Vosí hnízda are filled biscuits from the Czech Republic, made at Christmas, but I think they should be made throughout the year. They are usually made with a beehive mould as this is their name: beehive or wasps’ nest. I didn’t have a mould, so I made it irregular in the hope that it will look similarly to a beehive. These biscuits are raw, which means they are really easy to make. My recipe is vegan as I did not add eggs. As some of the traditional recipes ask for raw eggs, I would suggest skipping it for health reasons (risk of salmonella).

The biscuits are either called vosí hnízda, which means wasp nests, or včelí úly or beehives. Their name is due to their shape and not ingredients, as, surprisingly, they are not made with honey. One of the ingredients is Rum, it’s essence and not the alcoholic Rum available at the supermarket. I would recommend to my UK readers to look for Rum essence at International shops or Eastern European shops.

I had to adapt the recipe to ingredients that are available in UK, but they are really good. The mix for Vosí hnízda is made of with crushed biscuits, icing sugar, fat (butter or margarine), cocoa, Rum essence, and egg whites. Not all versions have ground nuts, but some do and I made it with hazelnuts. Walnuts are more traditional, but any kind of nuts would work. As I mentioned earlier, skipping the egg whites is a good idea considering that these are raw.

The Rich Tea biscuits I used are sweet, so next time I will use less sugar for the mix. If you like less sweet biscuits, halve the amount of icing sugar you want to use for the dough.

Ingredients for 10 Vosí hnízda:

for the dough:
– 150g Rich Tea biscuits
– 100g ground hazelnuts
– 100g icing sugar
– 50g margarine
– 1 heaped spoon of cocoa powder
– Rum essence
– 2 spoons soya milk
for the filling:
– 100g icing sugar
– 100g margarine
– Rum essence
for the biscuit-base:
– 10 small biscuits or shortbread cut with small round shapes and baked for 10-12 minutes

Use the food processor to crumb the tea biscuits finely. Transfer them in a bowl. Do the same with the hazelnuts and toss them over the biscuits. Add the icing sugar, the cocoa, and the margarine. In a small bowl mix the milk with the Rum. Pour it over the biscuits and start mixing with a spoon. Tip it over the worktop and knead until a dough is formed. You can make it with the food processor, but I prefer to make it like this because I have more control over it. Add a bit more milk if the dough is too hard to work with.

In another bowl, mix the icing sugar with the margarine and the Rum essence. Now start to create the beehives. It’s very easy to keep them slightly uneven, to make them look more realistic. The beehive should be hollow in the middle so you can fill it with the cream. Put a small biscuit on the base and the biscuits are ready to be enjoyed.
I suggest keeping them in the fridge so they harden a bit, but it’s up to you.