Cheap Christmas tricks: holiday classics without nuts, with recipes

Walnuts are one of the most important ingredients of the Hungarian Christmas, yet their price is unpredictable year after year due to the costs of yield and processing. This year, we also had to face the fact that the price of walnuts per kilogram is sky-high. Nevertheless, we do not want to give up on bejgli or zserbó. Fortunately, there are several types of nuts that can provide a similar experience in taste and texture to walnuts and work wonderfully in Christmas recipes. Sunflower seeds are also good in terms of texture and fat content to imitate the minced walnut filling, and they are significantly cheaper. For bejgli, the juiciness and aroma of the filling determine success, so it is worth enriching the flavoring a bit. We boil the milk with the sugar, then mix in the minced sunflower seeds, honey, and spices. After a few minutes of cooling, we get a consistency that is almost deceivingly reminiscent of walnut filling. The scent is made Christmassy by the lemon zest, and the ...