100th Post!!

I'm so excited to write my 100th post. Since it has taken me FOREVER to get this post done, I have lots to say. But most of it, I will save for another day, another post. I've been planning on taking you on a walk down memory lane with me for this special post, plus sharing a previously unpublished recipe that you will want to have.

Just in case you don't make it to the end of this very long post, I'm going to make a request of my readers. Just this once, this one time, if you read my post, please leave me a comment! I think it would be so fun to see who is out there reading it, and I know that the majority of people reading this do not comment. You are free to comment under "anonymous" and then write your name in the message section so I know who you are. Pretty please? For me?

In reading other's blogs, I have realized that for the milestone of a 100th post, many bloggers choose a special topic, hold a contest, award prizes, and otherwise celebrate. I thought that I would tell you about a place that was a part of my life in my teenage years, a place where I had my first real job (if you don't count the tele-marketing research job I had briefly when I was 15,) where I made many friends, further developed my discriminating food palate, and picked up a few foodie tips. (The recipe at the end will be the special prize, to all who are willing to try it. You won't be sorry.)

Mason's Community Bakery was already a well known establishment in Uptown Whittier before I went there seeking employment. Before my job there, I knew it as the place my mom got full sheets of orange rolls when family was in town, and the bakery that made the 100 foot long cake for Whittier's centennial celebration. My mom suggested that I look there for a job, since I wanted somewhere that wouldn't require me to work on Sundays and that was the day they were closed. I applied and started working there just before the end of my junior year of high school (spring of 1990, if you must know how old I am). I quickly felt at home with the staff there and soon my best friend, Stephanie, was working there as well. Aren't we cute in our aprons and white collared shirts?
(The staff all referred to the color of our aprons and the decor in the bakery as "Mason Mauve." I still call it that when I run across it!) I worked there throughout my senior year, and then full time the next two summers. Many of the Christmases while I was a college student I would come home in time to work during their crazy holiday rush that came the week before Christmas and I would earn a little holiday cash.

Here's a photo that Mrs. Mason sent me of my family singing in 1990. It's blurry, but since it captured my family doing something we often did, I had to include it. Not sure why we are singing in the bakery (maybe caroling at the Uptown Whittier Christmas Cantata?) It was my dad's dream that we be like the Von Trapps and from my very early childhood we performed together in friends' homes, at church, and other spots (apparently at the bakery!)

My wedding cake came from Mason's Bakery. Their traditional wedding cakes were not only beautiful, but tasted amazing. The flavors weren't the gourmet ones that are popular at the moment--they were all tried and true classics--but once you tasted the cake, you wished you'd taken a bigger piece. Brides came from all over Southern California to get their wedding cake from Mason's Bakery. One summer after I was in college, my younger brother, Martin, was their wedding cake delivery boy. I still cringe to think of how dangerous that was, since Martin is at least as accident prone as I am! Here he is with a cake ready for delivery:
Other favorite memories of my Mason's days include singing to the music in the back (on a good day, it was tuned to a station that sang hits of the 70s, 80s, and 90s,) eating lunch on the flour sacks, cracking jokes with Baker Bob and teasing Walter, the German baker (who many of the staff thought was a grump, but Steph and I knew how to make him smile and share a hot cookie!), watching Lupe split and fill cakes and Sue work the butter into the Danish, watching Mr. Mason decorate wedding cakes, and trying to see who could make Helen smile first. Helen had been with the Mason's for something like 30 years and she pretended to be scary and mean but she was actually sweet and soft and positively wonderful.

