This chapter may be styled in Pennsylfaanisch dialect as en Luschtkarrebs (a basket of goodies), because it contains a cornucopia of pastries for all sorts of farmhouse parties. There are gingerbreads, jumbles, lemon hearts, crispy sugar cookies, Lepp cakes (honey cakes), the original Snickerdoodles – even wild chestnut cookies and a variety of roll-outs for the holidays. Like Springerle and New Year’s Cake, some require special molds, others only fancy tin cutters; if you are hard pressed to find either, we have supplied the contact information on page 173 for the Foose Tinsmithing Company in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania; they offer an amazing array of handmade cookie cutters online and will also design shapes on commission.
While gingerbread baking is still a highly specialized professional trade in German speaking countries, with many technical baking secrets (not to mention that one must apprentice to become a certified gingerbread baker), the Pennsylvania Dutch situation was never as complicated. There was no guild system to regulate it. Just the same, professionally baked Pennsylvania Dutch gingerbread achieved its own special flavor and texture, because it was made with a Fordeeg (foundation dough) created from boiled honey and spelt flour. This was often aged two to three months in advance of final baking. The dough was also subjected to “breaking” (vigorous beating) every two weeks or so in order to tenderize it by breaking down the gluten and thus creating a distinctive spongy texture. A picture of a traditional break bat is illustrated in the glossary on page 164. Homemade gingerbreads were simpler, and some families even dispensed with spices altogether, figuring that the honey was good enough by itself. Yet in the Dutch Country, there were also many different local ways to spice gingerbreads as well as techniques for glazing them when they came out of the oven. The most traditional way of decorating gingerbreads uses almonds and hazelnuts. The two basic gingerbread spice mixtures used by the Dutch bakeries in Reading, Lancaster, Lebanon, Pottsville, Allentown and York consisted of cinnamon, star-anise, anise and cloves, or cinnamon, star-anise, cloves, coriander and ginger. The spicing was toned back if the main flavoring was nuts, lest the spices upstage them. Some iced gingerbreads were also ornamented with marzipan.
In the past, Pennsylvania Dutch cookies were not found exclusively in the Dutch Country: we would like to point out that the famous crullers, gingerbread boys, brown sugar cookies, oatmeal “muffins” (actually mini-Datsch cakes) and small maple-walnut cakes were served at the legendary Fifth Avenue tea room in New York called Mary Elizabeth, and all of those recipes came from Berks County. Founder Mary Elizabeth Evans was the granddaughter of Judge Henry Riegel of Syracuse, New York; his Riegel clan originally came from Pennsylvania, and they were keenly aware of their upper-class Pennsylvania Dutch heritage.
After her 1920 marriage to millionaire Henry D. Sharpe, Mary Elizabeth gradually stepped back from her tea room empire in favor of her sister Martha Evans Stringer (1889-1971), who with her husband, Carlton, became close friends of New York advertising mogul J. George Fredrick. Frederick grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania and was proud of his Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. He published The Pennsylvania Dutch and Their Cookery in 1935 – the first nationally marketed Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook – but more importantly, he reminded Martha Stringer of her Pennsylvania heritage and supplied her with many recipes for the tea room menu. He even mentioned her in his cookbook.
Today, there is a loud chorus of former Mary Elizabeth patrons who consider the tea room and its unique food epiphanous in terms of their culinary coming of age. After Mary Elizabeth Sharpe sold the restaurant in the 1930s and turned her attention to social life in Providence, Rhode Island, her signature recipes underwent many alterations until the time the restaurant closed in 1985 (the same year she died at the ripe age of 100). Just the same, our crullers, sugar Kringle, Bellylaps and drop Kuche ought to do credit to J. George Frederick and his efforts to elevate the best of the Dutch Country to that former high altar of home-style cooking on Fifth Avenue at 37th.
Adam and Eve Day is December 24th, the one day of the year when it was considered bad luck to eat apples. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when the Dutch normally spent Christmas Eve in church, Adam and Eve Day held special significance since the religious imagery played well with the story of Christmas. The tree depicted in the center of the cookies baked for this occasion was generally equated with the Tree of Life, and was by association an emblem of the Christmas tree. Images of Adam and Eve abound in Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, and several printers issued beautifully colored broadsides with short poems narrating the Adam and Eve story. As for the Adam and Eve cookies, they were given out in church to those children who had excelled that year in school or Sunday school, a culinary reward also intended as moralizing religious instruction.
Yield: 8 to 9 dozen 3-inch (7.5cm) cookies
6 cups (750g) pastry flour
1 cup (125g) finely ground hazelnuts
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1½ tablespoons ground ginger
1½ tablespoons ground anise
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 cup (250g) sugar
1½ cups (375ml) honey
8 ounces (250g) unsalted butter
Sift together the flour, ground hazelnuts, baking powder, salt and spices. Heat the sugar, honey and butter in a saucepan over a low heat and warm the ingredients until the butter is melted and the sugar is fully dissolved. Cool to room temperature. Make a valley in the center of the dry ingredients, add the honey mixture and combine to form stiff dough. Cover and ripen in the refrigerator at least 8 hours before using.
Roll out the dough ¼-inch (6mm) thick, then press it into lightly oiled wooden molds. Turn out the shapes, trim and set them on greased baking sheets to dry overnight. The next day, preheat the oven to 325F (165C). Bake in the preheated oven according to size: for small cookies, allow 12 to15 minutes; for large shapes like the Adam and Eve mold (pictured) allow 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on racks.
Pictorial cookies “printed” with carved wooden molds can be further ornamented with colored icing or given a milk and egg yolk wash before baking.
Observation: It is important to allow the cookies time to dry before baking, the same step required when making Springerle (page 83). This will prevent the imprinted design from puffing and distorting in the oven. Large figures like Adam and Eve should be baked on baking parchment and allowed to cool and harden on the parchment after leaving the oven. Depending on the size of the cookie, baking time may run 2 to 3 minutes longer on parchment. Due to the large amount of honey, these cookies will remain soft and pliant and thus not well adapted to decorating with colored icing.
Adam and Eve Cookies
Pennsylvania Dutch children knew that Christmas was not far off when the anise-flavored drop cookies began to turn up in the farm markets and bake shops. They were standard fare throughout the nineteenth century, and some local bakeries still offered them well into the 1950s. With the renewal of interest in traditional cookery, we decided that this light, puffy classic deserved a fresh place on the holiday menu, especially since the Apeas Drop Cookie is the grandmother of all the apeas cakes now baked in Pennsylvania.
Yield: Approximately 4 to 5 dozen 2-inch (5cm) cookies
2¼ cups (280g) double-sifted pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (250g) caster sugar (also called bar sugar)
4 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
1 tablespoon anise seed
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Cream the sugar and egg yolks in an electric mixer until light and fluffy (about 15 minutes to 30 minutes if done by hand). Add the anise seed and sift in half of the flour. Work this into a thick, sticky batter. Beat the egg whites until stiff and forming peaks, then fold them into the batter, alternately sifting in the remaining flour. Beat gently until smooth. Cover and set away in the refrigerator to ripen for 5 hours.
