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07/04/2006 Archived Entry: "Schrafft's Butterscotch Sauce and Cookies"

Here’s something embarrassing:

Sometime in March or April (I think), someone at an event I did gave me a recipe that purports to be Schrafft’s Butterscotch Sauce, the famous butterscotch sauce that capped Schrafft’s famous sundae of coffee ice cream with roasted salted almonds and … butterscotch sauce. What’s embarrassing? I can’t recall who it was that handed me the recipe. And there is no name written on it. And I am eternally grateful. So if that was you, please write (mavensmail@aol.com) so I can thank you properly. The recipe is a gem.

I looked for it for years and never found it anywhere, or found anyone who thought they had it. I went through 1,200 Schrafft’s recipes, lent to me by a descendent, and never found it. I went through the family’s private scrapbook cookbook and never saw mention of it. No one even tried to scam me with any old butterscotch sauce recipe, pretending it was Schrafft’s. Maybe what I have now isn’t reallythe original. But it is so good I am willing to believe it is. And I thought it was would a perfect July 4th gift from me to you.

I wrote about the butterscotch sundae in Arthur Schwartz’s New York City Food, but, obviously, I did not offer a recipe. For that matter, Schrafft’s Hot Fudge Sauce didn’t get into the book either. Or Schrafft’s Butterscotch Cookies. For a long time, in fact, I could only see what was cut from the book, not what made it into print.

But anyway! (I sigh deeply.) I am here to rectify that in part. What follows is the Butterscotch Sauce AND the Butterscotch Cookie recipes. Schrafft’s Hot Fudge is already on arthurschwartz.com (yes, also known as www.thefoodmaven.com). As with all recipes, you can find “Schrafft’s Hot Fudge” by putting the words (even just “Schrafft’s) in the search box at the top of any page, click, and the reference will come up. Click on the reference and you’ve got it.

Happy Fourth!
Arthur

Schrafft’s Butterscotch Sauce
Makes 1¾ cup

To make the classic Schrafft’s sundae, I have been using Haagen-Dazs coffee ice cream and Blue Diamond brand roasted, salted almonds. They’re both terrific. I chop the nuts coarsely and use about a heaping tablespoon on each sundae. Need I say that if you prefer chocolate or vanilla to coffee ice cream, the sauce and nuts are still a sensational sundae topping.

1 cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

In a heavy, medium-sized saucepan, over medium heat, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

When the mixture begins boiling at the edge of the pot, stop stirring and boil hard for 1 minute.

Remove from heat. Pour in the cream and stir well. Stir in the vanilla.

The sauce may be served hot, warm or at room temperature. If it gets a little grainy or lumpy, reheat gently and still vigorously with a whisk.

Arthur’s Two Cents: I made a double batch with no problem, but had much left over. Stored in a tightly closed jar, it kept in my refrigerator perfectly for nearly six weeks – until I finished it.

Schrafft’s Butterscotch Cookies
Makes about 30

Marion Cunningham, renowned as the woman who wrote the contemporary revision of “The Fanny Farmer Cookbook,” revealed this recipe in her column in the San Francisco Chronicle just as I was collecting and testing recipes for “Arthur Schwartz’s New York City Food.” She noted that “many New Yorker’s have such fond memories of Schrafft’s large, crisp cookies … particularly the butterscotch cookies with ground pecans, which seem to have been an all-time favorite.”

When I called her – she’s a friend -- to find out where she had gotten the recipe and could she guarantee that it was the genuine article, she told me that her fellow Portland, Oregonian, friend, and mentor, James Beard, was in fact the one who requested she obtain it. He adored them.

“He told me to call this number at Schrafft’s,” says Marion, “and they’d give it to me. Of course, the formula I got produced over 10 pounds of cookies, but I’ve reduced the recipe so it can be easily made in a home kitchen. Beard said they were ‘every bit as good as the originals.’ ”

As Marion taste-tested them on James, I taste-tested them on Joan Hamburg, New York’s first lady of radio, and my former so-called “radio wife.” She remembers that what she liked best about them as a little girl was that they had uneven edges, and that she would even the edges out by taking tiny bites around the perimeter – until the cookie was all gone. Joan thought this recipe was absolutely the real thing. She nearly swooned when she saw the uneven edges. And they are very crisp, as cookies always used to be, a quality that, most unfortunately, only solid white shortening can provide. That should make these an only sometime, nostalgic treat.

One little thing, however: I didn’t really think they were buttery enough, so I consulted my friend James Carrozza, The Cake Chef of Staten Island. He thought Schrafft’s probably added butter extract to give more butter flavor without boosting the actual butter content. Besides being expensive, an increased measure of butter would compromise the crisp texture. Schrafft’s was not above using such almost ersatz ingredients. For instance, the original recipe for the famous cheese bread, which you can, indeed, find in “Arthur Schwartz’s New York City Food,” called for a flavor booster called “Cheese Tang,” more or less the product used to coat Cheez Doodles et al.

If you have a strong arm, this dough can be mixed by hand with a wooden spoon. But a hand-held electric mixer will do the job well, and, of course, you can use a stand-up mixer.

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup solid white vegetable shortening, at room temperature (see note)
1 1/4 cups (fresh and soft) dark brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease baking sheets.

Combine the butter and shortening in a bowl and beat for a few seconds.

Add the sugar and beat until creamy.

Add the egg, dry milk, and vanilla, and beat until light.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir with a fork to mix and lighten.

Add the flour mixture to the shortening mixture and blend well.

Stir in the pecans and mix well.

Drop heaping tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto the baking sheet.

Dip the bottom of a 3-inch diameter drinking glass into flour and use it to press the dough into a circle of the same dimension. If the dough sticks little as you list off the glass, scrape it from the glass and pat any bits back into the circle of dough to make it even and neatly round. Dip the glass into flour after each use.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and gently lift the cookies onto a cooling rack. Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container.

Note: In the heyday of this recipe, solid vegetable shortening meant Crisco, or a similar product. But if you are trying to avoid hydrogenated and trans fats, there are some alternatives, such as Earth Balance Natural Shortening, and Spectrum Organic Shortening. Or, you could use lard or margarine.