The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Framing it in her mind
For Helga Stang, cookie-recipe development comes in a dream with heavenly results
The process used by Helga Stang to create her well-known pastry recipes begins at night when she’s about to fall asleep. The lovely cookie squares she developed for this story began that way.
“First, I develop it in my imagination,” she said. “I see a blackboard, and on it I see what the cookies will look like.”
“Then I think about their texture and how they will taste and imagine the ingredients I will need to make that happen,” added Stang, who is originally from Germany and long has been an area culinary figure.
She writes down those ingredients on the imaginary blackboard, listing them in English in the order in which each will be used. Then she imagines the technique needed to transform them into reality.
“Doing this helps me take my mind off Hans,” she said. “I focus on what I want to make and then I’m able to let go of my sadness and fall asleep.”
Hans is her late husband, who died 10 years ago. They met and fell in love in postWorld War II Germany when she was 14 and he was 17.
“He was the love of my life,” she said.
He not only was her muse but offered solid scientific advice when it came to baking.
“He didn’t bake, but he knew a lot of science and knew that baking powder added to flour lifts a dough and baking soda makes it spread.”
She was a teenager when she became pregnant with the first of two daughters. Young Helga left Germany and came to this country, settling first in Willoughby, where other German families lived. Hans, who knew some English, began work as a cabinet maker, and Helga became a housewife and mother who worked hard to learn English.
Eventually, they left Willoughby and moved to Mentor, where he built a professional kitchen in their garage for her to make her pastries for sale. She became well known locally for her creations, authored a small cookbook and made occasional appearances on TV with her recipes.
Creating today’s recipe helped her break through the grief that has been weighing her down the past decade, she said. She’s
done very little baking since Hans died.
Cookies are not all about sugar, she said.
“When I woke up the morning after dreaming these cookies, I made them,” she said. “I wasn’t sure just how the coconut flakes would affect the dough. I needed to adjust the ingredients and made them two more times before they were right.”
There’s lots of science to baking. Or, perhaps as they say, it’s simply that the third time’s a charm.
“I added four teaspoons baking powder to my recipe and grated the cold butter into the dough,” she explained.
She first baked the cookies at 375 degrees, which was too hot. So she adjusted the temperature, along with tweaking the ingredients.
The resulting cookies are golden, have a delicious crunch and are cut out to look almost like stainedglass squares, bestowed by apricot and raspberry preserves. She cleverly forced the preserves through a sieve to make them clear, retaining the flavor without the texture.
She said the differently sized square cookie cutters she used can be purchased at Michael’s arts and crafts stores. The size of cookie cutters determines the number of cookies made. She also insists that using the best possible ingredients yields the best results.
“I realized when the cookies were finished, I was happy again — for the first time since I lost Hans,” she said.
To celebrate the return of joy, Stang bought a bouquet of red and yellow spring tulips to showcase her new cookie recipe, which she shares with readers today.
She welcomes home cooks to call her with questions that might arise when they make the cookies. Her number is 440255-6643.
“I wasn’t sure just how the coconut flakes would affect the dough. I needed to adjust the ingredients and made them two more times before they were right.” — Helga Stang