Once the batter has ripened, preheat the oven to 325F (165C). Grease your baking sheets and then place evenly spaced teaspoon-size scoops of cold batter on each, allowing at least 3 inches (7.5cm) between each scoop. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes or until pale golden on the bottom. Cool on racks and store in airtight containers.
Observation: In order to make the cookies as light and airy as possible, it is important that your flour be double sifted before you measure it for the recipe.
Several Pennsylvania Dutch plain sects still observe Old Christmas (January 6), which is linked on their religious calendars to Old Fastnacht, the Monday before Shrove Tuesday. Old Fastnacht, known as Haerschmundaag (Stag’s Monday), was never an officially recognized holiday. Some church fathers even discouraged it because it was a day of sacrilegious tricks and shenanigans carried out mostly by children – or as some claimed, by the Waldmops, a mischievous but friendly dwarf who lived in the woods. Families who observed the day treated it like Sunday and set aside all manner of work except for the production of fat cakes for Fastnacht proper, Haerschkuche (stag-shaped cookies), and of course the preparation of the “antlers” to go with them.
Antler cookies have come down to us in two distinct forms. Some farmhouse cooks simply appropriated pieces of dough leftover from Fastnachts and used a very sharp knife to cut out antler shapes, which were then deep-fried like fritters. Dusted with powdered sugar, they can hold their own against any New Orleans beignet. Other households prepared special dough similar to shortbread, as in the recipe below. The basic idea was to create a cookie shaped like the antler of a buck, because this was thought to bring about good luck, just as the yellow cornmeal was considered a symbol of fertility and fruitfulness – not to mention its distinctive flavor.
As noted in the Introduction, it was also customary to leave a few of these antler cookies in the woods for the Waldmops, so that he would remember to watch over the fields and gardens come spring planting.
Yield: Approximately 4 dozen
12 tablespoons (190g) unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 cup (250g) sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (30ml) Kirschwasser (see note)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1 cup (125g) fine yellow cornmeal or yellow masa harina
Cream the butter until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl beat the eggs until frothy and combine with the sugar. Once the sugar is fully dissolved, fold this into the butter, then add the salt, Kirschwasser and lemon zest. Sift together the baking powder and both flours, then sift them into the liquid ingredients to form soft dough. Roll into a ball, cover and refrigerate overnight to allow the dough to ripen.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Roll out the dough ½ inch (1.2cm) on a clean surface. Slice the dough into finger-wide pieces about 3 inches (7 cm) long. Cut two diagonal slits into the dough along one side (as pictured) and then spread apart in a slightly curving position to create antler shapes. Put the antlers on ungreased baking sheets and bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the antlers are pale golden on the bottom. Cool on racks and store in airtight containers. Like most shortbreads, these cookies will keep 3 to 4 months.
Note: Some families prefer to heighten the yellow color of the cookies by adding saffron. If you choose to use saffron, dissolve ¼ teaspoon of powdered saffron in the Kirschwasser called for in the recipe. Add the saffron-Kirschwasser as directed.
The recipe for this old-time species of large, flat, molasses cookie came to us from Carrie V. Bitting (1873-1946) of Coopersburg, Pennsylvania. The recipe belonged to her mother, which more or less dates it to the pre-Civil War era. Bellylaps were a particular favorite in country taverns and cake-and-mead shops, since the ingredients were cheap and the cookies could be stored for a long period of time. Bellylaps are still considered one of the Dutch Country classics, because they were also a great favorite with children, who took them to school for lunch and snacking. Furthermore, it was children who gave the cookie its unusual name: Bauchlappe are unsightly folds of fat around the waist, the bane of modern-day dieters and the subject of ridicule back in the days when Yankee lean was an American standard. All the same, bellylap is not the original meaning of the Pennsylvania Dutch name for this cookie. It is a colloquial degeneration of belziche Leppkuche, “soft gingerbreads,” or more literally: spongy honey cakes. And yes, these cookies should be soft and chewy if they are true to type.
Yield: Approximately 3 dozen 3-inch (7.5cm) cookies
1 egg
½ cup (125ml) barrel molasses
½ cup (125ml) honey (preferably light locust honey)
½ cup (125g) caster sugar (also called bar sugar)
1½ tablespoons (8g) baking powder
3 cups (375g) organic spelt flour
1 tablespoon (5g) ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground star anise
3 tablespoons (45ml) apple cider vinegar
Beat the egg until lemon colored and frothy. Add the molasses and honey, and beat until smooth and creamy. Gradually sift in the sugar, then sift together the baking powder and 1 cup (125g) of flour and the spices. Sift this into the molasses mixture. Add the vinegar and gradually sift in the remaining flour to create soft dough. Roll the dough into a ball, cover and chill for 2 to 3 hours before baking.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325F (165C). Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the dough to ¼-inch (6mm) thick. Using a tin cookie cutter, cut out 2- to 3-inch (5 to 7.5cm) rounds of dough. Lay them on well-greased baking sheets and bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Bake them “short” (as my great-grandmother used to put it), meaning take them out of the oven just a minute or so early. That way they will be delightfully soft and spongy in the middle. Over-baking will dry them out.
The late Ruth Hershey Irion did much to popularize these cookies during the Pennsylvania Dutch cultural revival in the 1950s. She commissioned copies of antique cookie cutters and sold them through American Home magazine, and in 1976, wrote and illustrated a popular children’s book called The Christmas Cookie Tree. During her heyday, Ruth Irion was considered the reigning queen of Pennsylvania Dutch cookie baking, and her beautifully illustrated portfolio of recipe Fraktur art (Dutch decorated calligraphy) issued in 1947 is now considered a prize collectors item among folk art connoisseurs.
However, it would appear that Mrs. Irion drew her inspiration from Mary at the Farm, a now-rare 1916 Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook edited by Edith Thomas. Thomas (who was married to a Quakertown banker) discovered the recipe in northern Bucks County; Thomas explained that the cookies were baked to hand out to the Belschnicklers – children and teenagers dressed in outlandish costumes who went mumming from house to house on Second Christmas (December 26). The cookies were distributed much in the same manner as Halloween candies today. The cookie dough is remarkably adaptable and will take elaborate shapes quite readily; thus, they make excellent Christmas tree ornaments. They are also easy to ice or decorate with colored sugar.
Yield: Approximately 2 to 3 dozen, depending on size
12 tablespoons (155g) unsalted butter
1 cup (250g) caster sugar (also called bar sugar)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1 teaspoon ground cassia
1 teaspoon ground star anise
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour
Crystal sugar
Cream the butter until light and fluffy, then add the sugar and whisk vigorously until the sugar is dissolved. Beat the eggs until frothy and lemon colored. Add them and the vanilla to the butter mixture. Sift together the spices, baking powder, salt and flour, then sift and fold this into the wet ingredients. Knead into stiff dough, roll in a ball, cover and chill overnight in the refrigerator. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F (180C) and roll out the dough on a clean surface. Cut out shapes of your choice with fancy tin cutters, scatter crystal sugar over the cookies and bake on well-greased cookie sheets in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on their size (small cookies will bake more quickly). Cool on racks and store in airtight containers.
