Chocolatetown Special Cake

Awww... I had high expectations for this cake with such an awesome name! When I saw that that the recipe called for buttermilk, I was sure that Chocolatetown Special Cake would be especially delicious!

I decided to make it for my friend Sarah's belated birthday dinner, and even though nobody said anything, I could tell by the lack of "mmmm's" that the cake failed to make much of an impression. At least it looked pretty!

 

It was not a bad-tasting cake; it was just kind of blah. The texture was fine, not too dry or dense. The flavor is what was lacking. It was not a very chocolatey chocolate cake. The best part by far was the frosting, which was easy to find via a Google search even though it wasn't included on the recipe card.

Now, I have to wonder if it would have turned out differently if I hadn't substituted butter for shortening. Though I usually stick to the recipes as-is for this project, I couldn't help but think that butter would make a better-tasting cake. Am I wrong? But Crisco is so unnatural!

It would probably end up a waste of time, ingredients, and calories, but I kind of want to try this again with shortening, just because I'm curious. I'll post an update if I do.
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Chocolatetown Special Cake
½ cup Hershey Cocoa
½ cup boiling water
⅔ cup shortening
1¾ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2¼ cups unsifted flour
1½ tsp. baking soda
½tsp. salt
1⅓ cup buttermilk or sour milk

Stir cocoa and boiling water until smooth -- set aside. Cream shortening, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl until fluffy. Add eggs, beat well. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; add alternately with buttermilk to creamed mixture. Blen in coca mixture. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9" layer pans.
Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool completely. Frost with Hershey's One-Bowl Buttercream Frosting (on back of cocoa can*).

To sour milk: use 4 tsp. vinegar plus milk to equal 1⅓ cups.
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*if your cocoa can is from 1986

Pralines (butterscotch)

If you're a fan of butterscotch, you'll love this recipe.
That being said....

Butterscotch was probably my favorite flavor when I was a kid. Butterscotch candies, butterscotch pudding, butterscotch pudding pops (anyone remember those?). Up until a few years ago, I would have been all over this recipe, since the first ingredient is a package of butterscotch pudding mix. But now I'm wary of processed foods like this, especially with artificial colorings and flavorings, which make my kid sick. I've become one of those people who dislikes the idea of all those unnatural chemicals circulating through my system. It's gotten to the point where I don't care for the taste of things I used to love, like the butterscotch candies I adored as a little girl.

I'm not a die-hard about it, though. If I'm invited out for dinner, I won't turn down food just because it came out of a box. My pantry stock includes crackers, chocolate chips, and Clif Bars. And of all the unnaturally-flavored and -colored, chemical- and preservative-laden processed foods out there, the worst one is my greatest weakness: Velveeta, in the form of hot cheese dip. I can't help myself.

In any case, for the sake of this baking project, I didn't hesitate to make this recipe along with the Pralines de Mexico, because taste tests are fun!

The list of ingredients is different, but the directions are identical: melt ingredients together, boil, add nuts, boil, stir, drop onto waxed paper, cool. The cooking part was easy, as long as I kept an eye on my candy thermometer so I didn't overcook the syrup.

 

Making the other recipe first, I learned that if I stirred the syrup too long before spooning it out onto the baking sheet, it hardened in the pot before I could finish. With this recipe, I learned that if you drop the syrup onto the baking sheet too soon, you end up with blobs of sticky goo.

Sadly, of the three dozen pralines I portioned out, the first two dozen never set up, so I had to trash them. The moral of this story is that the syrup needs to be stirred and cooled to a certain point (about a minute) so that it will crystallize properly on the baking sheet.

At least I had enough good ones to do the taste test with the other recipe. The butterscotch praline is on the left:

I don't know how much my bias against the pudding mix is getting in the way, but I prefer the Pralines de Mexico. That doesn't mean I dislike the butterscotch pralines, though. In fact, I thought they were good, too. I may have liked them more if I hadn't known about the pudding mix. I took the two batches over to a friend's house to share with her family, and they loved both kinds.

The butterscotch batch actually produced nicer-looking patties than the other pralines, so aesthetically, at least, this recipe wins.
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Pralines
1 pkg butterscotch pudding mix [not instant]
1 cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup evaporated milk
1 tbsp. butter or margarine
1 cup pecans [whole or chopped]

Combine all ingredients but nuts. Cook over low heat, stirring all the time. Add pecans and cook slowly until it forms a soft ball in cold water [about 236F]. Remove from fire and beat [about 1 minute]. Mixture thickens rapidly. Drop quickly be teaspoon on waxed paper [use a second spoon to scrape mixture off the dipping spoon].
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Pralines de Mexico

I found two recipes for Pralines in the yellow box, so I decided it was time for another taste test. "Test" isn't an accurate term, though, because I'd already picked out the winner just by reading the ingredients. I'm generally against anything that includes pre-packaged processed foods, so the Praline recipe that called for a box of butterscotch pudding and evaporated milk was automatically #2 against this simple combination of butter, sugars, and nuts. I can't say the other recipe tasted bad, but I prefer this one.

