The holiday season isn’t complete without an abundance of sweet treats – a tradition that has been passed down through countless generations. Those interested in how holiday bakers coped with the task 150 years ago – before boxed mixes and modern appliances – can find out at Christmas in Zoar, Dec. 3 and 4.

On Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., visitors can taste Fasnachts Kiechla, a festive fried pastry, in the Zoar kitchen. Costumed volunteers will demonstrate how the pastries were prepared in an old-fashioned kessel oven. In the bakery, visitors will see how the Zoarites made Ingwer Kuchelchen, crisp ginger cookies, and can sample these traditional Christmas treats.

Both recipes are from the book From Field to Table, compiled by Hilda Dischinger-Morhart, and available for purchase in the Zoar Store.

For cooks who prefer to do their own baking, here are modern adaptations of both recipes.



Fasnachts (Fried Pastries)

1 envelope compressed yeast, dissolved in 1/4 cup lukewarm water (let stand 10 minutes)

1 cup scalded milk, then cooled

1 cup lukewarm water

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons melted shortening

6 cups flour

Powdered sugar for dusting

Vegetable oil, for frying

Put yeast in large bowl. Stir thoroughly. Add milk, salt, sugar, water and shortening and stir. Add flour gradually. Mix until smooth.

Let rise until doubled in size. Roll the dough until 1/2 inch thick on pastry board. Cut the dough into 2-inch squares and let rise again. Heat oil to 350 degrees and fry the dough squares in small batches for approximately 2 minutes, flipping each pastry once. Remove to racks lined with paper towels to drain and cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.



Ingwer Kuchelchen for a Crowd (Crisp Christmas Ginger Cookies)

1 pound soft brown sugar

1 pound shortening and butter or margarine, mixed

1 quart molasses

1 3/4 pounds flour (more if needed)

1 1/2 tablespoons ginger

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon cloves

2 teaspoons baking soda, dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water

1 cup milk

In large bowl, cream together sugar and shortening. Stir in molasses. Add flour and spices. Add the baking soda in warm water. Stir until combined. Chill overnight. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 300 degrees. Roll out the dough as thinly as possible on a pastry board. Cut with cookie cutters and place on cookie sheets. Brush the cookies with the 1 cup of milk. Bake each batch for 10-12 minutes.



Cooking in Zoar, before electricity

In the Zoar bakery, heat – not fire – baked bread and other goods. Hickory was the wood of choice for firing the brick-lined ovens because it burned clean and hot. Bakers built a fire on the oven floor, maintained it for several hours, and swept it out. Then, they cleaned the oven floor with a long-handled broom soaked in water to temper the floor and prevent it from catching fire. Bread loaves and other goods were loaded into the oven using a long-handled peel or paddle, and then baked by the heat that had been absorbed by the oven.

In the Zoar kitchen, wood was placed in a firebox that heated a cast-iron stove top with large holes in it, where flanged-edged kettles and pans would rest during cooking. This technique was safer and more efficient than using an open fire, and allowed cooks to walk away from the stove and attend to other duties.