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If the economy was bad, a broken stove used for baking their famous pumpkin bread didn't help one bit (as posted a couple years ago on LAist, the recipe is below). So earlier this month the nuns at the Monastery of the Angels let the neighborhood know that if they couldn't afford to be there anymore, just under the Hollywood Sign, that their four-acre property might be sliced up and developed into condos.
With the help of some national media attention and concerned neighbors taking action, an anonymous donor today donated a new stove that will help the nuns bake up their annual 18,000 loaves that they will sell to the public.
“I am so happy to hear that the nuns’ prayers have been answered,” Councilmember LaBonge said at a news conference this morning. “I’m not surprised, though. They’re the original Angels in the City of Angels. Who could ignore their call for help?”
Dominican nuns, who have forsaken contact with the outside world, established the Monastery of the Angels in the 1930s to pray for troubled souls in Hollywood. The 20 nuns--all of whom wear traditional long habits and veils--cook, bake, garden, sew and pray daily. Their own pumpkin bread is their biggest seller--apparently Obama had a loaf at one point--at their gift shop. A loaf costs $9.
The Monastery of the Angels' Pumpkin Bread
via NPR
Makes 3 1-3/4 lb. loaves
3 1/2 cups sifted flour
3 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs beaten
1 cup oil
2/3 cup water
2 cups canned pumpkin
Walnut halves
Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Combine eggs, oil, water and pumpkin and mix well. Stir into dry ingredients. Turn into three greased loaf pans and top with a few walnut halves. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool before slicing. (Tastes best slightly warm, spread with butter.)