Candy-making is tricky, though. My grandmother (along with the rest of her generation) tested the readiness of her fudge, divinity, etc., by drizzling a sample into cold water to check the firmness. I'm sure with a LOT of trial and error, I would eventually get the hang of the old-fashioned way, but I'm very much a novice, and very much reliant on my candy thermometer. Even so, I overcooked my first batch by stepping away from the stove for two minutes. The syrup hardened faster than I could spoon it out of the pot, so all I could do was dump the rest of it into a sad pile at the end of the baking sheet:

The clumps that I did manage to form ended up too hard and grainy for a proper praline patty. The good news is that they still tasted good, and were perfect for crumbling into a praline topping for ice cream! I even stirred some crumbles along with cooled caramel sauce into homemade vanilla ice cream, and oh-my-yumness, it was one of the most delicious desserts I've ever made.

I still wanted to make this recipe correctly, so I tried again the next day, with much better (though not perfect) results.

Everything but the nuts goes in the pan. Easy!

Stir occasionally until boiling (I used a wooden spoon), then add the nuts and bring to a boil again. Still easy!

I kept a close eye on the candy thermometer, and turned off the heat when the temperature hit 238F.

The next part of the instructions says to stir rapidly until mixture just begins to lose its gloss. That's a little vague, so I wasn't entirely sure if I stopped stirring at the right moment, but I at least managed to get the whole batch spooned out into individual portions, even if they weren't exactly pretty.

Between this batch and the second Praline recipe I made afterwards, I learned that the main trick is stirring prior to portioning out the mixture. If you spoon it out too soon, it stays glossy and sticky without ever setting up firm. If you stir too much, it turns opaque and hardens in the pot. The largest portion in the photo above (lowest row, second from left) was the last scrapings of the pan that I barely managed to clump together. Most of the rest of them oozed into nice little patties before setting up, and even though they aren't the pretty rounds you can find in Southern candy counters, I was really pleased with the flavor and texture (firm, but soft to bite into).

I'll have to work on my portioning technique before I go giving them out as part of my holiday goody box, but I am definitely adding this recipe to my sweet-treat repertoire.
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Pralines de Mexico
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp. light corn syrup
1 tbsp. butter or margarine
5 tbsp. water
1½ cups chopped pecans or 2 cups whole pecans

Combine all ingredients except nuts in a 2-quart saucepan. Bring to boil. Add nuts and continue mixing over medium heat until mixture reaches soft ball stage of 238F. Remove from heat and stir rapidly until mixture just begins to lose its gloss. Quickly* drop candy from teaspoon onto waxed paper. Allow to cool and harden.
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* Recruit a buddy to help spoon out the portions double-time.
   Also, use a second spoon to scrape the syrup off the dipping spoon.

Caramel Sauce

 
I don't have time to go back and reread all my recipe posts, but if I have ever claimed that any confection other than caramel is my favorite, I was lying. Actually, it can be almost anything in the general family of cooked sugars, with an overwhelming preference for recipes that include butter and cream. Pralines, toffee, and brittle are definitely in this category (except peanut brittle, because the legumes don't do it for me). Probably, though, if you set out a buffet of all possible sweets, I would grab a spoon and dig in for a warm slurp of buttery, smooth caramel sauce.

 
This one is perfect. I don't even have any other comments about it. Just follow the directions.
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Caramel Sauce
½ cup sugar
½ cup white corn syrup
¼ cup butter or margarine
1 cup half & half
1 tsp vanilla
 
In a saucepan, place sugar, syrup, butter, and ½ cup cream. Cook slowly, stirring frequently, until a little mixture dropped in cold water forms a hard ball [about 260F on a candy thermometer]. Add ½ cup cream and cook until a little mixture forms a thread when dropped from a spoon [about 230F]. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve warm. [Yield: approx. 1-½ cups]
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**BONUS TIP**

Sprinkle a tiny pinch of coarse salt (fleur de sel if you wanna get really fancy) over the caramel before serving.

**EXTRA BONUS TIP**
 Make homemade vanilla ice cream, then lightly stir in crumbled pralines and cooled caramel sauce. Mmmmmmm! (I'd share a photo, but I already ate it.)

