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Cookies, Cakes, and Icings
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Fruit kuchen coffee cake
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Lou Emma Lenon Erby
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1 tablespoon melted butter
3 tablespoons milk
1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups drained fresh or canned sliced fruit
 Mix the butter, milk, and egg. Add the sifted dry ingredients and mix it until it is blended. Spread the dough in a buttered 8x8 pan. Arrange the fruit on top and press it into the dough. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top and bake it at 375 for twenty five minutes.
This is one of my favorites and very easy to double. I used some of Mama s home canned peaches that had been in the cellar for three or four years. I added a clove for flavoring.
Editor s note: Kuchen is German for cake .
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Million dollar pie
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Shirley Reeves
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1 can sweetened condensed milk
20 ounces drained and crushed pineapple
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Mix and fold the in-gredients into a nine ounce carton of whipped cream. Put it in a baked crust or graham cracker crust and refrigerate it.
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Apple coffee cake
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Vicki Bongiorno Konsavage
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Mix together like pie crust:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 pound margarine
1 teaspoon baking powder
Add:
2 teaspoons milk
1 egg yolk
Put it in an ungreased 9x12 inch pan. Cover it with eight medium baking apples, quartered and laid on rows. Top it with a mixture of:
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons margarine
Bake it at 315 for 45-50 minutes.
Editor s note: Coffee cake is thought to have originated in Germany, although that is not a proven fact. Its origins are murky, and the term coffee cake didn t become common until 1879.
British coffee cake is a sponge flavored with coffee (there is such a recipe in this cookbook), as the British drink far more tea than coffee. They are generally round and consist of two layers separated by coffee flavored butter icing, which also covers the top of the cake.
What we Americans call coffee cake the British call tea cake .
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French coffee cake
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Bertha Victoria Lenon Bongiorno
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1/2 pound butter or margarine
4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup warm milk
3 egg yolks
1 cake yeast
1/4 cup warm water
Filling:
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1 cup chopped nuts
Sift the flour, sugar, and a pinch of salt together. Cut in the shortening to the size of small peas. Add the milk and beaten egg yolks and yeast, dissolved in warm water. Stir it gently and let it stand overnight in the refrigerator.
Divide the dough in two or three parts. Roll it to 1/4 inch thickness. Beat the egg whites until it s stiff and spread it on each piece of dough. Sprinkle them with filling and roll them like a jelly roll. Place them on greased pans and let them rise. Bake them at 350 for 45-50 minutes.
Editor s note: During the Iron Age, what is now France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, and held the region until 486 AD, when the Germanic Franks conquered the region and formed the Kingdom of France.
In the late eighteenth century, the French Revolution overthrew the absolute monarchy, established one of modern history s earliest republics, and saw the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which expresses the nation s ideals to this day.
The French are, of course, noted for their cooking.
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Loser s coffee cake
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Rosella Guill Vaughn
submitted by Zona Bishop Lenon
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Batter:
1/4 pound butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 pint sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
dash of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped nuts
Mix the filling in-gredients together. Sift the dry ingredients together and set it aside. Cream the butter, sugar, sour cream and eggs. Add the dry ingredients and mix it well. Add the vanilla and mix it. Grease and flour an angel food or bundt cake pan and place a layer of batter on the bottom, then a layer of filling, a layer of batter, layer of filling, ending with a layer of filling on top. Bake it at 350 for 45-55 minutes and let it cool on the rack before removing it from the pan. No frosting is needed.
Editor s note: the city pictured is Las Vegas, where losers congregate.
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Maple butter twist coffee cake
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Linda McVicker Russell
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1 package yeast
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1/2 cup scalded milk
2 eggs
3 1/4-3 1/2 cups flour
Soften the yeast in warm water. Combine the butter, sugar, salt, and milk in a large bowl. Stir in the eggs and yeast. Beat it for two minutes. Gradually add flour to form a soft dough. Cover it and let it rise for one hour.
For the filling:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring
1/2 cup nuts
Cream all of the ingredients except the nuts; stir in the nuts last. Divide the dough in half. Roll out one portion to a 14x8 inch rectangle and spread it with half of the filling. Roll it up, starting with the fourteen inch side and cut it in half lengthwise. Twist the strips together. Shape it in a ring in a well-greased eight or nine inch round pan. Repeat with the remaining dough. Cover it and let it rise.
Bake it at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Frost it while it s warm.
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Easy coffee cake
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Bonnie Smith Wyatt
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Cake batter:
1/2 cup or 1 stick margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sour cream
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 . To make the batter, cream together the butter and sugar until it is well blended, then add the eggs to the mixture. Add the vanilla and sour cream. If you are mixing it by hand, sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda together. Add it to the batter and mix it thoroughly.
To make the topping, mix the brown sugar, nuts, cinnamon, and chocolate chips in a small bowl. Generously grease a pan.
Put half of the batter of the topping over this layer. Cover with the remaining half of the batter and sprinkle it on the remaining half of the topping.
Bake it for fifty minutes or until it s done. Remove it from the pan and dust it with powdered sugar, if desired. The cake may be frozen for later use.
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New York style cheesecake
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Jeanette Morgan Crown
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1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine (for crust)
1 tablespoon sugar (for crust)
1 3/4 cups sugar (for cake)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 ounces cream cheese
3 tablespoons flour
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup milk
Combine the gra-ham cracker crumbs, one tablespoon of sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and blend in the melted butter or margarine. Press it firmly over the bottom of a lightly greased nine inch spring-form pan. Chill it briefly before filling it.
Let the cream cheese soften in a large bowl, then blend in the sugar and flour. Beat it with an electric mixer until it s light and fluffy. Add the eggs and egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in the milk and pour the mixture into the crumb crust.
Bake it at 475 for ten minutes, then lower the temperature to 200 and bake an hour longer. Let the cake remain in the oven until cool, about an hour. Remove it from the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack. Loosen around the edge with a knife. Release the spring and remove the side of the pan.
Chill and serve it plain (like the New Yorkers eat it!) or with your favorite topping. Makes sixteen servings.
Editor s note: The image is New York style cheesecake with strawberries, served at the Carnegie Deli in New York.
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Cheesecake
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Andrew Konsavage
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2 large packages cream cheese
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Soften the cream cheese in a bowl with an electric mixer. Add the milk, vanilla, and sugar and beat it well.
For the crust:
1/2 stick butter or margarine
2 tablespoons sugar
1 package graham crackers, rolled flat
Mix the ingredients well and press it in a spring form pan. Pour the cheese mixture in the crust and bake it at 350 for fifty minutes. When it is done, remove it from the oven and mix 1 1/2 cups of sour cream with two tablespoons of sugar and one tablespoon of vanilla. Bake it for five minutes longer.
Editor s note: Smooth, fresh, unripened cheese, sweetened with honey must be almost as old as cheese-making itself, and the land of milk and honey is a deep-rooted idiom. An ancient form of cheesecake may have been a popular dish in ancient Greece even prior to the Romans adoption of it with the conquest of Greece. The earliest attested mention of a cheesecake is by the Greek physician Aegimus (fifth century BC), who wrote a book on the art of making cheesecakes, plakountopoiikon suggramma. The earliest extant cheesecake recipes are found in Cato the Elder s De Agri Cultura, which includes recipes for two cakes for religious uses: libum, placenta and savillum.
It did not start looking like the normal cheesecake that we see today until around the eighteenth century. Europeans began removing yeast and adding beaten eggs instead.
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Montana Mom s dynamite cheesecake
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Linda Ebersohl Stacks
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For the crust:
crumbs from 16 graham crackers
1/2 stick butter
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon flour
Mix it well and press it firmly into the bottom of the pan.
For the filling:
16 ounces cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 grated lemon, juice and all
Blend it until it is smooth and creamy. Pour it on top of the crust and bake it at 375 for twenty five minutes, then let it cool.
For the topping:
1 pint sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Blend it well and pour it on top of the cooled filling and bake it at 375 for 5-8 minutes. The cheesecake must set in the refrigerator for at least twelve hours before it will be firm enough to slice.
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Lots o apple cake
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Lori Ebersohl Mayhugh
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5 cups peeled and sliced apples
1 cup flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Heat the oven to 350 . Grease and flour the bottom only of a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the nuts. Beat it for three minutes at medium speed, then stir in the nuts by hand. Pour it into the prepared pan and bake it for 30-40 minutes until it is done when tested with a toothpick that comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake.
For the glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon milk
Mix it well and spread it over the warm cake.
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Crostata Italian cake
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Eileen E. Bongiorno Karas
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42 ounces cherry or pineapple pie filling
1/2 pound shortening or 2 sticks margarine
3 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 well beaten eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 teaspoons baking powder
Mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening as if for pie crust. Mix the eggs, milk, and vanilla and add it to flour mixture. Stir it until it is moistened. Press 2/3 of the batter into a greased 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan. Spread it with the pie filling.
Roll out the remaining dough on a floured board and cut it into 1/2 inch strips. Place them in lattice fashion over the filling, pressing the edges lightly. Bake it at 350 for forty five minutes. Cut it into squares when it has cooled.
Editor s note: Crostata is Italian for Pie . This dish is also known as coppi in Naples and sfogliate in Lombardy. The earliest known use of crostata in its modern sense can be traced to the cookbooks Libro de Arte Coquinaria (Art of Cooking) by Martino da Como, published circa 1465, and Cuoco napolitano (Neapolitan recipes), published in the late fifteenth century containing a recipe titled Crostata de Caso, Pane, etcetera.
A crostata is a rustic free-form version of an open fruit tart that may also be baked in a pie plate.
