Monday, November 29, 2010
Christmas Baking in the Lechler Kitchen
For many years my nieces, Linda and Nancy, and my mother and I met for week ends on end from Thanksgiving until two weeks before Christmas baking cookies. (One year I got stung by a honey bee in December while cooling hard candy outside.) There are many tales to tell about those fun times. I don't think there is a cookie recipe that we didn't try and we always doubled or tripled the recipe. On Sunday we divided all the goodies and set off for another week of work.
When I gutted, added to, and designed my kitchen here on Cooke Rd., my neighbor, Pauline and I baked cookies the first and second year. After that I cut down on the cookies that I made to just a few favorites. I have two recipes, one of which I have never seen in print, and one that takes three days to make. The latter was given to me and I promised never to reveal the recipe but I have seen it lately pegged as clothes pin cookies (because they are baked on dowel rods or clothes pins, and I forget what Mary M. called them...I think Lady Locks. I will never make them again because it is just too time consuming. The interesting thing about them is that they are good to eat frozen or thawed, and they are adorable. Now one can use puff pastry from the store instead of making puff pastry from scratch which is a real pain. Also, instead of the Crisco filling (I know it sounds gross) I see the filling as anything you want to squirt in there. One recipe called for marshmallow fluff from a jar, I guess.
Here is the Lady Locks recipe as printed in the Columbus Dispatch, Cook's Corner December 2010--I didn't give out the recipe, Mary M. Not until it appeared in the Dispatch. This is the recipe that takes three days to make, unless you want to die trying.
COOKIE
LADY LOCKS
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
For Nancy Johnson, Columbus
Makes about 6 dozen
Pastry:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups ice water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups vegetable shortening (such as Crisco)
Filling:
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons flour
1 cup vegetable shortening (such as Crisco)
1 1/2 cups sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon vanilla
Jimmies
Confectioners’ sugar
To make pastry: Mix flour, water and salt to form a dough. Divide into 3 equal portion. Take one part and roll out on a floured surface. Divide shortening into 9 equal parts. Spread one part on square. Fold sides in and place on a well-floured baking sheet. Cover well. Refrigerate 1/2 hour. Repeat with remaining dough squares.
Roll each piece to a square again. Cover with shortening. Fold. Refrigerate 1/2 hour. Repeat one more time then refrigerate squares overnight.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll each piece to a 12-inch square. Cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips about 3 inches long. Wrap each strip on a metal clothes pin (or tapered pastry forms available at baking and cookware stores), overlapping dough. Secure ends with a dab of water.
Arrange on baking sheets. Bake 10 minutes. Cool. Remove clothes pins.
To make filling: Mix milk and flour in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick paste forms. Cool completely.
Scrape cold paste into a bowl. Add shortening, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat for 20 minutes or until fluffy and sugar dissolves. Refrigerate overnight.
Pipe filling into locks. Dip ends in jimmies. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.
Barbara Kochick, Pickerington
When Andy and I were first married the ladies in my apartment complex and I had a cookie exchange. Everyone but one person worked very hard on their batches to make them the most desirable. One person, if you can believe this, bought her cookies and tried to pass them off as having slaved over the oven for days. You didn't fool anyone Carol M. LOL
Now days I enjoy making simple, tasty bunt cakes and fruit bread...like lemon or banana or chocolate breads. I have found many great recipes of all kinds by just googling the title or the ingredients for any of the recipes I am looking for on the Internet. Clothes pin cookie recipe, like the ones I used to make: http://louisj80sgarden.blogspot.com/2008/12/clothespin-cookies.html Read the different recipes and select the one that suits your needs best--not just this one. This one, however, shows pictures step by step of what they look like in different stages.
This year I am eager to try Sandy's Mound Cake from Cook's Corner in the Columbus Dispatch. I love Mound candy bars, so I assume they will taste like the bar.
Sandy's Mound Cake
Cake:
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup water
3 eggs
Filling:
24 large marshmallows
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 scant tablespoon cornstarch
1 package (14 ounces) sweetened flaked coconut
Frosting:
1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
2 cups chocolate chips
To make cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13x9 inch pan. Combine all cake ingredients. Beat 2 minutes. Pour into a pan. Bake 30-35 minutes.
Five minutes before the cake is done, start making the filling: Combine filling ingredients in a large pan. Stir over medium heat until marshmallows melt. Spread over hot cake. Cool cake afterwards.
To make frosting: Boil sugar, butter and milk 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Pour over coconut mixture. Let stand several hours until chocolate mixture is set.