 

***EXTRA BONUS TIP UPDATE***

Even though I ate the praline-caramel-swirl ice cream, I recreated the delicious results by spooning caramel and praline crumbles on top of plain vanilla ice cream. This time, I remembered to take a photo. How yummy does this look??

Cinnamon Almonds (radio)

A quick and simple recipe: I had these almonds in the oven and the clean-up done within fifteen minutes.

I do like them, though don't think they're worth raving about the way I have with some other gems I've found in the yellow box. There are sugared nut recipes I prefer over this one, but this sure was a super easy way to turn a bag of plain almonds into a tasty snack!

The recipe didn't say to stir the nuts while baking, but I got concerned and stirred them at the halfway point, just in case. Bad idea. They clumped up and took a couple of minutes to spread back out evenly in the pan, and it ended up being pointless, because the few nuts I didn't stir turned out just fine, and looked nicer with a smooth sugar coating (front/bottom of the photo).

I'm glad I had a nonstick mat to protect the baking sheet - I highly recommend using one, or at least a layer of parchment paper to prevent sticking.

I let them cool completely, then broke the nuts apart to store.
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Cinnamon Almonds
(Radio)

2/3 cup confectioner's (powdered) sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves

1 egg white and 1 tbsp water beaten together
2 cups almonds

Dip (stir) nuts into egg white, then into sugar mix. Bake in oven 20 min at 350 degrees.

Chocolate Thins

 



What a delicious little chocolate cookie this is!

I had high ambitions for Christmas-cookie-baking this holiday season, but I didn't get very far. This was the only new recipe I ended up making... but it's a winner. As opposed to the Cocoa Drop Cookies that disappointed me two years ago, this rather dull-looking wafer delivers a lovely, rich taste of chocolate. I only wish I could make them look as pretty as they taste.

It was my first attempt at slice-and-bake cookies. I guess I've always been too impatient; when I want cookies, I want them NOW. This dough needs to chill for at least 12 hours! But it was worth it.

Rolling the dough into a log was easy enough, but when it came time to slice it, I found that the slices toward either end fell apart and I had to scrunch the dough back into a disk on the cookie sheet. The lesson learned was that the dough log needs to be well-compressed from end to end so it holds its shape when sliced. I made extremely thin slices using a sharp little Pampered Chef paring knife, and ended up with more than the predicted 48... probably closer to 60. The cookies really expanded and puffed up while baking, then settled into a delicate, crisp little wafer out of the oven.

I will definitely be making these again.
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Chocolate Thins

½ cup (1 stick) margarine [I use butter] softened
⅔ cup sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp. brewed coffee
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1¼ cups flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

Beat together butter and sugar until light; beat in egg. Stir in coffee and chocolate. Combine dry ingredients and stir to mix well, then add to the chocolate batter. Mix.

Turn dough onto a double layer of wax paper and roll into a log about 2 inches in diameter. Refrigerate until ready to use -- at least 12 hours.

Preheat oven to 400°. Cut dough into 1/8-inch slices; place on cookie sheet [allow space for expansion]. Bake 7-8 minutes until cookie is crisp and dry but not too brown.

Makes 48 cookies.
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Cheese Ball (Alcott)

I wanted to prepare a cheese ball from the Yellow Tin Box for our Christmas party this year. There were several recipes, and this one sounded more interesting than most others.

I was tempted to substitute red for the green bell pepper since I am not a fan of green, but I resisted for the sake of authenticity on this first try. Besides, I figured it was only one little teaspoon, so the flavor couldn't be that overwhelming. I also diced all the veggies very, very, very small -- minced, really -- to avoid any chunky bites and to distribute the flavor as much as possible.

Because we weren't having a very big party, I decided to halve the recipe so we wouldn't have a lot of leftovers. It wasn't until after I had mixed everything together that I realized that I had halved the cheeses, but not the rest of the ingredients! D'oh! So what I ended up with was double flavoring and veggies in the cheese ball, but y'know what? I thought it tasted just fine, so I left it as it was, chilled it for a while, then formed the ball and rolled it in finely chopped pecans.

I prepared the mixture the morning of the party, so the flavors had several hours to marry, which made it even better. Unfortunately, in the flurry of trying to prepare everything else, I forgot to take a photo until about halfway through the party. Here's what I ended up with:

That little chunk on the lower right corner of the center plate is all that was left -- and it didn't last much longer.

