California Coffee Roll

California Coffee Roll, a strange recipe indeed, yields a sort-of cheese danish, with a pleasing lemon flavor. It's very easy and delicious. But did I say strange? Like many vintage hand-written recipes, much is left to the imagination and, while this one includes instructions, they don't make particular sense. For example, yeast is used, yet there's no rise time called for.  But, most importantly, the recipe worked and the result is really, really good. Its proud (her name appears twice on the card) author is Mary Gentilcore from Niles, Ohio. 

Let's get started by making the filling by mixing the cream cheese, sugar and lemon extract. Set aside. Next, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Set that aside until the yeast blooms (bubbles up).

Now, cut the butter into the flour "as for pie crust." Add the yeast mixture and an egg. Combine.

Form the half the dough into a ball, and on a well-floured surface, roll out into a rectangle. (Repeat this with the remaining dough.

Using a spatula or butter knife, spread the filling on the surface.  Roll up lengthwise.

You can cut off the messy ends, as I did before taking this photo. 



Slice the rolls lengthwise, more than halfway through. Place in a 375F oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.



While the rolls are baking, prepare the glaze by mixing confectioner's sugar, lemon extract and milk to a smooth consistency. Using a spoon, pour over the slightly cooled rolls.  Slice and enjoy!



My daughter's friend Sarah tried the California Coffee Roll and gave it a thumbs up. Sarah is an accomplished baker, making bread and other treats from her own stash of sourdough starter, so her approval is a good thing. She also didn't taste the yeast, so not sure why that's included, but whatever.

Below is the recipe, whichI followed almost exactly, but substituted unsalted butter for the margarine. "Mix like pie crust" means cutting the fat into the flour, so you can mix the flour and salt, and cut the butter into it using a food processor, pastry blender, two knives or your fingertips. I rolled out the dough between two floured sheets of parchment -- it's really sticky and I used a bench scraper to assist in the rolling.

Luella Walters Everyday Cookies

Luella Walters is right -- these cookies could be eaten every day, as they are truly delicious and worth every calorie.  Other than that, I have no idea why Ms. Walters bequeathed them such a name. They have rice krispies and coconut, two ingredients I don't consider "every day" ones. They are also unusual in that they call for both butter AND oil -- and plenty of both.  And, typical of vintage recipes, these aren't overly sweet. but still rather addicting. In fact, this is one of the few things I've baked that I, ahem, overindulged in. 

These cookies are very easy to make. The recipe, on two cards, is little more than a list of ingredients. Perhaps the third card got lost? In any event, I've written my method at the end of the post. This recipe makes a lot of cookies.

Start by combining the sugars and butter.



Add the eggs.



Add the oil and beat well, until the batter is smooth.



If you're like me, you'll be gathering ingredients as you go (not recommended; it's better to assemble everything before starting the recipe). But while the oil blended in, I combines the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and added to the mixture.  As that is combining, prepare the add-ins -- coconut, rice krispies and chopped nuts.  Add them to the batter.



At this point, I popped the dough into the fridge for a couple of hours to run some errands.  This will firm up the dough so it's easier to work with, but not necessary if you're in a rush for the cookies.  With a small cookie scoop, or your hands, form small balls and place them on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Reuse the parchment for all of the batches.



Pull from the oven after about 15 minutes or so, depending on your oven temperature. The bottoms should be lightly browned, and the tops will appear somewhat loose.



After a few minutes, transfer to a wire rack to cool.



Ms. Walter's recipe below, and below that, the method I used.

Luella Walters Everyday Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 F (if you're baking immediately; or 20 minutes before baking)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter (two sticks, softened)

2 eggs

1 cup Wesson or Crisco oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 1/8 cup rolled oats

1 cup rice krispies

1 cup sweetened coconut

1 cup chopped nuts (pecans are good)

Blend sugars and butter until well combined.

Add eggs and blend.

Add oil and beat well, so mixture doesn’t separate.

Add vanilla.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar in a separate bowl, and add to mixture.

Add the oats, rice krispies, coconut and nuts.

Blend well.

You can refrigerate dough

Form golf-ball sized balls of dough and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake 12 to 16 minutes, depending on your oven.