The name derives from the Latin word crustata, the feminine past participle of crustare (to encrust), and ultimately from the noun crusta (crust). The French term croustade derives from it, from which the English term custard derives. Crostata appeared in the earliest dictionaries, included in the 1612 dictionary Vocabolario degli accademici della Crusca.
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Hummingbird cake
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Carolyn Russell Barnes
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3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
3 beaten eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 ounces crushed and undrained pineapple
2 cups chopped bananas
Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs and oil, stirring it until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not beat it. Stir in the vanilla, pineapple, pecans, and bananas.
Spoon the batter into three greased and floured nine inch cake pans. After baking, cool it in the pans for ten minutes and remove them from the pans and let them cool completely. Spread frosting between the layers and on top and on the sides of the cake, then sprinkle 1/2 cup of chopped pecans on top.
Cream cheese frosting:
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1/2 cup softened butter or margarine
16 ounces sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine the cream cheese and butter, beating it until it is smooth. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, and beat it until it is light and fluffy. Spread it on the completely cooled cake.
Bake the cake in three layers at 350 for 25-30 minutes.
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Coconut pound cake
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Pat Hinchcliff Nichols
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1 1/2 cups shortening
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups flour
1 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons coconut flavoring
7 ounces flaked coconut
Cream the shortening and sugar and add the eggs one at a time, beating it after each addition. Beat it at the highest speed of the mixer for ten minutes. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, coconut flavoring, and milk. Beat it well for one minute, then fold in the flaked coconut. Pour it into a well-greased and floured large tube pan. Place it in a cold oven and set the oven at 325 , and bake it for one hour and ten minutes. It freezes well.
Editor s note: the illustration is the flower of a coconut tree. Cocos nucifera is a member of the family Arecaceae (palm family) and the only species of the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the whole coconut palm or the seed, or the fruit, which, botanically, is a drupe, not a nut. The spelling cocoanut is an archaic form of the word. The term is derived from the sixteenth century Portuguese and Spanish word coco meaning head or skull , from the three indentations on the coconut shell that resemble facial features.
Coconuts are known for their versatility ranging from food to cosmetics. They form a regular part of the diets of many people in the tropics and subtropics. Coconuts are distinct from other fruits for their endosperm containing a large quantity of water (also called milk ), and when immature, may be harvested for the potable coconut water. When mature, they can be used as seed nuts.
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Golden feather cake
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Marie Lenon Kelley
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1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons double action baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or shortening
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup milk
Grease and lightly flour two eight inch layer cake pans. Sift the flour, measure and resift it three times with the baking powder and salt. Cream the butter until it s soft and plastic, and gradually blend in the sugar, creaming it until it s smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat them vigorously. Add the flour mixture and milk alternately in four portions, beginning and ending with flour and beating it until it is smooth after each addition.
Turn the batter into the pans and bake it at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until the cake barely begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Don t over-bake it. Cool it on racks for five minutes, then turn it out on racks to finish cooling. Spread it with strawberry preserves or other favorite on one layer. Assemble it and spread it with your own special icing.
Editor s note: The illustration is of a golden eagle in flight.
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Mexican wedding cake
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Julie Karas Abraham
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2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup chopped nuts
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups sugar
20 ounces unsweetened undrained crushed pineapple
Pour it into a greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Bake it for 40-45 minutes at 350 .
For the frosting:
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 stick softened margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
Beat it very well with a mixer for 10-12 minutes, leaving no sign of sugar granules. Frost the cooled cake and store it in the refrigerator.
Editor s note: the top illustration is the Mexican coat of arms. The second is a painting by Edmund Leighton, who lived from 1853 to 1922.
In a Mexican wedding there is a tradition called Trece Arras, or thirteen gold coins . In this tradition, the groom gives the bride thirteen gold coins in an ornate box to show that he trusts her with his money. The thirteen coins are symbols representing Jesus and his disciples, and the bride traditionally takes them and promises that she will care for them prudently.
The box is first blessed by the priest (Mexico is pre-dominantly Catholic), then the groom hands it to his best man, who holds it until the end of the ceremony, when the groom gives it to his bride.
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Date nut cake
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Vicki Bongiorno Konsavage
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1 pound dates
1/2 pound glazed pineapple, cut finely
1/2 pound glazed cherries
Put two teaspoons of baking soda into two cups of boiling water and pour it over the cut up fruit. Mix:
2 tablespoons margarine
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 well beaten eggs
2 cups flour
1-1 1/2 cups finely cut nuts
Bake it at 325-335 for 45-60 minutes.
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Sand tarts
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Louemma Russell Smith
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Cream together 1/2 cup of butter or margarine and three heaping teaspoons of sugar. When it is light and fluffy add:
1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup peanuts or walnuts ground in a food chopper
Refrigerate it for 1/2 hour until the dough can be rolled into small balls. Press them flat with a fork and put a nut in the center of each cookie, and sprinkle them with sugar. Bake 12-15 minutes in a 350 oven. Makes about 3 dozen.
This recipe was given to me by my mother, Clara Lenon Russell, and was written by her on the back of some letterhead from the Toastmasters club , Chickasaw, Arkansas dated May 29, 1956. I am assuming she got the recipe from my sister-in-law, Rosalie Russell. It sure makes some delicious cookies!
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Grand illusion cake
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Beatrice Lenon Swanson
submitted by Vicki Bongiorno Konsavage
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1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups raw beets, ground or grated
1 cup flaked coconut
8 1/2 ounces crushed undrained pineapple
Grease and flour a 13x9 inch pan. Cream the oil, sugar, vanilla, and almond extract. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat the mixture after each one. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, and add it to the creamed mixture 1/3 at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in the grated beets, pineapple (including juice), and coconut. Bake it for 45-50 minutes in a 350 oven.
For the frosting:
1 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 stick margarine
1/4 cup nuts
4 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream it thoroughly and spread it on the cooled cake.
Editor s note: I don t know where the name of this cake comes from, but I suspect it s from La Grande Illusion (also known as Grand Illusion), a 1937 French war film directed by Jean Renoir, who co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Spaak. The story concerns class relationships among prisoners of war during World War One who are plotting an escape.
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Italian cream cake
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Jeanette Morgan Crown
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1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 2/3 cups sugar
6 separated eggs
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup quartered maraschino cherries (about fifteen cherries)
Cream the shortening, butter, and sugar until it s light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time, and beat the mixture well after each addition. Add the buttermilk alternatively with the dry ingredients, ending with flour. Stir in the vanilla, coconut, pecans, and cherries. Beat the egg whites with cream of tartar until it s stiff. Fold it into the cake mixture. Bake it in three greased nine inch layer pans at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until it is done. Let it cool for ten minutes and remove it from the pan.
For the frosting:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
8 ounces softened cream cheese
4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
Cream the butter and cheese. Gradually add sugar and vanilla. Beat it until it is smooth and creamy. Add the pecans or sprinkle on top of the frosted cake. Serves 14-16.
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Poor man cake
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Clara Lenon Russell
submitted by Gladys Russell Morgan
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1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup hot water
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts
Bring the raisins to a boil in 1 1/2-2 cups of water. Cream the sugar and shortening. Sift the dry ingredients together and add it to the sugar and shortening.
Dissolve the baking soda in one cup of water from the raisins and add it to the batter. Add the raisins and nuts, stir it all together, and bake it in a heavy iron skillet or loaf pan at 350 until it tests done with a toothpick. It s good with or without frosting.
Editor s note: Poverty is the scarcity or the lack of a certain variable amount of material possessions or money. Poverty is a multifaceted concept, which may include social, economic, and political elements. Absolute poverty, extreme poverty, or destitution refers to the complete lack of the means necessary to meet basic personal needs such as food, clothing, and shelter.
The threshold at which absolute poverty is defined is considered to be about the same, independent of the person's permanent location or era. Relative poverty occurs when a person who lives in a given country does not enjoy a certain minimum level of living standards as compared to the rest of the population of that country. Therefore, poverty s definition varies from one country to another.
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Hot milk sponge cake
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Gladys Russell Morgan
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2 cups unsifted cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 unbeaten eggs
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup milk
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Beat the eggs in a large deep bowl until they are very thick and light, about five minutes. Gradually beat in the sugar and add the vanilla. Add the flour to the egg mixture a small amount at a time, blending by hand or at the low speed of an electric mixer. Bring the milk and butter just to a boil. Very quickly stir it into the flour mixture, blending it well. The batter will be thin.
Pour it into a 13x9x2 inch pan which has been greased and floured on the bottom only. Bake it in a 350 oven for 30-35 minutes. Let it cool and top it with broiled coconut topping, or serve it with fruit.
The cake may be baked in layer pans or in square pans for 25-30 minutes. A good spur-of-the-moment cake.
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Dump cake
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Bertha V. Bongiorno
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Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan. Spread one can of cherry pie filling evenly over the bottom of the pan. Next, spread one can of crushed undrained pineapple over the cherry filling. Sprinkle one yellow cake mix over the crushed pineapple. Thinly slice 1 1/2-2 sticks of butter or margarine over the cake mix, then place 1/2 cup of chopped nuts on top of that. Bake it for one hour at 350 .
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Lightening cake
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Zona Bishop Lenon
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Sift together:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
Break two eggs into 1/3 cup of melted butter and fill the cups with sweet milk. Add your favorite flavoring and mix it well. Bake it in a 350 oven until it tests done with a toothpick. This recipe never fails.
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Linda s fresh apple cake
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Linda Nichols
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2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 chopped apples
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Beat the eggs, oil, and sugar and then add the flour, cinnamon, vanilla, nuts, and apples. Bake it at 350 until done when tested.