Our party guests absolutely raved about the cheese ball. It was a definite favorite of the party spread. One friend immediately asked for the recipe, so I handed her the card from the box, and she took photos of the recipe with her phone. Everyone agreed that it was perfect with the double-strength ingredients, so if I make it again, I will do the same. I may even use green bell pepper again... maybe.
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Cheese Ball
by Alcott 12/24/71

2 8oz pkg cream cheese
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp onion, chopped fine
1 tsp green pepper, chopped fine
1 tsp pimiento, chopped fine
dash salt
dash cayenne pepper
finely chopped nuts

Cream the two cheeses. Blend in the other ingredients [except nuts] and chill. Make into ball and roll in chopped nuts.
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Lemon Squares

Funny: I was looking online for a lemon bar recipe, found one that claimed to be the "best ever," and it turned out to be almost identical to this one!

People have such different opinions when it comes to lemon-flavored treats, I don't think there can be one version of lemon bars that will please every palate. This one is more sweet than lemony, but you can definitely taste the lemon. I've made it a few times now, and started adding the zest of one lemon to give it an extra flavor boost.

For the bottom crust, the recipe I found online calls for the same ingredients, but says to blend it in a bowl using softened butter. It's simpler (requiring one less bowl) to melt the butter in the pan in the oven, but the first time I tried it, I left the pan in too long and scorched the butter a little. That could be a good thing, giving the crust the "nutty" taste of browned butter, if that appeals to you.

Two medium lemons produce approximately the 6 tablespoons of juice called for, but I've found that it doesn't have to be precisely that amount to turn out well. A bit more or less juice is fine. Plus, as I said, adding lemon zest gives it a nice kick, if you're looking for more lemon flavor. It isn't necessary, but I strained the pulp from the juice before stirring in the zest. I haven't tried bottled lemon juice, but I imagine it would suffice if that's all you have to work with.

Other than that, it's a good recipe that doesn't take much time to prepare. From the 9"x13" pan, I cut it into 12 squares.

I'd never made lemon bars before, but this recipe is going to be in my regular sweet-treat repertoire from now on!

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Lemon Squares

Crust
1 cup oleo [butter is best]
2 cups flour
½ cup powdered sugar, sifted
dash of salt

Filling
4 eggs
6 tbsp. [or ½ cup] lemon juice
[zest of 1 lemon]
2 cups sugar
4 tbsp flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

Melt oleo [butter] in 9"x13" pan; mix flour, powdered sugar, and salt, and add to oleo. [Alternatively, using softened butter, beat ingredients in a bowl until blended.] Press down firmly in bottom of pan. Bake 20 min at 350° [until lightly browned].

Beat eggs and lemon juice - set aside. Sift sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. [Add lemon zest.] Mix with eggs. Pour on top of crust while hot. Bake 25 minutes at 350° [until lightly browned].

Sprinkle powdered sugar on top while warm.
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Chocolate Scotcheroos (Mrs. Hora)

On a snowy Sunday in December, my daughter and four other teenagers were at our house working on a school project, and the Mrs. Cleaver in me felt compelled to provide them a sweet afternoon snack. I didn't have much spare time, and didn't want to worry about waiting for something to bake in the oven, so I picked out this recipe, clipped from the now-defunct Tulsa Tribune. I was short just one of the ingredients -- the butterscotch chips -- but I was pretty sure the dessert would taste just fine without them.

The process is very similar to preparing Rice Krispie Treats -- perhaps even simpler and less messy -- but the end result is more dense and chewy. The peanut butter and chocolate go well together, of course, but I would add vanilla to the sugar mixture; the flavor seemed to lack a little something, and vanilla seems the obvious fix (as with brittle). If I make these again, I will also look for butterscotch chips (Walmart didn't carry them last time I checked); I'm sure they would enhance the overall flavor that much more.

Since there were only five kids to serve, I made a half-batch:

The recipe says to "chill until top is firm," but after an hour or so in the fridge, the block was extremely difficult to cut into squares; I think I strained some muscles in my back. Instead, I might let it sit in a cool area of the kitchen for a few hours and see if it's easier to slice.

The important thing was that the plate was empty at the end of the afternoon, so the teenagers definitely approved!
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Chocolate Scotcheroos
by Mrs. Hora

1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter, smooth or crunchy
[1 tsp vanilla]
6 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup chocolate chips

Bring sugar and syrup just to a boil. Remove from heat and add peanut butter [and vanilla]. Then blend in Rice Krispies. Press into a buttered 13-by-9-inch pan.

Melt chips in the top of a double boiler. Spread over top and chill until top is firm. Cut into 48 pieces.
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Jewish Coffee Cake (Ann Simpson)

Possibly, my search for a perfect coffee cake ends with this recipe.

Almost.

After the first attempt, I'm not ready to declare it better than Pattie Wheeler's Night Before Coffee Cake.

