Holidays are a time when we dust off the old recipes and try to resurrect a dish grandma used to make or to start traditions with your own family. Our family hosted a few exchange students when our own children were in the house and we always asked if there were traditions or recipes they would like to add to our Christmas festivities.
Stephanie Kulhmann contacted her grandmother and had her send two recipes that we did try the year she was with us in 1999-2000. The first one is a pastry called Schuhsolen, or shoe soles. In my attempt to research this online I found many sites about shoe repair and very little about something to eat. One explanation was that with the advent of frozen pastry dough, few people troubled themselves with making this pastry anymore and that the practice lost its appeal after the 1970s.
I did find a Youtube video that demonstrated the making of this pastry but your German must be better than mine to catch the nuances of the creation. Here is the link if you want practice your German and try it to follow this recipe.
The recipe below is the one Steffi’s grandmother gave her.
Shuhsolen – Shoe Soles
1 lb. 2 oz. flour
4 ½ oz. butter
1 cube or oz. of yeast
Some milk (dough shouldn’t be too hard and not too soft)
- Warm milk and dissolve yeast in it. Put flour in a bowl and warm the butter. Knead everything together, make small balls and roll them our on sugar
- Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.
The pastries then can be filled with a variety of fruits or custards.
The other recipe Steffi’s grandmother sent her was a recipe for Coins. The coin cookie is rolled into a log and the “coins” are sliced off the end. There are a variety of recipes that fit this coin motif. Sugar and Spice Coins {Cookies} (noshingwiththenolands.com)
The recipe Steffi left me called for potato flour. Ironically, we have a difficult time finding that in the store being that we live in Idaho. I think it is more commonly stocked these days if you want to try her grandmother’s recipe below. If you are wondering about the odd measurements, Steffi translated her grandmother’s German into English and this was the best way she could translate at the time.
Coins
13 ¼ oz. flour
4 ½ oz, potato flour
1 tsp. Baking powder
8 oz. sugar
2 eggs
8 oz. butter
8 oz. hazelnuts
- Put flour, potato flour and baking powder in a bowl. Make a hole in the middle and put sugar and eggs in it . Put butter (not too hard) on top of the flour and knead everything with your hands. Make rolls and put them in the fridge until the dough is hard then slice it.
- Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.
Regardless what recipe you try while you are preparing for the Christmas season, venture out and have some fun with it. They do no have to turn our perfectly to make memories in the kitchen. I am typing this while the snow is falling which makes me feel warm a fuzzy all over and more ready to baking than ever. Blessing to you as you fill your kitchen with delightful smells.
German American Schatz 