12.27.07
Posted in Baking at 11:33 pm by Administrator
While growing up, I always looked forward to my mother’s baking of the traditional Austrian sweetbread called “Stollen.” At Christmastime and at Easter, she would prepare this treat that takes hours to process. This afternoon, it being a snowy day, just two days after Christmas, I decided to bake. The recipe for Stollen has been on our website forever, it seems, but until a few minutes ago, there was no photo. Thanks to Jim, you can see my Stollen.
To learn how to make Stollen, visit the Recipe section of our website, or click on the link in this sentence. From our house to yours, enjoy!
Patricia Cummings
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12.13.06
Posted in Anecdotes, Baking, Christmas at 12:41 pm by Administrator
For holiday occasions, my dear sainted and departed mother would make a Coconut Cake. This delightful confection would consist of a white layer cake separated by apricot or strawberry or raspberry jam, and would be covered with a delectable butter cream frosting. To the top of the cake, she would add coconut flakes, and appropriate sprinkles of green and red colored sugar crystals, for Christmas, or chocolate sprinkles for Easter.
She would lure us to her home with the promise of a piece of this cake, and that is where the Catch 22 would come in. After we would eat one generous portion of the cake, she would ask if we would like another. If I said, “Yes, please,” she would retort, “Patti, you are just falling away to a ton, but if you want to be fat, I guess that is your business!” If I said, “No, thanks,” she would respond, “What’s the matter, you didn’t like my cake? What, are you sick?”
With my mother, one could never win the game.
For those who think it is a deficient moral character to want a second piece of cake, I say this: I am a bonafide member of the Clean Plate Club. In addition, I would rather die happy than to sit around a nursing home in my nineties, slowly slipping away.
While my husband thrives on eating hot, spicy foods, I have always gravitated toward sweet things…which is probably why I like him so much!
Now, that I have shared this intimate tale of entangling family alliances, I think that I’ll go check my fridge, on the off chance that I might still have some coconut lurking in the crisper box. Old habits are hard to break.
Enjoy the holidays, and remember that the word “diet” is a four letter word!
Patricia
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12.07.06
Posted in Baking, Christmas at 8:18 pm by Administrator
One of my fondest memories of the winter holidays is the smell of loaves of Stollen baking in my mother’s oven. Stollen is a type of sweet bread that has raisins and candied fruits, and when it is cool enough, the loaves are drizzled with an icing made with confectioner’s sugar.
While the family recipe was always very tasty, a few years ago, I adapted it a little bit so that it would be more moist. Making this traditional German bread is a labor of love, like so many of the other goodies that we might have this time of the year…such as cut-out Christmas cookies.
There is a recipe for Stollen on our website. Many people have already downloaded it, but I just wanted to remind you that it is there.
http://www.quiltersmuse.com/ChristmasFruitStollen.htm
The other item that my mother always made was fruitcake. To make her fruitcakes, she would macerate the candied fruit in rum for a month to six weeks ahead of time. I didn’t care for the boozey flavor, but I do like the crunchiness of the pecans and other nuts, etc. in fruitcakes that are a purchased item.
You might have heard the saying, “Friends don’t give friends fruitcakes.” However, I know people who really like fruitcake. I particularly enjoy the fruitcakes sold by Collins Bakery in Corsicana, Texas. No, that’s not an ad, and I have no affiliation with the company, other than making them a little more successful. Every year, I usually buy a fruitcake for our family. When I am able to do so, I send some as gifts.
This year, the grocery shopper in our family has already picked up the ingredients for Stollen. Sometimes, if one waits too long, the store are sold out of candied cherries and such. I am so looking forward to baking that delicious yeast bread. I know there will be a certain comfort in partaking of it, as it is an age old tradition that reached back to my maternal family’s roots in Austria. My mother was fond of serving Stollen with tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. Enjoy!
Patricia
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