Editor s note: The forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis is not identified, but popular Christian tradition has held that it was an apple that Eve coaxed Adam with. The origin of the popular identification with a fruit unknown in the Middle East in biblical times is found in confusion between the Latin words malum (an apple) and malum (an evil), each of which is normally written malum. The Latin for good and evil is bonum et malum.
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup cocoa
Cook the above until it s thick, and cream together:
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
Sift together:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Add the cocoa mixture to the creamed mixture, then add one cup of buttermilk alternate1y with the dry ingredients. Bake it at 350 for 30-40 minutes in a greased and floured 9x13 inch pan. When it s cool, ice it with your favorite icing.
Editor s note: The word cake is of Viking origin, from the Old Norse word kaka .
The ancient Greeks used beer as a leavening, frying fritters in olive oil, and cheesecakes using goat s milk. In ancient Rome, basic bread dough was sometimes enriched with butter, eggs, and honey, which produced a sweet and cake-like baked good. Latin poet Ovid refers his and his brother s birthday party and cake in his first book of exile, Tristia.
Early cakes in England were also essentially bread: the most obvious differences between a cake and bread were the round, flat shape of the cakes, and the cooking method, which turned cakes over once while cooking, while bread was left upright throughout the baking process.
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Special carrot cake
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Wanda Nichols
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1 1/4 cups oil
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
4 beaten eggs
1 cup raisins
3/4 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups grated carrots (about 9 large carrots)
Cream the oil and sugar, and mix all of the dry ingredients. Combine the creamed oil and sugar, beaten eggs, and vanilla. Fold in the nuts and carrots and bake it in a large ungreased tube pan in a 350 oven for 1 1/2 hours.
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Kookie brittle cookies
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Sherry Smith Alstat
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1 cup softened margarine
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
6 ounces chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat the oven to 375 . Grease a 15 1/2x10 1/2x1 inch jelly roll pan. Cream the margarine in a large bowl with the mixer at medium speed. Add the salt and vanilla, then beat in the sugar until it s fluffy. Add the flour and mix until it is well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans. Pat the dough with your hands into the pan and bake it for twenty five minutes or until it s lightly brown at the edges, then let it cool completely. Break it with your hands into the desired size pieces.
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Old time red devil s food cake
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Judith Ann Nichols
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In half a cup of hot water, add 1/2 cup of cocoa and two level teaspoons of baking soda. Set it aside until the cake is mixed.
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup sour milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 separated eggs, beaten
3/4 cup butter or other shortening
Cream the sugar and shortening, then add the beaten egg yolks, sour milk, flour, and cocoa mix. Fold in the beaten egg whites and vanilla last. I add a tablespoons of red food coloring to my cake.
For the icing:
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons cocoa
3 tablespoons white corn syrup
Boil these for 2-3 minutes until it is bubbly and forms a firm, soft ball in cold water.
Editor s note: Unfortun-ately, the original Lenon cookbook didn t specify a baking temp-erature, or how long you need to bake it. Martha Stewart s similar recipe calls for a 350 oven for 35-45 minutes.
The illustration is Ary Scheffer s 1854 Temptation of Christ.
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Preacher s cake
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Margie Lee Nichols
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2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups crushed, undrained pineapple
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Mix the above ingredients, and lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan. Bake it at 350 for thirty five minutes. For the icing, mix together:
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Mix it well and let the cake cool before icing it.
Editor s note: And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. Numbers 11:8
The illustration is the preacher from the movie The Pale Rider.
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Icing for a chocolate cake
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Sherri Russell
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Bake a chocolate cake, following the directions on the box. When it has cooled, punch holes with a fork, all over, on each layer. For the icing:
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cream
1/2 stick butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup chocolate syrup
Stir it until it begins to boil and cook the chocolate down until it is thin. Pour it on the bottom layer of the cake, then on the top layer. Cook the rest until it is at the soft ball stage. Don t let It get too hard. Cool it, then stir it and and spread it on the cake.
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Oatmeal and apple butter bars
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Bonnie Smith Wyatt
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1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup margarine or butter, cut in pieces
1 1/4 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
3/4 cup apple butter
Mix the flour and sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the oats until it s well blended. Press half of the oats mixture, about 2 1/2 cups, firmly into a greased eight inch square pan to form a compact layer. Spread the apple butter to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Sprinkle the remaining oats mixture over the apple butter and press carefully but firmly. Bake it in a preheated 350 oven for about ten minutes or until lightly browned. Cool it in the pan on the rack. Cut it into 1x4 inch bars or two inch squares. Makes sixteen bars, approximately 212 calories per bar.
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Cream cheese cupcakes
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Jayne Barnes Raso
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Number 1:
24 ounces softened cream cheese
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
Number 2:
24 ounces sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Number 3:
strawberry preserves
Beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until it is soft and creamy. Gradually add one cup of sugar, beating it until it s light and fluffy. Add the eggs, beating them well.
Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla. Spoon the batter into paper-lined muffin tins, filling them 2/3 of the way full. Bake them at 300 for thirty minutes.
Combine the sour cream and 1/4 cup of sugar with 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Spoon 1/4 teaspoon of the sour cream mixture on each cupcake and top them with a small amount of preserves in the center of the sour cream mixture. Return them to the oven and bake them for five more minutes. Makes eighteen cupcakes.
Editor s note: The cupcakes pictured are most certainly not cream cheese cupcakes, but they ll have to do.
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Betsy s crazy cake
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Betsy J. Walker
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1 1/3 cups unsifted flour
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Lightly grease a 9x9x2 inch pan. Sift the dry ingredients into the pan.
Make three evenly spaced holes in the dry ingredients. In one, pour six tablespoons of oil, in the second, one tablespoon of vinegar, and in the third, one tablespoon of vanilla. Pour one cup of cold water over it all. Stir it thoroughly with a fork until it is completely blended. Check the corners!
Bake it for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
For the topping, Place it on a rack and immediately put 4-5 chocolate candy bars on top. Allow to soften for one minute, then spread it all over the top. Let it cool, then cut it in squares.
Editor s note: The illustration is an engraving of the eighth print of William Hogarth s A Rake s Progress, depicting inmates at Bedlam Asylum.
Bethlem Royal Hospital is also known as St. Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital, and Bedlam. It is a psychiatric hospital in London and is Europe s first and oldest institution to specialize in mental illnesses. Its famous history has inspired several horror books, films, and TV series, most notably Bedlam, a 1946 film with Boris Karloff. It has moved three times from its original location.
The word bedlam , meaning uproar and confusion, is derived from the hospital s prior nickname. Historically it was representative of the worst excesses of asylums.
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Pineapple cake
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Cindy Ebeling
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2 beaten eggs
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 can crushed pineapple with juice
1/2 cup pecans
Mix together all the above ingredients and pour it into an 8x13 inch baking pan. Bake it at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Let it cool and spread on the topping. For the topping:
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1/4 stick softened margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla
Editor s note: I assume you just mix all that together.
Cakes are often classified according to the occasion for which they are intended. For example, wedding cakes, birthday cakes, cakes for first communion, Christmas cakes, Halloween cakes, and Passover plava (a type of sponge cake sometimes made with matzo meal) are all identified primarily according to the celebration they are intended to accompany. The cutting of a wedding cake constitutes a social ceremony in some cultures. The Ancient Roman marriage ritual of confarreatio originated in the sharing of a cake.
Particular types of cake may be associated with particular festivals, such as stollen or chocolate log (at Christmas), babka and simnel cake (at Easter), or mooncake. There has been a long tradition of decorating an iced cake at Christmas time.
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Apple spice cake
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Bonnie Smith Wyatt
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5 peeled, cored, and chopped apples
6 teaspoons brandy, applejack, Bourbon, or rum
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 cups unsifted flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
Place the chopped apples in a bowl and pour the liquor over them. Mix together and beat the sugar, vegetable oil, and eggs. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, soda, nutmeg, salt, and cloves. Combine the apples, sugar mixture, and flour mixture, and stir it until it is mixed. Add the walnuts and raisins, and mix it until it s combined.
Pour the batter into a greased 13x9x2 inch baking pan. Bake it at 350 for an hour, or until the cake tests done with the cake tester in-serted into the center.
Serve it warm or at room temp-erature. Cut it into large squares and serve it with whipped cream, sour cream, vanilla ice cream, or hard sauce. Serves 8-12.
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Poor man s fruit cake
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Bonnie Smith Wyatt
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Boil 1/2 cup of water and 2 cups of raisins together and set it aside to cool. Cream one cup of shortening and two cups of sugar together, then add two well-beaten eggs.
Add raisins, vanilla, and one cup of chopped nuts. Sift together:
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Blend all of the ingredients together and pour the batter into a greased and floured tube pan. The batter will be very thick. Bake it at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Top it with whipped cream.
Variations: Add candied fruit to make the cake go farther, and/or substitute various fruit juices for water.
To make cookies or cupcakes, bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes. Any kind of flour can be used, no mixture is necessary. There is no need to refrigerate it, it stays moist on the shelf and lasts indefinitely.
Editor s note: The most common measure of poverty in the U.S. is the poverty threshold set by the U.S. government. This measure recognizes poverty as a lack of those goods and services commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society. The official threshold is adjusted for inflation using the consumer price index.
Most Americans will spend at least one year below the poverty line at some point between ages 25 and 75. Poverty rates are persistently higher in rural and inner city parts of the country as compared to suburban areas.
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Strawberry cake
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Shirley Reeves
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1 package white cake mix
1 cup undrained strawberries
1 cup milk
1/2 cup salad oil
1 package dry strawberry gelatin
4 eggs
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped nuts
Mix all of the above ingredients and bake it for 30-35 minutes in a 350 oven. It makes three layers or a 9x13 inch cake. For the icing:
1 stick margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup drained strawberries
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup nuts
Spread it on the cake while the cake is slightly warm.