The Belschnickel
Belschnickel Cookies are also any type of cookie shaped like the Belschnickel. His name derives from Pelz Nickolas or “fur-clad Nicholas,” yet he was not St. Nicholas; rather, a scary-looking half-man, half-animal who appeared in Pennsylvania Dutch households on Christmas Eve and symbolically punished the bad children with a switching (never applied too vigorously) and then scattered all sorts of Christmas goodies on the floor for the rest of his “terrified” victims. He is depicted in this Swiss cookie mold, dressed in fur, bells hanging from his hat and switch at his side. The book hanging from his waist represents the record book in which he kept track of who was good and who was bad so that he could settle the score each Christmas. He is also holding a small Christmas tree in one hand, one of the earliest eighteenth century depictions of this type of table-top tree, which the Pennsylvania Dutch introduced to mainstream American culture. If you look carefully at the trunk of the tree, you will see a figure of a little man: this is the Waldmops, who is discussed in further detail on page xvi.
Chinquapins are tiny wild chestnuts with rich, concentrated sweet flavor. They are easy to find in the countryside of rural Pennsylvania, but few people bother to sell them at market due to the work involved in gathering them. This was not the case years ago when they were much favored in game cookery and holiday desserts. Thus, as a substitute, I have used wild American chestnuts, since chestnuts are generally available during the holiday season.
For this recipe, you will need chestnut meal, which you can buy directly from Allen Creek Farm in Ridgefield, Washington (www.Chestnutsonline.com). Or, you can make it yourself if you have a grain mill. The best tasting jumbles will always result from freshly processed chestnuts, which should be roasted in the oven, then removed from their shells and skins. Chop the nuts into small pieces for easier grinding (I use a Corona hand mill), then pass the ground nuts through a fine sieve to achieve the consistency of coarse flour or the best grade of cornmeal. Measure out 2 cups (250g) of meal for the recipe. You can make a marzipan-like confection with the remaining meal; just substitute the chestnuts for ground almonds in any marzipan recipe.
Yield: 4 to 5 dozen
3 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
2 cups (500g) caster sugar (also called bar sugar)
1 cup (250ml) buttermilk
1 tablespoon (15ml) vanilla flavoring
Grated zest of ½ lemon
4 cups (500g) pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups (250g) ground wild chinquapins or American chestnuts
Confectioner’s sugar (10X)
Beaten egg white
Coarsely chopped and sifted chestnuts
Beat the egg yolks until lemon colored and frothy. Add the sugar and beat until fully dissolved and creamy. Add the buttermilk and vanilla, then the lemon. Sift together the pastry flour, baking powder and salt, and sift this into the ground chestnuts. Fold this into the egg mixture to form loose crumbs. Beat the egg whites until stiff and forming peaks, then fold them into the crumbs to form soft, sticky dough. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator to ripen overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 325F (165C). Dust a clean work surface with confectioner’s sugar and roll the cold dough into long ropes about ½ inch (1cm) in diameter. Cut the ropes into 4-inch (10cm) lengths and join the ends together to form rings. Line ungreased baking sheets with baking parchment. Arrange the rings evenly spaced on the parchment, allowing for room to spread. Beat the egg white until frothy and forming peaks; brush this over the surface of the cookies and scatter the chopped chestnuts over them. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom. Cool on racks and then store in airtight containers.
The term cruller derives from krollen, which means to roll; specifically, to roll the fritters in sugar while they are still hot from the kettle. Crullers were popular during the holidays but also sold in vast quantities at county fairs and public events; they were even sold by street vendors. The most common method was to cut the dough into strips with a pastry cutter, giving the edges a jagged pattern. But some cooks went further by creating a myriad of impressive shapes using tin cutters or the tiny cutters used for making vegetable ornaments. Our recipe has been adapted from the manuscript cookbook of Stella Siegfried, who was head cook during the 1870s and 1880s at the Bath Hotel in Bath, Pennsylvania. According to an annotation at the end of the recipe, she acquired it from a Mrs. Moser.
Yield: 2 to 3 dozen, depending on size and shape
8 tablespoons (125g) unsalted butter
2 eggs
¾ cup (185g) sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (125ml) sour cream or buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 cups (500g) pastry flour
Cream the butter in a large work bowl. In a separate work bowl, beat the eggs until lemon colored and frothy, then add the sugar and salt and beat until the sugar is fully dissolved. Add this to the creamed butter, then add the sour cream. Sift together the baking powder and flour, then gradually sift and fold this into the liquid ingredients to form soft dough. Cover and chill in the refrigerator 2 hours.
When you are ready to cook, heat oil in a deep fryer to 375F (190C). While the oil is heating, roll out the dough ½-inch (1.2cm) thick. Cut it into fancy shapes, like those shown on the facing page. Slide the crullers into the hot oil with a slotted spoon and fry 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon or wire dipper and drain on absorbent paper. Roll in sugar while still hot or dust with confectioner’s sugar once cool.
The Pennsylvania Dutch have invented quite a few desserts that do not fall neatly into any traditional category. Finger Dumplings aren’t dumplings, they aren’t cakes, and they certainly are not cookies. But since they are small and delicate (Gleenegebeck), we have placed them here. They remind us of the days when baked desserts like this were once common in the homes of the well-to-do Dutch in Reading and other large towns – they do go well with champagne! On the other hand, their country roots are quite obvious: they are made mostly of potatoes. It should not be surprising that this recipe can be traced to the old Spring Mountain House, a once-grand hotel near Schwenksville in the heartland of the old Pennsylvania Dutch potato belt.
Necessary equipment: one porcelain casserole dish measuring 9 ½ by 12 by 2 inches (24 by 30 by 5 cm).
Yield: 50 to 60 Dumplings (Serves 10 to 12)
1 pound (500 kg) floury potatoes
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks (save the egg whites for Lebanon Rusk, on page 18)
1 cup (125g) pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1½ tablespoons (7g) baking powder
¼ cup (65g) sugar
3 tablespoons (45g) unsalted butter
Crullers
Finger Dumplings
Pare and cook the potatoes until tender, then press them through a potato ricer or sieve and set aside to cool. Beat the eggs and yolk until lemon colored and fold them into the cooled potatoes. Sift together the flour, salt, nutmeg and baking powder, then sift this into the potato mixture. Work this into soft dough, cover and let ripen in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375F (190C).
Place the dough on a clean work surface well-dusted with flour. Using your hands, roll out the dough to form a long rope about the thickness of the little finger. Cut this into 2-inch (5cm) segments. You should have about 50 to 60 pieces.
Soften the butter and liberally grease your baking dish with it, especially on the bottom. Lay the dumpling segments side by side in neat rows. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until fully puffed and turning golden brown. Serve immediately as a side dish with fresh or stewed fruit, whipped cream or simply scattered with sugar. Best when hot from the oven.
Frackville Pretzels and Fastnachts are made from the same type of dough. The only difference is in the shape. Frackville Pretzels, which used to be available in several bakeshops in Schuylkill and Columbia counties, are made by rolling out the Fastnacht dough and cutting it into pretzel shapes with a large pretzel-shaped cookie cutter. They are then deep-fried like other beignets. In Germany, these pretzel-shaped fat cakes are called Berliners.
