B4
Eastern Hills Press
Life
December 1, 2010
Beloved Virginia Bakery is back – in a cookbook
For the first time on television, performances from six Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil shows.
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Talk about perseverance. Glendale reader Cynthia Beischel is one determined woman. Cynthia is the force behind the long-awaited “ Vi r g i n i a Bakery Remembered” cookbook, which just hit the market this week. T h e Rita book is Heikenfeld collaboraRita’s kitchen t i o n between Cynthia, a loyal customer who started going to the bakery with her mother when Cynthia was a toddler, and Tom Thie, who is the last of the Thie family bakers. Virginia Bakery was a Cincinnati icon from 1927 to 2005. Located in Clifton, people came from miles around on a weekly basis to buy the bakery’s fromscratch breads, tea cookies, pies, coffeecakes and, of course, its famous schnecken. Perhaps it’s the schnecken that’s most associated with this bakery, and for good reason. The schnecken, made with love and pride, was the recipe brought from Ger-
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Book signing
COURTESY KRISTIN UNGERECHT
Nest cookies are among the favorite recipes shared in the cookbook “Virginia Bakery Remembered” by Tom Thie and Cynthia Beischel. many, and from the first day they sold it until the doors closed in 2005, it was the schnecken that inspired folks to wait in lines so long they snaked around the entire block of the bakery. Cynthia wanted to preserve the bakery’s history, along with having their recipes to share, and she convinced Tom to partner in writing the book. Tom did all the baking at his home in a regular, not a commercial, oven. He reworked the recipes for the home cook, so you will have success the first time out. Cynthia did all the coordinating of the recipes, the day-to-day writing of the book, and it was Cynthia who sought out a publisher. As Tom told me “Cynthia and I are really proud of this book, and I’m glad she kept at me to write it. Without Cynthia’s prodding, the recipes and, as important, the history of the bakery and my family would be lost.” Cynthia said that it was the quality of their products that stood out and which she wanted to preserve. “I’ve never found anything that tasted just like the cinnamon crumb cake or their white bread,” she told me. I so enjoyed reading the book, for the rich family history and stories connected to the recipes. That’s what makes this book special: it’s about pride, history and the genuine desire to please through the gift of
food.
Nest cookies
I would have loved to share the schnecken recipe but am unable to, due to its propriety nature. Busken Bakery now makes the schnecken for Virginia Bakery, following Tom’s recipe and technique. The schnecken recipe is in the book. And so is this recipe for nest cookies. I love these little tea cookies. Vary the colors, icing and toppings to suit your fancy. 3
⁄4 cup sugar ⁄4 teaspoon salt 3 ⁄4 cup shortening 1 ⁄2 cup butter 1 egg 1 ⁄2 teaspoon vanilla 31⁄4 cups winter flour (All purpose flour will work if you can’t find winter.) Additional ingredients needed: your choice of chopped nuts or decorettes, and icing. 1
Place parchment paper on baking sheets. Follow basic creaming method: Cream sugar, salt, shortening and butter. Add egg and vanilla. Scrape bowl and cream. Add flour and mix just until combined. Do not refrigerate dough before rolling in coatings. Put your choice of coating (chopped nuts, other times multi-colored nonpareils or chocolate Jimmies) in a glass baking dish. Take a handful of dough and roll into a cylinder
Cynthia Beischel and Tom Thie will be signing “Virginia Bakery Remembered”: • Dec. 3 at Keller’s IGA (Clifton) 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. • Dec. 4 at The Bookshelf (Madiera) 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. • Dec. 7 at Joseph-Beth Booksellers (Norwood) 7 p.m. • Dec. 9 at Clifton Cultural Arts Center 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. • Feb. 8 at the Monfort Heights Library 6:30 p.m. about 11⁄2-inch in diameter. Roll the dough in the baking dish to coat the outside of the cylinder. You may need to press slightly. Keep the cylinder round. Place the dough cylinders on a parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate until firm. Cut the chilled cookie dough in 1⁄2-inch slices and lay on their sides (so the coating is around the outside rims) about 1-inch apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Stagger the rows to allow for more cookies. Pan all the cookies and then go back and press your thumb in the center of each cookie to form a “nest” to hold the icing after baking. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place baking sheet on upper rack and bake for approximately eight minutes until just brown around the edges. After the cookies cool, put a dot of colored icing or chocolate in the center. Recipe makes six dozen cookies.
Online recipe
For Rita’s clone of Withrow High School’s chess pie recipe, go to her online column at www.communitypress.com. Rita Nader Heikenfeld is an herbalist, educator and author. E-mail columns@community press.com with “Rita’s kitchen” in the subject line. Call 513-2487130, ext. 356.
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