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Pumpkin pie cake
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Shirley Reeves
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4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 large can evaporated milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups pumpkin
Mix the ingredients in the order listed. Pour it in a 9x13 inch baking pan that has been greased and floured. Sprinkle one package of dry yellow cake mix on top. Dribble with one cup of melted butter and sprinkle on one cup of chopped nuts. Bake it at 350 for an hour, or until a knife comes out clean. Serve it with whipped cream.
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Pineapple brown sugar cake
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Shirley Reeves
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1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
20 ounces crushed pineapple, not drained
Mix the ingredients with a fork and put it in a greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Top it with 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of chopped pecans. Bake it at 300 for 25-30 minutes. While the cake bakes, bring to a hard boil:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 stick margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
Punch holes in the warm cake and pour the topping over it. The longer you have the cake, the better it is.
Editor s note: The pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a tropical plant with an edible multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries, also called pineapples, and the most economically significant plant in the Bromeliaceae family.
Pineapples may be cultivated from a crown cutting of the fruit, possibly flowering in five to ten months and fruiting in the following six months. Pineapples do not ripen significantly after harvest. In 2016, Costa Rica, Brazil, and the Philippines accounted for nearly one-third of the world's production of pineapples.
Pineapples can be consumed fresh, cooked, juiced, or preserved. They are found in a wide array of cuisines. In addition to consumption, the pineapple leaves are used to produce the textile fiber pi a in the Philippines.
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Raisin pudding cake
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Norma Lenon
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Mix and pour into a nine inch square baking pan:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup cooked raisins (bring to a boil in 2 cups water then drain, saving the water)
Mix this together and pour it on top:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups hot water from raisins
1/2 stick butter
Bake it at 350 until it s brown, about thirty minutes. When it s done, the cake will be on top with the raisins and pudding on the bottom. Serve it warm or cold, plain or with ice cream.
Editor s note: Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word raisin is reserved for the dark-colored dried large grape, with sultana being a golden-colored dried grape, and currant being a dried small Black Corinth seedless grape.
The word raisin dates back to Middle English and is a loaned word from Old French; in modern French, raisin means grape , while a dried grape is a raisin sec, or dry grape . The Old French word, in turn, developed from the Latin word racemus, a bunch of grapes .
Raisin varieties depend on the type of grape used.
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Fresh apple cake
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Norma Lenon
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1 1/4 cups polyunsaturated oil
2 cups sugar
egg substitute, equivalent to 2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 1/2 cups fresh chopped and peeled apples
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup raisins or 1/2 cup raisins and 1/2 cup chopped dates
Cream together the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Sift the flour, cinnamon, and baking soda together. Fold the flour mixture into the sugar mixture alternately with apples; starting with flour and ending with flour. Add nuts, raisins and dates if you wish. Bake it in a greased and floured 9x13 inch pan at 350 for 45-50 minutes.
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Banana oatmeal cookies
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Ann Reed
submitted by Lou Emma Lenon Erby
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1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking Soda
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg
2 cups quick oats
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 cup nuts
3/4 teaspoon salt (if margarine is used, omit the salt)
Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Cut in the shortening and add the egg and bananas. Stir in the oats and nuts. Drop it by a teaspoon onto a cookie sheet and bake it at 350 for approximately ten minutes.
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Eggless, milkless, butterless cake
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Sherry Smith Alstat
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2 cups brown sugar
2 cups hot water
1 pound raisins
2/3 cup shortening
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Combine the water, sugar, raisins, shortening, and spices. Boil it for three minutes, then add the baking soda, baking powder, flour, and nuts. Beat it until it is smooth. Turn it into a greased and floured tube pan and bake it at 350 until a cake tester comes out clean, about forty five minutes, or maybe a bit longer.
This recipe was among my Grandma Russell s recipes and was given to me by my mother, Louemma Smith.
Editor s note: Looking at the ingredients, it s hard to imagine that they will produce cake, and doesn t seem to fit any of the many varieties. There are butter cakes, which this obviously isn t. It certainly isn t a sponge cake. There s no chocolate, so it isn t a chocolate cake. It doesn t sound like coffee cake, although you could drink coffee with it if you wanted.
There are flourless cakes, but this is eggless, milkless, and butterless, but not flourless. It isn t a cheesecake; despite their name, cheesecakes aren t really cakes at all, and this cake probably isn t technically any more a cake than cheesecake is. Butter or oil layer cakes include most of the traditional cakes used as birthday cakes, etcetera, and this has none.
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Spud n spice cake
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Sherry Smith Alstat
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Combine in a large bowl and cream thoroughly:
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup cold mashed potatoes
3/4 cup shortening
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Add 3 unbeaten eggs, mix it well, and add:
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
Add it alternately with two cups of flour to the creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add the chopped nuts if desired. Bake in a 350 oven for 50-60 minutes.
For the caramel frosting, melt 1/4 cup of butter in a pan and stir in 3/4 cup of brown sugar. Continue cooking it over low heat for two minutes. Add three tablespoons of milk and bring it to a full boil. Let it cool and add two cups of sifted powdered sugar. Beat this until it will spread well.
Editor s note: Potatoes were introduced to Europe in the second half of the sixteenth century by the Spanish. Wild potato species can be found throughout the Americas from the United States to southern Chile. The potato was originally believed to have been domesticated independently in multiple locations, but later genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species proved a single origin for potatoes in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia (from a species in the Solanum brevicaule complex), where they were domesticated approximately 7,000 10,000 years ago. There are now over a thousand different types of potatoes.
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Strawberry shortcut cake
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Kent J. Alstat
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3 ounces strawberry gelatin
miniature marshmallows
1 package white or yellow cake mix
3 cups fresh, sweetened strawberries or 2 ten ounce packages frozen strawberries, thawed
Mix the strawberries and dry gelatin together and set it aside. Grease the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan and cover the bottom of the pot with a single layer of miniature marshmallows. Make the cake mix according to the package directions and pour the batter over the marshmallows, and top it with the strawberry gelatin mixture. Bake it at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Let it cool and then refrigerate it. Serve it with ice cream or whipped cream.
Note: While baking, the strawberries will sink to the bottom and the marshmallows will rise to the top.
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Peanut butter cookies
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Clara Lenon Russell
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1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
Cream the sugars and butter together well. Beat in the egg and peanut butter. Add the remaining ingredients, mixing them well. Shape the shapeless dough into one inch balls and arrange them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten them with a fork and bake for 10-12 minutes in a 350 oven.
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Lemon orange cake
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Sherry Smith Alstat
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6 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate
1 package lemon cake mix
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups coconut
Follow the package directions for mixing the cake mix. Bake it in a 9x13 inch pan at the temperature given on the box. Meanwhile, while the cake is baking, mix the orange juice, sugar, and brown sugar together. Heat it over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring it to a boil and remove it from the heat. Add the coconut and nuts and stir to mix it.
Spread it on the cake when the cake is done but not fully browned. Put the cake back in the oven and bake it until the topping is bubbly and lightly browned.
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Granny s sugar cookies
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Louemma Russell Smith
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Cream 1/2 cup of butter and one cup of sugar together, then blend in one medium whole egg or two small egg yolks. Sift together and add to the mixture:
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sifted flour
Blend 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla into the mixture, then roll it out. Cut them with cookie cutters and bake them on a lightly greased cookie sheet in a preheated 400 oven for 8-10 minutes. For extra sparkle and color, glaze your cookies, using this simple recipe:
Blend together 3/4 cup of sifted powdered sugar and 3-4 teaspoons of water. Follow the directions on the food coloring to attain the desired color. While the cookies are warm, brush them with the glaze.
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Tunnel of fudge cake
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Sherry Smith Alstat
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1 1/2 cups soft margarine
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 box fudge frosting mix
2 cups chopped walnuts
Cream the margarine in a large mixer bowl at the high speed of the mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating them well after each addition. Gradually add the sugar and continue creaming it at high speed until it is light and fluffy. Stir in the flour, frosting mix, and walnuts by hand. Pour the batter into a greased ten inch tube pan and bake it at 350 for 60-65 minutes. Cool it for two hours and remove it from the pan. Cool it completely before serving it. There s no need for frosting, it s inside the cake!
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Molasses Christmas cookies
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Lou Emma Lenon Erby
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3 tablespoons melted shortening
5 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 tablespoon milk
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Sift the dry ingredients together, and mix the sugar and shortening well. Add the molasses and milk, then add the dry ingredients to the sugar and shortening mixture. Chill it and roll out the dough 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured board. Cut the cookies with Christmas cookie cutters and bake them in a 275 oven until lightly browned.
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New 7-Up cake with topping
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Sherry Smith Alstat
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1 package lemon cake mix
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
10 ounces 7-Up
1 small package pineapple instant pudding
Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl. Beat it with a mixer for 3-4 minutes. Bake it in a greased and floured 9x13 inch pan, or in three layer pans, in a 350 oven until done when tested with a toothpick. For the topping:
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 beaten eggs
1 stick softened margarine
20 ounces crushed pineapple, with juice
7 ounces coconut
Mix the sugar and flour together in a heavy saucepan. Add the beaten eggs and mix them well. Add the soft margarine and the crushed pineapple with the juice. Cook it over low heat, stirring constantly until it s thick. Remove it from the heat and stir in the coconut. Cool it for twenty minutes and spread it on the top of the cake, and between the layers and on top of a three layer cake.
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Dixie cake frosting
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Sherry Smith Alstat
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Bake one box of yellow cake mix according to the directions on the box. Mix two packages instant butterscotch pudding and 3 1/2 cups milk. Blend in 1/2 cup of peanut butter. Cool the cake and cover it with the above mixture after it is set. Spread one large carton of whipped topping on it and refrigerate it. Serves 12-18.
