Lithuania unit

Surprise, surprise, my library had pretty much nothing about Lithuania. I’ve discovered that most of the smaller European countries are hard to find information on. I can find some facts and a few videos, but I really miss the books we were able to find for some of the more “popular” countries. Either way, this Lithuania unit made for a fun geography lesson mainly because the kibinai recipe was delicious. Now to add it in with the other Europe units.

(there is a slim chance I put some affiliate links in here)

Lithuania resources

There was not a whole lot on Lithuania at my library, and when I looked up interesting facts, I found basically: Lithuania really likes basketball. I knew any book I found at our library would be very central to the American perspective on basketball, so wouldn’t be helpful for this Lithuania unit.

Lithuania facts

more Lithuania facts

 

 

 

Lithuania recipe: kibinai

I found two different versions, a meat kibinai and an apple filling kibinai. I felt like making a dessert, so I picked the apple kibinai recipe. I also saw quite a lot of posts saying, “make it your own,” so I decided to switch out the plum for dates, because I had dates in my pantry, and I like dates. I was somewhat tempted to just try dates….

Actually….. hmmmm….. that does sound very very tempting.

I might have changed this drastically from their version, especially since by the time I was making the recipe, I didn’t have a picture handy, so mine don’t really look right….

Also, I don’t like plums, so I did substitute dates.

• 14 tablespoons butter (a little more than 3/4 cup)
• 3 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cups sour cream

Filling

• 3 large green apples peeled and cut into small bits
• 20 or so dates chopped
• 5 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Extra

• 1 egg, whipped to egg wash the dough, and help seal the edges

Making the Kibinai dough

1. Grate the butter into the flour, and then cut it in with a pastry cutter.
2. Mix in the eggs and the sour cream
3. Wrap up dough and let it rest in the refrigerator for an hour or two.

Making the filling

1. Peel and chop the apples.
2. Chop the dates. I did this in my food processor and it ended up forming this oddly sticky ball, so that may not have been the best plan. I had to kind of peel it apart.

Making the kibinai 

1. Okay, I divided the dough into about a dozen or so small balls, they were roughly a little bigger than a golf ball. You roll the dough out until it’s 1/4 inch thick or a little thinner.
2. Put about 2 tablespoons full worth of filling in the middle, and then fold it over and seal the edges.
3. Paint the edges with the whipped egg. Use a fork to crimp the edges (this is why mine look more like empanadas than the kibinai on the original website. Brush the egg over the top of the dough to glaze it.
4. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

Yield: 2 dozen

Kibinai recipe

Print

Make this great Lithuanian recipe, kibinai.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Additional Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 14 tablespoons butter
• 3 cups flour
• 3 eggs (2 for the dough, and 1 to brush on the dough before baking)
• 3/4 cups sour cream
• 1 pinch salt
• Filling
• 3 granny smith apples
• 20 dates
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

1. Grate butter into the bowl with the flour, then cut it into the flour.
2. Mix in the sour cream and 2 eggs until well-blended. Then cover and put in the refrigerator.
3. While that is chilling, peel and mince the apples. Chops the dates.
4. Mix it together in a bowl with brown sugar and cinnamon.
5. Break the dough into balls approximately the size of a golf ball, and roll it out until the dough is about 1/4 inch thick.
6. Whip the final egg in a small bowl to use for an egg wash.
7. Put about 2 tablespoons full of the filling in the middle, and fold the dough over.
8. Seal the edges by “painting” with the final whipped egg, and press a fork into the edges to help seal it.
9. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Lithuania Unit: notebooking pages

As you can see, our notebooking pages are solely the Europe notebooking pages all filled out. Since creating the pages I’ve started adding in what type of government it is, and then as a joke, we started asking how many of that country will fit inside Texas.

That is one of the kids’ most favorite things to find out.

In case you were wondering, you can fit 10 Lithuania inside of Texas.

Also, the name Lithuania means “rain here.” I think that’s rather fun.

They’ve also decided to capitalize on being a former Soviet country, and have a KGB hotel, where you can pretend to be imprisoned by the KGB. Such a strange idea.

So, that’s our Lithuania unit. Quick and simple. Now, I need to cook the rest of that dough, because they were yummy, and we all quite loved it.

More geography lessons

• Wisconsin Unit
• Belarus Unit (and yummy crepes)
• Russia booklist
• Italian Bolognese Recipe
• How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World lesson