TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2021
HOME & LIVING
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — B3
Tony’s pastry chef does it her way in new cook(ie)book
butter and just cut it into
the fl our until it’s like
sand. This way, it comes
out of the food processor
cold and ready to go,” she
said.
“Craving Cookies” is
Fletcher’s second cook-
book. The fi rst, “The New
Pastry Cook,” came out in
1986. Someone has a copy
on sale at Amazon for
$253, she said.
“What moron would
pay $253 for a pastry
book?” said the writer of
that pastry book. “Two
hundred fi fty-three dollars,
and no sense.”
The new book,
“Craving Cookies,”
focuses only on Amer-
ican cookies. It was orig-
inally going to be twice
as long as its 80 recipes,
and would include Euro-
pean cookies as well, but
she didn’t want to have to
charge too much for it.
“It wasn’t so much the
number of recipes as the
number of pages,” she said.
So a second book, as
yet untitled, will come out
next year. It will focus on
European cookies.
“There’s so much to
learn. I think that is what
I like most about food.
There is no end to it;
there’s always more.”
By DANIEL NEMAN
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
To the baking world, it’s
an unthinkable suggestion
bordering on blasphemy:
When making certain des-
serts, it’s just fi ne to use
imitation vanilla extract.
So says Helen S.
Fletcher, the author of
“Craving Cookies: The
Quintessential American
TNS Cookie Book.” It may be
the best cookie cookbook
you will ever see.
Fletcher is the pastry
chef at Tony’s, one of
the highest-rated fi ne-
dining establishments
in St. Louis. For more
than 20 years, she owned
Truff es in University City,
a bakery that catered to
restaurants, hotels and
caterers, and also did a lot
of work with weddings. So
she knows about baking,
even when it comes to imi-
tation vanilla.
“At work, at Tony’s…
I use vanilla that costs
$400 a gallon,” she said,
demonstrating in one
short sentence the diff er-
ence between professional
bakers and hobbyists.
Even small bottles of
what she considers the
best tasting, most aro-
matic vanilla, Tahitian
vanilla, can cost $35. And
she doesn’t want to price
anyone out of the joy of
baking.
“My whole mantra is:
I want people to bake.
I want people to enjoy
baking. I want people who
have never baked to bake,”
she said.
And that means using
imitation vanilla when the
vanilla fl avor doesn’t stand
on its own, such as in rec-
ipes that also use a lot of
spice or chocolate. She
usually uses professional
imitation vanilla herself,
but she also recommends
McCormick’s.
Fletcher, 81, has had no
formal training as a baker.
So she has developed her
own way of doing things,
tips and tricks and hacks
that work wonders but that
other bakers don’t use.
“Sometimes, when you
are trained, you get stuck
on the way you are taught
or the way the book taught
you. Well, I wasn’t trained
and I didn’t have the
book,” she said.
Her new cookbook,
which is self-published,
has tricks for baking the
MAMMEN
Continued from Page B1
to the Sanborn Maps, were
a drug store, cigar store
and club room.
The fi rst tenant in the
corner space was identi-
fi ed as a drug and statio-
nery store. M. Blumauer
was listed as having a drug
store in the Rogers Block
Building in the 1893 City
Directory. This was Sol-
oman M. Blumauer, a
young man who, with his
parents Joseph and Mary
and brother Isaac, trav-
eled from their home in
New York to Florida in the
1860s. By the late 1880s
the family had migrated to
Washington Territory. It
was about this time that La
Grande came on their radar
and young Sol set up a
drug store. He wasn’t here
very long before he joined
the rest of the family who
had moved to Portland.
Over time the Blumauer &
Frank Drug Company, a
large Northwest drug com-
pany, was born.
Next door at 1203
Adams was a vacant space
and then the store selling
cigars and candy, owned
Helen S. Fletcher/Contributed Photo
“Craving Cookies: The Quintessential American Cookie Book,” by Helen S. Fletcher.
way she bakes.
For instance, she rec-
ommends something
she calls the double-pan
method. When she was
baking croissants, she
noticed that when the out-
sides were golden brown
and perfect, the insides
were still undercooked. If
she lengthened the cooking
time, the interiors would
be cooked but the bottoms
would be burned.