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Old fashioned molasses cake
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Bernice Lenon Nichols
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1 cup sorghum
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup sugar
1 cup lard
2 eggs
Cream the lard and sugar, and add the eggs and beat it well. Add the milk and sorghum, stir it, and set it aside.
Sift about eight cups of flour into a large milk crock and make a deep hole in the center. In the last cups of flour add the following:
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
Mix it well and add it to the sugar mixture, and pour it in the center and mix it until a soft dough forms. When it s easy to handle, place it in a large bowl and chill it.
Have a floured board ready. Use about a teacup of dough and roll it to 1/3 inch thick and cut it out with a small plate. Place it in pie tins or on a cookie sheet. Bake it in a 350 oven for ten minutes. Stack them, starting with cooked, sweetened, dried apples to go between each layer. When it s finished the top will be plain. Place a dinner plate and a small weight on top until it is cool. It can be kept in an air-tight can.
It s better when a week old. When rolling the dough, use the flour on the board and sprinkle it on top. These cakes are big cookies, hard to handle.
It is better to cook the evaporated apples the day before. It takes about two packages from the store. They are not as good as our oven-dried apples but I use them. Apple butter or applesauce doesn t work.
This is Mama s recipe. She was Loummea (Lula) Sanders Lenon and and I got this recipe from her in 1915.
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Speedeluxe white cake
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Louemma Russell Smith
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Preparation: Have the shortening at room temperature. Grease the pans, line the bottoms with waxed paper, and grease them again. Use two deep nine inch layer pans or a 13x9x2 inch pan. Preheat the oven to 350 . Sift the flour once before measuring it.
For the meringue, beat the egg whites with a rotary beater or at high speed of an electric mixer until it s foamy. Add 1/2 cup of sugar gradually, beating only until the mixture will hold up in soft peaks. Measure into a sifter:
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
Measure 2/3 cup vegetable shortening into a bowl. Measure into the cup one cup of milk and one teaspoon of vanilla.*
Beat five egg whites to meringue and beat 1/2 cup sugar into the egg whites.
Now the Mix-Easy Part: Mix or stir the shortening just to soften it. Sift in the dry ingredients and add 3/4 of the liquid. Mix it until all the flour is dampened then beat for one minute. Add the remaining liquid, blend and beat for two minutes longer, then add the meringue mixture and beat it for one minute. Count only the actual beating time or count the beating strokes. Allow at least 100 full strokes per minute. Scrape the bowl and spoon or beater often.
Baking: Turn the batter into pans. Bake it at 350 for about fifteen minutes for a 13x2 inch cake. Spread it with easy chocolate frosting. Bake the layers about thirty five minutes at 350 .
*Editor s note: I think there s a typo in this sentence, as it seems to make no sense, but it s as the original Lenon cookbook directed. Should cup be bowl , I wonder?
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Sorghum cake
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Louemma Russell Smith
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1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon clove
1/4 cup milk
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup sorghum
1/4 cup melted shortening
Sift the dry ingredients together and set them aside. Combine the milk, egg, sorghum and melted shortening, then mix them well with the dry ingredients. Pour it into a greased and floured eight inch square cake pan. Bake it at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until the cake tests done. It s very good with a little whipped cream. This was a favorite of my Grandma Russell.
Editor s note: The illustration is a sorghum plant. Sorghum bicolor, commonly called sorghum and also known as great millet, durra, jowari, or milo. It is a grass species cultivated for its grain, which is used for food for humans, animal feed, and ethanol production. Sorghum originated in northern Africa, and is now cultivated widely in tropical and subtropical regions. Sorghum is the world s fifth-most important cereal crop after rice, wheat, corn, and barley. Sorghum bicolor is typically an annual, but some cultivars are perennial. It grows in clumps that may reach over 4 yards high. The grain is small, ranging from 1/50 to 1/25 inch in diameter. Sweet sorghums are sorghum cultivars that are primarily grown for foliage, syrup production, and ethanol; they are taller than those grown for grain.
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Prune apricot cake
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Louemma Russell Smith
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1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
Beat them together with a mixer until they are creamy.
1 small jar baby food strained prunes
1 small jar baby food strained apricots
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
Mix all of the above with the first three ingredients and add two cups of flour and one cup of chopped nuts, and mix it well. Bake it in a 350 oven for fifty minutes if using bread pans, or an hour and ten minutes if using a bundt pan. Make sure to grease the pans well. Serve whipped cream on top or just plain.
Editor s note: Usually, an apricot tree is from the species P. armeniaca, but the species P. brigantina, P. mandshurica, P. mume, and P. sibirica are closely related, have similar fruit, and are also called apricots.
The scientific name armeniaca was first used by Gaspard Bauhin in his Pinax Theatri Botanici (1623), referring to the species as Mala Armeniaca, meaning Armenian apple . Linnaeus took up Bauhin s epithet in the first edition of his Species Plantarum in 1753, Prunus Armeniaca. Apricot derives from praecocia (praecoquus) as cooked or ripened beforehand, in this case meaning early ripening, and from Greek praik kion as apricot . The English name first appeared in the sixteenth century as abrecock from the Middle French aubercot or later abricot, from Catalan a(l)bercoc.
There are both sweet and tart varieties.
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Prune pumpkin cake
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Louemma Russell Smith
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1 cup cut up pitted prunes
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
1 cup pumpkin
2 eggs
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 cup water
Cut up the prunes and cover them with boiling water to plump them and set it aside. Sift the flour, soda, salt, and spices together and set it aside. Cream the shortening and sugar together. Add the eggs and beat it well. Combine the pumpkin and water. Add the flour mixture to the creamed ingredients, blending them well with each addition. Drain the cut up prunes, saving the water (see the end of the recipe), and stir them into the batter. Pour it into a well greased 13x9x2 inch pan and bake it at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until done. Makes twelve large servings.
The water from the drained prunes can be used, adding more to make 1/3 cup water.
Icing for the pumpkin prune cake:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon white syrup
1 stick melted margarine
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and boil it for two minutes. Pour it over the prune cake while it is still hot.
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Fresh apple cake
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Lou Emma Smith
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4 cups diced apple
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup nuts
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
Place the apples, sugar, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl and let it stand until the syrup comes up. Beat the eggs and add the baking soda to the flour, then add all the other ingredients. Bake it in a greased and floured 9x13 inch pan at 350 for 40-45 minutes. For the topping:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
3 ounces cream cheese
1 egg
Combine the sugar, flour, butter, milk, and egg. Cook it over low heat until it is thick. Add the cream cheese and stir until it s smooth. Let it cool and add one package of whipped topping mix which has been prepared as directed on the package. Spread it on the cool cake. It makes a good moist cake.
Instead of mixing the topping, a small carton of whipped cream can be used.
This recipe was given to me by Nancy Griffin several years ago and I found it to be delicious!
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Rhubarb cake
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Louemma Russell Smith
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1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups finely chopped fresh rhubarb (can be frozen but you must thaw it first).
Cream the shortening and brown sugar, then beat in the egg. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add it to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Fold in the rhubarb and pour it into a greased 13x9x2 inch pan. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle it over the batter. Bake at 350 for thirty minutes or until nicely browned.
This came from the Prairie Farmer, June 1971 issue and was given to me by Sylvia Morrison. She said this was a very good recipe and I found that to be true.
Editor s note: In culinary use, fresh raw rhubarb leaf stalks (petioles) are crisp with a strong, tart taste. Although rhubarb is not a true fruit, in the kitchen it is usually prepared as if it were. Most commonly, the stalks are cooked with sugar and used in pies, crumbles and other desserts. A number of varieties have been domesticated for human consumption, most of which are recognized as Rheum x hybridum by the British Royal Horticultural Society.
Rhubarb contains anthraquinones including rhein, and emodin and their glycosides (e.g. glucorhein), which impart cathartic and laxative properties. It is hence useful as a cathartic in case of constipation.
However, it does contain oxalic acid, which can result in kidney stones.
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Lemon sheet cake
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Louemma Russell Smith
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1 package lemon gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1 box yellow cake mix
3/4 cup salad oil
4 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon flavoring
Pour the boiling water into the gelatin in a small bowl. Mix it until it is dissolved, then let it cool. Put the cake mix into the large bowl of the electric mixer and add the oil, beating it at a moderate speed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add the lemon flavoring, then the cooled gelatin, using the low speed of the mixer.
Turn it into a greased and floured 9x14 inch baking pan and bake it at 350 for thirty five minutes, or until done when tested. Remove it from the oven and make holes in the top of the cake by inserting the point of a paring knife all over. Mix one cup of powdered sugar with the juice of 1-2 lemons until the sugar forms a thin glaze, and pour this over the top of the cake. It will form a glaze and seal the holes while seeping through the cake.
Editor s note: During the Great Depression, there was a surplus of molasses and the need to provide easily made food to millions of economically depressed people in the United States. One company patented a cake-bread mix in order to deal with this economic situation, and thereby established the first line of cake in a box. In so doing, cake as it is known today became a mass-produced good rather than a home or bakery made specialty.
Later, during the post-war boom, other American companies (notably General Mills) developed this idea further, marketing cake mix on the principle of convenience, especially to housewives. They became bored with box cakes and sales dropped in the 1950s before marketers saved box cakes.
