I first encountered Kellie White when I interviewed her for an article I was writing on the 2018 World Food Championships. Kellie was a finalist in the chicken category of the championships and most impressive. She told me that she worked in medical publishing and was not a food professional, but loved to cook and to enter cooking contests. She credits the good cooks in her family for inspiring her to enter a Pillsbury Bake Off in 2010, where she had such fun that she became hooked and has entered a wide variety of cooking competitions happily ever after. 

We became Facebook friends and I like to follow Kellie’s posts, which are usually about family and home cooking. When I saw her Facebook post that included a picture of Knee Patches, I immediately asked for the recipe for Sweet Leisure. 

Although Kellie has a large and delightful repertoire of prize-winning recipes, she said Knee Patches is a favorite. The recipe was handed down to her from her Swiss Grandmother, Alma Conklin, who would make the sweet crunchy pastries to serve at Easter.

Kellie forwarded the recipe immediately, which makes her a forever champion in my book.  

KELLIE WHITE’S KNEE PATCHES

Yield: 12-14 Knee Patches.

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoon cinnamon

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon table salt

1-½ large eggs, beaten

½ cup milk

1 quart vegetable oil

 

Stir sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl to make cinnamon sugar and reserve. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and add eggs and milk. Stir with a fork until the dough comes together. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead the dough for a minute or two until it comes together completely, and no dry flour remains. Let the dough rest while you prepare the oil for frying. Place oil in a Dutch oven and heat on medium high to 350 degrees. Make balls of dough, the size of walnuts. On a floured surface, roll one of the balls into a disc until it is thin enough to read through or see light through. Dough will be tacky, so keep flouring your rolling pin and the surface as much as needed to keep the dough from sticking. When the oil has reached temperature, quickly place the rolled dough into the oil and fry on each side until golden brown. Remove from oil to a paper towel lined pan and dust liberally with cinnamon sugar. Repeat with the remaining dough.