Let cool a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to wire racks.

These will keep a long time (but they’ll be long gone before then).

Ozark Pie

Are you watching season two of Netflix's Ozark?  I am, sort of. It's so contrived and crazy, but hard to get off the rollercoaster. The lives of Marty (Jason Bateman) and Wendy (Laura Linney) are so frenetic and stressful, one wonders why criminals (most of whom are very smart) just don't get regular jobs.

Ozark Pie (probably named for the geographic region of its origin) is a simple apple confection, and not really a pie at all. It's just that it's baked in a pie plate.  It is more than the sum of its parts. Favorite son-in-law loved the brown sugar -- but there's no brown sugar. It's just that the white sugar caramelizes so beautifully. It is really delicious, uses ingredients you probably already have and so easy to make. I'll bet it's something that Ozark's Ruth (or more likely her grandmother -- this is a vintage recipe ) would whip up in a minute.



The mis en place is below.  Cinnamon, egg, vanilla, flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, nuts and apples.



I love recipes where one is instructed to dump everything in a bowl and mix. Not only is it easy, but clean up is a snap.  For this, first beat the egg in the bowl, and add all the other ingredients (save the nuts and apples).



The mixture will be very thick.



Add the nuts and apples. It will seem that there's insufficient batter to cover these, but worry not.



See? Everything is beautifully coated.



Dump the entire mixture into a pie pan. I didn't grease the pan but you can give it a spray of PAM, mostly to aid clean up.  I used an 8-inch pie plate.



Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, depending on your oven.  As you can see below, the "slices" are removed from the pan like pie, but will not hold their shape when plated.



Vintage recipe card below. I followed the instructions exactly. I used two large Cortland apples, and about a cut of walnuts, and one teaspoon of cinnamon.  But you can add more or less of these, depending on taste. I baked it for 35 minutes.

Apple Fritters

Until a few days ago, I was an apple fritter virgin. Seriously, I'd never tasted one, always pointing to Boston creme or glazed donuts at the donut shop.  But looking to turn my surplus of new crop apples into something yummy, I decided to try my hand at these treats. I was delighted to discover how easy and delicious they are -- the gratification is nearly instant!

These are old-fashioned, modest fritters. There is but one tablespoon of sugar in the entire recipe; the sweetness is derived from the apples.

The DH, an apple fritter lover from way back, prefers the supersized and frosted apple fritters that gained popularity in America along with so many "over the top" versions of almost everything.  (Note: you can make these larger and frost them, but I wanted to prepare the recipe in the spirit in which it was intended.)

This is a very simple c. 1940s recipe, part of a collection I purchased at a stoop sale in Park Slope. It uses ingredients you probably already have (see the mis en place below) and take just minutes to prepare.



Mix the ingredients together in a single bowl.



Add the sliced apples.



Mix them in thoroughly. It will seem like there's not enough batter to cover the apples (there is) but that's the point -- the apples are the stars in this confection.



Drop by tablespoon into hot vegetable or canola oil, turning a few times until the fritters are golden brown.



Drain on paper towels...



...and, using a sieve, sprinkle them with confectioner's sugar.



What's inside



The Executive Record and Travel Guide in which the recipe author (Grace Johnson, a woman who lived on 10th Street) recorded all of her recipes. You can read the story of Grace and her neighbor Jackie, who hosted the stoop sale, here.



The original recipe. Below the image, I've written out the steps more clearly.




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Apple Fritters

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

Pinch of salt

1/3 cup milk

1 well-beaten egg

Two medium apples, pared, cored and cut into slices

Mix all ingredients except the apples. Combine well.  Add the apples, stirring into the batter. 

Heat oil in a large (I used a 12-inch frying pan, and about 1.5 inches of oil) until hot. Temperature, if you want to measure, should be about 370 degrees.  If you don’t have a thermometer, that’s fine. Just put a small amount of batter into the oil to test.

Drop the batter into the hot oil using a regular tablespoon.  I turned them over with a fork, and when golden brown, removed them to paper towels using a slotted spoon.

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Sprinkle them with confectioner’s sugar.  Enjoy!