One of the most festive and easy things I have ever made is homemade marshmallows. I use The Barefoot Contessa's recipe which I will list here. This is a wonderful easy, cheap, elegant, looking gift to give in an holiday exchange. It looks complicated, but if you have a sturdy mixer, it does ALL the work. You can add flavorings to the outside of marshmallows. You can use toasted coconut, or leave it out. You can dip them in chocolate, roll them in cinnamon sugar or eat them plain. Kids think you are really special having presented them with these delights.
Marshmallows:
2 packages unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Toasted coconut for the end product if you like coconut
Combine the gelatin and 1/2 cup of cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and allow to sit while you make the syrup.
Combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat to high and cook until the syrup reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the sugar syrup into the dissolved gelatin. Put the mixer on high speed and whip until the mixture is very thick, about 15 minutes. (I found it dangerous for the mixer to do this at high speed for 15 minutes because I have a super duper mixer and it labored.)My friend called Kitchen Aid and they said not to use it on high speed for 15 minutes if the mixture is really thick, and it does get thick. I started it on high and when it started to get really thick, I reduced the speed and it still 'got there'.
When it is really thick add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.
With a sieve, generously dust an 8x12-inch non metal baking dish with confectioners' sugar. Pour the marshmallow mixture into the pan, smooth the top, and dust with more confectioners' sugar. Allow to stand uncovered overnight until it dries out.
Turn the marshmallows onto a board and cut them in squares. Dust them again with more confectioners' sugar...or, the toppings of choice. You will never enjoy a store bought marshmallow again after making these delights. Cut them any size or shape you like but they look best big. Slip them into a cellophane bag tied with a festive ribbon for giving.
Since our Christmas is a quiet one this year, I'll have time to mix up and serve these scrumptious banana sour cream pancakes. Friends who have tried them, love them.
Banana Sour Cream Pancakes from Ina Garten's Family Style book:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
2 extra large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
unsalted butter
2 ripe bananas, diced, plus extra for serving
pure maple syrup
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together the sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing only until combined.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat until it bubbles. Ladle the pancake batter into the pan. Distribute a rounded tablespoon of bananas on each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and the underside is nicely browned. Flip the pancakes and then cook for another minute, until browned. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, add more butter to the pan, and continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used. Serve with sliced bananas, butter and maple syrup. I Use a 1/4 CUP MEASURE TO DROP THE BATTER INTO THE PAN. The pancakes stay warm in a 200 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.
Walnut-Cranberry Biscotti
1/4 (1/2 stick) butter,
softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Cinnamon-sugar for sprinkling
Cream butter and both sugars until well-blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture. Stir in walnuts and cranberries.
Line a baking sheet with parchment. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a 1- 1/2-inch long, 2 1/2 inch wide and 1 inch thick rectangle. Chill 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Bake rectangles 30 minutes. Cool.
Cut rectangles into 1/2 thick slices. Arrange on baking sheets. Rebake 15 minutes longer, turning once. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar. Cool completely.(They get hard and crisp.)
Columbus Dispatch Holiday Cookies (insert in the paper of 50 festive recipes)
December 6th found me still in my pajamas baking up a storm. Did the beds get made...no. It scared Matt so badly he cleaned his apartment and did his laundry, in between studying for two finals, while giving me odd looks. But, once he tasted the first batch of cookies, he forgave me, understanding first things first. It's cookie time. I made two batches of a molasses cookie, sending Nate out the door with three warm cookies and a hot Latte to start his school week. I quickly whipped up another favorite, Virginia O'Neils French almond crescent cookie. It makes thousands, but then she had many children, so this one recipe serves well instead of making several batches. I start out making them too big, but got the hang of the small crescents after several batches of large quarter moons. One enhancement, I roll them in crushed almonds instead of putting one almond on each cookie for charm. It is a very good recipe, as is the molasses cookie recipe from my cooking teacher Betty Rosbottom who has written several reliable cookbooks--she tests and retests, as does Ina Garten. My all time favorite is tastier the next day after it has time to soften up. I love this recipe from a friend that I have lost touch with named Lavonn. It is her Butterscotch Dessert Cookie. (Remember to wait until the next day to eat them, it's that important.)
I look forward to tomorrow when three more batches will be on the baking counter: Rich Filled Cookies with sour cream, honey, and coconut (It's the recipe I have never seen in print.) YUM ! Another is Vermont Maple Cookies, a soft delicacy which the family seems to enjoy. I am not a chocolate lover, but I will try a frosted chocolate drop cookie from the same recipe collection as the butterscotch dessert cookie.
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