What exactly is “mystery dough”? I figured the recipe I had from my late grandmother Jessie’s files had just enough information to create something, armed with my years of amateur baking and cookbook reading.
This is all of Jessie's recipe for "mystery dough".
This pursuit of trying to figure out a cryptic recipe brought back a reference to “Biblical exegesis” in an undergraduate literature class years ago. I wondered why the professor was referring to “ex of Jesus”, when that did not make any sense to me (as far as I knew, He did not have any “exes”). Later, I discovered that the word meaning a critical interpretation, analysis, or explanation, especially of the Bible. One must practice exegesis diligently in fleshing out a recipe, too!
A confident, stylish Jessie knows mystery dough's secrets (ca 1935).
So, like a Biblical scholar or literary critic, I had the barebones for resurrecting, or, I should say, recreating the recipe. Armed with some vague memories of my grandmother’s baking preferences, I also recalled her liking the Czech pastry, kolachkes, as they were known in the western suburbs of Chicago. The kolachkes (AKA, kolaches, which I have spotted in Vancouver) have a buttery-cream-cheese-based dough, so I wonder if this recipe was for that very rich pastry, often apricot-filled.
The mystery is over, with amazing results – and the recipe: Continue reading
IslandEAT 