So she put one baking
sheet on top of another,
and baked on that. The
result was perfect crois-
sants every time — and
not just croissants but
cookies and other pastries
that are made with brown
sugar, honey, molasses
or chocolate, or that have
a lot of butter or spice in
them.
Cookies and pastries
cooked on a double pan
will take a little longer to
bake; probably about 10%
to 15% beyond the original
time.
If you bake something
that sticks to the sides
of the pan and is hard to
remove, she recommends a
very simple solution: Turn
the pan upside down over
a board or platter and heat
the side of the pan with a
blow dryer. The brownies
or caramels or lemon bars
will drop out easily.
“At work, I use a pro-
pane (blow torch). I mod-
ifi ed it to a blow dryer on
high. It just really works
for a lot of things. I use it
for cheesecakes, anything
that needs to be released
with heat,” she said.
Lemon bars, which she
writes “are as American
as chocolate chip cookies,
and loved just as much,”
are particularly prone to
sticking. As the bars bake,
they pull away from the
sides of the pan, and when
the lemon topping is added
it fi lls the gap and sticks to
the pan.
She developed another
technique to keep this
from happening. She calls
it spooning the crust. As
soon as the crust is taken
out of the oven, while it is
still soft, she goes around
the edge with a spoon and
gently presses it back up
against the sides of the pan.
The idea of using bread
fl our to make chewy
cookies chewier isn’t hers
alone, but she embraces it
fully — while suggesting
it is also best when doing
so to refrigerate the dough
overnight, which allows
the fl our to fully hydrate.
Nor can she claim credit
for the idea of adding
corn syrup to make car-
amel to keep the sugar
from granulating (though
she did come up with the
idea of heating the cream
to keep the caramel from
temporarily solidifying).
And other bakers, too,
use a food processor for
making some doughs,
though doing so seems
counterintuitive.
Shortbread, for
instance, is “the easiest
thing to make in the food
processor. You use cold
by J. Van Buren and W.
Griffi n. The last storefront
of the building was occu-
pied by the La Grande Ath-
letic Club.
Elsewhere in the
building in 1893 were
the businesses of W. J.
Winkead’s Cigar Store and
Poil and Sullivan’s Barber
shop.
The 1903 City Direc-
tory showed some changes
and the corner store,
owned by T. N. Murphy,
was now selling hardware
and crockery. As stated
above Sol Blumauer had
not remained in La Grande
very long so it was likely
in the early 1900s that
Murphy, a machinist, took
over the location. He had
not been in business long
when he became Union
County State Representa-
tive in 1903. Unfortunately,
in December of that same
year, Thomas J. Murphy
died. Mrs. Murphy took
over the store for a short
period and later became
quite a businesswoman,
buying land and building
houses. She was also one of
three women owners of the
Elite Theatre in the early
1900s.
The 1903 Sanborn
Maps show that the vacant
spot had been fi lled by
Anderson & Meyers Bar-
bershop. The cigar and
candy merchants Van
Buren and Griffi n were
still in operation. The Ath-
letic Club had moved out
and a drug store owned by
Henry and Robertson had
moved into 1205 Adams.
Over the years the usage
of the building caused
the interior to be remod-
eled and spaces enlarged
or diminished to meet the
current needs. Some of
the spaces remained basi-
cally the same and thus the
addresses did also. Early
on there were locations
from 1201 to 1205. Later
the addresses changed
to include 1207 in this
building. The address
change over the years
makes it diffi cult to have an
exact address for the com-
ings and goings of various
parts of the building. The
following is close to accu-
rate as possible as to the
conformation at the time.
As years passed there
were numerous occupants
on the lower fl oor of of the
building. 1201 Adams was
the address for an invest-
ment company, Equitable
Savings Bank, Wagner’s
Hardware, Campbell’s
Clothing, La Grande Elec-
tric and the Top Shop. Cur-
rently it is the home of JUB
Engineers Inc.
1203 Adams also had a
variety of tenants. During
the 1930s it housed La
Grande Music, and Floyd’s
Barber Shop. In the ’40s,
Hackman’s Grocery and
the Club Cafe were located
here. The ’50s were dom-
inated by Homer’s Barber
Shop, which also off ered
hearing aids and Bibles.
Royal Cafe moved in
during the 1960s. Cur-
rently this is the location of
Fairway Independent Mort-
gage Corporation.
