Tuesday Travels: Lament for Scrumptious Turtles

My husband, Dan, and I will soon be embarking on our seasonal move from New Orleans to northern Michigan, and while we're both eager to dwell again amid the tall trees, clean air, and peaceful waters of our home near Big Bear Lake, there are many aspects of the Big Easy we'll be missing during the summer – namely, the music, the architecture, and, of course, the food. In particular, I'll surely find myself longing for raw oysters, boiled crabs and crawfish, shrimp po-boys, muffulettas, fried green tomatoes, oyster artichoke soup, and, yes, turtles – not the animated kind, mind you, but the dessert cookies that consist of shortbread, dark chocolate, and pecans, and can be found in most local grocery stores.

Just consider the photo below – wouldn't you miss them, too?

Monday Munchies: Turtles Revisited

Last Monday, I shared my passion for turtles – not the animal, of course... the cookie. The yummy chocolate-pecan-shortbread concoction that McKenzie’s, the now-defunct New Orleans bakery, used to make. Since McKenzie’s closed in 2001, I’ve done everything I can to reproduce the experience of savoring their turtles – from purchasing ill-advised cookbooks to trying the local Rouses’ supermarket version. But to no avail.

Then, last week, my good pal Becky suggested that I try Tastee Donuts, a local donut shop that has apparently adopted some of McKenzie’s old recipes. So, yesterday, Dan and I located a Tastee Donuts in Metairie (just outside New Orleans), and we were thrilled to see a sign in the window, promising McKenzie’s cinnamon rolls. Where there were cinnamon rolls, there were bound to be turtles... right? Finally, Dan would be able to sample the delicacies about which I’ve been blathering for years.

But, alas, we soon discovered that the turtles on display had not been prepared from McKenzie’s recipe. They were instead Tastee Donuts’ own brand – and they were fairly unimpressive. In fact, as we each scarfed one down in the parking lot (yes, we were that desperate!), we quickly decided that they were worse than Rouses’ turtles. But then again, the jelly donut I also purchased wasn’t half-bad – a jelly donut that I’d like to dedicate to my pal Christine (she knows why!).

Well, needless to say, the search is still on... So, what about you? Do you miss any particularly elusive childhood treats? If so, what?

Monday Munchies: Scrumptious Turtles

In my last post, I mentioned having turtles during the opening night party of the Big Easy International Film Festival. Now, while turtle soup, a popular New Orleans delicacy, is actually made from real turtles, the kind of “turtles” to which I was referring are altogether different. Essentially thick shortbread cookies, turtles are embedded with pecans and topped with large dollops of fudge – which are then topped with more pecans. Truly, a perfect cookie.

But I must admit – as delicious as Rouses’ turtles are (that’s a regional supermarket, by the way), they just don’t compare to the “deliciousity” (okay, so I made that up) of the turtles that were once prepared by a local bakery chain known as McKenzie’s. Ah, McKenzie’s, how sweet you were. For over seven decades, McKenzie’s was perhaps the most popular bakery in New Orleans. In 2001, however, McKenzie’s closed its doors forever, taking its much-loved recipes with it.

I was living in Los Angeles at the time, so I only discovered this sad fact upon returning for a family visit. In desperation, I bought a cookbook called New Orleans Classic Desserts: Recipes from Favorite Restaurants by Kit Wohl – simply because it promised to contain an authentic McKenzie’s turtle recipe. That’ll teach me to purchase a cookbook before looking up consumer reviews.

Now, admittedly, I’m not the best of cooks, but I follow baking recipes just fine. So, imagine my surprise when my beloved turtles ended up looking like flat little chewy cookies that, while somewhat edible, had no resemblance to the McKenzie’s turtles of old. Boy, did my dad have a field day with that one! I knew I shouldn’t have promised that I’d do the dessert for that particular family meal. Or, at the very least, I should’ve looked up the book reviews first – ‘cause apparently I wasn’t the only one who had purchased the cookbook specifically for the turtles recipe, and I was certainly not the only one who had been burned by the lack of quality control.

As one reviewer, a former New Orleanian, wrote, “Unfortunately, the McKenzie's Turtle Cookies are lacking a few key ingredients. McKenzie's Turtle Cookies were a fond memory of my childhood, which I was hoping to share with my children. As written, the recipe yields a mess of flour. With a little research: Baking soda, Salt, Brown sugar, more butter, and less flour fix the recipe right up. After this disaster, I will have to confirm the rest of the recipes before I set foot in the kitchen. My mother hated cookbooks that were not kitchen tested before publication. My mother and I now have something in common. The pictures are lovely though.”

Although a newer version of the cookbook apparently contains a revised version of this recipe, I’m still skeptical to say the least. So, the moral of this sad little tale is fourfold:

1. Enjoy yummy treats – especially local delicacies – while you have access to them.
2. Do not, whatever you do, purchase that Kit Wohl cookbook unless you have the confirmation of other trustworthy gourmands.
3. Appreciate what you do have – like Rouses’ turtles – even if they are slightly less than the ones you remember.
4. Commiserate with others whenever possible. Joining the “I Miss McKenzie’s Bakery” fan page on Facebook certainly soothes my sadness a bit and revives some wonderful childhood memories, especially the times my mom and I would gorge ourselves on turtles while watching our favorite TV shows.

But, seriously, if anyone knows how to make those little McKenzie’s balls of goodness, you know where I live.