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Mocha cake
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Maxine (Smith) Mann
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2 cups sifted flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup hot coffee
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup boiling water
Cream the sugar and shortening together until it s fluffy. Sift the dry ingredients together and add it to the sugar and shortening that have had the eggs beaten into them. Alternatively add the hot coffee and the hot water and beat it with a mixer on medium after each addition. Bake it in a 9x13 inch loaf pan for 35-40 minutes, or two nine inch layer pans for 25-30 minutes, in a 350 oven. Test for doneness. Frost it with Mocha Butter Icing. For the Mocha Butter Icing, blend 1/4 cup of butter until softened. Add:
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound powdered sugar
1/3-1/2 cup cream
Blend it well. Add:
1/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon instant coffee
Blend it until it is smooth and spread it on the cake while it s still warm, if possible.
Editor s note: A coffee cake made of coffee! How about that...
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Pineapple sheet cake
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Maxine (Smith) Mann
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2 cups crushed pineapple, juice and all
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Beat the eggs and add the sugar, pineapple, and vanilla and mix it well. Sift the flour and baking soda and add it to the above mixture, then add the nuts. Mix it well after each addition. Bake it in a greased and floured cookie sheet at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Add the icing as soon as the cake comes out of the oven. For the icing:
1 stick softened margarine
8 ounces cream cheese
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Cream the margarine and cheese, and add the remaining ingredients. The icing will be thick but will spread easily on a hot cake.
Editor s note: The word pineapple in English was first recorded to describe the reproductive organs of conifer trees, now called pine cones . When European explorers encountered this tropical fruit in the Americas, they called them pineapples , first referenced in 1664, for resemblance to pine cones.
The pineapple is a herbaceous perennial, which grows to 3.3-4.9 feet tall, although sometimes it can be taller. In appearance, the plant has a short, stocky stem with tough, waxy leaves.
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Chocolate take cake
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Maxine Smith Mann
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Put two cups of sugar and two cups of flour in a large bowl, and 1/2 cup of shortening or a stick of margarine, four tablespoons of cocoa, and one cup of water in a saucepan. Bring this to a boil and pour it over the sugar and flour and mix it well. Add:
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 slightly beaten eggs
Mix it well and bake it in a loaf pan at 350 for 30-35 minutes. About five minutes before the cake is done, begin:
4 tablespoons cocoa
6 tablespoons milk
1 stick margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 box powdered sugar
pecans
Bring the cocoa, milk, and margarine to a boil. Remove it from the heat and add the sugar, vanilla, and pecans. Spread it on the cake while the cake is hot.
Editor s note: The illustration is Paul Gavarni s Woman Chocolate Vendor.
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Banana pineapple cake
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Maxine Smith Mann
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3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups cooking oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
2 cups diced bananas
8 ounces crushed pineapple with juice
Sift the dry ingredients together. Add the remaining ingredients and stir it to blend. Add the bananas and stir it again. Bake it in a nine inch tube pan or a greased bundt pan for an hour and twenty minutes at 350 . Let it cool in the pan. Add frosting if desired.
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
5 separated eggs
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg yolks and lemon rind until it s thick and a pale color. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients until it is smooth. Beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks, then fold it into the batter. Bake it in a greased and floured tube pan or a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 65-70 minutes until the cake pulls slightly away from the sides of the pan. Turn it out on the rack to cool it.
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Applesauce cake
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Mabel Diebold
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3/4 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups dark raisins
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped black walnuts
2 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon each cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg
Cream the shortening and sugar and add the eggs. Blend in the applesauce and add the baking soda a in pan with boiling water. In another dry bowl, mix the dry ingredients with the flour, salt, and spices. Add this to the creamed mixture, alternating between the flour mixture, then the water mixture, until it s well blended. Add the vanilla, raisins, and nuts. Put it in a greased and floured tube pan and bake it for 1 1/2 hours at 350 . Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for a while. Loosen it from the sides with a knife and let it stand upright for two hours, then remove it from the pan. Pecans can be used but the flavor of black walnuts is much better.
Editor s note: Applesauce was once a food prepared for winter, since it keeps well. It is often an accompaniment to a main course. In Sweden and Britain, applesauce is usually eaten as a condiment for roast pork. In Germany it accompanies potato pancakes, in the Netherlands, French fries. In France, where it is referred to as compote , it is mostly viewed as a dessert.
Applesauce can be used in baking as a substitute for fat (such as butter or oil) or eggs.
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Cherry cake
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Loudene Lenon Davis
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1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 egg
1/3 cup chopped nut meats
2 cups drained sour cherries, retaining the juice
Mix the ingredients together and bake it for one hour at 300 . Serve it topped with ice cream or whipped cream and cherry sauce, made as follows:
juice from the cherries
water as needed for servings
Sweeten it to taste. Add a bit of lemon juice and cinnamon and thicken it with cornstarch.
Editor s note: Cherry cake is a traditional British cake. The cake consists of glac cherries evenly suspended within a Madeira sponge. Glac cherries are used because the moisture within fresh cherries causes them to sink to the bottom of any cake, ruining the cake s form. The cherries are usually halved or quartered, then washed and floured to help prevent sinking. Cakes with cherries inside them are found in many other cuisines, such as the Zuger Kirschtorte, which is Swiss for cherry torte from Zug . It is a layer cake from Switzerland that consists of layers of nut-meringue, sponge cake and butter cream, and is flavored with cherry brandy kirschwasser.
Another one is the Black Forest g teau in British English or Black Forest cake in American English. It is a chocolate sponge cake with a rich cherry filling based on the German dessert Schwarzw lder Kirschtorte, which is German for Black Forest Kirsch-torte .
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Lazy daisy cake
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Loudene Lenon Davis
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Beat two eggs and add:
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
Mix it well and add all at once:
1/2 cup boiling milk
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
Bake it in an eight inch pan at 350 for thirty minutes. For the broiled icing:
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
Combine all of the ingredients and spread it over the warm baked cake. Place it under the broiler until the caramel is bubbly and brown, about three minutes. Serve it warm or cold.
Editor s note: Of course there are no daisies in this cake, which obviously gets its name from a silly rhyme.
There are many varieties of daisy. The bellis perennis is a common European species of daisy, of the Asteraceae family, often considered the archetypal species of that name.
Many related plants also share the name daisy , so to distinguish this species from other daisies it is sometimes qualified as common daisy, lawn daisy or English daisy. Historically, it has also been commonly known as bruisewort and occasionally woundwort. It is native to western, central and northern Europe.
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Caramel-cheese frosting
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Louemma Russell Smith
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1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 ounces cream cheese
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
3 cups powdered sugar
Melt the margarine in a small saucepan and stir in the brown sugar and salt. Bring it to a boil and boil it hard for two minutes, stirring constantly. Remove it from the heat and add the milk, stirring vigorously. Return it to the heat and bring it to a boil again. Set it aside to cool for about fifteen minutes.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and two cups of powdered sugar. Blend in the cooked mixture. Add the remaining water and beat it until it s smooth and cool enough to spread. If the frosting stiffens too quickly while spreading it, beat in a few drops of milk. There will be enough to frost the tops and sides of two eight or nine inch layers.
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Quick butterscotch frosting
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Loudene Lenon Davis
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1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup confectioner s sugar
Combine the brown sugar, shortening, butter, and salt in a saucepan and bring it to a boil, stirring it constantly. Add the milk and cook it over low heat for three minutes, then let it cool. Add the confectioner s sugar and beat it until it is thick enough to spread.
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Seven layer bars
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Melanie E. Karas Bell
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1/4 cup margarine
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup shredded coconut
6 ounces Semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 ounces butterscotch chips
15 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chopped nuts
Melt the margarine in a 13x9 inch pan. Sprinkle crumbs over the margarine layer. Top it with coconut, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips, making each a separate layer. Pour the milk over all of it. Top it with it nuts and bake it at 350 for thirty minutes.
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Scotch cookies
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Marie Lenon Kelley
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1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 cup rolled wheat
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
Put the egg, sugar, and butter in a bowl and beat it well. Add the rolled wheat and mix it well. Drop the dough by spoonfuls on a well-greased baking pan, leaving room for the cookies to spread. Bake it at 350 for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned. Makes eighteen cookies.
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Raisin carrot cookies
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Louemma Russell Smith
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1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 slightly beaten egg
1 cup flour
1/4 cup non-fat dry milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup grated carrots
3/4 cup raisins
Beat the oil, brown sugar, molasses and egg together. Combine the flour, dry milk, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add the oil to the mixture. Add the rolled oats, carrots, and raisins and blend it thoroughly. Drop it by heaping teaspoonfuls on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake it about ten minutes in a 400 oven, and cool it on a cake rack.
Editor s note: The carrot (Daucus carota subspecies sativus) is usually orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist. Carrots are a domesticated form of the wild carrot, Daucus carota, native to Europe and southwestern Asia. The plant probably originated in Persia and was originally cultivated for its leaves and seeds. The most commonly eaten part of the plant is the taproot, although the greens are sometimes eaten as well. The domestic carrot has been selectively bred for its greatly enlarged, more palatable, less woody-textured taproot.
The carrot is a biennial plant in the umbellifer family Apiaceae. At first, it grows a rosette of leaves while building up the enlarged taproot. Fast-growing cultivars mature within three months of sowing the seed.
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Molasses cookies
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Maxine Smith Mann
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3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
2 scant teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
granulated sugar
Cream the shortening and sugar, and add the egg and molasses. Sift the salt, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves into the shortening mixture. Combine it well and roll the dough into small balls, about 3/4 inch in diameter. Roll the balls in granulated sugar. Place them on a cookie sheet but don t flatten them; they will spread out during baking. Bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes. Makes about four dozen.
Editor s note: It s been decades since I ve seen molasses and I m not sure it s still available. It s also called black treacle (British, for human consumption; known as molasses otherwise), and is a viscous product resulting from refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. Molasses varies by amount of sugar, method of extraction, and age of plant. Sugarcane molasses is primarily used for sweetening and flavoring foods in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere, while sugar beet molasses is foul-smelling and unpalatable, so it is mostly used as an animal feed additive in Europe and Russia. Molasses is a defining component of fine commercial brown sugar.