Fastnachts are probably the best known of all Pennsylvania Dutch fried cakes, since their popularity is regional and no longer just a custom among the Dutch. Fastnacht is Fat Tuesday – Carnival or Mardi Gras to other folks – and the fat cakes made for this occasion borrow their name from the name of the day. Otherwise, they look like the same kind of beignets made in New Orleans or France, except that for the most part, Fastnachts are made square with no hole in the middle. We prefer to slit them, because that increases the likelihood that they will fry evenly in the center. Badly made Fastnachts are often raw in the middle, a sad result to be avoided. Fastnachts were traditionally made on Old Fastnacht, the day before Fat Tuesday, and some families used the same dough to make Antlers (recipe on page 60).
Yield: Approximately 20 Fastnachts
1 tablespoon dry active yeast
3 cups (750ml) lukewarm whole milk (98F/37C)
8 cups (1 kilo) bread flour
8 tablespoons (125g) unsalted butter
2 eggs
¼ cup (65ml) honey
Sugar and ground cinnamon
Proof the yeast in the milk. Once it is actively foaming, sift in 4 cups (500g) of flour to form batter. Let this rise overnight in a warm place. The next day, cream the butter. In a separate work bowl, beat the eggs until light and lemon colored, then combine them with the honey. Add this to the creamed butter and work the mixture into the raised batter. Sift in the remaining flour into the proofed mixture and knead into soft dough on a well-floured work surface. Cover and let this rise until double in bulk, then knock down and roll out on a clean, well-floured work surface. Cut into Fastnachts or Frackville Pretzels, cover and set aside to rise again.
Once the Fastnachts are risen, carefully slip them into boiling oil brought to a temperature of 375F (190C). Fry a minute or two until golden brown – you may want to try a test run, since frying time will depend on shape and size. Once the Fastnachts are fried, remove from the oil and drain on absorbent paper. Dust liberally with sugar flavored with ground cinnamon.
Observation: Handmade Frackville Pretzel cutters are available from Amish craftsman Reuben E. Mast of Fresno, Ohio. See his listing on page 174. Mast’s cutters are marketed as cutters for soft pretzels.
This classic recipe was given to me many years ago by the late Hattie Brunner of Reinholds, Pennsylvania. Hattie was a remarkable cook and a legendary antique dealer with an eye for the unusual. Her equally famous mother-in-law, Hattie Klapp Brunner, also an antique dealer and owner of the once well-known Tulip Shop, obtained the recipe from the old Fox & Ottmeyer bakery in York, Pennsylvania. This was the bakery’s once-popular Leppkuche, which at Christmas time during the early 1900s they delivered house to house in horse-drawn wagons. The recipe is best adapted to making round mushroom cap-shaped cookies, the ideal size being 2 inches (5cm) in diameter. Thus, they are specially suited for baking on wafers rather than cutting into fancy shapes. For fancy shapes and dough suitable for carved wooden molds, use the recipe for Adam and Eve Cookies on page 57.
Yield: Approximately 2 dozen
1 cup (250ml) dark honey, preferably buckwheat honey
2 tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter
1½ cups (190g) spelt flour
1 cup (125g) rye flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground star anis
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 egg yolk (reserve the white for icing)
¼ cup (65ml) buttermilk or sour cream
Grated zest of lemon or orange, optional
Baking wafers (see note)
Warm the honey over a low heat and melt the butter in it. Set aside to cool. Sift together the flours, baking powder, salt and spices. When the honey has cooled, beat the egg yolk and buttermilk and add this to the honey, then sift in the dry ingredients to form soft dough. Add lemon or orange zest if you prefer. Cover and chill 2 days in the refrigerator. If you are the patient type and want truly tender cookies, ripen the dough 3 months in the refrigerator, “breaking” it with a bat twice a week (see the illustration on page 164).
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325F (165C) and roll out the dough about ½-inch (2.5cm) thick. Keep it cold; otherwise, it will become sticky. Cut into round 2-inch (5cm) cookies and lay them on baking wafers on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Once cool, the cookies may be decorated with pink or white ornamental icing (or a combination of both). For fancier cookies, you can experiment with icings flavored with bitter chocolate, mocha or even saffron. You can also ornament them with marzipan figures.
Note: Baking wafers are readily available over the Internet as well as from Echo Hill, listed among the shopping sources on page 173. If you do not have wafers, use baking parchment. Lacking that, simply grease your baking sheets very lightly and proceed from there.
Heart-shaped cookies are made all year around by the Pennsylvania Dutch, so it was not surprising to find these hearts for sale alongside watermelons at a Dauphin County vegetable stand one hot, hot day in July. These cookies have to be one of the best of their kind in the Dutch Country, and I thank Lida Hershberger for sharing her family recipe, which she wrote down from memory on the backside of an old shopping bag. As far as culinary forensics go, this recipe is better if you stick to small hearts as opposed to large.
Yield: 2 to 3 dozen (depends on size of hearts)
8 tablespoons (125g) unsalted butter
1 cup (250g) sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon buttermilk
1 teaspoon lemon flavoring or the grated zest of 2 lemons
2 teaspoons baking powder
1½ cups (185g) pastry flour
1 egg white
Lemon sugar (yellow sugar flavored with lemon)
Cream the butter and sugar, then beat the eggs until frothy and lemon colored. Add the buttermilk and flavoring. Combine this with the creamed butter and sugar. Sift together the baking powder and flour, then sift this into the wet ingredients. Work into soft dough, roll into a ball, cover and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours to allow the dough to ripen.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Roll out on a clean surface well-dusted with pastry flour. The cold dough should be rolled out to ¼-inch (6mm) thick. Cut out heart shapes with a tin cutter and lay them on lightly greased baking sheets. Beat the egg white until stiff and forming peaks, then brush the cookies with this. Scatter lemon sugar liberally over the cookies. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until puffed and golden on the bottom. Cool on racks, then store in airtight containers.
Many years ago, a small group of Pennsylvania Dutch folk artists held an annual show in an old school at Stouchsburg, Pennsylvania. Ladies from nearby Christ Lutheran Church would sell refreshments, and the whole affair was so popular that people would come from out of state to attend. One of the Lutheran ladies was Annie Nagle (1897-1981), who was considered something of a local personality, not to mention the leading cook in her church. I was there the time she made New Year’s Cakes. This is her recipe.
Annie did not bake these cookies often because of the work involved, and not having a wooden mold to stamp them, she did not think they looked right plain. But on this occasion, one of the artists loaned her an old butter print, so with the help of a couple of friends, she turned out a huge batch of cookies stamped with the image of a swan. The secret to good New Year’s Cakes is in the dough, which in this case resembles shortbread. The cookies are not overly sweet (a plus) and the addition of caraway seed is always considered a must. While the cookies were normally made for Christmas and New Year’s, they stored well and supplied the household with snacks throughout the winter and well into spring. They were even crumbled up to make cracker pies (recipe on page xx).
