Baking a Cabin.....presentation and contest at Homestead National Historical Park
BEATRICE – A baking presentation and baking contest with creations based on the Palmer-Epard Cabin, was hosted by the Homestead National Historical Park west of Beatrice, on Sunday.
Owner of Paper Moon Pastries, a renovated former hair salon in Cortland, Lindsey Oelling gave a short presentation on the history of the cookie…and a cookie baking demonstration. Those attending got to sample kolaches and cookies.
"I've got a Czech grandmother...and so, if you didn't grow up Czech...it's basically living with a bunch of bread every single day of your life, and happiness. My grandmother was very Czech, she made kolaches, cinnamon rolls....a lot of my memories with my grandmother were spent making dough and making kolaches."
Oelling, a therapist by trade…has her baking shop on Cortland’s Main Street and it’s open on Saturdays from early morning to mid-afternoon. Oelling talked about the origin of the cookie…which has its roots in the very wealthy….though pinning the date down of when it was created, isn’t certain. "Cookies and milk is a very Americanized thing. It's believed to have started back in the 18-hundreds. It could have been prior to that, we really don't know. Back in winter times, way back when...even though it almost seems counter-intuitive, it was easier to travel when it was winter because you have a sleigh and you have snow. You could easily go across terrain when you had snow and you could go across rivers because they were frozen."'
Sunday's event was held in the Education Center at the national park and it featured baking entries from different age categories. Bakers were asked to create something based on the design of the Palmer-Epard Cabin, which stands at the southeast corner of the national park. They were treated to Oelling’s cake creation which was also based on the design of the cabin.
The winners in the over age 16 category were Jane Lobner and Nancy Wilson. The 8 to 16 age division winner was Jacob McClain….and the seven and under division winner was Hadley McClain. There was a business category competition, and the winner was Hausmann Construction.