Name: Czech Škubánky s mákem
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds potatoes ((650 g)); 1 1/2 cups water ((360 ml)); 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour ((220 g)); 1/4 teaspoon salt; 3 Tablespoons ground poppy seeds; 5 Tablespoons powdered sugar; 3 teaspoons unsalted butter (melted)

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When it comes to škubánky, you would hardly find any similar recipe in world cuisine. Škubánky is a typical Czech sweet treat made from boiled potatoes combined with flour, sprinkled with poppy seeds and sugar.

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Czech Škubánky s mákem

What Are Škubánky

Škubánky is a sweet dessert made from boiled starchy potatoes with added flour. Flour is steamed with the hot boiled potatoes and then mixed in a smooth mass.

Škubánky is shaped with two greased spoons, then put on the plate and sprinkled with ground poppy seeds and powdered sugar. At the end, melted butter is poured over škubánky.

My tip: Try these Poppy seed noodles, Czech "nudle s mákem", too!

Pronunciation

I recorded a short audio clip on pronouncing the Czech word škubánky. The first word in the audio is "škubánky", the last is "škubánky s mákem", which means škubánky with poppyseed.

Ingredients

The main ingredient for making škubánky is starchy brown potatoes.

Brown potatoes; high in starch
Water; for cooking the potatoes
Flour; ideally coarse flour, in Czech we use “hrubá mouka”, in the USA semolina/farina should work as well, or grab plain all-purpose flour
Salt

For the topping: ground poppyseed, powdered sugar, unsalted butter

✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.

Instructions

While the list of ingredients for the škubánky recipe is pretty short, you should follow these steps correctly to get a perfect result.

STEP 1: Peel the potatoes and cut them into medium dices about ½ inch in size.

STEP 2: Place the diced potatoes in a pot, add water, and only cover the potatoes (that means not too much water). Salt the water.

STEP 3: Bring to a boil, reduce the temperature, cook the potatoes for 15 minutes until soft.

STEP 4: Drain ½ water, keep the rest in a pot, set aside (no more cooking).

STEP 5: Crush the hot potatoes with a hand masher immediately, get a wooden spoon and make about 20 holes with its reverse side through the mashed potatoes until you reach the bottom of the pot.

STEP 6: Add flour evenly to cover the whole surface of mashed potatoes. Some flour will also fall into the holes.

STEP 7: Cover the pot with a lid, keep the steam going through the flour for 15 minutes.

STEP 8: Remove the lid, mash the potatoes again, then get a wooden spoon and mix everything. A smooth mass should be created. This step might be a bit difficult; don’t give up and continue until “škubánky dough” is ready. It can take about 5-10 minutes.

STEP 9: Form the škubánky using two tablespoons.

Serving

Place the škubánky on a plate, dust with poppyseed, powdered sugar, top with melted butter. Serve warm. Dobrou chuť 🙂

More Czech desserts:

Krupicová kaše – semolina porridge
Lívance – yeasted pancakes
Bábovka – marbled bundt cake
Sweet šišky with fried breadcrumbs

MY TIP: Škubánky on their own taste neutral. You can serve them as a side dish for example with bacon or grated cheese.

Here are day-old škubánky fried in butter, served with salmon:

Storage

Store the škubánky covered with a foil in a fridge. They last for about three days.

There is one secret: škubánky tastes even better the second day, fried from all sides in a pan with melted butter. This way, they’ll get a nice crispy golden crust.

Recipe card