Happy New Year! I can’t believe how quickly 2011 passed and that it’s already 2012.

Usually, I’m constantly looking ahead, planning out my weekends and thinking about assignments, but as this year came to a close, I realized I was going against my norm and was looking back more than I was looking forward.

In that spirit, I thought it fitting to write about a family recipe that has been going strong for 51 years.

Last year, for Christmas, my uncle sent my mom and her siblings an issue of Life magazine from December 8th, 1961, two typed out recipes for Schnecken, one written with a type writer and one with a computer, and a letter about the tradition.

Both the recipes look like they have been edited by the Half-Blood Prince with the amount of notes written at the bottom of each.

The magazine issue doesn’t have any breaking stories inside of it, none that would make it important enough for anyone to save. But within the last few pages, there is a recipe that my grandpa decided to bake one Christmas after my grandma had surgery, which makes the magazine important enough for a member of my mom’s family to save. Ever since then, Schnecken has been made at every Christmas in all four of my mom’s siblings’ houses.

Making the Schnecken definitely takes work, but the end product is so worth it, and the recipe makes enough so that it should last for two weeks in a normal household (but usually only one in ours). It is best served warm, so after a day, put them in the microwave for ten seconds before you eat one. I also highly suggest you eat Schnecken with milk or coffee.

Schnecken takes almost every baking skill to make: rolling, kneading, mixing and patience. The process isn’t hard, but there are lots of steps to follow. After a week of hard swim practices, the ten minutes I spent kneading were the hardest.

The recipe has been changed over the years after learning from mistakes and reworking the amount of ingredients to perfection. In the parentheses are tips we have learned over the many years of making Schnecken.

First, make the dough:

Ingredients:
2 ounces fresh yeast or 4 packages of dry yeast (If you use dry yeast include ½ a teaspoon of sugar with the dry ingredients when you dissolve it in the water.)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup of lukewarm milk (Don’t use the milk if you use 1 cup of water to dissolve the yeast.)
7 egg yolks OR 3 whole eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon grated lemon rind
4-5 cups flour (It usually takes a little more than 5 cups of flour.)
½ cup of butter, softened

Cream fresh yeast with salt and sugar until a syrup forms, and add milk. (If dry yeast is used, dissolve it in one cup of lukewarm water and add sugar and salt.) Stir in eggs, vanilla and lemon rind. Add enough flour to make a soft dough. Work in butter. Add more flour if needed.

Knead dough on floured surface for 10 minutes or until shiny and elastic. Place in a floured bowl. Dust the top lightly with flour. Cover bowl with a towel. Place in a draft-free area to rise for 30 minutes (we’ve found it takes more than thirty minutes, usually an hour) or until dough doubles in bulk. (We put ours in the oven with the door closed).

The dough has risen enough if it does not spring back when poked in the center. Punch the dough down. Knead it briefly. Dough will keep up to four days in a covered container in the refrigerator. At first it may need punching down every hour or two, so don’t make the dough at night. Once thoroughly cold, the dough must be punched down once a day. (The dough doesn’t need refrigeration if you’re using it right away).

Schnecken

½ cup soft butter
1 ½ cups light brown sugar
1 tablespoon white corn syrup
(If you want your rolls to be more sugary, increase the ingredients to 1 cup butter, 2 cups light brown sugar and 2 tablespoons white corn syrup.)
48 pecan halves (Optional)
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 cup currants
1 cup of finely ground pecans (Optional)

Cream butter with ½ cup (or one cup if your making them more sugary) of the brown sugar. Beat in corn syrup. Grease cups of two 24-muffin tins with the mixture. Place pecan halves in muffin cups (if you aren’t a fan of pecans like our family, you can skip this and not put them in) Set oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Roll dough into a long rectangle that is ¼ inch thick. Mix the remaining cup of brown sugar with the cinnamon, ground pecans and currants (again, you don’t have to use the pecans). Spread this dry mixture onto the rectangle of dough. Roll up dough tightly, pressing seam closed to make a long roll about the diameter of the muffin cups (we found it easier to cut the roll in half and then into another half making four pieces and cutting each piece into 12 slices to ensure that we don’t run out of dough). Place slices in cups and press down firmly. Cover and let rise only until dough looks puffy.

Bake for 10 minutes or until brown. Turn pans upside down on cake rack immediately to remove Schnecken from cups and allow sugar syrup to run over sides. Leave muffin tins over Schnecken for 10-15 minutes to let the syrup drip off the tins. Makes four dozen.

Enjoy!