Cast iron New Year’s cookie mold, 1860s
New Year’s Cake and Nuttle Cookies
Yield: Approximately 2 dozen, depending on the size of the mold
3½ cups (435g) pastry flour
1 cup (250g) caster sugar (also called bar sugar)
1 tablespoon ground caraway
1 tablespoon ground coriander
4 tablespoons (60g) unsalted butter
4 tablespoons (60g) lard, duck or chicken fat
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
Approximately 1 cup (250ml) cold dry white wine
Sift together the flour, sugar, ground caraway and coriander, then work in the butter and lard to form fine crumbs. Add the caraway seeds and only enough wine to make soft, sticky dough. Dust a clean work surface with pastry flour and knead the dough until it no longer sticks to the hands. Cover and set aside to ripen in a refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 F (180C). Roll out the dough ½-inch (1.25cm) thick and cut into squares, rounds or whatever shape best suits your mold. Print the picture on the dough (same process as Springerle cookies) and then place the cookies on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until pale golden brown on the bottoms. Cool on racks, then store in airtight containers until needed.
Nuttle Cookies
This recipe first came to my attention while interviewing the late Isaac Clarence Kulp (1938-2007), who devoted much of his life to the study of Pennsylvania Dutch culture in his native Montgomery County. The recipe came down from his grandmother on the Kulp side, and while the cookie’s name is considered humorous in Dutch (it literally means “horse droppings”), the flavor is special. The cookie is best described as a type of gingerbread using traditional ingredients like spelt and rye. The flavor improves with age, so make them several weeks in advance of when you need them.
Yield: Approximately 4 dozen
4 cups (500g) spelt flour
2 cups (250g) rye flour
1 tablespoon (5g) baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon (5g) ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground (5g) star anise
1 tablespoon (5g) ground ginger
1½ cups (185g) coarsely ground toasted hazelnuts (hazelnut flour)
⅔ cup (125g) dark brown sugar
1 cup (250ml) buckwheat honey
2 large eggs
1 cup (250ml) sour cream or buttermilk
Powdered chocolate
Sift together the flours, baking powder, salt and spices. Add the nuts. Heat a saucepan and dissolve the sugar in the honey. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, set aside to cool. When the mixture is lukewarm, make a valley in the dry ingredients and add the honey mixture. Beat the eggs until frothy and lemon colored, then add the sour cream. Pour this into the valley with the honey and stir to create soft, sticky dough. Dust a clean work surface with spelt flour and knead the dough with your hands until it no longer sticks to the fingers – from time to time, dust the hands with flour. Form into a ball, cover and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours or overnight.
When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Break off pieces of dough and roll into 1½-inch (4 cm) balls. Set the balls on greased baking sheets and bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until puffy and turning golden brown on the bottoms. Cool on racks. When cool, roll the cookies in powdered chocolate and store in airtight containers until needed.
The nineteenth-century fascination with this unusual pretzel no doubt traces to the fact that it resembles a lye pretzel in all its golden brownness, and yet it is perhaps one of the best-tasting “cookie” pretzels on the Pennsylvania Dutch table. Traditional salt pretzels were made with spelt flour, but sweet pretzels, which were known generically as “coffee pretzels” among the Dutch, could be made from just about anything, since – as this name implied – they were considered desserts. Coffee pretzels were meant to be eaten with strong coffee or tea (or with wine). They were definitely a festive treat made for entertaining and Christmas, even for hanging on the tree. They were also made for church schools and distributed to the children on special occasions. One of the earliest references to those sorts of gift pretzels was found in a 1773 Lancaster church register.
We were given this recipe some years ago by the late Dr. Daniel Lee Backenstose of Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, the author of an amusing little treatise on the art of stuffing pig stomachs. His pretzel recipe was said to have come from the old Lebanon Valley House Hotel in Lebanon, but we have seen orange and even chocolate pretzels advertised in Reading as early as the 1860s. The original directions called for 4-inch (10cm) lengths of dough, which, once twisted, make extremely tiny pretzels. We opted for 10-inch (25cm) lengths, because they are easier to knot and are less likely to run together during baking. The orange sugar that was scattered over the pretzels in the original recipe was flavored “hail” sugar, resembling in appearance the coarse salt scattered on lye pretzels. That kind of flavored sugar is difficult to find these days, so you can flavor hail sugar with sweet orange oil or simply increase the orange flavoring in the pretzels themselves. The precise amount of oil (or extract) will depend on the quality of the product; cheaper brands tend to bake out. For added effect, you can color the sugar and the pretzels orange – orange dough makes them resemble lye pretzels once baked. Alternately, dip them in orange icing and scatter hail sugar over them before the icing dries.
Yield: 24 to 26 3-inch (7.5cm) pretzels
2 cups (250g) pastry flour
½ cup (125g) caster sugar (also called bar sugar)
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces (125g) cold, unsalted butter
4 tablespoons (35g) finely minced candied orange rind
2 tablespoons freshly grated orange zest
4 large egg yolks
5 to 6 drops sweet orange oil (optional)
Yellow and red food coloring to create orange coloring (optional)
1 egg white
Coarse sugar or hail sugar, preferably orange flavored
Sift together the flour, sugar and baking powder. Rub in the butter to form fine crumbs, then add the minced orange rind and orange zest. In a separate work bowl, beat the egg yolks until light and frothy; add the orange oil (or extract) if you want to intensify the orange flavor – as well as optional coloring (a mix of red and yellow). Combine this with the dry ingredients, then dust a clean work surface with flour. Knead until the dough is no longer sticky. Roll into a ball, cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 325F (165C). Grease 2 or 3 baking sheets (depending on size) and set aside. Break off a piece of cold dough and roll into ¼-inch (6mm) diameter ropes. Cut these into 10-inch (25cm) lengths. While rolling out the ropes of dough, be certain to taper the thickness so that the middle is fatter than the ends, then twist into pretzels. Lay the pretzels on the baking sheets, spacing them at least 1 inch (2.5cm) apart. Beat the egg white lightly, then brush this over the pretzels and scatter with sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until crisp and turning pale gold on the bottom. Remove from the oven and transfer the pretzels to racks to cool. When cool, store in airtight containers until needed.
This recipe can also be used to make Loop Kringles (Schlupp-Kringle):
Instead of shaping the dough into pretzels, cut the ropes into 10-inch (25cm) lengths. Join the ends together to make a ring and bake as directed in the pretzel recipe. These can be hung on a Christmas tree with ribbons tied into bows. Some families also hang them on Easter egg trees.
This very thick species of sand tart came to us from Mary Seaman Shenk (1877-1952), who lived in the Grantville area of East Hanover in Dauphin County. Mrs. Shenk called her cookies “Christmas Cakes” and cut them into squares, which is the original shape of old-style sand tarts. Pennsylvania Dutch bakeshops that sold sand tarts normally cut them out with the same kind of sharp-bladed roller used for gingerbreads. Thus, at the flick of the wrist, a sheet of cookie dough became several dozen sand tarts. Today, many Pennsylvania Dutch cooks like to garnish their sand tarts with half a walnut pressed into the middle. It is de rigueur in Lebanon County to bake them this way. However, we have left ours plain, the way Mrs. Shenk made them.
Yield: Approximately 4 dozen
2 large eggs
2 cups (500g) caster sugar (also called bar sugar)
1 cup (250ml) sour cream
1 cup (250ml) melted butter (or half butter and half lard)
1 tablespoon grated zest of orange or lemon
4 cups (500g) pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting
Coarse crystal sugar for garnishing
Beat the eggs until light and frothy, then cream them together with the sugar. Add the sour cream and gradually beat in the melted butter (it should not be hot). Add the orange zest. Sift together the flour, baking powder and cardamom, then sift this into the batter, folding as you work, to form soft dough. Cover and refrigerate over night.
