Oranges, whether you use the whole orange or just the juice and zest, are so refreshing and flavorful in baking. I remember my mother making an orange bread loaf. I thought it was so unique because it used the fresh orange zest. The flavor was so distinct along with the bread being wonderfully moist. This recipe was one that has remained with me over the years. When I came across this recipe for orange rolls it naturally caught my attention. After I read through numerous reviews, I realized there was some history behind them as well. It seems that the original recipe was called ‘Orange Butter Coffee Cake’ and was the $5000. prize winner in Pillsbury’s 16th Grand National Bake Off by Mrs. Lawrence Hoerig of Mequon, Wisconsin. Originally it had toasted coconut in the sugar/orange zest filling and more sprinkled over the top after it was baked.
Before there was The British Baking Show, Cupcake Wars etc. etc., there was the Pillsbury Bake-Off® Contest. The legendary baking competition was introduced in 1949 in honor of Pillsbury’s 80th birthday and as an effort to promote Pillsbury™ Best® flour. At the heart of the Bake-Off was the desire to create an opportunity for American homemakers to not only share their beloved recipes, but to also share the stories that go along with them.
Originally called the Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest, 1949’s inaugural Bake-Off received thousands of entries from across the country. Pillsbury Best flour was a required ingredient in all recipe submissions and there were six categories that participants could enter: breads, cakes, pies, cookies, entrees and desserts. If participants submitted a seal from the Pillsbury Best flour they used in the recipe, their prize money could be doubled.
A panel of Pillsbury home economists eventually narrowed the entries down to 100 finalists. Each finalist was invited to the live competition at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City to make their recipe in hopes of winning the $25,000 grand prize. Before contestants could prepare their recipes, electricians installed 100 oven stations in a Waldorf-Astoria ballroom. In order to power all those ovens, the hotel actually had to tap into the electrical supply for the New York City subway system! Interesting!
Since its inception in 1949, the Bake-Off has inspired thousands of people to submit their original recipes and Pillsbury has awarded millions of dollars in prizes. Over time, the contest’s rules and regulations adapted to reflect evolving food trends and American culture.
I included the original recipe & a picture from the 1949 Bake-Off at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City at the bottom of the blog/recipe.
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Orange Rolls w/ Sour Cream Butter Glaze
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Instructions
Dough
In a small dish, dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Let stand for 5 minutes to allow yeast to activate.
In a large bowl, combine yeast mixture, 1/4 cup sugar, 6 Tbsp melted butter, eggs, sour cream & salt until smooth. Gradually add 2 cups of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, & combine until mixture is smooth. Gradually add remaining 1 (1/4) cups flour until it creates a soft dough (you may NOT need all of the flour).
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface & knead until smooth & elastic (about 5 minutes). Place in a lightly buttered bowl, turning to butter the top. Cover & let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours or until almost doubled in bulk.
Combine the orange zest & 3/4 cup dark brown sugar in a bowl & stir until well combined. Set aside. Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
When dough has risen, turn it onto a lightly floured surface & cut it evenly into 3 pieces. Roll each one into a rectangle with a thickness of 1/4-inch. Divide orange-zest/sugar mixture between the 3 pieces & lightly spread evenly.
Starting from the longest side, roll each piece jelly-roll style. Slice a 1 1/2-inch long piece off each ends of the rolls. Cut the middle part of each roll into 4 triangles.
In the middle of the springform pan, arrange cut ends of the rolls around each other to form a circle, placing the cut sides down. Arrange the cut triangles to completely surround the middle circle. Cover the pan with plastic wrap & a tea towel & allow to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until the rolls are almost doubled in size.
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Bake rolls about 30-40 minutes or until baked & golden in color. Remove the rolls from the oven & start the glaze.
Glaze
Stir sugar, sour cream, butter orange juice & a pinch of salt together in a medium pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil & stir constantly for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Pour the glaze evenly over warm rolls.
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Recipe Notes
- Orange Butter Coffee Cake
$5000 prize winner in Pillsbury’s 16th Grand National Bake Off
Makes one large coffee cake.
Soften in a mixing bowl 1 pkg. dry yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.
Stir in
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 6 Tbsp. melted butter
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup dairy sour cream
Gradually add 2 3/4 to 3 all purpose flour, beating well after each addition.
Cover and let rise in a warm place, 85 to 90 degrees, until doubled; about 2 hours.
Combine:
- 3/4 cup sugar,
- 3/4 cup coconut and
- 2 Tbsp. grated orange rind.
Knead dough on a well-floured board about 15 times. Roll out half of the dough in 12″ circle. Brush with 1 Tbsp. melted butter. Sprinkle with half of the coconut mixture. Cut into 12 pie-shaped wedges. Roll up, starting with the wide end and rolling to a point. Repeat with the remaining half of the dough. Place rolls point side down in a well greased 13×9″ pan. Cover and let rise until light and doubled; about one hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Pour glaze over hot coffee cake and sprinkle with 1/4 cup coconut. Cool in pan.
Orange Glaze.