Still, this cake has a wonderful, rich flavor and is very moist, with a really nice cinnamon-nut swirl through the middle.

The directions say to bake this in a loaf pan, so I did, and it came out a little funny-looking. The bottom half is slightly darker than the top, and when the cake is sliced, the cinnamon-nut layer looks like a big smile. Next time, I will put ⅔ of the batter on the bottom instead of ½.

I can't decide how I feel about there not being any kind of topping. As a slice of a loaf, it doesn't really need it, but on the other hand, a light glaze of powdered sugar icing could be a nice final touch. I may also try it in a bundt pan sometime. I'll report back if I do.

In the meantime, I encourage you treat yourself to this lovely recipe soon!
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Jewish Coffee Cake
from Ann Simpson

Batter:
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
2 well-beaten eggs
1½ cup all-purpose flour
1½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp soda
1 tsp vanilla

Nut Mixture:
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3-4 tbsp chopped pecans

Cream sugar and butter, then add eggs. Add sour cream to which the soda has been added, and the flour to which the baking powder and salt have been added. Add vanilla. [I stirred vanilla into the sour cream.]

Pour or spread ½ [or ⅔] batter into well-greased [loaf] pan. Sprinkle nut mixture over top, then spread the rest of the batter on top.

Bake in 10"x5½" pan - moderate oven 350 - 30 minutes.
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Banana Cake (#2)

Well, hmmm....

I have really been looking forward to making this unique recipe. A dozen sliced bananas on the bottom of a cake! I've never heard of anything like that before.

Though I love that someone took the time to type it out on an index card, this is one of those recipes that leaves the baker to figure out a few things on her own, such as what size and shape a "baking form" should be, and what temperature constitutes a "hot oven" for baking the cake. Because the final instruction says to cut the cake into squares, I decided that a "baking form" is a common 9"x13" cake pan, and that I would bake it at 350° because it's a typical cake-baking temp.

I discovered that one pound of sugar equals two measuring cups, and since the cake batter requires only one cup of sugar, I deduced (brilliantly) that the remaining cup is for sprinkling over the bananas.

The recipe doesn't specify how to layer the bananas. I used medium-sized bananas and sliced them in half both lengthwise and crosswise, and they fit just right in two layers in my Pyrex pan. I laid the second layer more or less perpendicular to the first.

first layer:

 

second layer:

I also sprinkled a little cinnamon over each layer, not just in the bottom of the pan. I kind of think it's supposed to be that way, but got left out of the instructions, because dusting only the bottom of the pan with cinnamon would make it all but unnoticeable.

Once all the bananas were in and coated with sugar (a half-cup per layer plus a sprinkling of cinnamon), I squished them down with my hands. I didn't check that there was a full inch-and-a-half left in the pan for the dough, but it was probably close.

 

Eww....

Then I made the cake batter, spread it over the top, and baked it at 350°.

I neglected to note how long I baked the cake. It was somewhere between 45-60 minutes. When the top of the cake started to brown, the banana layer was just starting to bubble, and that's when I realized that the goal was to caramelize the bananas under the cake. I let it keep baking about 15 more minutes, until it looked like the top was as browned as it could get without being overdone.

The problem arose when the sugar on the bottom cooked itself into a syrup, and then the syrup started bubbling up and over the sides of the pan. The cake didn't quite look ready to come out, though, so I grabbed a sheet pan and positioned it on a rack underneath to catch the drips. The spilled syrup smoked up the kitchen a bit, but it wasn't horrible. I'm not sure what I'll do differently next time - try to press the bananas down more, or use a slightly bigger (9.5"x13.5") cake pan, or maybe even try a tube pan.

I let the cake cool an hour or so before cutting into it - I wanted to give the banana layer a chance to set up a little. A few friends were over, so I had everyone try a piece, and....

It was really delicious.

The caramelized bananas on the bottom remind me of... something I can't quite place. Maybe bananas foster, though there's no alcohol in this recipe. And the cake part was light and lovely with each bite. Someone suggested serving it upside down, with the bananas on top, and ice cream or whipped cream on top of that. I didn't have any available, but I think either of those additions would be the way to go to make this a really fantastic dessert (upside down or right-side up).

However...

We tasted the cake again after it had completely cooled, and it wasn't nearly so good. I didn't care for the texture of the bananas cold. Plus, they started to take on a grayish color, and the syrup became watery on the plate, which was kind of gross. Reheating the cake made it taste good again, though it didn't reverse the discoloration or wateriness.

