On Wednesday, January 21st, I did something a little bit different – I gave a presentation at the Taft Museum about one of my previous books, Virginia Bakery Remembered. There is a connection: As mentioned in Lost Tea Rooms of Downtown Cincinnati, the McAlpin’s Tea Room in the 1990s served bran muffins that were made at Virginia Bakery with some of their luncheon salads! I didn’t know that when I wrote the bakery book; a previous manager told me that while I was doing research and gathering stories for the tearoom book.
Fifty people gathered for a Lunch & Learn program that covered some history about Virgina Bakery and the Thie family who owned it, the steps that were involved with producing and publishing the book, and stories accompanied by mouth-watering photographs about the many baked goods and their recipes. Tom Thie, the last baker in the family to run the store, generously provided seventy-four recipes of their most popular items – and they are recalibrated for home kitchen use. If you like to bake, you’ll find some wonderful items in the book: coffee cakes and rolls, cookies, doughnuts, breads, pies, dessert cakes, éclairs, and even their famous schnecken!
Chef Luke also was kind enough to make some bran muffins for all of the attendees. Insider baking tips if you buy the book and try the recipe:
- If you want your muffins to have a richer, deeper color, use dark brown sugar in the schenken goo topping.
- If you like a slightly coarser texture, use wheat bran flakes.
Ann Baker, a Taft member, was among the full house audience.
Where can you get the cook book of the 74 recipes ??? I was a club member for the schnecken- you can’t live without it – believe me I have tried to recreate by taste – never comes out right – thank you
Hi Penny — I’m not sure if you ever got a response to your question. Hopefully you are a believer in better late than never!
Yes, “Virginia Bakery Remembered” contains the recipe for Schnecken! Unfortunately I no longer have any copies left to sell to you; however, the book is available as an eBook from Amazon, the Apple Bookstore and Barnes & Noble. The Cincinnati Library also has it if you live in Hamilton County, Ohio.
Glad to hear you were a member of the Schnecken Club!
I grew up in Cincinnati and remember a favorite, the Butterscotch Gems. Would the recipe for them be in this book?
Hi Shannon —
As in the previous reply, I’m not sure if your question was ever answered. Yes, the recipe for the Butterscotch Gems is also in the book.
The Gems are one of my favorites too!
i loved the butter cookies at virginia bakery-would love to have the recipe
I grew up in Cincinnati and always loved the gooey butter cake. My cousins and I are interested in having the recipe. Would you please tell me if it is included in this cookbook?
Hi, I’m from Dayton and just found out about the book. Mention of the Virginia Bakery in Cincinnati has helped me to find several of my cousins. My grandmother was born a Thie and grew up about 2 blocks from the Cincinnati Zoo back in the day -well over 100 yrs. ago! Since I learned about the book, I’ve been searching online, but without success, and would like to find it to purchase several copies for myself and siblings. We are very interested in both the family history and the recipes. Do you have any print copies or know where they can be acquired? Perhaps another printing is planned soon? Sorry, I don’t do e-books. Diane Weyrauch