Combine in a saucepan 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup dairy sour cream, 2 Tbsp. orange juice and 1/4 cup butter. Boil 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Decorated trees, lights, candles, poinsettias, holly, special baked goods– there are some things that just define Christmas. When I was growing up, Christmas baking was such a major event my mother undertook. Although she put many hours of work into her baking, I think she really enjoyed it. Many of the ingredients for the special things she would bake at this time of the year were just too expensive to have on hand all the time. Somehow, she would work her magic and make that grocery money stretch to include these things. During my childhood fruit mincemeat was a pie or tart that we looked forward to having. Today, it seems – not so much.
As with many traditional recipes, especially the ones we make and enjoy around big holidays or life events, mincemeat pies are steeped with tradition and customs. Mincemeat would often be made on ‘stir-up’ Sunday along with the Christmas pudding, the last Sunday before Advent. Stirring the mincemeat was quite an event, and English tradition dictates that it should only be stirred clockwise. Stirring the mincemeat anti-clockwise would lead to bad luck and poor fortune in the coming 12 months. To spread the joy, it was tradition in England that each member of the family gave the mixture a stir, while making a wish. And if you wanted to be ensured good health and happiness in the upcoming year, you should eat one mince pie every day for the Twelve Days of Christmas, from Christmas Eve until the 5th of January.
Today’s modern mincemeat is a boozy, sweet, fruit filling for tarts and pies as well as a variety of other desserts. While mincemeat often plays a supporting role to the apple pie here in North America, the English mincemeat pie is only a two-bite size.
Both Brion & I still enjoy the taste of mincemeat. It just wouldn’t seem like Christmas if we didn’t have some version of it.
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Mincemeat Tart
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Votes: 1
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Instructions
Pastry
In a medium bowl, cream butter with sugar, salt & vanilla; add the egg yolk. In a small bowl, whisk together flour & baking powder; add to creamed mixture. Blend well. Press into a 13 3/4" x 4 3/8" (35 x 11 cm) tart pan. Cover with plastic wrap set aside in freezer or refrigerator until needed.
Filling
In a large baking dish, combine all the ingredients except the alcohol, stirring well to make sure they're evenly distributed. Cover with a tea towel & leave overnight for the flavors to marinate together.
Preheat the oven to 230 F.
Remove towel & cover the pot with foil & place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. Remove from oven & stir mincemeat mixture well. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally. The stirring is essential to distribute the fruit as the mixture cools.
Once cooled, stir the mincemeat again, add the alcohol & stir one more time. Spoon into pastry shell & level out gently.
Crumble Topping
Beat butter, brown sugar & salt in a bowl with mixer on high speed until light & fluffy. Blend in flour & oatmeal just until crumbly. Crumble streusel mixture over filling.
Bake on bottom rack for 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown & filling begins to bubble. If topping is getting brown too fast, cover with foil. Cool completely on wire rack.
Recipe Notes
- SPICE COMBO
- 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- This amount will be enough for 2 recipes of mincemeat filling in case you want to make a dozen tarts as well!
December is just around the corner and when I was growing up, that was officially ‘baking season’ for my mom. Many of the ingredients for the special things she would bake at this time of year were just too expensive to have on hand all the time. While we were at school, over the weeks prior to Christmas, she would bake many different kinds of cookies and squares. When we would arrive home in the late afternoon, there was no trace of what she had baked. Every cookie tin and various other containers were being filled with these glorious goodies. It all became part of the mystery and suspense of the season.
Like many traditions, the origin of the Christmas baking ‘bonanza’ comes from medieval times. Winter solstice rituals were conducted long before Christmas became the huge commercial holiday it is today. Celebrations revolved around food. By the Middle Ages, the Christmas holiday had overtaken solstice rituals and the pastry world was experiencing some big changes. Spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper as well as dried exotic fruits were becoming available. Expensive delicacies like sugar, lard and butter all became treasured ingredients that could only be afforded on this most important holiday.
Unlike pies and cakes, cookies could easily be shared and given to friends and neighbors. Our modern-day Christmas cookies are baked for similar reasons. They’re given as hostess gifts in festive tins, used on giant dessert trays and of course they make for wonderful family baking traditions.
I realize ‘mincemeat’ doesn’t appeal to everyone’s pallet. These days the ‘all-fruit’ varieties have made it much more appealing. Since Brion and I both enjoy the all-fruit mincemeat, I thought I’d do a Christmas version. Pairing the flavors of anise, apple, mincemeat and lemon was really nice.
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Mincemeat Filled Cookies
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Votes: 2
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Instructions
Mincemeat
In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients. Over a medium-low heat bring to a simmer. Turn heat to low & continue to simmer, stirring often, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat & cool until ready to use.
Cookies
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese & butter until fluffy & smooth; 1-2 minutes. Add sugar; beat another 1-2 minutes then add eggs & anise extract & continue beating 1 more minute.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, anise seed & salt. Gradually add dry ingredients to the butter mixture & stir just until incorporated. Do NOT over mix. Divide dough in half. If the dough seems to soft to roll at this point, chill for about an hour before proceeding on.