Sweet sorghum syrup may be colloquially called sorghum molasses in the southern United States. Similar products include honey, maple syrup, and corn syrup.
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Boston cookies
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Jeanette Morgan Crown
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Set the oven at 350 . Sift together:
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
few grains salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Cream together:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
Add one well beaten egg and mix it well. Stir in half of the flour. Add:
1/3 cup chopped nut meats
1/3 cup chopped seeded raisins
Add the rest of the flour. Arrange it by spoonfuls one inch apart on buttered cookie sheets. Bake it until it s delicately brown, about twelve minutes. Makes about thirty six.
Editor s note: The illustration is Boston Harbor. Boston is the capital city and most populous municipality in Massachusetts. The city proper covers 48 square miles with an estimated population of 687,584 in 2017, making it also the most populous city in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Boston is the seat of Suffolk County as well, although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest such area in the country.
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Brownies for a crowd
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Eileen Bongiorno Karas
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1 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound chocolate syrup
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
Beat the sugar and margarine together until it s light. Beat in the eggs two at a time and then beat in the vanilla. Stir in the syrup, then the flour, baking powder, and nuts. Pour it into a greased 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan. Bake it at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until the top springs back when touched lightly. Makes five dozen. Frost it with the following recipe:
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons margarine
6 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup chocolate pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla
Place the sugar, margarine, and milk in a Saucepan. Bring it to a boil, stirring continuously. Boil it for thirty seconds, then add the chocolate pieces. Stir it and let it cool slightly. Stir in the vanilla and let it cool completely before spreading it on the cooled brownies.
Editor s note: A legend about the first brownies is that of Bertha Palmer, a prominent Chicago socialite whose husband owned the Palmer House Hotel. In 1893 Palmer asked a pastry chef for a dessert suitable for ladies attending the Chicago World s Colombian Exposition, a cake-like confection smaller than a piece of cake. The result was the Palmer House Brownie with walnuts and an apricot glaze.
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Sorghum cookies
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Mabel Diebold
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3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup lard or margarine
3/4 cup sorghum
2 eggs
Cream the shortening and sugar together, add the well beaten eggs, then the sorghum. Mix in the dry ingredients and chill it overnight. Roll it out thin and cut it in the desired shapes. Bake it for 8-10 minutes in a 400 oven.
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Mince meat cookies
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Mabel Diebold
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1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup mince meat mix
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cream the shortening in a large bowl. Gradually add the sugar, blending it well after each addition. Add the eggs and beat it until it is smooth. Sift the flour, soda, and salt, and add it to the creamed mixture. Stir in the mince meat and drop the batter with a teaspoon onto greased baking sheets about two inches apart. Bake them in a 400 oven about twelve minutes, or until lightly brown. Makes six dozen two inch cookies.
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Pecan pie bars
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Shirley Reeves
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1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar, divided
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
2 tablespoons melted margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
Mix the flour and the two tablespoons of brown sugar well in a small bowl. Work in 1/2 cup of butter with your fingers, until the dough begins to hold together. Press it onto the bottom of a greased nine inch square pan. Bake it in a pre- heated 350 oven for 12-15 minutes or until just firm.
Lightly beat 1/2 cup of brown sugar and the eggs in a medium bowl. Add the corn syrup, pecans, melted butter, salt, and vanilla, and mix it well. Pour it over the crust and bake it for twenty five minutes or just until the edges are lightly browned. Cool it in the pan on a rack and cut it into bars.
Editor s note: The pecan (Carya illinoinensis) is a species of hickory native to Mexico and the Southern United States. Unusually, there is little agreement in the United States, even regionally, as to the correct pronunciation of the word pecan .
A pecan, like the fruit of all other members of the hickory genus, is not truly a nut, but is technically a drupe, a fruit with a single stone or pit, surrounded by a husk. The husks are produced from the exocarp tissue of the flower, while the part known as the nut develops from the endocarp and contains the seed. The husk itself is aeneous (brassy greenish-gold in color), oval to oblong in shape, 1 2.4 inches long and 0.59 1.18 inches broad. The outer husk is 0.12 0.16 inches) thick.
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White velvet cookies
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Shirley Reeves
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1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
3 ounces cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups sifted flour
Cream the mar-garine well and add the sugar, egg yolk, and the cream cheese, which has been softened to room temperature. Beat it until it s fluffy, then add the remaining ingredients and mix them well. Drop it by the teaspoon on a cookie sheet and bake it for 12-14 minutes at 350 .
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Graham bars
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Sharon Lenon McIntire
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3 cups graham cracker crumbs, about 36 squares
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/4 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix all of the ingredients and spread it in a greased nine inch square pan. Bake it for thirty five minutes in a 350 oven or until the cake pulls from the sides of the pan. Cool it and cut it. Makes eighteen bars.
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Diet cookies
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Shirley Reeves
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1/2 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup chopped apples
1 cup raisins
1 cup water
1 cup shortening
2 beaten eggs
3 teaspoons liquid sweetener
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup chopped pecans
Bring the dates, apples, raisins, and water to a boil for three minutes, then let it cool. Add the remaining ingredients to the cooling mixture. When it s cool, Mix it and put it in the refrigerator overnight. Drop it by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet and bake it for 10-12 minutes in a 350 oven.
Editor s note: The first popular diet was Banting , named after William Banting. In his 1863 pamphlet, Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public, he outlined the details of a particular low-carbohydrate, low-calorie diet that had led to his own dramatic weight loss.
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Cheese cake cookies
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Terrie Nichols
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cream cheese cake mix
canned cherry pie filling
vanilla wafers
Mix the cake mix as directed, using 1/4 more milk than the recipe calls for. Cool it in the refrigerator for ten minutes and stir it well to mix it. Turn the cookies bottom-up and put on a dab of cake mix, then a cherry. They do not need baking.
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Peanut butter apple bars
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Bernice Lenon Nichols
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3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup chunk style peanut butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup margarine, room temperature
Beat the margarine and peanut butter on the medium speed of a mixer. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat it again. Add the eggs, one at a time, until they are well combined. Stir in the applesauce, rolled oats and wheat germ.
Add the flour and soda and beat the mixture slowly on low speed until all is well blended. Bake it in a preheated 350 oven in a greased 12x15x2 inch baking dish for twenty five minutes, or until it s done when tested. When it s done, cut it into bars. This will freeze well.
Editor s note: Peanut butter is made from ground dry roasted peanuts. It often contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners or emulsifiers.
I was taught in grade school that George Washington Carver invented peanut butter, but it has been around since the Aztecs were on Earth. Carver actually was a botanist who talked cotton farmers into rotating crops.
Marcellus Gilmore Edson (1849 1940) of Montreal, Canada obtained a patent for peanut butter in 1884. Edson s cooled product had a consistency like that of butter, lard, or ointment according to his patent application which described a process of milling roasted peanuts until the peanuts reached a fluid or semi-fluid state .
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Borrachitos (little drunkards)
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Lou Emma Lenon Erby
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1 cup shortening
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
3 cups sifted flour
1/4 cup Claret or other wine
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons sugar
Cream the shortening and sugar. Add the salt and egg yolks and mix them well. Add the flour alternately with the wine. Shape them into small balls, between the palms. Flatten each cookie with the bottom of a glass, dipped in the cinnamon and sugar that have been mixed together. Bake at 375 for about ten minutes and sprinkle with more cinnamon and sugar while they re hot, heavy on the cinnamon if you wish. Makes 7-8 dozen.
Editor s note: In Mexico, borrachitos are a registered trademark before the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property. They are sweet milk wraps made of flour and sprinkled with a lot of sugar and with a creamy filling of a wide range of flavors; the main ones are lemon, pineapple, strawberry, and rompope. The main distinction of this candy is the liquor.
They were first made by nuns who lived in the convents of Santa Clara and Santa Rosa during colonial times. The great Spanish influence was mixed with the culture of the indigenous peoples, and that is how they emerged. In those times, these sweets were given to the benefactors as a token of gratitude, but over time it was observed that they could profit from the manufacture and sale of these.
From that time, until today, the production of these sweets made from milk is supported by the immense demand of eager consumers of this sweet. It is currently considered one of the most traditional and emblematic Mexican desserts.
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Applesauce brownies
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Crystal Dawn Erby
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Melt 1/2 cup of shortening and two ounces of unsweetened chocolate over hot water. Blend in:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
2 well beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Sift together and stir in:
1 cup sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon double action baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Fold in 1/2 cup of chopped nuts and spread it in a greased and floured 9x9x2 inch square pan. Bake 35-40 minutes in a 350 oven or until the top springs back when lightly touched. While hot, cut it into oblong pieces, 1 1/2x2 1/4 inches. Cool and remove it from the pan with a spatula. Makes twenty four brownies.
Editor s note: I ve found that brownies are better served warm, so microwaving one for fifteen to twenty seconds makes the cold brownie better.
The way a microwave oven works is by sending seven hundred to twelve hundred watts of radio frequency energy, the same frequency as water molecules at your food, which excite the water molecules, causing the heat.
Because of this, if you microwave frozen chili, especially greasy chili, the soup will be nearly boiling, while the grease on top is still frozen. For this reason, when you microwave something, especially soups or vegetables, leave it in the oven for a minute or so to let the heat transfer thoroughly through the food.
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Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies
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Jeff L. Mann
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1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1-1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate pieces
3/4 cup chunk-style peanut butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice or water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 350 with an oven rack in the center position. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease it lightly (You ll need extra sheets of lightly greased foil for other batches).