The next day, preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Dust a clean work surface with Confectioners (10-X) sugar. Break off lumps of cold dough and dust with just enough confectioners (10-X) sugar to keep the surface of the dough dry for handling. Roll out ½-inch (1.25cm) thick. Cut into 2-inch (5cm) squares and then set the cookies on greased baking sheets. Sprinkle liberally with coarse sugar or crystal sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes or until golden on the bottom. Cool on racks and store in airtight containers.
Sand Tarts (top) and Orange Pretzels (bottom)
Snickerdoodles and Snowballs
This is one of those Pennsylvania Dutch cookies with a name that has wandered far from its original meaning. A Schnickelfritz is a mischievous child, and dudle means to fool around sexually. Thus, in Pennsylvania Dutch, the cookie’s name is hardly innocent. That is probably not the intention of all the good Dutch mothers who make these cookies for their kids. As it turns out, snickerdoodle is a corruption of Schnitt-Nudle, a pastry traditionally made for All Saints (November 1).
We found the cookies under the name Snip Doodles in a 1905 Reading cookbook, then Snippy Doodles in another. By the 1920s and the growing popularity of Halloween trick-or-treats, Schnitt-Nudle evolved into the snickerdoodle we know today. It has lost its connection to Halloween, but many Pennsylvania Dutch make it for birthdays or Christmas. The recipe on page 80 will show you how to make the original Schnitt-Nudle as described in an 1859 recipe published many times in the Reading Adler (the German edition of the Reading Eagle newspaper). Meanwhile, here is an archetypical snickerdoodle recipe (there are many variations), as supplied to me by a friend of the late Ernie Risser (1956-2014), whose diner near Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania, was considered one of the best for authentic Dutch cooking. Ernie made these cookies as a snack for himself, sometimes sold them over the counter, and sometimes even added saffron to give them what he jokingly referred to as “local color.”
Yield: 2½ dozen
8 tablespoons (125g) unsalted butter
¾ cup (185g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring or saffron to taste
1 large egg
1⅓ cups (170g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (30g) sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Cream the butter, sugar and flavoring, then beat the egg until lemon colored and add it to the butter mixture. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, and sift this into the wet ingredients and work into dough. Cover and chill 1 to 2 hours so that the dough will ripen.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400F (200C). Break off pieces of dough and roll them into balls about as large as a walnut. Roll the balls in sugar combined with cinnamon and arrange the balls on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them about 2 inches (5cm) apart. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool on the baking sheets before removing. Once cool, store in airtight containers.
Lebanon Valley House Hotel, old woodcut, 1870s.
Our heirloom recipe came to us courtesy of Lenore K. Fitterling of Denver, Pennsylvania, and calls for pecans. While pecans may ring Southern to most ears, they are indeed a close relative of our local hickory nuts. Pecans are botanical imports from outside our borders, and the trees do thrive in parts of the Keystone State, so the two nuts may be treated as loosely interchangeable. Perhaps it would also be appropriate to point out that there was a pecan craze in the Dutch Country in the early 1900s. The Keystone Pecan Research Laboratory at Manheim, Pennsylvania, issued a pecan cookbook in 1925 called 800 Proved Pecan Recipes, which included a recipe for a steamed (no less!) snowball pudding strewn in its fresh steaminess with chopped pecans. This is not the snowball of tradition, nor of Mrs. Fitterling’s popular cookie, but then again, in Pennsylvania Dutch cookery, many things are called snowballs. There are fried balls of cake similar to Boskie Boys (page 151) that are rolled in powdered sugar like doughnuts, and there are baked cookie balls rolled in shredded coconut. Mrs. Fitterling’s comes closest to the snowball recipes preserved in old German cookbooks, a confection that easily dates to the late Middle Ages, leaving aside the pecans of course.
Yield: Approximately 3 dozen
8 ounces (250g) unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
½ cup (90g) confectioner’s sugar
2½ cups (310g) pastry flour
¾ cup (90g) finely chopped pecans or hickory nuts
Cream the butter, then add the salt, vanilla and sugar. Beat vigorously until smooth, and sift in the flour. Add the nuts, cover and chill in the refrigerator about 2 hours to ripen. When ready to bake, roll the dough into small 1½-inch (4cm) diameter balls. Line baking sheets with baking parchment and place the balls on them about 2 inches (5cm) apart. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom in an oven preheated to 325F (165C). Then roll immediately in confectioner’s sugar. Once the cookies are cool, roll them a second time in confectioner’s sugar. Store in airtight containers until needed.
Slit Fritters are lozenge or diamond-shaped doughnuts that were originally made as festive treats for All Saints (November 1). They were particularly popular among the Swabian element of the Pennsylvania Dutch community and were often given out as part of the refreshments following church services on All Saints. As we have mentioned on page 79, it is this pastry that gave rise to the popular snickerdoodle, now found in cookbooks all over the United States, even though the two are now quite different from one another, aside from the November 1 connection. The name has even changed in Germany: today, Schnittnudeln is the commercial term for shredded pasta, strands of hair-like dough.
In a sense, Slit Fritters are the autumnal counterpart to Fastnachts, since they are yeast-raised, fried in fat and represent harvest feasting that in medieval terms ended on November 15th with the beginning of Fall Lent, a period of fasting for 40 days before Christmas. Since Protestantism dropped these traditional Catholic customs, they survived with unofficial sanction in the folk culture of the Pennsylvania Dutch in the context of what one might call “village culture,” as opposed to church-approved observances. All the same, some ministers allowed Schnitt-Nudle as part of the Harvest Home festivities, and the power of the ladies’ committees was often enough to settle the matter. Ladies’ committees are not to be taken lightly: in the Mahantongo Valley of Schuylkill County, a group of determined women sold these diamond-shaped doughnuts at bake sales to raise money for a new church (they paid for it brick by brick).
Yield: Approximately 2 ½ dozen, depending on the size of the diamonds
2 tablespoons dry active yeast
1½ cups (375ml) lukewarm whole milk (98F/37C)
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups (500g) bread flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (or mace, nutmeg, spice of your choice)
Proof the yeast in milk until actively foaming. Beat the egg and yolk until light and frothy, and combine this with the yeast. Sift together the salt and flour, and add to the yeast mixture. Work into soft, pliant dough on a clean work surface well-dusted with bread flour. Knead until soft and pliant, roll out ½-inch (1.25cm) thick and cut into lozenge (diamond) shapes. Set the Slit Fritters on baking sheets to rise in a warm place about 25 to 30 minutes. Once recovered, fry them in lard or cooking oil preheated to 375F (190C), until they turn golden color. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper. While still hot, dust with a mixture of sugar and ground cinnamon and serve immediately.
Observation: To avoid raw centers (which sometimes happens when deep-frying fritters) cut a small slit in the center of each diamond. This will ensure that the centers cook evenly, and in any case, this slit gives the fritters their distinctive appearance.
