I’m not an avid baker, though I aspire to be! But I’m not, yet. Who wouldn’t want to be a wiz at baking scrumptious desserts? I would! Cooking healthy means eating healthy and that has so many advantages! I’ve seen so many people mastering the art of baking during this pandemic. I’ve wanted to bake an apple pie since August but haven’t pulled the trigger. So when a group of blogging friends decided to do a Holiday Cookie Recipes Blog Hop I said “HECK TO THE YEA!”
Last month, in the middle of my “I want to bake an apple pie” stupor, I asked my SIL for two of my MIL’s cookie recipes that I remembered oh so clearly. They were the best cookies. One was a rolled sort of cookie with a sugary walnut filling. The other was a pecan shortbread type cookie. Tracie gladly emailed me the recipes. So what better holiday cookie recipes to make than what Mr. Blu and his sister remember as Hunky Cookies!
My Holiday Cookie Recipes
I’d never heard of Hunky Cookies and I smiled when the recipe came through. Handwritten in my MIL’s beautiful cursive writing, the sight of this recipe made my heart light up.
The actual name is Hungarian Cookies. And I snickered at the thought of Mr. Blu and his younger sister as kids trying to pronounce that word. I can only imagine that the cookies fondly adopted the name Hunky as a shortcut or meme for Hungarian. Seems logical, right? Unfortunately, the two women who would know for certain are unavailable for questions. But somehow, I am sure that my sweet MIL and her dear mother were watching with smiles from the other side of the clouds as my episode of Great Cookie Baking Failures unfolded in my kitchen.
Commence the Mess
I carefully read the recipe and actually had almost all of the ingredients on hand. Here is when the first warning alarm exploded in my head…when I read the word YEAST. Hmm…just that word made me think that I am not remotely qualified to master this recipe. But, if you know me and my DIY can-do demeanor…nothing is sacred or off limits. Nothing is in any way, shape, or form remotely impossible for me to attempt. And so, I gulped the alarm away and assembled the ingredients. I needed to purchase walnuts and yeast. After a quick trip to my local Publix, I was ready to go.
Warning number two went off when the recipe called for 1.5 lbs of ground walnuts and I had purchased three 6 oz. bags of chopped walnuts. Now this is really just a simple conversion. The amazing iphone in conjunction with Google makes such conversions nearly effortless. Except that they make me nervous and something inevitably falls through the cracks (walnut shell pun not intended). I was never a wiz though I always did well in math. I still have nightmares of Trigonometry from my senior year in high school I feel like I plowed through that entire class without any real comprehension of what I was doing. Am I the only one? Anyway, I thought I had made all of the conversions properly but who knows??? I do know that I did my best. I used my small food processer to grind the walnuts.
Exploration into Yeast
I did some Googling on yeast. Activated yeast, quick yeast, self rising flour, wheat flour. What’s the difference in all of these yeasts and flours, and how do they affect one another? Better yet, why are there even several types of yeast? And what in God’s green earth is a yeast cake, as noted as an ingredient in my MIL’s recipe? I mean, really? I did find a jar of bread making yeast in my cupboard. But, it expired in 2015. Yikes.
More Googling revealed that it’s probably ok but should the fact that I’d even considered using this ever got out to my 5 kids, my life would be ruined. I could picture the expression on #1’s (the attorney) face. I’d just seen it on Thanksgiving as he stood at my new fridge with a cup of expired yogurt in hand. “I’m further wondering how you can have a cup of yogurt that expired in 2019 in your fridge when you just bought a new fridge in 2020???” Fear not, I had an answer. Funny, nonetheless.
This photo is from Red Star Yeast’s website. You can read about yeast cakes and conversions here.
At any rate, I determined that 2 1/4 tsp of activated yeast is similar to a yeast cake. It needed to be added to warm water to soften. So that’s what I used.
Moving On
The actual mixing of the dough went smoothly as I’ve made cookies and dough before. Eventually everything blended although initially the dough seemed dry.
When I went to roll out the mixture, there were small but noticeable bumps in the dough. I’ve seen similar bumps in homemade rolls, etc. so I’m pretty sure this was the yeast, at least I hope so! Therefore, I continued on even though the dough wasn’t smooth like dough I have previously made for cookies.
The recipe called for powdered sugar to be sprinkled on the work surface so that the dough could be rolled. In rolling out the dough, it became increasingly more gooey. I liberally sprinkled the powdered sugar on the rolling pin many many times to prevent the dough from sticking and ripping. Eventually, I switched to a flour and powdered sugar combo thinking that this alternative would better prevent a sugar induced coma in any individual trying these Hunky cookies. Next time I will use the flour and sugar mixture from the beginning of the rolling of the dough. In retrospect, I realize the powdered sugar contributed to the gooeyness…sometimes I’m my worst enemy.