Between 2 sheets of parchment paper, roll each half of the dough to a 1/8"-1/4" thickness. Remove top sheet & using a 2 1/2" (6 cm) round cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Using the top sheet of parchment, lay rounds about 2" apart. Slide a plastic cutting board under parchment paper & transfer to freezer for about 30 minutes. (I found this made it much easier to continue the procedure).
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Remove cookies from freezer. Spoon about a teaspoon of COLD mincemeat filling onto center of each circle. Wet edges a bit with water or beaten egg. Fold cookies in half & using a fork, press edges to seal. (If your mincemeat filling is well chilled, I found it didn't run out of the cookies while being baked).
Bake cookies for 10-11 minutes. Cookies should be light in color, not browned & just starting to brown on bottom. * Length of baking time may vary from oven to oven. Cool cookies on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Lemon Glaze
In a small bowl, combine glaze ingredients & beat to a drizzle consistency. When cookies are cooled, drizzle with glaze.
Recipe Notes
- SPICE COMBO
- 2 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- Combine well & store in a spice bottle.
- PREPARED MINCEMEAT FILLING
- 700 ml 5-fruit mincemeat (suet-free)
- 1 1/2 cups apple, cored & finely chopped
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- Combine mincemeat filling ingredients & refrigerate until needed.
While certain holidays such as Christmas, lend themselves to giving food as gifts, gift-giving should be thoughtful and sincere.
We give gifts during the holiday season to express gratitude, love, or friendship to those near and dear throughout the year. But the custom of giving gifts goes all the way back to the first Christmas when the wise men brought Jesus three gifts — gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Many of the gifts we give and receive at Christmas time, especially ones related to food, have symbolic meaning and tales of folklore behind them. Others are just fun to make and share with family and friends. Sometimes those food gifts become an anticipated tradition that the gifter enjoys making and the receiver looks forward to every year.
These Christmas cookie wreaths seem like the perfect gift for our neighbors. Hope they like them because they where a lot of fun to make.
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Christmas Cookie Wreaths for Gifts
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Ingredients
Cranberry Lemon Pistachio Cookies
Ingredients
Cranberry Lemon Pistachio Cookies
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Instructions
Spicy Wreath Base
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix until dough forms. Divide dough in half for 2 separate wreaths. Roll each half into a long strip about 43-inches long. On 2 sheets of parchment paper, draw 2 round circles each about a 13-inch circumference. Place on baking sheets. Following the circle outline, place a strip of dough on each circle. Press with the back of a spoon to flatten to about a 1/2-inch thickness.
Preheat oven to 310 F. Bake cookie bases for about 15 minutes. They should be baked but not overdone so that the centers are soft. Remove from oven & cool on a wire rack until ready to assemble with cookies.
Cranberry Lemon Pistachio Cookies
In a bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder & salt. Place butter & sugar in a bowl & beat with a mixer until pale & fluffy. Mix in egg yolks, lemon zest & vanilla. Reduce speed to low & gradually mix in flour mixture. Shape into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Roll out to 1/8-inch thick. Using a 2 1/2-inch round fluted cutter, cut out wreaths. Cut out centers using a 7/8-inch round or star cutter.
Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. bake until just golden, about 12 minutes. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes before icing.
Stir together powdered sugar & lemon juice in a small bowl. Spread each cookie with icing & sprinkle with pistachios and/or pepita seeds & cranberries. Yield: 24
Anise Shortbread Stars
In a bowl, sift together cornstarch, powdered sugar, flour & anise powder. Blend in butter with a spoon, mixing until a soft, smooth dough forms. If the dough is too soft to handle, cover & chill about 1 hour.
Between 2 sheets of parchment paper, roll dough out about 1/2-inch thick. Using a star cookie cutter, cut out stars & sprinkle with coarse white sanding sugar. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets spacing 1 1/2-inches apart. Place baking sheets in refrigerator & chill 30 minutes. Halfway through, preheat oven to 300 F. Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are just barely browned. Yield: 18
Persimmon Linzer Cookies
In a bowl, sift together flour & salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar & vanilla until light & fluffy. Beat in as much of the flour mixture as possible. Mix the rest & gently knead until dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap & chill for 30 minutes.
Prepare persimmon puree. In a saucepan over medium low heat, combine persimmons, sugar, cinnamon & salt. Simmer until thick, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, cool slightly then transfer to a small food processor. Puree mixture until smooth. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into rounds with a 2-inch fluted LINZER cookie cutter with a star attachment in the center. Place on lined cookie sheet. Bake for about 12-15 minutes or just until edges begin to brown. Allow cookies to cool to room temperature.
Spread persimmon puree on the flat side of each solid cookie. Dust & decorate cookies with cut outs using powdered sugar & some more puree. Place decorated cookie tops on bottoms spread with puree, making a sandwich.
Assembly
Arrange cookies on wreath base to your liking. You can either 'fasten' them with an bit of icing that will harden (see notes) or just place them on top base. That way they are easy to pick up by guests without to much trouble. The base can be cut into pieces after the top cookies are eaten for some more cookie goodness.
Recipe Notes
ICING FOR ATTACHING COOKIES TO WREATH:
