If there’s one thing my family is known for, it’s cookies. At weddings, we have cookie tables. Holiday parties always showcase assorted cookies trays. As a kid, my mom sent me to friends’ houses with gallon zip-lock bags of her (now famous amongst my friends) chocolate chip cookies. My mom was always looking for an excuse to bake. Perhaps because I’ve had access to a surplus of cookies for most of my life, I didn’t become interested in baking until this year. Over the past six months or so, I’ve baked more than I have in the past 22 years. Although I come from a long line of baking excellence, I haven’t inherited any baking instincts. When I visited my family for the holidays, I was eager to learn from the experts: my mom and grandma.
The three of us dared to recreate my great-grandma’s traditional Czech nut roll. My great-grandparents immigrated from Czechoslovakia to Shadyside, Ohio via Nova Scotia in the 1920s. Shadyside is a tiny town less than 10 miles from Wheeling, where I grew up. Like many Eastern and Central European immigrants, my great-grandparents settled in the area for the mining jobs. I haven’t been able to nail down demographic statistics for that time, but based on the names I heard in family stories, Shadyside must have been home to a good number of Czech and Polish immigrants. Seeking to assimilate into American life, my great-grandparents didn’t teach their kids the Czech language. However, they did pass down an appreciation for Czech sweet treats like kolaches and nut rolls.
Over the years, I listened to my mom vent her frustration at failing to replicate the traditional Czech foods her “Grams” made in her childhood. She described how Grams measured by how the ingredients felt, making it nearly impossible to record her recipes. My great-aunts practiced alongside their mom for years and carried on the baking traditions after she passed away. Once in the mid-90s, my dad attempted to film my great-aunt Mary making Grams’ long nut roll with my mom. However, to their chagrin, he forgot to press the camera’s “on” button. Luckily, Aunt Mary did hand write a recipe for the smaller nut rolls, which we make every holiday season.
This year, we attempted to make the ever-elusive long nut roll. We didn’t have a family recipe, but we strived to recreate my mom and grandma’s memories of it. I was clearly the weak link in our baking trio. My grandma taught me how to spoon flour into measuring cups instead of just scooping it out of the flour bag. My mom corrected me if I didn’t fill the measuring cups perfectly (apparently, precision is a big deal in baking?) and ensured that we spread the filling evenly. As my mom rolled the slab of dough into one mammoth sized log, we realized that we either made too much dough or we were supposed to divide it in half. It ended up being nearly 3 feet long. It tasted fine, but the filling didn’t live up to my mom’s memory. I had hoped to post the full-sized nut roll recipe, but since we haven’t quite perfected it, I’m sharing my Aunt Mary’s recipe for small nut rolls.
Since starting with Augusta, I’ve analyzed how folk traditions are passed down. My major project (digitizing Augusta’s archives) has shown to me the power of technology to preserve traditions. However, I’ve also come to appreciate the traditional way of orally passing down stories, music, and recipes. My great-grandma’s lost yet unforgotten nut roll recipe proves both how precarious the folk process can be and why it’s important. While technology allows people to record their families’ recipes and stories, there is still something meaningful about learning it directly from someone through interpersonal experiences. Additionally, as evidenced by my dad’s snafu, technology isn’t foolproof. Although I fully intend to physically record my family’s recipes, I also want to learn them from my mom and grandma by hand, and hopefully, be able to teach the next generation.
Nut Rolls Recipe
Nut Rolls:
- 1 lb. of creamed cottage cheese
- 1 lb. of Oleo (or butter)
- 4 cups of flour
Mix thoroughly with hands and roll into balls about the size of a walnut. Chill (I put balls on a cookie sheet). Roll each ball out flat in confectionary sugar and spread nut filling and roll up. Place apart on cookie sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until brown all over.
Nut Filling:
- 4 cups of ground nuts
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups of sugar
- 4 tablespoons of melted butter
- 1/4 of warm milk
Mix well.
These are so familiar! And I’m happy to see the recipe for the filling, because my Grandma and Aunts sometimes used “store bought”. I recall the sticky fingers from rolling out the dough in powdered sugar. Oh, I could eat these by the dozen if my Mom didn’t stop me. Yum!
I was looking for this recipe as a family that had 7 children moved in next door. Well me being an only child kind of adopted them. Anyway there mother had a Polish ancestry. She made these and I had the recipe. I moved around so much I lost it. Some of her family lived in Benwood WV right below Wheeling WV. They lived in Clarington about 15 miles south of Shadyside. I also have a recipe she made “Hungarian Pastry” have you ever heard of it? It’s very rich but oh so good.
My mother inlaw she’s very good of making this nut roll. Her husband a Czech while she’s an Irish. I love her nut roll. Good thing she gave me her recipes for this but I really can’t get the consistency of the outcome of the nut roll. Maybe differ on while brand of milk, sugar, butter. It could be she’s using margarine. She live in different state were her grocery place is different on our state groceries.
I am so excited to try this. My family on my mother’s side is czech/polish and we have a family recipe that includes yeast cake for the dough which has become incredibly difficult to find over the years. I am looking forward to trying your family recipe so we can again have nut rolls at the holidays.
I remember your family. My grandparents made the journey with yours. My dad was born in Canada on the way. He passed away in 2009. My mom in 2019.
They were very close with your family. I have alot of these recipes!