Placing the filling in the center of the squares was by far the easiest part of this process. But I did use too much filling in some cookies. I figured I would vary the amount and see how they turned out.
There is also, apparently, an art to rolling the cookies into shape. This art definitely entails the process of ensuring you have rolled your dough to the proper thickness, or in this case thinness. My first section of rolled dough was obviously too thick. Consequently, the size of some of these hunky cookies resembled small croissants or Crescent rolls. Okay, lesson learned. The second section of dough was rolled thinner. But, as time progressed, the dough was harder to roll because it was warming to room temp. This caused the dough to stick to the rolling pin and the table surface. So, of course, more powdered sugar and flour was sprinkled.
At this point, let me pause to give my seasoned baker friends complete and humble permission to laugh at my experience. I know that the learning process is very humbling. I also know that you have to make mistakes to improve. It’s okay…enjoy the show! I did! Mr. Blu and I were laughing the whole time!
What the ?????
I successfully loaded all of the baking sheets, lined of course with parchment paper, into the oven and carefully watched the cooking process so as not to over cook my hunky masterpieces.
This is probably a good time to mention that this is really my first actual true baking experience with my new oven. I updated my kitchen earlier this year. As part of My Tuscan Inspired Kitchen update, we replaced all of our kitchen appliances. I absolutely love my new Samsung oven! It has a convection option and the result is a more even cooking of your food. A convection oven also cooks faster so I was cautious to watch my cookies carefully.
When the timer went off, I was disappointed at what I saw on the first tray. My hunky cookies looked like sausage rolls! The filling didn’t darken in the cooking process and it resembled, well…sausage! Some of the cookies were very large, which I expected. And some were odd shaped due to my amateur rolling skills and inconsistent loading of filling. Though disappointed in the appearance of my masterpieces, I am wise enough to know that the proverbial proof is in the pudding…rather in the taste of the pudding. So…
Eureka! They were delicious! Scrumptious! Flakey and sweet! The dough was incredible, almost like a shortbread. The filling was sweet but not overpowering. There was a faint hint of lemon rind. Absolutely incredible. Holiday cookie recipes success!
Family Treasures
You know I can’t do a blog post without sharing something vintage and special. While I was working on my Dining Room Reclaimed project for the recent ORC, I found this treasure in the bottom of my sideboard.
It was in the original box. And here is the tag…
This beautiful 3 tiered vintage glass server was apparently a gift from my Dad’s sister, my Aunt Kathleen, and her family for Christmas! Such sweet memories of visits with my aunts, uncles, and O’Brien cousins during the holidays. I’m so glad I decided to clean out the sideboard! And I’m even more glad that I’m a saver just like Mom.
Life Lessons Learned
And so my friends, here is what I learned from this baking experience:
- From dry to gooey, life is like dough. You must constantly adapt and add a little less sugar and a little more flour.
- You must adjust your recipe if you desire a different outcome. If nothing changes, nothing changes!
- Things don’t always go well on your first try. The next time, you will use what you learned from the first go around and things will progress more smoothly with better results.
- Sometimes, even though you follow the recipe, your cookies still might look like sausage rolls. But the important thing is that they taste like incredible hunky cookies and not like sausage rolls!
- Look at how pretty my 3 tier display is! Remember, the process may be messy but the end result can still rock!
- Most importantly, though your loved ones may be gone, they have left you incredible memories and reminders that you will find at special times when you need them the most…just like Mom and Pop, Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Bill McCloskey, and my sweet MIL Flo.
- And finally, though you carefully follow the recipe and are quite pleased with the end result, your version of your MIL’s cookies will never ever ever ever be as tasty, as delicious, or as treasured as hers!
Here’s to Flo and her Hunky Cookies!
Flo's Hunky Cookies
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 4 cups flour
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/2 pint sour cream
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 pound butter
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 yeast cake can substitute 2 1/4 tsp dry activated yeast
Filling Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds shelled walnuts ground
- 1 cup brown sugar
- little lemon rind
- 3 egg whites stiffly beaten
- 2 tsp 4X sugar confectioner's or powdered sugar
Instructions
Dough Instructions
- Add first 6 ingredients to a bowl.
- Add 1 yeast cake softened in 1/4 cup lukewarm water.
- Mix just enough to hold together, Do not knead.
- Divide into 3 parts for easy handling.
- Set aside for 15 minutes
Filling Instructions
- Mix together all filling ingredients.
- Roll out dough on 4X sugar very thin.
- Cut in squares and put filling on each square.
- Roll each square from corner to opposite corner.
- Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bake for about 20 mins. at 375 degrees.
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