St. Stephen Horseshoes

History

As we discuss in our post about St. Stephen, the first martyr has famously been connected with horses—so much so that he is even the patron saint of horses in the Roman Catholic Church! While there is little biblical reason for this connection, Stephen’s place in Christmastide—a season of rest and even spoiling for animals—has inspired many horse-themed traditions. One example is the horse-drawn sleigh ride many take on his feast day. Another is the custom in Bavaria and other parts of Europe of dressing up horses and taking them to church for a blessing.

Because of St. Stephen’s longstanding connection with horses, the horseshoe has become a popular symbol for his feast day. In her cookbook, A Continual Feast, Evelyn Birge Vitz suggests making edible horseshoes to help commemorate the day. So taking a cue from her idea, we decided to make these incredibly easy horseshoes out of puff pastry. The filling possibilities are endless. We went with an apple-butter filling but also commend to you other ideas such as various jams, marmalades, Nutella, chocolate, sweet cream cheese, or the butter-sugar-chopped-nuts mixture that Vitz recommends!

St. Stephen Horseshoes

Ingredients

1 puff pastry

Filling of choice (ex: apple butter, nuts, etc.)

Butter for brushing

Ingredients

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and thaw the puff pastry.
2. Roll out the pastry and cut it into 12 triangles.
3. Fill the triangles with your filling and then roll them up into a croissant by folding in the wide “base” of the triangle to the point. Curve the rolls into a horseshoe shape and place on a greased baking sheet.
4. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with butter. Enjoy!

References:
1. Vitz, Evelyn Birge. A Continual Feast. Ignatius Press. 1985.
2. Article by Catholic Culture for St. Stephen’s Day