As the holiday season approached this year, my father kept mentioning a recipe my grandma always used to make at Christmas time. I couldn’t remember Grandma having made them in my lifetime, so I decided to get in touch with my aunt to see if she knew what he was talking about. She realized right away that he was talking about German Sour Cream Twists, so she sent the recipe on to me. Living on a dairy farm, Grandma always used genuine sour cream since it was readily available. Aunt Barb said she wasn’t overly impressed with how they turned out with commercial sour cream, so she recommended using heavy whipping cream. To speed the souring process, add a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice per one cup of cream. I have now made the recipe 3 times, and I have been happy with the results. The rolling and folding are a little time consuming, but not difficult. I still haven’t mastered the twisting part, so they look a little funny. No one complains when they eat them.
German Sour Cream Twists
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 packet (or a scant tablespoon) yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup thick sour cream
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
granulated sugar as needed
>Sift together the flour and the salt and cut in the shortening and butter to a coarse crumb like consistency and set aside
>Combine the sour cream, the egg, egg yolks and the vanilla and set aside
>Dissolve the yeast in the water and add to the flour mixture
>Stir in the cream and egg mixture (use hands to mix well)
>Refrigerate at least 2 hours
>Roll half of the mixture, on a sugared board, to a 8″ x 16″ rectangle
(Keep other half of dough chilled)
>Fold ends toward the center until slightly overlapped at the middle
>Sprinkle liberally w/sugar and roll again to a 8″ x 16″ rectangle
>Fold again
>Sprinkle w/sugar again
>Repeat a third time
>Roll dough into a rectangle that is approx 1/4″ thick, sprinkle w/sugar (Mom used red and green for the final sprinkling @ Christmastime) and cut into strips 1″wide x 4″long
>Twist ends of each strip in opposite directions, stretching dough slightly
>Form crescent shapes w/ the twisted dough and place on ungreased baking sheets, pressing ends firmly to help retain shape
>Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes
>Remove from baking sheets immediately and cool on wire racks
>Repeat with remaining dough
