...but providing a tasty substitute instead.
Bonnie (BFF since second grade) once asked me if I could figure out a *cookie* that her Polish mother used to make. She described it as a "Scotty dog-looking cookie with nuts."
Okay. I've worked with less.
So began YEARS of researching cookies that never really hit the mark.
B is visiting now and the cookie came up again. An off-hand remark led me to ask a different set of questions. Now it was a "Scotty-dog-looking cookie filled with Solo nut filling that oozed out and caramelized."
It turns out that possibly, maybe, it could be that her Polish mom was making a sort of nut-roll dough, rolling out and cutting small rectangles, filling each piece with canned Solo nut filling, folding the long rectangle of dough over to seal and then cutting three notches half-way through to spread.
Resulting in a shape that resembled (to a child) a dog with two legs and a big head...SCOTTIE!!!
So now I was on a completely different path. I decided to make a half-batch of Melissa's Kolache dough (another word for nut roll dough) in the bread machine DOUGH cycle as per my usual sloth-like way. Then I mixed up a blend of CathyZ's potica filling (another word for nut-roll filling).
Tossed the risen dough in the refrigerator and forgot about it while we climbed Clingman's Dome (third highest point east of the Rockies) with a torn meniscus, irritated IT band and hamstrings that are tender to the touch.
And I made it to the top! Of course, I'll have to answer to my physical therapist today. But I made it to the top!
The next day I had Bonnie roll out half the dough, cut into 5" long rectangles and spread some of the filling. Then she made the three cuts, spread the dough and there was SCOTTIE!
Baked in convection oven (325) for about 15-18 minutes. End result? They tasted amazing...but the dough was a little too puffy for B's memory cookie.
Then I had her roll out the rest of the dough and make one small nut roll. Again, the taste was great, but still not triggering the exact memory cell. None the less, we hit on an excellent nut roll version and--both being from Pittsburgh--feel the experiment was a total success in a completely different way.
I now know the dough needs to be less soft and fluffy (less yeast? use sour cream recipe?) and the filling needs to ooze and caramelize more (thin it out? add a bit more sugar?). Those should be easy fixes. Or I could really cop out and use the Solo canned nut filling.
But regardless, thank you, dear friends, for helping us along this culinary trail of happy food memories while we giggled like the 7-year olds we were.
https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/clingmansdome.htm
Bonnie (BFF since second grade) once asked me if I could figure out a *cookie* that her Polish mother used to make. She described it as a "Scotty dog-looking cookie with nuts."
Okay. I've worked with less.
So began YEARS of researching cookies that never really hit the mark.
B is visiting now and the cookie came up again. An off-hand remark led me to ask a different set of questions. Now it was a "Scotty-dog-looking cookie filled with Solo nut filling that oozed out and caramelized."
It turns out that possibly, maybe, it could be that her Polish mom was making a sort of nut-roll dough, rolling out and cutting small rectangles, filling each piece with canned Solo nut filling, folding the long rectangle of dough over to seal and then cutting three notches half-way through to spread.
Resulting in a shape that resembled (to a child) a dog with two legs and a big head...SCOTTIE!!!
So now I was on a completely different path. I decided to make a half-batch of Melissa's Kolache dough (another word for nut roll dough) in the bread machine DOUGH cycle as per my usual sloth-like way. Then I mixed up a blend of CathyZ's potica filling (another word for nut-roll filling).
Tossed the risen dough in the refrigerator and forgot about it while we climbed Clingman's Dome (third highest point east of the Rockies) with a torn meniscus, irritated IT band and hamstrings that are tender to the touch.
And I made it to the top! Of course, I'll have to answer to my physical therapist today. But I made it to the top!
The next day I had Bonnie roll out half the dough, cut into 5" long rectangles and spread some of the filling. Then she made the three cuts, spread the dough and there was SCOTTIE!
Baked in convection oven (325) for about 15-18 minutes. End result? They tasted amazing...but the dough was a little too puffy for B's memory cookie.
Then I had her roll out the rest of the dough and make one small nut roll. Again, the taste was great, but still not triggering the exact memory cell. None the less, we hit on an excellent nut roll version and--both being from Pittsburgh--feel the experiment was a total success in a completely different way.
I now know the dough needs to be less soft and fluffy (less yeast? use sour cream recipe?) and the filling needs to ooze and caramelize more (thin it out? add a bit more sugar?). Those should be easy fixes. Or I could really cop out and use the Solo canned nut filling.
But regardless, thank you, dear friends, for helping us along this culinary trail of happy food memories while we giggled like the 7-year olds we were.
https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/clingmansdome.htm