Recipes

Perischke Dough

Adapted from Nancy Wall, Marie Wiens and Alice Wall Unger

1 cup shortening or lard

1 tsp baking powder

4 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 cup ice cold water

1 egg

1 egg white, beaten (optional)

cinnamon and sugar (optional)

1.  Sift together dry ingredients (baking powder, salt, flour).
2. Work in shortening or lard with a fork until well mixed and relatively not lumpy.
3. Add egg to water and beat until frothy (this is a bit untraditional but seems to work well while lightening up the crust significantly).
4. Mound up dry ingredients and make indention at top.  Pour liquid slowly into mound while mixing with a fork.  You want to "work" or handle the dough as little as possible while mixing all ingredients evenly.
5. Roll out until just over 1/8-inch thick and cut into circles roughly 4" in diameter, or use the canning ring from a wide-mouth mason jar.  For square pockets, cut 3" squares.
6. Place filling in the middle of each circle or square:For squares, gently pull up one corner of the square.  Pull up the next corner and crimp or pinch the two sides together with your fingers.  Continue until a pocket is formed.  You do not need to poke breathing holes into square shapes.If dough is not sticking together (closing), you might try wetting the edges with water or egg white.
7. Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes (I often find that it takes a bit longer).  Perischke dough does not turn "golden" so you might have to experiment a bit.
8. American tastes are a bit sweeter than those of our Anabaptist forebears.  While I balk at frosting or glazing perischke, I have found that sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on the rounded pockets works quite well and helps them to brown (the sugar caramelizes).  I normally leave the square pockets alone, but have found that brushing them lightly with a beaten egg white helps them to turn golden. 
9. Despite testimonies to the contrary, I have not find that perischke dough overnights or refrigerates particularly well but should be used right away.  Similarly, I would make the dough in relatively small batches -- it is quick and easy and will end up tasting fresher in the long run.

Cranberry-Apple Filling for Perischke

My own inspiration having referenced several wonderful resources.

1 cup sugar 

1 cup water

1 16-oz bag fresh cranberries

1 cup minced apples

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup (plus) dried cherries

1/4 cup Grand Marnier

1/2 orange, juiced, or 1 clementine

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 Tablespoon flour (or tapioca) 

Touch salt

1. Bring sugar and water to a boil to create simple syrup.  
2. Add the cranberries and return to a boil, then simmer.  You will hear the cranberries pop.
3. Add all remaining ingredients except the flour and salt and simmer until apples are tender and mixture has taken on the appearance of a fragrant sauce.
4. Mix salt into flour and then add to mixture slowly while stirring the mixture (I recommend a wooden spoon).
5. Allow to thicken -- yet do not overcook.  Mixture should be thick with liquid remaining around the edges.  It will thicken further as it cools.
6. Let cool.  I recommend refrigerating overnight before use.

Pumpkin Filling for Perischke

My own inspiration having referenced several wonderful resources.

1 30-ounce can Pumpkin Pie Filling

1 5-ounce can evaporated milk

2 beaten eggs

2 Tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons (caps) maple flavoring

1 teaspoon (cap) real vanilla flavoring

Touch salt

1. Mix all ingredients but eggs and flour in saucepan on stove and warm but do not bring to a simmer.
2. When warm, but not hot, add flour and 2 beaten eggs.
3. Cook on medium until bubbles (it will not "boil" but will "gurgle" rather).  Stir as necessary.
4. Heat until mixture is thick enough to peak or clumps to spoon.
5. Goal is to thicken the pumpkin so that it will form a mounded filling inside the perischke.  Traditional pumpkin pie filling is rather liquid and must be thickened significantly before use in perischke.
6. I recommend refrigerating mixture overnight before use.   Adjust recipe to taste.

Rull Coka or Roder Kuchan

Esther (Fast) Fast, Lustre, Montana

2 cups flour                                            1/3 cup sweet or sour cream 

5 eggs (beaten or unbeaten)                2 teaspoon baking powder  

1 teaspoon salt                                      1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup milk

Roll out on floured board (bread) and cut into 2” x 4” stripes. Fry in deep fat until brown on both sides.

Sour Milk Rull Coka

Ethel (Conatser) Wall, Lustre, Montana

6 eggs                                              4 cups sour milk 

2 teaspoon Baking Powder             ½ teaspoon soda 

1 teaspoon salt                                7 ½ cups milk    

Follow directions as per above.

Roderkuchen from Funk's Bakery in Winkler, Manitoba, with Rhubarb Sauce (see below) from Heidi (Wall) Burns' garden, Mankato, Minnesota.

