Twins double up to teach nut roll basics

Identical twins Jan Cmar and Joan Basden both earned degrees in home economics and special education and then worked together in special education for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit for a few years. When they were laid off, they taught home economics for three decades in local schools.

But when it comes to baking, the retired sisters go their separate ways, each guided by her own best practices and memories of how Mom and Grandma did it.

Take the traditional favorite of the spring and Easter seasons — nut rolls.

Mrs. Cmar, who is the mayor of Jefferson Hills, bakes the finished dough at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

However, her sister, who lives in Pleasant Hills, recommends 25 minutes, explaining, “I don’t want it too dry but golden brown on top.”

Their good-natured sparring fans the heat in a hot kitchen.

“We both yell,” Mrs. Cmar said. “I stand up for myself.”

On Saturday, the twins, who share the joy of making 30 to 40 nut rolls at Easter for family and friends, demonstrated their baking knowhow before 20 nut roll-making aspirants in the Jefferson Hills municipal center on Old Clairton Road.

The event was sponsored by the Jefferson Hills Public Library.

“I ate many nut rolls but never made my own,” Genevieve Rae of Jefferson Hills said.

Attendees brought their own aprons, rolling pins and baking sheets, and then rolled up their sleeves. Ninety minutes later, they left with their own rolled dough stuffed with nuts and ready for the oven.

“We’re all going to run home and bake it,” library director Jan Reschenthaler said.

The sisters arrived a few hours before the class began to make enough dough for 40 nut rolls, combining cake yeast, lukewarm milk, flour, sugar, shortening, eggs and salt.

After demonstrating the basics of preparation, they gave a 10-ounce ball of dough to each attendee, who flattened it with a rolling pin before smoothing on nuts or apricots.

Participants then rolled the filled dough, tucking in the ends with the seam on the bottom.

Along the way, the sisters offered tips, such as:

“Do not roll the dough out twice as it toughens the dough.”

“I use whole milk and put it in the microwave for 2½ minutes on high.”

Attendees’ final touches were brushing the dough with beaten egg and milk and pricking the nut roll with a fork to help keep it from cracking.

“I watched my Baba make it. It’s part of our ethnic background that I can pass down,” said Evelyn Madar of Jefferson Hills, who is of Ukranian descent.

“I can’t believe I did this,” Lisa Steiner of Jefferson Hills said of her first doughcrafting experience.

The sisters’ foray into cooking for the holidays began when, as fifth-graders, To get the recipe for nut rolls, visit post-gazette.com they stuffed a 20-pound Thanksgiving turkey following instructions over the phone from their mother, the late Ruth Butko, who was on duty as a nurse.

Over time, she taught her daughters how to make dishes such as stuffed peppers and meatloaf, while their grandmother, the late Wilma Pickard, showed them how to make stuffed cabbage, spaghetti and meatballs and more. She also taught them how to bake cookies.

Today, the sisters continue to cook together at Mrs. Cmar’s house, where there are never too many cooks in the kitchen because she has a double oven around which they can trade culinary jabs to their hearts’ content.

Mrs. Cmar played the older sister — by five minutes — card before they led the nut roll demonstration.

“I told her, ‘Don’t you dare yell at me in front of these people,’ ” she said.