Welcome to My Kitchen

Bake sale season is coming. Odessa area residents received postcards reminding them of the Odessa Museum German Bake Sale held Friday of Deutchesfest, and soliciting donations of baked goods. Though kuchen and pfefferneuse are hot sellers, there are lots of buyers looking for quick breads, yeast breads and rolls, pies, cakes and cookies.

Wendy Cronrath, Lacrosse, WA served several baked items at an Odessa, summer event. I don’t usually devote an entire column to one persons recipes, but all of these would be appealing items at a bake sale.

Crispy Sugar Twists

1 packet (1/4 ounce) yeast

1/4 cup warm water

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup dairy sour cream

3 tsp vanilla extract (di- vided)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm (110 degrees) water.

Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter and shortening until pieces are the size of peas. Add eggs, sour cream, 1 tsp vanilla extract and dissolved yeast. Blend thoroughly. Cover and chill 2 hours.

Combine sugar and remaining vanilla, working until vanilla is thoroughly incorporated. Set aside.

Sprinkle work surface with a light coating of flour, just enough to keep dough from sticking. Divide dough in half and refrigerate one half. Roll the other half into a rectangle that is 1/3 inch thick. Spread vanilla sugar over half of the dough. Fold the remaining half of the rectangle over the vanilla sugar and roll into a new rectangle. Repeat this step 3 times.

Spread vanilla sugar over entire top of dough. Cut into 4” x1” strips. Twist each strip 2-3 times and place on an un-greased baking sheet, about 1/2 inch apart. Repeat with the other half of the dough and vanilla sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes until the bottoms are a light golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. Store in airtight containers. They freeze well. Yield: 64 twists.

Note: Wendy says don’t be afraid to make more vanilla sugar if you run out. She usually makes more. Any extra would be nice on sugar cookies for extra flavor.

Butter Horns

Dough:

2 packets (1/4 ounce each) yeast

1 cup lukewarm water (110 degrees)6 Tbsp shortening

1/2 tsp salt

3 well beaten eggs

1 cup scalded milk

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

7 cups all-purpose flour

Sugar Filling:

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups softened butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

Frosting:

4 ounces Cream Cheese

5-7 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 Tbsp butter

Milk to thin frosting. Soften the yeast in the lukewarm water and 1 tablespoon sugar.

Scaled milk (heat to 150 degrees), add shortening and salt. Let cool to lukewarm (110 degrees). In a large bowl beat eggs and stir in dissolved yeast. Add lukewarm milk mixture. Add flour to make a soft dough. On a flour dusted surface, knead lightly until dough is soft but not sticky. Turn into a greased bowl, cover with a tea towel and let rise until double in bulk (approximately 2 hour.

Combine sugar filling ingredients until thoroughly mixed, cover and set aside.

When dough is ready, punch down and divide in half. Place one half back in the bowl and cover. Roll the other half out into a rectangle (about 1/4 inch thick) on a lightly floured surface. Spread 1/8th of the butter/sugar mixture on half the dough. Fold plain half over sugared half, pinching edges together to avoid loosing butter/sugar mixture. Repeat a total of 4 times. This method will make the dough light and full of layers.

Cut 1” x 16” strips (or as close to this as possible). Coil strips into a round shape and tuck the end under coil when finished. Place on greased baking sheets and let rise until double (about 1 hour). Repeat with remaining dough and sugar filling.

Bake at 350 degrees. (Wendy did not specify a time but 25 minutes worked in my oven for golden brown). Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

Combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar, mixing well. Thin with milk if needed. Wendy prefers a thicker frosting. Frost the center tops of butter horns. Let frosting set before storing or freezing. Yield: 25-30 small butter horns.

Cream Scones

6 cups all-purpose flour

1 scant cup of granulated sugar

8 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups cold butter

1 1/2 cups half and half

1 1/2 cups blueberries (thor- oughly thawed and drained if using frozen)

White chocolate chips

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add cold butter and cut in with a pastry blender. Mixture should resemble bread crumbs. (Wendy notes, she often uses her fingers to complete this process).

Add half and half, along with desired fruit and/or chocolate. Do not over mix.

Turn onto a floured surface and roll or pat into a circle or rectangle, 1 inch thick. Cut into wedges or squares and place on parchment lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake at 400 degrees until bottoms are golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

Optional: bake 8 minutes, remove from oven, sprinkle with sugar, then return to oven to finish baking. This adds a nice finish to the scones.

Wendy did not specify how much white chocolate chips, just some. I used 1/2 cup. Next time I plan to hold the chips until scones are baked, melt them and drizzle over tops.

What is a scant cup measurement? Measure 1 cup of the ingredient as usual. Then dip 1 Tbsp of the ingredient from the measured amount. Now you have a scant cup measurement.

Share your favorite bake sale recipes by sending them to: Welcome to My Kitchen, c/o The Odessa Record, P.O. Box 458, Odessa, WA 99159, email them to therecord@odessaoffice.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen mail tin in The Odessa Record office. Time to stress the tomatoes a bit by withholding some water and clipping vine ends to hasten ripening of set fruit.