In old-time Pennsylvania Dutch households where baking took special pride of place, the kitchen was inevitably a repository for all sorts of cookie cutters, molds and stamps. Some of them were imported and sold by local bakeries during the Christmas season, but just as many were homemade or produced by manufacturing confectioners like the Fries family of Reading, George Endriss of Philadelphia, and similar firms in large towns throughout the region. Some of the most innovative were the metal springerle molds produced during the 1870s by Endriss in an attempt to launch springerle baking into mass production.
However, you do not need to spend a great deal of money on showcase antique molds; just peruse eBay for springerles and a wide range of choices will pop up. That said, you will need some sort of mold to make springerles; even an old butter print will do. Our recipe has been adapted from an heirloom recipe that came to us from a descendant of Laura Heffner Schoch (1867-1958), the wife of a Shamokin, Pennsylvania, physician. It was given to Mrs. Schoch by her mother, Hannah Good Heffner.
Baking spingerles is an art because it takes trial and error to match the right dough to the right mold. Even the type of wood can make a big difference in the way the cookies take to the print designs. Mrs. Schoch’s recipe produces very nice cookies for eating, but the pictures tend to bake out if you roll the dough too thick. If you would prefer the cookies more tender, add 1/3 cup (45g) of potato starch to the dough, enough so that the dough feels like bread dough and does not stick to the hands. If you want rock-hard Springerles with perfect pictures like the ones made in German bakeries, then leave out the baking powder. You can use the hard cookies for Christmas tree decorations – they will keep indefinitely if stored in airtight containers.
Many years ago while visiting the Staib bakery in Ulm, Germany, I observed that these expert bakers were drying their Springerles in the same warm room where they proofed bread, and a fan was circulating air over the surface of the cookies to dry them out prior to baking. Even then, not all the cookies baked picture perfect, but of course, those rejects never made it into the display cases. So, to avoid frustration and disappointment, decide ahead of time what your goal should be: cookies for eating or cookies as decoration. Furthermore, I think that for home cooking, springerle molds depicting four or six pictures with deeply carved uncomplicated designs are the most manageable. This way, it is easier to distribute pressure evenly when imprinting the dough – large molds inevitably create waste with broken or half-printed images around the edges. Modern bakeries do the printing with mechanical rollers; in the old days, a baking apprentice actually stood on the mold. We leave such experimentations to your imagination!
Yield: Approximately 2 to 3 dozen
3 large eggs, separated
1⅓ cups (250g) confectioner’s (10-X) sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 cups (250g) pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon anise seed or more to taste
Beat the eggs until lemon colored in a deep work bowl, then fold in the sugar and continue to beat until light and frothy. Beat the egg whites until stiff and forming peaks, and fold them into the egg and sugar mixture. Add the lemon zest. Sift the flour and baking powder together twice, and fold in the flour mixture. Form the dough into a ball and cover. Set in the refrigerator to ripen for at least 10 hours.
To use a springerle mold, first chill it in the refrigerator. Brush it lightly with olive oil, then wipe it dry with a clean cloth. If the mold has an elaborate design, dust it lightly with pastry flour. These precautions will prevent the mold from sticking to the dough.
To make the cookies, roll out the dough ¼-inch (6mm) thick between two sheets of wax paper, preferably on a marble slab in order to keep the dough cold. Put the dough in the freezer and let it chill until firm, but not frozen. Remove from the freezer, dust the surface of the dough with potato starch and then press the chilled mold face down into the dough and gently pull away. Cut out the cookies along the borders of the designs and set them on clean baking sheets to dry in an unheated room for 3 to 4 days. This drying process hardens the image and prevents the pictures from puffing up as they bake. Ideally, the puffing should go downwards to create a “foot” (raised area) underneath each cookie.
Preheat the oven to 275F (135C). Scatter the anise seeds on lightly greased baking sheets and set the cookies on top. Bake approximately 18 to 20 minutes, or longer, depending on the size of the cookies, or until golden brown on the bottom. Cool on racks and further decorate with colored icings, if desired. Store in airtight containers. These cookies will last several months and improve in flavor over time.
Joseph Ritner (1780-1869) was governor of Pennsylvania from 1835 to 1839, one of several Pennsylvania Dutch governors of the state. Born in Reading, he espoused anti-upper-class politics and became a member of the Anti-Masonic Party. Perhaps more importantly, he was also an outspoken Abolitionist, which earned him great popularity well beyond the borders of Pennsylvania. Why his name became attached to a cookie is still a matter of conjecture, yet it may have something to do with his Abolitionist connections. These popular cookies were served during his funeral at his Cumberland County farm in 1869. The recipe here is half the original proportion.
Yield: Approximately 2 dozen cookies
4 ounces (125g) unsalted butter
1 cup (250g) caster sugar (bar sugar)
2 eggs
½ cup (125ml) buttermilk
2 teaspoons almond flavoring or to taste
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
¾ cup (75g) almond flour (finely ground almonds)
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon (5 g) baking powder
Topping:
1 egg white
Vanilla sugar or raw sugar
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, then beat the eggs until frothy and lemon colored. Add the buttermilk and almond flavoring. Combine this with the butter mixture. Sift together the flour, almond flour, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl, then combine this with the liquid ingredients. Work this into soft, sticky dough, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using. Then preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
Using a cold rolling pin (preferably glass or marble), roll out the dough on a clean work surface well-dusted with flour until ¼-inch (6mm) thick. Cut out the cookies with a rounded fluted-edge cookie cuter, then cut out a star from the center of each. Place the cookies on a well-greased baking sheet. Beat the egg white until stiff and forming peaks, and brush each cookie with the whites. Scatter sugar over the top and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Cool on racks.
Watch Point: Since these cookies puff up considerably, space them about 1 inch (2.5cm) apart on the baking sheets.
There are two types of kringles in Pennsylvania Dutch cookery. One is formed into a large loop (Schlupp-Kringle), which old pictures often show as a Christmas tree decoration, and then this one, which is like a sand tart with a hole in the middle. The Schlupp-Kringle are light and crispy and similar to pretzels in texture (refer to the recipe on page 76); this version is puffy and somewhat brittle, so use caution when removing them from your baking sheets.
This delightful Christmas recipe came to us courtesy of the late Emma Gable (1880-1980). Her popular cookie was widely circulated in the area around Glen Rock, a village located near the Maryland border in southern York County. Glen Rock is probably better known for its Glen Rock Carolers, who sing Christmas carols in three-part harmony every Christmas Eve. Handing out sugar kringles to the carolers has been part of an annual caroling tradition that began in 1848.
Yield: 18 to 24 3 ½ inch (about 9cm) cookies
1 cup (250g) sugar
8 tablespoons (125g) unsalted butter
3 eggs
½ cup (125ml) sour cream
4 cups (500g) pastry flour
1 tablespoon (5g) baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1½ teaspoons ground cardamom
2 egg whites
Coarse sugar
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. In a separate work bowl, beat the eggs until lemon colored, then combine them with the sour cream. Add this to the creamed sugar and butter.
In a separate work bowl, sift together the flour, soda, and spices twice, then sift this into the batter, folding it in gradually until it forms soft dough. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Break off pieces of cold dough and roll out ¼-inch (6mm) thick on a work surface lightly dusted with pastry flour. Cut into 3 ½-inch (about 9cm) rounds with a hole in the center. Lay the cookies on greased baking sheets.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and forming peaks, brush this over the cookies, then scatter them liberally with coarse sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden on the bottom. Cool on racks and then store in airtight containers.