In a large mixing bowl using a wooden spoon, or in the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter with the peanut butter until the mixture is soft. Beat in the brown sugar, then the granulated sugar, beating after each addition until the mixture is light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in the orange juice or water and the vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking sugar, baking powder, and salt. Fold the flour mixture into the creamed mixture, then stir in the chocolate pieces.
Divide the dough into four equal portions. Using a seven inch pot lid or round baking pan or a plate, use a fingertip to mark a circle onto the greased surface of each foil-covered baking sheet. If you only have one baking sheet, form the dough for subsequent cookies on sheets of greased foil, then slip each in turn onto tho cooled sheet after each baking. Heap each portion in the center of the ring marked on the foil. With your hand or a rubber spatula, pat the dough for each cookie out into a neat circle inside the marking.
Bake the cookies one at a time. If you want to bake fewer than four maximonsters, measure out 1 cup of dough for each one, shaping them as above, and form smaller cookies out of the rest. Bake each maximonster for about 15-16 minutes, then slide the foil, with the cookies, onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes four maximonster cookies about nine inches in diameter. They can be refrigerated or frozen for extended storage.
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Congo squares
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Lou Emma Lenon Erby
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Sift together and set aside:
2 3/4 cups sifted flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Melt 2/3 of a cup of shortening. Stir in 2 1/4 cups of brown sugar and allow it to cool slightly. Beat in three eggs one at a time, beating it well after each addition. Add to the flour mixture one cup of broken nuts and one package of semi-sweet chocolate pieces. Blend it well; the batter will be very stiff. Stir in the nuts and chocolate pieces with a wooden spoon and pour it into a greased, waxed paper-lined 10 1/2x15 1/2x3/4 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. When it has cooled, cut it into 2x2 inch squares. Makes forty eight.
This was my Dad s favorite. He said they tasted more like his Grandmother, Mary Jane Matthews Lenon s Molasses cake than any he had ever eaten.
Editor s note: The illustration is the Democratic Republic of the Congo s coat of arms.
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Oatmeal jumble bars
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Sherry Smith Alstat
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3 cups oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
10-12 ounce jar of preserves (I use strawberry)
1 cup melted margarine
3/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Heat the oven to 400 and grease a 13x9 inch baking pan. Combine all of the ingredients except the preserves in a large bowl, mixing them well. Reserve one cup of the mixture and press the remaining onto the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread the preserves evenly over the base to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the pan, and sprinkle it evenly with the reserved mixture. Bake it for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool it completely and cut it into small bars.
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Easy butterscotch crispies
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Sherry (Smith) Alstat
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1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup margarine
1 package butterscotch pudding mix (4 serving size)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Preheat the oven to 325 . Combine the first five ingredients in a large bowl. Blend them thoroughly at the medium speed of your mixer, then stir in the flour and nuts by hand. Press the dough into a 15 1/2x10 1/2 inch pan and bake it for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove it from the oven and cut it into squares. Cool it for five minutes and remove it from the pan.
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Chewy oatmeal cookies
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Carole Penrod Morgan
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1 1/3 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup raisins
2 cups uncooked oatmeal
1/2 cup nuts, if desired
3/4 cup soft shortening
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices into a large mixing bowl. Add the shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla and beat it until it s smooth, about two minutes. Stir in the oats, raisins, and nuts. Drop it by heaping teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheets and bake them in a preheated oven about 350 for 12-15 minutes. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.
Editor s note: The photo is by a fellow named Paul Martin.
Oatmeal is made of hulled oat grains called groats that have either been milled (ground), steel-cut, or rolled. Ground oats are also called white oats . Steel-cut oats are known as coarse oatmeal or Irish oatmeal or pinhead oats . Rolled oats can be either thick or thin, and may be old-fashioned or quick or instant . The term oatmeal is also used in the U.S., Australia, and parts of Canada as another word for an oat porridge made from either the ground, steel-cut, or rolled oats.
The oat grains are dehusked by impact, then heated and cooled to stabilize the oat groats. The process of heating produces a nutty flavor in the oats.
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Monster cookies
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Louemma Russell Smith
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12 eggs
2 pounds brown sugar
4 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 pound plain M&Ms
8 teaspoons baking soda
1 pound butter (not margarine)
3 pounds peanut butter
18 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1 pound chocolate chips
1 tablespoon white corn syrup
If you are making the full recipe, have a dishpan ready. Cream the butter, sugar, and corn syrup. Add the eggs, stirring until they are mixed, and add the vanilla and stir it. Combine the baking soda with the oatmeal and add it to the above ingredients, and stir it well again. Add the chocolate chips and M&Ms and stir it again. Roll it into balls the size of a large walnut and flatten them. Bake them about 10-12 minutes on cookie sheets in a 350 oven. When they are cool, lift them from the cookie sheets onto a flat surface. They will store well. Believe it or not, but this took me one whole Sunday afternoon to make this batch of cookies, but it was a lot of fun.
Editor s note: I wonder if Jim Henson got the idea for the Cookie Monster from these cookies? Wikipedia says Chocolate chip cookies are his favorite kind. Despite his voracious appetite for cookies, Cookie Monster shows awareness of healthy eating habits for young children.
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Pumpkin bars
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Wreatha McCree Chamness
submitted by Lou Emma Lenon Erby
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3/4 cup margarine
2 cups sugar
16 ounces pumpkin
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts
Cream the margarine and sugar. Blend in the pumpkin and eggs, then add the combined dry ingredients and mix it well. Add the nuts and spread them into a greased and floured 15 1/2x10 1/2 inch jelly roll pan. Bake it at 350 until done when tested. Cool it and frost it with the following:
3 ounces cream cheese
1/3 cup melted margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk
3 cups sifted confectioners sugar
Combine the softened cream cheese, margarine, and vanilla. Add the sugar and spread it on the Pumpkin Bars.
Editor s note: This and other pumpkin recipes are a very good use for that Jack o lantern after all the truck-or-treaters have gone home and are running around like crazy from the sugar high.
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Owl Cookies
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Nikki Wyatt and Sunni Thresher
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2/3 cup softened vegetable shortening
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 1/3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
semi-sweet chocolate pieces
whole cashews
1 ounce unsweetened baking chocolate flavoring
1 cup uncooked old fashioned or quick oats
Beat the shortening and sugar together by hand until creamy. Add the eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter and blend them thoroughly. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt, and add it to the creamed mixture, blending it well. Stir in the oats and divide the dough in half. Shape half to form a roll eight inches long. Work the chocolate in the other half with your hands.
Roll out the chocolate dough with a rolling pin on waxed paper to form an eight inch square about 1/4 inch thick. Place the roll without the chocolate at the edge of the chocolate dough and roll it up together like a jelly roll. Wrap the log in waxed paper and chill it for at least an hour. If the dough has been refrigerated for several hours, allow it to stand at room temperature for ten minutes to soften slightly before slicing it.
Cut it into 1/4 inch thick slices. To make a round owl face, pinch the dough to form ears. Use two chocolate pieces for eyes and a cashew for a beak. Or, you can make a bear, cat, or other animal faces.
Move the cookies by hand or with a spatula to a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Makes about two dozen cookies, and the recipe can be doubled. Store the cookies in an airtight container.
Makes a tasty, substantial cookie that would be perfect for serving at a Halloween party.
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Date bars
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John H. Erby, III
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Mix:
1/2 pound dates
1 cup water
salt
1/2 cup sugar
nuts
vanilla
Cook and cool it. Mix:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup melted margarine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Grease the pan lightly. Put half of the oatmeal mix in the pan, then the date mix on top. Last, put the rest of the oatmeal mix on top and bake it for forty five minutes in a 350 oven.
Editor s note: The illustration is a photo of a date palm.
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Buttermilk brownies
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Kathryn Ann Kent
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1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Heat the oven to 350 . Melt the butter at low heat. Remove it from the heat and blend in the sugar, then the egg. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir it into the above. Add the vanilla and nuts. Spread it in a well greased and floured 8x8x2 inch pan and bake it for 20-25 minutes. While it is warm cut it into sixteen squares.
Crunchy with nuts and rich n chewy with brown sugar, these brownies make a wonderful snack after school or in the evening. To make them extra special, bake them in shallow greased muffin puns, filled 1/3 full, then top them with a scoop of ice cream.
Editor s note: Where s the buttermilk? I see no milk at all in this recipe!
The tartness of buttermilk is due to acid in the milk. The increased acidity is primarily due to lactic acid produced by lactic acid bacteria while fermenting lactose, the primary sugar in milk. As the bacteria produce lactic acid, the pH of the milk decreases and casein, the primary milk protein, precipitates, causing the curdling or clabbering of milk. This process makes buttermilk thicker than plain milk. While both traditional and cultured buttermilk contain lactic acid, traditional buttermilk tends to be less viscous, whereas cultured buttermilk is more viscous.
Buttermilk can be drank straight, and it can also be used in cooking, although not in this buttermilk recipe.
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup cold coffee
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups raisins
3/4 cup chopped nuts
Heat the oven to 375 . Mix the brown sugar, shortening, butter, coffee, egg, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about two inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet and bake them for ten minutes. Remove them immediately from the cookie sheet to cool.
Editor s note: The illustration is Cavarozzi s portrait of Saint Jerome, who lived as a hermit.
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Old fashioned short bread
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Vicky Lenon
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1 cup buttermilk
1 cup lard (not shortening)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
flour
Make a well of flour in a large bowl. Dump in the buttermilk, lard, baking soda, and salt. Work it with your fingers until you can manage the dough. Pat it out on a floured cookie sheet and bake it until it s golden brown in a 150 oven.
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