On the 10th day of Christmas… delicious baked Bird’s Nests

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This article was published 21/12/2020 (2112 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mention the year 1937 and chances are the Great Depression will come to mind.

History buffs may point out that 1937 was also the year the Hindenburg airship crashed in flames in New Jersey, aviator Amelia Earhart vanished somewhere in the Pacific, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was completed, Daffy Duck made his debut and the Duke of Windsor married Wallis Simpson.

In Winnipeg, 1937 was also the year the North Winnipeg Sewage Treatment Plant was built — it still handles 70 per cent of the city’s wastewater, the city’s website says — and a couple of Winnipeggers, Pete Kelly and Ralph (Scotty) Bowman, lifted the Stanley Cup as members of the Detroit Red Wings.

It was also the year Morris Gunn opened Gunn’s Bakery at 247 Selkirk Ave., to provide traditional kosher baking for the North End’s growing Jewish population. Eighty-three years later, Gunn’s remains a going concern.

Jon Hochman led a group that bought the bakery from the Gunn family in December 2018, but the business of handmade baked goods has continued on.

“That is probably the most important responsibility on a daily basis… to maintain the great quality and the great customer service,” Hochman says. “We still have a lot of the same staff that have been here for 20-plus years. A lot of great staff here.”

Those responsibilities include cookies which, along with bagels, croissants, baguettes and knishes, have been tantalizing customers from the glass case at the front counter for decades.

And Gunn’s has kindly shared a cookie recipe for Day 10 of the Free Press’s 12 Days of Christmas Cookies. It’s called the Bird’s Nest Cookie, which Hochman says he’s edited slightly so it can be made by home bakers.

Perhaps Gunn’s most famous cookie is the Diplomat — it’s been Hochman’s favourite going back to when he was a youngster — but how it’s made will remain a mystery known only to Gunn’s staff. Like Coca-Cola’s recipe and Colonel Sanders’ 11 herbs and spices, how to make a Diplomat remains a secret.

 

Bird’s Nest Cookies for the home baker

Recipe yields about 3-dozen cookies

500 ml (2 cups) all-purpose flour

250 ml (1 cup) powdered sugar

4 ml (3/4 tsp) kosher salt

250 ml (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature, and cut into pieces

500 ml (2 cups) good raspberry jam

Preheat the oven to 160 C (325 F)

 

Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place the flour, powdered sugar, salt and butter into a mixer bowl.

Mix on high for 10-15 seconds at a time until all of the butter is incorporated and mixture clumps together when pressed.

Dump the dough onto the counter and gently form it together.

Scoop and press the dough together at first, then knead a few times and form it into a square shape.

Roll the dough out on a well-floured surface to 1.25-cm (1/2-inch) thickness.

Use a 7.5-cm (3-inch) round cookie cutter or any shape you wish to cut your dough.

Gently press the middle of the cookie with your thumb making a 0.5-cm (1/4-inch) indent.

Fill indent with 5 ml (1 tsp) of jam.

Transfer cookies to one of the parchment-lined baking sheets.

Chill the cookies in a freezer for 15 minutes or until the cookies are solid to the touch.

Transfer the frozen cookies, in batches, onto the other baking sheets, leaving about 1.25 cm (1/2 inch) between each cookie.

Bake the cookies one pan at a time until the cookies are dry to the touch and the bottoms just begin to turn golden. It will be about 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool on a rack before transferring to a container for storage. The baked and cooled cookies can be stored in an airtight container for several days.

 

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter:@AlanDSmall