Recipe: Walnut Sticks (Meta Given's, 1950's)

WALNUT STICKS

PART 1:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup moist brown sugar, packed

PART 2:
1/4 cup shredded coconut, packed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. almond extract
Confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, 10 minutes before baking. Grease a 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan.

TO MAKE PART 1:
Sift flour, measure and set aside.

Cream soft butter until shiny; add sugar, creaming well. Add flour in 3 or 4 portions and mix with a wooden spoon (or electric mixer) until dough is smooth and stiff. Turn dough out into pan. Pat out and press into a thin, even layer. Smooth edges and top with a spatula.

Bake 15 minutes. Cool in pan.

MEANWHILE, MAKE PART 2:
Chop or shear coconut with kitchen scissors into short shreds. Chop nuts; set aside.

Stir brown sugar, flour and baking powder together to blend. Beat in egg, vanilla and almond extract with electric mixer. Stir in coconut and nuts with a wooden spoon. Spread mixture evenly over Part 1.

Return to oven and bake 15 to 18 minutes. Top appears slightly underbaked. Cool slightly in pan on wire rack.

Dust with confectioners' sugar.

Source: Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking (J.G. Ferguson and Associates, 1955), cited by Margi Shrum, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 9, 2009