Many needs were
served over the years
at 1205 Adams, the last
address in the Rogers
Block. It has held church
services, Zion’s and Bak-
Come Check Out
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& New Menu!
CHOCOLATE-
DIPPED
SWEET AND
SALTED
BUTTER
COOKIES
Yield: About 35 servings
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks,
170 grams) unsalted
butter, softened
1/2 cup (100 grams, 3 1/2
ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract,
preferably Tahitian
1 7/8 cups (260 grams, 9
1/4 ounces or 2 cups
minus 2 tablespoons)
all-purpose fl our
6 ounces (170 grams) semisweet
chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons
vegetable shortening
1/2 cup sanding sugar, see note
Sea salt to taste
Note: Sanding sugar is a coarse
sugar that will not melt in
the oven. It can be found
at some grocery stores,
big-box stores, kitchen
supply stores and online.
er’s menswear shops, a law
offi ce, and Wright Drug
Store which became Red
Cross Drug Store in 1912.
At some time the stairway
to the upstairs Phoenix
apartments was given the
address of 1205. Making
this last storefront of the
building, the current home
of John Howard Realty,
with the address of 1207
Adams.
The second fl oor also
holds a long list of occu-
pants including the Elks
in the early 1900s. The
Observer reported that
early on there were as
many as 75 members and
they “climbed the stairs
next to the Steward’s Opera
House and walked down
the hall to the lodge room.”
It also provided offi ces for
doctors, dentists, lawyers
1. Preheat oven to 350
degrees. Line several rimmed
baking sheets with parchment
paper. Set aside.
2. Beat the butter and sugar
together until very light. Add
the egg yolk and beat until
completely combined. Add
almond and vanilla extracts,
and beat well. Add the fl our all
at once and mix until the dough
comes together in a ball.
3. If using cookie cutters,
divide the dough in half (290
grams or 10 ounces each). If it is
too soft to work with, refriger-
ate for about 30 minutes. Place
between 2 sheets of waxed
paper and roll with a rolling pin
to about ¼-inch thickness, and
cut out the cookies. Repeat with
the second half of the dough.
Gather the pieces that are left
over and reroll as necessary.
4. If rolling and slicing, divide
the dough in half as directed
in step 3. Roll each half into
a 10-inch log. Wrap in plastic
wrap and refrigerate until fi rm.
Slice about ¼-inch thick. (The
logs may be frozen, thawed
and sliced as needed. Bake as
directed).
5. Place cookies about 1½
inch apart on the prepared
baking sheets. Bake for 7 min-
utes, then rotate the pan and
bake for 6 to 7 more minutes if
very small or 10 to 12 minutes
if larger, until lightly browned.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
6. While cookies cool, prepare
the quick-tempering chocolate.
Mix chocolate and shortening
together in a bowl. Melt by
either placing the bowl over
a pot of simmering water and
stirring until combined or by
placing bowl in microwave and
heating in 10-second bursts,
stirring between each one, until
combined.
7. In a separate bowl, mix
sanding sugar with salt to taste.
You want to be able to taste the
salt, but the sugar should be
the predominant fl avor.
8. Holding a cookie up-
side-down, dip the top half of
the cookie into the chocolate.
Sprinkle with the sugar/salt
mixture. Allow the chocolate to
set fi rmly at room temperature.
Per serving: 60 calories; 3
g fat; 2 g saturated fat; 8 mg
cholesterol; 1 g protein; 7 g car-
bohydrate; 4 g sugar; 1 g fi ber; 3
mg sodium; 2 mg calcium
Recipe from “Craving Cook-
ies: The Quintessential Amer-
ican Cookie Book” by Helen S.
Fletcher
and notaries, and meeting
rooms for various organi-
zations. Currently it off ers
residential apartments.
The Rogers Building
has also undergone a
number of facade changes
over the years. Each time it
was “modernized” to meet
the facade design of the
era. After one of the ren-
ovations it was renamed
the Phoenix Building.
Although some of its dis-
tinctive features have been
reawakened, it has never
been restored to its original
majestic self.
Keep looking up! Enjoy!
Ginny Mammen has
lived in La Grande for
more than 50 years and
enjoys sharing her interest
in the history of people,
places and buildings.
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