This is a reheated leftover piece. It doesn't look very appetizing, in my opinion, though it was yummy anyway (especially with my afternoon cup of tea in my trusty Northern Exposure mug):

It's good enough warm that I would probably put this cake on the menu if I had my own restaurant. I'd call it "Caramelized Banana Cake" or "Bananas Foster Cake" (in which case I'd likely drizzle it with a warm buttery rum sauce).

My final verdict: this Banana Cake would be a wonderful, unique dessert for a luncheon or dinner party, served freshly baked with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
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Banana Cake

1 dozen bananas
powdered cinnamon to taste
1 pound (2 cups) sugar (divided)
2 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 cup butter (softened)
2 eggs, separated
1 tbsp baking powder

Peel and slice bananas lengthwise (and crosswise).
Butter a baking form (at least a 9"x13" pan) and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Arrange bananas (in two layers) with a layer of (½ cup) sugar (and a sprinkle of cinnamon) between each layer of bananas.
Fill the form (pan) about halfway, pressing the banana layers together so no space is left. There should be a space of about 1½ inches from the top for the dough.

To make the dough, cream the butter and 1 cup sugar. Add in the egg yolks and continue beating. Add in the milk and flour. Beat very well, and lastly add in the egg whites, beaten (separately) and the baking powder. (Spread dough over the top of the bananas.)

(Place foil or a larger sheet pan on an oven rack below the cake to catch drips of boiling syrup.)

Bake in a hot (350°) oven (for 45-60 minutes) and when ready (cooled about an hour) cut into squares.

(Best served warm, with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.)
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Honey-Wheat Bread (Sylvia Peck)

I'm 39 years old, and I never made a loaf of bread from scratch until now.

I have to say, for my first attempt, I couldn't be more pleased. This bread turned out wonderfully, both with and without the honey glaze.

Since it was my first attempt, I consulted the "about yeast bread" section of The Joy of Cooking, and learned that scoring the top before baking can prevent air pockets under the crust. Though this recipe didn't mention it, I scored the loaves to see how it would turn out. The one I scored lengthwise looks more like a loaf of packaged sandwich bread. The other I scored crosswise three times, and I prefer the look of it (with or without the glaze). Maybe it would have turned out fine without scoring, but I was curious.

I wasn't sure how to apply the glaze. I spread it over the top of one loaf (I left the other loaf plain for sandwiches), then put it back in the oven. After about three minutes, the glaze started to bubble up, so I took it back out and called it done. The glaze is a bit sticky, and flakes off easily, but it's still delicious. Next time, I'll try drizzling the glaze over the warm bread without putting it back in the oven. My husband, who doesn't have much of a sweet tooth but loves this bread, suggested glazing the sides, too, rather than just the top.

Side note: do not try to toast a slice of the honey-glazed bread; it can catch on fire! (Ask me how I know.)

I'm not sure what else to say about this bread - it tastes the way a hearty slice of homemade wheat bread should taste. Good flavor and texture, not too dense, slices easily, and holds together beautifully for spreading butter and jam or making a sandwich.

I can see why people like having a bread machine to do all the work, because it did require me to stay home most of the day between two risings and the baking, but otherwise I really enjoyed the process, as well as the outcome!

Final verdict: this recipe is very likely to become a staple in our home.
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Honey-Wheat Bread
from Sylvia Peck

3 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup honey
3 tsp salt
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 cup milk
2 tbsp shortening
1 cup warm water
3-3½ cups Pillsbury flour (or your choice)

In a large bowl, combine wheat flour, honey, salt, and yeast.
In a saucepan, heat milk and shortening until milk is warm (it does not need to melt).
[I heated the milk, water, and shortening together to about 115°.]
Add warm milk and water to flour mixture.
Blend at lowest speed until moistened, then beat 3 minutes at medium speed.
By hand, stir in all-purpose flour to form a stiff dough.
Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
Place in a greased bowl.
Cover and let rise in a warm place until light and doubled in size, 1-1½ hours.
Punch down dough, and divide in half.
Shape into 2 loaves and place in two well-greased 9x5" loaf pans.
Cover and let rise in a warm place until light and doubled in size, 1½-2 hours.
Bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes until golden brown.
Cool.

If desired, frost [while warm from the oven] with Honey Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup chopped pecans
1 tbsp honey
2-3 tbsp milk
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4-Layer Delight (Myrtie Nunn)

My 14-year-old daughter prepared this dessert for a dinner party she hosted for a couple of friends. She did a fantastic job - just look at this beauty!

My mom has been making this exact same recipe for years, simply calling it butterscotch pie... or chocolate pie, depending on which type of pudding she uses.

