Bonnefeadas
Make a rich paste with one quart flour; roll it out very thin, first dividing it in two pieces, spread it with butter, washed and creamed, "A" sugar, and pulverized cinnamon. Roll it up, cut it in pieces one inch wide; put them in a pan with the whole side, down; sprinkle over them sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Bake quickly. Take them out of the pan while hot.--Mrs. Col. A. L.
A rolled cinnamon-sugar pastry, closer to a flaky palmier or pinwheel than to a yeast bun. The instructions assume a cook who already knows how to make pie paste, so the useful work here is decoding the ingredients and the oven.
- A quart of flourFlour was measured by volume in bulk vessels; a quart is about 4 cups, somewhere between 1 lb and 1 lb 4 oz depending on how it is packed. A "rich paste" means a high proportion of butter worked in cold, as for pie crust.
- "A" sugarA trade grade of refined white sugar, coarser and slightly moister than today's granulated but interchangeable with it. "Pulverized" sugar, mentioned in other recipes in this book, is the finer confectioners' grade; here plain granulated is what is wanted.
- Washed and creamed butterButter was kneaded under cold water to rinse out residual buttermilk and salt, then beaten smooth. Modern unsalted butter needs no washing; simply soften it to spreading consistency so it does not tear the thin sheet.
- Bake quicklyThe recipe gives no oven term beyond "bake quickly." A hot oven, in the region of 400-425F, is a reasonable modern reading: the layers want to set and puff before the sugar in the pan darkens, and thin one-inch slices will not need long.
- "With the whole side down"Most likely the cut spiral faces up and the uncut flank of the roll rests on the pan, so the layers do not unwind.
- Sugar and butter in the panThe sprinkling underneath and over caramelizes into a sticky glaze, which is why the last line matters: lift them out while hot, or the cooled caramel welds them to the tin. Line the pan with parchment if you want insurance.
- Rolling thinDivide the paste in two as directed and roll each piece to about 1/8 inch. A thick sheet gives you a doughy centre rather than distinct layers.
- YieldA quart of flour is a generous batch — expect roughly two to three dozen one-inch rolls. They are best the day they are baked, while the pastry is still crisp.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1878), compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions by some 250 Virginia housewives, is full of recipes credited only by initials and rank, as here with "Mrs. Col. A. L." The name Bonnefeadas appears to be a household spelling rather than a standard culinary term, and no confident etymology can be given; it has the look of a French-flavoured word passed down by ear and written the way it sounded, a common fate for dish names in manuscript receipt books. The thing itself belongs to a wide family of rolled sugar-and-spice pastries — scrap-pastry pinwheels made from leftover pie paste — and it reflects a kitchen where a batch of rich paste was made in quantity and its trimmings never wasted.