Oly Kucken Day at G Ma's

Our holiday season keeps rolling on, along with all the great traditions our family has kept over the years. In honor of the Dutch heritage of my side of the family, Becca and Bria get together with my mother (who the girl's call G Ma), for their annual Oly Kucken day. Oly Kucken are deeped fried dough cakes with raisins, coated with powdered sugar. I believe that they actually are made for the season leading up to Lent in Dutch and German homes, but for some reason they have become associated with Christmas in our household. They are a special treat we look forward to this time of year.

The recipe is transcriped here exactly as it was written down by my mother, who wrote it down from her grandmother , Annie Dorn Stohl, who we knew as Mammie.

Oly Kucken

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 c. raisns, soaked while preparing.

Mix 1 egg with 1/2 c. milk - 3/4 c. sugar $ 2 tsp vanilla - add dry ingredients - fry @ 350 degrees until brown.

(Editor's note: I suggest that you fry in shortening. Vegetable oils can leave a taste behind and the Oly Kucken are more oily.)

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Holland Butter Cookies

My favorite of our family's holiday traditions is Christmas Baking. We make all kinds of delicious, sweet, spicy, and nutty carbohydrate concoctions. These items come from the recipe box of Christine's and my ethnic backgrounds. Christine's Norwegian heritage has the most food based holiday traditions of the two of us, but my Dutch and Irish heritage contribute a bit to the mix. Tonight the girls are heading up to North Jersey to gather with the aunts and female cousins of my wife's clan to make all sorts of Norwegian cookies. I will share some of the recipes and pictures of the tasty treats over the next few days. Last night however, the girls launched the baking extravaganza by making a cookie tin full of Holland Butter Cookies.

I have no idea where this recipe came from. It is has been in my family a long time. The cookies are very simple. The main flavoring comes from brown sugar and almond extract. It is essential that you stick to the proportions of butter and margarine. I am not a margarine fan, but the proportions in this recipe yield a thin and crispy cookie. Even though the recipe seems so simple, please give it a try. Once you do they just might become one your favorite cookies.

Holland Butter Cookies

1 stick butter
2 sticks margarine
1 t vanilla
1 t almond extract3 & 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 & 1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
2/3 c. brown sugar
2/3 c. white sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream butter, sugar & extracts together. Add dry ingredients. Mix well. Press through a cookie press or roll cookies into small balls and press flat with the tines of a fork or a cookie stamp. Bak 20-30 minutes.

As the original recipe notes--always double or triple the recipe!

Enjoy!

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Dutch Plum Cake (Zwetschgenkuchen)

I made this with the Italian plums we picked at Strawberry Hill Farm a couple of weeks ago. Very tasty.

Zwetsgenkuchen

Cake

1/2 c butter
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 c sugar
1 t baking powder
1/2 t grated lemon peel
1/4 t nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons cold water

Cut butter into flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon peel and nutmeg until crumbly. Stir in egg with a fork and then water until the dough comes together. Press into a spring form pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Topping

Italian plums, halved and pitted (enough to cover the top of the pastry)
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 T flour
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 c slivered almonds

Top dough with plums, arranging so that most of the cake is covered. Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of plums. Sprinkle almonds on top of sugar.

Bake in a 375 degree oven until plums are bubbly about 35 to 40 minutes.

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