The recipe from the Yellow Box says to prepare the dessert in a 12" x 8" dish, but since my mom always serves it as a pie, my daughter wanted to do the same. She also wanted butterscotch instead of chocolate, so the photo above isn't quite what we would have ended up with by following the recipe card, but you get the idea. I'll prepare it properly (chocolate and rectangular) the next time we invite people over, and update with a new photo.

My daughter baked the crust in a 9.5" pie plate, only to discover that it wasn't big enough to hold all of the remaining layers. We put the surplus cream cheese and pudding fillings in a separate bowl and stuck it in the fridge to enjoy as a "2-Layer Delight" later. I asked my mom about the pie size, and she said a 10" plate works for her.

Instead of Cool Whip, I had my daughter use whipped cream (my mom does that, too). She beat ¼ cup of powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla into 1 pint of whipping cream. It was just barely sweet - in a good way. Depending on one's taste, I think up to ½ cup of powdered sugar in the cream would be fine.

There were six of us at the dinner, and everyone raved about how delicious and not-too-sweet this dessert is. My husband especially loved it, and that's a big deal; he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth and usually skips dessert.

I'll make this again soon with chocolate - and I like the suggestion to make my own chocolate filling. I think I'll try that.

This is a perfect dessert for a spring patio party!
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Four-Layer Delight
from Myrtie Nunn

Layer 1
1 stick (8 oz.) oleo (butter), melted
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped nuts

Mix well and press into the bottom of a 12" x 8" Pyrex (glass) pan.
[OR use a 10" pie plate, pressing evenly over the bottom and sides.]
Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Let cool.

Layer 2
1 large (8 oz.) pkg cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup Cool Whip (or sweetened whipped cream)

Blend together and spread on crust.

Layer 3
2 small (3.4 oz.) pkgs instant chocolate pudding [or butterscotch]
3 cups milk

Mix together until thick and spread on crust.

Layer 4
1 large carton Cool Whip (less the 1 cup used for Layer 2)
[OR substitute with 1 pint (2 cups) cream whipped with 1 tsp vanilla and ¼ - ½ cup powdered sugar]

Top with remaining Cool Whip (or whipped cream).
Sprinkle nuts on top.
Cover with Saran (plastic) wrap and refrigerate. Keeps for a week.

You can make your own chocolate filling.
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Breakfast Casserole

I am thrilled that this recipe is in The Yellow Box, because it is identical to the breakfast casserole my mom has been making my entire life (a Christmas morning tradition that continues today), and it is the best breakfast casserole I've ever had.

(My apologies for the bad photo, but you get the idea.)

I think I'll just leave it at that.

Make this, and you will end up with some very happy tummies.
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Breakfast Casserole

8 eggs - slightly beaten*
6 slices white bread, cubed, with crust**
1 lb [breakfast] sausage, cooked and drained
2 cups milk
1 cup grated sharp cheese [a little more cheese isn't a bad idea]
1 tsp salt
1 tsp mustard [I use dry mustard; recommend Dijon if using prepared mustard]

Combine all ingredients in large bowl.
Pour into 9" x 13" greased baking dish.
Cover and refrigerate overnight or 12 hours before baking.
Bake uncovered at 350° for 35 minutes.

This is very good reheated.

*6 eggs and 4 oz. sliced mushrooms can be used instead of 8 eggs.
[However, my recipe doesn't omit any eggs if mushrooms are added. I prefer fresh sauteed mushrooms to canned.]

**[You can experiment with different kinds of bread.]
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Bran Muffins (Peggy Taylor)

I remember my mom making this recipe when I was little. It must have been all the rage in the 70's, but I haven't heard of anyone preparing this in recent years. I'm curious to see if these are as delicious as I remember. I also recall thinking how cool it was to have the batter in the fridge and be able to bake fresh muffins whenever we wanted.

All Bran and Bran Flakes are not a staple in our house, so this recipe required a trip to the grocery store (for the buttermilk as well). Other than that, it's super easy to prepare; it just requires a really, really, really big bowl. My largest mixing bowl just barely held the batter, so I had to transfer it to our huge plastic popcorn bowl in order to add the cereals. A large stock pot could work as well.

Freshly mixed, the batter is a little on the soupy side, so I covered the bowl with plastic wrap to sit overnight, and I'll make the first batch of muffins in the morning.

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Yep, the batter thickened up overnight as the cereal absorbed the liquid. I gave it a good stir, then made 30 muffins, which smelled wonderful as they baked. I can tell you they look and smell just as I remember, and they have a moist, soft, springy texture.