Rhubarb Sauce

Mercedes Hibbett Knuth, Glasgow, Montana

2 cups Rhubarb                          1 cup sugar

Lump oleo or butter                   1 Tablespoon butter

Mix all together and cook till it is like a jelly. Cook slowly over low heat.

Rhubarb Jelly for Rull Kuchen

Beverly Wedel, Lustre, Montana

5 cups rhubarb                            3 cups sugar

Cook until done. Add 1 package strawberry jello and cook 5 minutes. Serve with rull kuchen. Store in refrigerator.

Sunflower Seed Cookies

Nancy Wall, Lustre, Montana

2 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour              Peel of 1 orange, grated
1 teaspoon baking powder                        Peel of 1 lemon, grated
½ teaspoon baking soda                          1 cup not instant oatmeal
½ teaspoon salt                                        3 ½ oz (1 cup) coconut
6 oz butter                                                 5 oz (1 cup) raisins
1 cup brown sugar                                    4 oz (1 cup) unsalted sunflower seeds
½ cup honey
1 egg                                                         Optional:  Shredded coconut
1 Tablespoon orange juice                           or ground nuts for topping
¾ cups sour cream

Sift together the flour, baking powser, baking soda and salt and set aside.  Cream the butter in mixing bowl.  Beat in the brown sugar, then the honey, egg and orange juice.  On low speed, gradually add half the sifted dry ingredients, then the sour cream, the rest of sifted ingredients.  Beat only until thoroughly mixed.
  Remove the bowl from the mixer.  Add orange and lemon rinds.  Stir then add oatmeal, coconut, raisins and sunflower seeds.  Stir.
  Place on aluminum foil covered cookie sheets and top if desired.  Cookies are done when golden brown and tops spring back when touched.  Cookies tend to burn so you may have to stack on unused cookie sheet under cookie sheet with cookies.  Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes.  Makes 36 Large cookies.
  I do not include raisins and top with extra sunflowers.

Hot Chocolate Mix for Holiday Fastpas

                                                 Linda Wall               Eunice Wiens

Dry powdered milk               6 ¾ cups                  6 cups

Instant cocoa mix,

    Sweetened                         3 ¾ cups                  3 ¾ cups

Coffeemate Creamer          ¾ cups                      1 ½ cups

Powdered Sugar                   1 ½ cups                  1 cup

    Mix all ingredients well.  Often, one would use a glass gallon jar, add all ingredients and shake the jar to mix.  Use mix to one’s own taste – commonly, one would use three heaping teaspoons of mix to one cup water.

    I often use hot milk instead of water or add milk to cool off the hot chocolate for drinking.  Grandma Ethel would occasionally add a bit of powdered nutmeg and cinnamon sprinkled lightly over the top – though spices were also infused when one drank hot chocolate “through” peppernuts (a distinct Mennonite tradition that is hard to teach).  Hard peppernuts could also be softened by dipping in hot chocolate or just tossed in and fished out with a spoon (yes, Mennonites are definitely dunkers – it’s in our heritage!).

    Note that a standard military issue package of powdered milk is 29 dry ounces or 5 ½ cups.

    Makes excellent Christmas and holiday gifts when presented in pint or quart canning jars.

Russian Tea – Ethel Wall

⅓ cup Instant Tea                                                   1 ¼ cup Tang (powdered Orange drink)

½ teaspoon powdered cinnamon                       ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

½ cup sugar                                                             Dash salt

  Mix ingredients (see Hot Chocolate Mix).  To serve, add 1 teaspoon Russian Tea mix to 1 cup hot water or ⅓ cup mix for 1 quart water.

  This also makes a great holiday gift presented in a bag, or sealed in a pint or quart jar.

Hot Holiday Cider – Nancy Wall

1 gallon apple juice or cider                                 ¼ cup Red Hots cinnamon-flavoured candies

Cinnamon sticks

  Bring cider and Red Hots to a boil until candies are completely dissolved.  Then add a few cinnamon sticks while waiting to serve.  (Some feel that you have to bring cider to a boil, others that it is best to warm the cider and dissolve the candies without actually boiling the cider – Nancy’s version calls for you to bring the cider to a boil.)

  This easy cider is used for fellowship time (fastpa) after church Christmas programs and often served during holiday open houses at local banks in Glasgow, Wolf Point and Scobey during the holiday shopping season – don’t forget to pick up the traditional bank calendars for the new year!