Jeannette Kendrick of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, was in search of a recipe for making Philadelphia-style sticky buns. She said she once had a recipe that came from a holiday issue of a women’s magazine in the 1980s but “a while back, the hubbie accidentally threw away my magazine, and I’ve been searching for the recipe ever since.”

Lucy Kingston of Radnor, Pennsylvania, sent in a copy of a recipe for Philadelphia sticky buns she said came from an issue of McCall’s magazine in the 1980s. She said that like cheesesteak, this particular type of cinnamon bun is considered a Philadelphia specialty and has been enjoyed there for generations. These buns are similar to the snail-shaped bun called Schnecken that were brought to this country by German and English settlers to the Philadelphia area in the 19th century. The nuts and raisins in the filling and the extra stickiness are not found in most other cinnamon buns.

The McCall’s recipe, which bills itself as the true Philadelphia-style sticky bun, is fairly straightforward as long as you are prepared to wait for the dough to rise twice. The whole process can take close to four hours start to finish. The result is a sticky cinnamon bun with a lovely light and airy inside and a slightly crispy outside that has a tremendous amount of flavor.

Feb. 21 is the unofficial National Sticky Bun Day, but no need to wait until then to give this recipe a try. These deliciously decadent, gooey morsels are sure to please any day of the year. If, by some miracle, you have any left over, the buns reheat very well in the microwave.

Requests

Anne West of Ruxton, Maryland, would like to have the recipe for a chicken dish that was served at a recent gathering. She said that the boneless chicken breasts had been stuffed with a filling of wild rice, tomatoes, spinach and perhaps some other ingredients and were then rolled, tied and baked. The breasts were sliced into pieces before serving so that the stuffing could be seen in the middle of each slice. She said it was served at room temperature and was very tasty and presented beautifully.