But here's the thing: I can't eat these muffins right now, so I can't tell you how they taste. I've never been one to follow a restrictive diet for any stretch of time, but my husband and I are headed to the Caribbean beaches of Costa Rica in less than two months, and I don't want the sight of me in a bikini to scare away small children and animals. I am being so good about following this diet, I won't even allow myself a taste of off-limits treats. I'm hardcore, baby.

The upside is that, according to this recipe, the batter keeps in the fridge for up to six weeks, and by then I'll be done with the diet so I can do my own taste test and report back wth the results.

For now, though, I have to rely on the opinion of others, which so far is excellent. I took the first batch, still warm, to share at a breakfast meeting, and everyone who tried them said they were delicious. My husband, daughter, brother, niece, and nephew all liked them, too.

I'm estimating that I used about half of the batter to make the 30 muffins. However, I overfilled the muffin cups a little, and could have stretched it to three dozen. I recommend filling the cups no more than half-full.

I poured the rest of the batter into jars to store in the fridge. I'll keep a tally and update the number when I finish it off in a few weeks, but I'd guess the recipe is enough for around 6 dozen muffins - a very good value compared to the cost and simplicity of the ingredients!

This is a fantastic recipe for feeding a crowd, and/or for having freshly baked muffins in 20 minutes whenever you like.

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Bran Muffins
from Peggy Taylor

2 cups boiling water
5 tsp baking soda
1 cup oil
4 cups sugar
4 beaten eggs
5 cups sifted flour
4 cups All-Bran cereal
2 cups Bran Flakes
1 qt buttermilk
1 tsp salt

[You will need a very large bowl or stock pot.]

Mix boiling water and soda. Cool.
Cream sugar and oil. Add eggs, then other ingredients.

[Cover and refrigerate overnight, then stir well in the morning.]

Grease and flour muffin tins or use paper liners. [Fill muffin cups no more than half full.]
Bake for 20 minutes at 400°.

Batter keeps for 6 weeks.
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Cream Puffs (Win)

As far as ingredients go, these puffs are only one egg short of being identical to Alice T's recipe, but the preparation and baking instructions are different. As far as I could tell, the end result is the same, so take your pick.

As usual, I used butter instead of margarine.

Out of curiosity, I also looked up the recipe for cream puffs in The Joy of Cooking. It says to let the hot water-butter-flour mixture cool slightly so it won't cook the eggs when they are added. I assume that this is the same purpose of beating the mixture for 2 or 3 minutes before adding eggs in this recipe.

The batter was not as thick as when I made Alice T's puffs last year. However, I tried making Alice T's recipe again today, and it turned out the same slightly thinner consistency as Win's - so I can only assume it had something to do with the temperature or humidiy of the room.

Baking these puffs at 450° for 20 minutes followed by 325° for 20 minutes is much too long. After the initial 20 minutes, I turned the oven down, but took the puffs from the oven 10 minutes later because they were getting too brown. Next time, I plan to try 450° for 10 minutes before turning it down to 325° (The Joy of Cooking says to start at 400° for 10 minutes then reduce to 350°).

I lightly greased the baking sheet, but to my frustration and dismay, many of the puffs stuck so much that the bottoms tore apart and I couldn't use them for making sandwiches. I'm not sure why this happened. It was at this point that I decided to make a second batch using Alice T's recipe, but they came out the same way, so something else was going on. Perhaps it was the oven temperature, or I didn't grease the sheet enough, or (most likely) whatever it was that made the batter turn out too thin. They are so easy to make, I don't mind trying again.

The puffs otherwise turned out beautifully, but sticking to the pan wasn't cool. Only about half of them were useable.

I was preparing these for a luncheon, and went with savory instead of sweet puffs. For perfect little tea sandwiches, I stirred about ¼ tsp of minced fresh chives into the batter, and put a light sprinkle of sea salt on top of each puff before baking. To serve, I cut them crosswise and put a spoonful of tuna salad in each one.

(Incidentally, I make really good tuna salad - just like my mom's, only with mayonnaise instead of Miracle Whip. I also have a fabulous chicken salad recipe, if anyone is looking.)
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Cream Puffs
from Win

½ cup oleo (¼ lb) [margarine or butter]
1 cup water
1 cup flour
3 unbeaten eggs

Heat oleo [butter] and water in saucepan until oleo is melted.
Add flour all at once and heat 2 or 3 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time and beat after each.
Drop by spoonfuls on greased cookie sheet.

Bake in hot oven (450°) 20 min. [I recommend 10 min.] Reduce heat to 325° and bake 20 min. more or until done. Remove one from baking sheet and if it doesn't fall, they are done.

Use 1 heaping tablespoon for each large cream puff.

Small ones make good tea sandwiches filled with chicken or tuna salad.
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