[Ads-l] tassie (pastry, 1965)

[James Eric Lawson]

There was an earlier mention (07oct1954) in the newspapers.com archive, 
but this 20oct citation answers some questions (whether truthfully and 
accurately, I cannot say). The shortening used originally was margarine.

1954  *Pittsburgh Post-Gazette* (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) 20 Oct 11/1 
(newspapers.com)  The most novel recipe to come out of the recent food 
editors’ conference in New York, I think, is this one for Golden Tassies.
     Developed by the busy home economists of the Lever Brothers 
Company, as a clever and good use of their margarine, the tassies are 
miniature shells of a neither-pastry-nor-cake kind of dough, which take 
an assortment of fillings to make tasteful bite-size morsels of a 
confectionlike goodie for many occasions.
     They bear the name “Golden” for Lever’s Good Luck margarine, and 
“Tassies” after an old Scottish word meaning “small cup.” Directions for 
their making and for the fillings follow.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-golden-tassies/136946560/



On 12/16/23 16:39, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> "Philadelphia" cream cheese didn't come from Philadelphia.
> DanG
> 
> 
> On Sat, Dec 16, 2023 at 4:36 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> 
>>> On Dec 16, 2023, at 3:07 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Wiktionary (
>> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wiktionary.org%2Fwiki%2Ftassie&data=05%7C02%7Claurence.horn%40bulldogs.yale.edu%7Cc71df597e98244d6790508dbfe72bd59%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638383540986596213%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=7AfNqkRp1Lfnx45PMXPCfBNK4ZZt1CWbU0i%2BZ1%2B8yzY%3D&reserved=0)
>> has “tassie” meaning “a small tart or miniature pie” but no citations.
>>>
>>> I looked at several tassie recipes, and they all have a crust that
>> starts out with shortening (butter) and cream cheese (one including
>> marscapone as an alternative).
>>>
>>> The OED, Merriam-Webster (
>> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.merriam-webster.com%2Fdictionary%2Ftassie&data=05%7C02%7Claurence.horn%40bulldogs.yale.edu%7Cc71df597e98244d6790508dbfe72bd59%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638383540986596213%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=tZhKtQFYk8QB%2FsIRw1ZBfBkXtX4F52HRYZFIf9YwTPs%3D&reserved=0)
>> and Dictionary.com (
>> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dictionary.com%2Fbrowse%2Ftassie&data=05%7C02%7Claurence.horn%40bulldogs.yale.edu%7Cc71df597e98244d6790508dbfe72bd59%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638383540986596213%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=3GO70ezBCZRfWB7qOP8tta10hdvzxv%2FkHfKmkRBf49Y%3D&reserved=0)
>> all have “tassie" as a Scottish word for a small tass, or cup, but miss the
>> tart meaning.
>>>
>>> Golden tassies have been a part of my Christmas for as long as I can
>> remember and I began making them this year for the holidays.
>>>
>>> Google has a number of hits from the 1950s and 1960s but nearly all have
>> no preview available.
>>>
>>> In February 1965, the Maple Syrup Digest (p 12) published a recipe for
>> maple tassies. Surely this dessert must have been around before 1965 if it
>> made it to an industry publication.
>>>
>> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.maplesyrupdigest.org%2F%3Fm%3D196502&data=05%7C02%7Claurence.horn%40bulldogs.yale.edu%7Cc71df597e98244d6790508dbfe72bd59%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638383540986596213%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=qUmL%2BUX1xiziXoY5lGUf%2FdD4TcNPzgucNjbzo%2BXya%2Fk%3D&reserved=0
>>>
>>> ###
>>> Pastry
>>> 1 cup butter or margarine
>>> Two 3 oz. packages cream cheese
>>> 2 ½ cups flour
>>> ½ tea. salt
>>> Filling
>>> 1½ cups chopped pecans
>>> 1½ cups maple syrup
>>> 2 tbsp. melted butter
>>> ¼ tsp. salt
>>> 1 tsp. vanilla (optional)
>>> ###
>>> ###
>>>
>>> Interestingly, this recipe has the same call for two 3-oz packages of
>> cream cheese as in my family recipe. Maybe it is/was a common size.
>>>
>>
>> I don’t know if it’s still true, but in the old days (1950s), the choice
>> for Kraft’s Philadelphia Cream Cheese was between little 3 oz. packages or
>> standard 8 oz. packages.  I suppose in Philadelphia, it’s just called cream
>> cheese.

-- 
James Eric Lawson

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