A bit of official history: Mason's was owned and operated by Walt and Barbara Mason. It had been in Mrs. Mason's family since 1946, when her father bought Community Bakery in East Los Angeles. In 1954, Walt & Barbara got married and Walt, just home from the Korean War, decided to work for his father in law while he figured out what he wanted to do in terms of college, etc. He found that he was good at it, and in 1965, Walt and Barbara bought the bakery from her parents. In 1985, they sold Community Bakery and opened Mason's Community Bakery in Uptown Whittier, closer to their home. Here is a photo that hung in both bakeries, of their oldest daughter, Teri, on her second birthday.Mason's Bakery was well known for many of their specialties: their chocolate eclairs were incomparable. I've never had anything like them. The custard was absolutely divine. Their traditional stollen was only made at Christmas and people came from all over to get it. Their breakfast danish was sooo good (although watching how much butter got worked into the dough each night was enough to keep will power strong--sometimes!) We also loved their white bread and cheese bread, which somehow tasted more like cake than bread. My favorite (and my family's) cookie out of the entire cookie case was the Dutch Girl. My dad called them Angel Tongues--I don't know why, but that's what they were known as around our house for years.
The Mason's and I have kept in touch over the years, writing letters to one another and often seeing one another when I'm in Whittier for a visit. Here's a photo of Mrs. Mason with Bronwen in May of 2007. I can't find a single picture of Mr. Mason, unfortunately. I'll have to get one. A few years ago, after they had sold the bakery in 2000 and moved into that glorious era known as retirement, they shared the Dutch Girl recipe with me. The bakery, under new ownership struggled, perhaps because others were not willing to sacrifice profit in order to use the highest quality ingredients, or perhaps because they were not willing to put the amazing amount of time required into the business. In any case, it is a loss for the community. I wish I could bop in for an eclair and a visit with the Mason's when I'm in Whittier. Instead, I do often get to visit with them in their home (which is nice) but without the eclairs. Bummer!

I recently asked the Mason's what they missed most about the bakery. Mrs. Mason named many of my favorite foods from there--the pecan rings, orange rolls, individual danish, and eclairs. Mr. Mason said he misses the plain butterhorn danish, but gets a hankering for orange rolls now and again. (Incidentally, the Mason's are very healthy eaters and as much as they miss these things, I am sure that they rarely indulged in them.)

Mrs. Mason also said she misses the people, both employees and patrons. She does not miss the financial pressures, the turnover of employees, or the health department visits!:) Mr. Mason does not miss any part of it!:) He enjoyed making it a success, but it so glad to have time now to do things he loves more, like golfing, playing music, making a guitar, and working in their beautiful garden that he wouldn't dream of going back! They frequently travel to visit their children and grandchildren and old friends.

Anyhow, the closing of the bakery is to the good fortune of my readers, because now I can share the Dutch Girl Recipe with you. It is somewhat labor intensive, but is well worth the work. The delicate pastry cookies are so light and heavenly (I guess that's why my dad dubbed them Angel Tongues.)

Mason's Bakery Dutch Girls

Ingredients (in two stages)

• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 T. butter
• 1 egg
• 3 1/4 c. flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 T. rapid rise yeast

The first step of these cookies is to make a roll dough from the above ingredients. in your mixer, combine 3/4 cup flour, the sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat milk, water, and butter in the microwave until very warm (around 120-130 degrees.) Add to dry ingredients. Beat 2 minutes on medium speed, scraping sides of the bowl. Add the egg and mix in, then add remaining flour and mix until well combined. Weigh out 1 1/2 lbs of the roll dough and set aside for the cookies. Use the rest to make a couple of rolls!
Next, Combine the following ingredients in a mixer bowl:

• 3/4 lb. flour (about 2 cups)
• 1 lb. butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 lb margerine (I use butter, since I never buy the M word, and it works fine)
• 1/4 oz salt (about 3/4 tsp.)

Once well mixed, tear off chunks of roll dough and add to the bowl with the dough hook going, mixing lightly after each addition. Once all the dough is incorporated into the butter mixture, form long, thin logs, about 1" in diameter. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for easy handling.
Once the dough is firm enough to not be tacky, remove the logs from the fridge one at a time. Put sugar down on your work surface instead of flour. Cut the logs into balls about 1" or so and shape them into little fat sausages.Now put a generous amount of sugar on your work surface and roll them out two or three at a time into long, thin pieces (about 6" x 1.5"), turning frequently in the sugar. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven at 360 degrees for about 12 minutes. (I like them best when they are just a little bit brown on the edges, when the sugar has really carmelized.)
With the rolls of dough we made, each one made about 20 cookies. I froze several rolls to bake on another day, since these are irresistible, and one batch makes about 200 cookies, which is more than I want in my house at any given time. The day we made these, I took a big plate to an open house and asked the babysitter to finish them off while we were gone! Self preservation--these cookies are heavenly!

Whew. That has got to be my longest post ever. But I couldn' t leave anything out. I probably lost most of you long ago, but if not, don't forget to leave a comment as a special 100th post gift to me! (Yes, it is all about me after all!)