, which is similar to Gugelhopf. That is flavored with citrus.
The filling is very easy and contains the cocoa powder, nuts, powdered sugar and rum extract. Raisins are soaked with rum extract or vanilla.
Once the dough and filling are made, the bread is rolled cinnamon roll style to make swirls in the bread. It is a fun effect.
What you need
- flour
- warm milk
- eggs
- sugar
- yeast
- vanilla
- lemon zest or orange zest
- melted butter
What you need for filling
- raisins
- vanilla
- powdered sugar
- cocoa powder
- ground walnuts
- Warm milk. Add milk, butter and vanilla to mixer bowl. Allow yeast mixture to bloom for 5 minutes.
- Mix dry ingredients in bowl.
- Add wet ingredients to dry. Mix thoroughly. Knead about 6 minutes by hand or with the dough hook of your stand mixer. Place dough in greased, clean bowl. Allow to rise 1.5-2 hours, until doubled in size.
- Add vanilla and water to raisins in a small bowl. Soak about 10 minutes.
- Add filling ingredients to another bowl.
- Mix well.
- Remove dough from bowl to floured board.
- Cut dough in half.
- Roll one half of dough into long rectangle.
- Drain raisins.
- Beat egg.
- Sprinkle half of filling on rectangle. Sprinkle with half of raisins. Brush top edge with egg.
- Begin to roll dough along long side of rectangle, tightly.
- Pinch seams.
- Repeat with second piece of dough.
- Twist the two rolls together. Place in bread pan lined with parchment paper. Let rise about 1 hour.
Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until bread is golden brown and internal temperature is above 190°F. Cover bread with foil loosely, if it is getting too brown. Cool completely before cutting.
Other bread recipes
Enjoy this Romanian sweet bread with a nice cup of coffee, tea or milk for breakfast of dessert.
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I hope you enjoyed the recipe today!
Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
Cozonac – Romanian Christmas & Easter Bread
Ingredients
For dough
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 cup butter melted
- 3 large eggs room temperature, separated
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp rum extract optional
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 6 cups flour
- 1 grated lemon peel
For filling
- 1 cup raisins
- 2 cups walnuts ground
- 4 tsp Cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
To assemble bread
- 1 egg white
- brown sugar or turbinado sugar to sprinkle on top
Instructions
For dough
- Warm milk, according to package directions, 105-120°F, (43°C)1 cup milk
- Separate eggs. Add milk to mixer bowl with egg yolks, butter, 2 tablespoons sugar, vanilla, rum extract and yeast. Stir. Allow to bloom 5 minutes, until bubbly.3/4 cup butter, 3 large eggs, 1 package active dry yeast, 3/4 cup sugar
- Add remaining ingredients, about 1 cup at a time and mix thoroughly.6 cups flour, 1 grated lemon peel
- With dough hook of mixer, or by hand, knead bread 6-10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Add more flour 2 tablespoons at a time if dough is very sticky.
- Place dough in oiled, clean bowl. Turn dough over so all sides are oiled. Cover with kitchen towel.
- Place in warm spot. Allow to rise for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.
For filling
- Add raisins to a small bowl. Cover with water mixed with vanilla, or rum extract.2 tsp pure vanilla extract, 1 cup raisins, 1 tsp rum extract
- Combine the rest of filling ingredients. Set aside.2 cups walnuts, 4 tsp Cocoa powder, 1/2 cup powdered sugar
To assemble bread
- Once dough has risen, cut dough in half. Then cut each half in half again.
- Roll one piece of dough into a long rectangle, about ½" thick.
- Sprinkle dough with ¼ of the filling. Then sprinkle on ¼ of the raisins, leaving ½" from the top edge of dough without filling.
- Roll along the long edge of dough, tightly, into a log. Whisk the egg add brush a layer of egg along the top edge. Pinch ends and seams to seal.
- Continue with the other 3 pieces of dough.
- Line bread pans with parchment paper.
- Twist 2 of the logs together. Place in bread pan.
- Continue with the other 2 logs. Place them in another bread pan.
- Cover bread. Let rise for 40 minutes to 1 hour, in a warm place.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush top of breads with egg white. Sprinkle with sugar.1 egg white, brown sugar
- Bake 40 minutes to 1 hour, until golden browned and internal temperature reaches 190°F
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published 4/10/20
Shelby
Way too much flour in recipe. Like 1-2 cups too many. I’m assuming I won’t even be able to roll it out it’s so hard. Not an inexpensive bread to make either. 🙁
Beth Neels
We’ve made it 20 times. It comes out perfect every time. I’m not sure what you could have done wrong except messed up quantities of fat/ liquids to flour.
Jen
I followed exactly, and the dough turned out hard and impossible to work with. I managed to make one loaf, and the rest was trashed because it was so tuff. Maybe the directions were supposed to say sift flower, because there was way too much flour for the wet ingredients.
Beth Neels
I’m sorry you had trouble with the dough. Commercial flours that you buy know are pre sifted, so there is no reason to really sift anymore. We’ve been making this bread for many years and haven’t had any trouble with it. I’ve changed the wording on the recipe. Maybe you used smaller eggs? Or scooped the flour out of the container instead of spooning it into your measuring cup? That can drastically change the quantity of flour that you used. Like all yeast dough, you add flour until you get a nice soft yet firm dough. Humidity can also be a factor when making yeast bread. That is all that I can think of that you did wrong since this dough is very forgiving. Thanks for giving it a try and again, sorry you had problems.
Mikayla
What size are the bread pans that you use in this recipe? I look forward to trying it!
Beth Neels
Mine were 9″x5″. They would be better in a 10″ pan though. Let me know how you like it. Thanks Mikayla!
Ramona
This cozonac looks amazing. We love baking this as you say mainly for special occasions and holidays like Easter and Christmas. Beautiful pictures too 😍
Beth Neels
Thank you so much Ramona! I really appreciate that! Happy Easter!
Shannon
This bread is so delicious and makes really good toast, too!
Beth Neels
So glad you like it. It is super toasted with a bit of butter! Thanks Shannon!
SHANIKA
This Easter Bun looks so amazing! I’m loving the raisin and walnut filling! Sounds YUM!
Beth Neels
It’s really quite delicious! Thanks Shanika!
Aimee Mars
Okay, I have never heard of this bread, but it looks not only delicious but beautiful! I am currently all about making some bread and learning new recipes so I’m going to add this one to my baking bucket list for the weekend.
Beth Neels
I’m making a lot of bread right now too! Thanks so much Aimee! I hope you enjoy it!
Erika
I love sweet bread. This one looks incredible. Pinning so I can try later. 🙂
Beth Neels
Thanks Erika! I appreciate that! Have a great holiday!
Dannii
The swirls in this look amazing. I am definitely adding it to my Easter baking list.
Beth Neels
I know, isn’t it fun? Thanks so much Dannii!