There are two kinds of Pennsylvania Dutch peppernuts, white and brown – the latter invariably spiced with black pepper and cardamom. Their color is determined by the type of dough and sugar used. Generally speaking, the brown peppernuts are denser and more like honey cakes in texture; thus, they retain their shape, which is created with a carved mold or with a real walnut shell. The white nuts puff too much to retain a nut-like appearance, but they redeem themselves with real old-time Christmas flavor. Our recipe has been adapted from the original recipe of Lovinia Santee (1831-1909) of Bath, Pennsylvania. She was a friend of Stella Siegfried, cook at the Bath Hotel, whose recipe for crullers may be found on page 66. And lastly, peppernuts of all kinds were the favorite food of the mythic (or not so mythic) Elbedritsch, a bird-like creature who inhabits the woods of the Dutch Country. For more on him, read the sidebar. He is depicted here in the sidebar.
Yield: Approximately 4 dozen
3½ cups (400g) organic, whole wheat pastry flour
1¾ cups (400g) caster sugar (also called bar sugar)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon (5g) freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon (5g) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon ground cloves
Grated zest of 1 lemon
½ cup (95g) finely minced candied citron
4 large eggs
5 tablespoons (75ml) sour cream
1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
Confectioner’s sugar (optional)
Sift the pastry flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves three times in a large work bowl. Add the lemon zest and citron. Beat the eggs until lemon colored and combine with the sour cream. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the egg mixture into it. Stir to form a sticky dough. Knead in the all-purpose flour until the dough no longer sticks to the hands. Form into a ball, cover and set in the refrigerator to ripen for 2 days.
To bake, preheat the oven to 325F (170C). Break off pieces of dough and roll into balls the size of large cherries. Set them on greased baking sheets, allowing ample space for puffing. Bake 12 minutes, then cool on racks. Roll in confectioner’s sugar if desired. Store in airtight containers at least 2 weeks before serving: the flavor of the cookies improves with age.
Land of the Elbedritsch
The Elbedritsch belongs to the world of the Waldmops, and some even claim he is his pet. No one knows for sure whether there is just one Elbedritsch as spotted in many different places, or several of these creatures on the loose. There is even a hill in Lancaster County where he or they are supposed to live. What we do know is that the Elbedritsch is much easier to spot at night (they are nocturnal) the more whiskey you imbibe. Pennsylvania Dutchmen well into their bottles have been known to send out a colleague in search of the creature with lantern in one hand and a long stick in the other. Of course, the Elbedritsch can see him coming, so escape is always a foregone conclusion. The late Pennsylvania Dutch potter Lester Breiniger made the image of the Elbedritsch seen here. When asked how he knew he got it right, he responded that he was not sure since he had no whiskey in the house, but wearing a wreath of Eyebright in full bloom works just as well. If you are really intent on capturing one of these creatures, then it is important to know that they have a passion for peppernuts and will even reveal the location of buried treasures in return for some of these cookies. Being hard up for cash, we set a trap for the Elbedritsch and loaded it with peppernuts. All we managed to capture was a skunk.
While the original Whoopie cakes were chocolate with a vanilla-flavored fondant filling, the variations found in the Dutch Country today are truly ingenious. One of the most popular among the Amish is a red velvet cake adaptation; this reddish-brown chocolate cake was known years ago as Mahogany Cake. Its unique color was caused by a chemical reaction between baking soda and chocolate. Today, red food coloring is added to make the cake part even redder. Rather than go that route, I am using an original 1911 Mahogany Cake recipe given to me by Kate Zug, an Amish housewife who has a cake-and-pie business near Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania. When baked in muffin rings, these Whoopies will produce cakes of equal size that are easily sandwiched into “pies.”
Yield: Approximately 2 to 3 dozen
Cake Part:
1¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (250ml) strong coffee
½ cup (60g) powdered cocoa
8 tablespoons (125g) unsalted butter
1½ cups (375g) light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups (250g) cake flour
Dissolve the baking soda in 1/2 cup (125ml) of coffee. Bring this to a gentle boil and dissolve the cocoa in it. Stir continuously until the chocolate becomes smooth and creamy. Set aside to cool. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs until lemon colored and combine them with the butter mixture. Add the chocolate and the remaining coffee. Sift together the baking powder and flour, then sift this into the wet ingredients. Stir to create a thick batter.
Preheat the oven to 425F (220C). Drop the batter in even spoonfuls on greased cookie sheets or use small muffin rings and fill them with batter. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool on racks. Once the cakes are cool, add the filling (see below) and put them together.
Potato Fondant Filling:
Yield: 3 pounds (1½ kg) fondant
1 cup (250g) steamed mashed potatoes
2 egg whites
2½ pounds (1¼ kg) confectioners sugar 10X (about 10 cups)
2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring
Once the potatoes are cool, gently work the egg whites into them – do not beat the mixture! Gradually sift in the sugar until the fondant becomes stiff and no longer adheres to the hands. Flavor with vanilla if you prefer. Place the fondant on a cold marble slab and knead it like bread dough until soft and silky (about 25 to 30 minutes). Cover and store the fondant in the refrigerator until required.
To fill the Whoopie Cakes, roll out on a clean surface and cut into discs the same diameter as the cakes.
Are they cakes, pies or cake sandwiches? Probably a little bit of each. Whoopies are an industrial hybrid created in 1926 by the Berwick Cake Company of Roxbury, Massachusetts. They were not invented at Berwick, Maine, in spite of claims to the contrary. In 1988, Allene White interviewed the former employees of the Berwick Cake Company and published what she learned in the Maine Sunday Telegram. Eddie O’Reilly, who had worked in the bakery since 1923, saw the whole story unfold. The cakes made today by the name Whoopie or Whoopee are nothing like the originals, because the Berwick Cake Company’s high-ratio chocolate cake formula could only be produced with industrial machinery. What we eat today are look-alikes made an entirely different way.
The name of the cake-sandwich is derived from the Broadway musical “Whoopee,” which was playing in Boston a few years after the then-nameless cakes were first created. The cake company patented the name Whoopie (slightly different spelling), because it would have been a copyright infringement had the spelling appeared the same as the musical. That patent expired when the bakery went out of business in 1977. It was also during the 1970s that Whoopie cakes entered the Dutch Country via the Amish from the Big Valley of Mifflin County. The cake’s popularity got off to a slow start, but once recipes began to appear in Amish publications, especially under the guise of something easy to make for Amish school lunch boxes, the cakes began to appear everywhere the Amish sold baked goods. Now they are one of the most common pastries eaten in the Dutch Country, even though they are not a Pennsylvania Dutch invention. According to the company’s last president, the secret to the success of the original Whoopies was in the filling, a special-formula fondant boiled at 240F (116C) and then rolled in a machine to create the desired texture. The closest thing to it is potato fondant, which we prefer to Kate Zug’s Marshmallow Fluff, since it is a natural ingredient and does not ooze out of the cakes once they are stuck together.
