Holiday tribute to a blue-ribbon baker
Observer-Reporter photos
Peggy Tinkey displays a tray of her Christmas cookie creations in this photo from 2012.
Observer-Reporter
Peggy Tinkey’s Hungarian filled cookies
Liz Rogers/Observer-Reporter
A pastry wheel cutter creates an attractive border on nut rolls.
Liz Rogers/Observer-Reporter
A freshly baked batch of nut rolls cools on a rack.
Holiday baking wasn’t quite the same this year.
I recently learned that one of my mentors, the woman who taught me how to bake her oh-so-flakey nut rolls, has passed.
Peggy Tinkey was the consummate baker. I’d interviewed the Cecil Township woman on several occasions, showcasing her talent for creating delectable baked goods.
She was a formidable competitor known far and wide on the county fair circuit, besting other home bakers and accumulating more than 1,000 ribbons for her efforts.
I met Peggy some 20 years ago while working on a story about Christmas cookies. She responded to the newspaper’s call for recipes, and pretty soon, I found myself sitting in her kitchen interviewing her and sampling the goodies she had baked to be photographed for the story. Among them were pecan tassies, lady locks, little cherry cheesecakes and, of course, nut rolls.
Peggy’s nut rolls were reminiscent of the ones my mother used to bake. Despite repeated searches through Mom’s recipe files, I came up empty-handed when it came to those nut rolls. I concluded that she baked them from memory and the recipe would never be duplicated.
I shared my frustration with Peggy, who happily shared her recipe and a lesson in baking them, too.
I thought of her often last weekend as I rolled out that soft, sweet-smelling yeast dough on my wooden board, just the way she taught me.
Over the years, I’ve made a few tweaks to Peggy’s recipe:
- Rather than wrapping the dough in a wet cloth, I divide it into two balls and store each in a plastic food storage bag in the refrigerator overnight.
- When I’m ready to roll out the dough, I break off one piece at a time, leaving the remainder in the refrigerator to prevent it from getting warm. The warmer the dough gets, the more difficult it is to manipulate.
- After rolling out a circle, I run a pastry wheel cutter around the perimeter to create a fancy border. Any unused scraps are returned to the fridge to be rerolled when chilled.
- An egg wash with a little cream brushed on top creates a nice golden color. A sprinkling of coarse or decorating sugar lends just the right sweetness and won’t melt into the dough.
- The nut filling recipe makes enough for two (or more) batches. I usually make long nut rolls after the holidays with the remainder. The nut filling is also good in oatmeal.
After making nut rolls dozens of times now, I’ve mastered the recipe. Like my mother, I’m confident I can make them from memory.
But I’ll keep Peggy’s recipe in my holiday baking binder with my other favorites – for safe keeping.
Hungarian Nut Horns
Ingredients
For dough:
½ cup warm milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cake Fleischmann’s yeast
2 cups Crisco
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups all-purpose flour
4 egg yolks
1 can evaporated milk or 1 pint cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
For filling
2 pounds ground nuts
1 stick margarine
1 ½ cups sugar
2 cups milk
To make the dough: Dissolve sugar in warm milk and crumble in yeast. Stir in 1 cup flour to make a soft sponge, and let rise for 1 hour.
While sponge is rising, cut salt and shortening into flour. Beat egg yolks and add canned milk and vanilla. Stir this mixture into sponge, and combine shortening and flour mixture with sponge and egg yolk mixture.
Knead dough until it no longer sticks to hands, wrap in wet cloth and store in refrigerator overnight. Next morning, divide dough into pieces that will roll into a 12-inch circle. Roll out very thin onto sugar-coated surface. With knife, cut dough into pie-shaped pieces about 3 inches wide and fill with desired filling. Roll up into crescent shapes. May be dusted with colorful decorative sugar prior to baking. Bake on parchment-lined cookie sheets at 375 degrees about 25 minutes or until golden brown.
To make filling: Combine milk, sugar and margarine in pan. Let it come to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in nuts. Fill cookies.
- Peggy Tinkey, Cecil Township