Here’s another copy of the Mary Barns koolich recipe. It is a little more organized although it seems to be identical. In looking for images of what these breads look like, I found several images showing the koolich surrounded with colored Easter eggs. I also found a wonderful article from the St. Petersburg Times covering a museum exhibition from 2012 that presented many Russian Easter traditions, including koolich, paska, and colored eggs. Click on the images below for greater detail.

Red, yellow and green cherries

Gorgeous detail work!

This one shows the rib marks from the can used to bake the koolich

It sounds to me like the Russian Orthodox Lent was broken with koolich, paska, eggs and other feast items. With Easter coming up on April 1st (Russian Orthodox on April 12th), I will be featuring many of these Easter breads, desserts and some candy too…chocolate eggs, yum.