Author: nancy

Categories
Cookies

Peanut Blossoms

I’m sure this is many family’s favorite recipe. No collection of recipes would be complete without this old fashioned Christmas goodie.

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon soda
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 2 Tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • Hershey’s chocolate candy kisses

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll balls in additional sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake @ 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown. Once removed from oven, top each hot cookie with candy kiss, pressing down so cookie cracks around edges.

Grandma’s Old Fashioned Sour Cream Raisin Pie

This pie was always a favorite of my Mom and Grandma. They both loved it and considered it the ultimate dessert. My Mom still orders sour cream raisin pie when she sees it on the menu at Baker’s Square, but she insists that hers is better!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1/4 cup cornstrach
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 cups milk
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 egg yolks, beaten
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 baked pie shell
  • Whipped cream

Directions
Mix raisins, cornstarch, cinnamon, milk, sugar, nutmet, and salt together in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Add sour cream to beaten egg yolks and then add to mixture in saucepan. Cook until bubbly.
Add lemon juice and cool slightly. Pour into pie crust and chill until set, at least 3 hours or more. Top with whipped cream. Can decorate with pecan or raisins.

Turkey Souffle’

Turkey Souffle
Turkey Souffle
This favorite recipe comes from a dear lady who is now deceased. She used to love to make this for her family at Christmas time. It is a nice way to use up some of that leftover turkey.

Ingredients

  • 6 slices white bread
  • 2 cups diced cooked turkey
  • 1/2 cup onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 cup celery, chopped
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheese

Directions
Cube 2 slices of bread and put into bottom of 8x8x2 inch pan. Combine turkey, vegetables, mayonnaise, and seasonings, put over cubed bread. Trim the crusts from remaining 4 slices of bread and lay these over the turkey mixture. Mix beaten eggs and milk together and pour over all. Cover and chill for 1 hour or overnight. When ready to bake, spoon soup (undiluted) over top. Bake for 1 hour @ 350 degrees, sprinkle cheese over top last 5 minutes of baking.

Hot Mushroom Dip

This is a delicious and easy favorite recipe of mine for a mushroom dip. You can vary the flavor by the variety of mushroom you use. It’s a real crowd pleaser.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound sliced mushrooms
  • 3 Tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 Tablespoons flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Saute onions and mushrooms in butter for 5-6 minutes. Sprinkle with flour and cook another 5-6 minutes. Add sour cream, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
Pour into shallow oven proof dish and sprinkle with the cheese.
Bake @ 375 degrees for 20 minutes.
Serve with crackers or crostini.

COPIA Hot Chocolate

COPIA was a center for wine, food and arts in Napa, CA. Unfortunately it is now closed. I was there a few years ago on Valentine’s Day and the focus was chocolate. We went to a chocolate class and tasted many degrees of chocolate. In my opinion, the darker the better. This is a favorite recipe of mine that I got from COPIA, created by Nicole Plue who was then the Pastry Chef at Julia’s Kitchen at COPIA. It is rich and delicious and makes a wonderful after dinner drink. In fact, dessert is not even necessary with this. It is YUMMY!

Ingredients

  • 4 1/2 ounces (3/4 cup) E. Guittard 61% Cacao Semisweet chocolate wafers
  • 3 cups half and half
  • 1 strip, about 1/2×3 inches, orange zest
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup brandy, (optional)

Directions
Place the chocolate in top of a double boiler. Place over simmering water and heat until melted. Meanwhile combine the half and half, orange zest, cinnamon stick and brown sugar in a large saucepan. Heat over medium heat to a gentle boil, then strain.
Slowly stir the melted chocolate into the hot half and half until blended. Add the the brandy, if desired.
Keep warm in the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling, water. If the hot chocolate is overheated it becomes too thick (I used a small crockpot).

Grandma’s Old Fashioned Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake is making a comeback. This was the recipe that my Grandma and my Mom used to make. It was always a favorite recipe of ours. These directions are a bit odd, but I am posting just as the original recipe reads.

Cake Ingredients

  • 1 cup shortening (they always used Crisco)
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 ounces of red food coloring
  • 2 Tablespoons cocoa
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 cups cake flour (for cake flour, 2 cups flour + 1 Tablespoon cornstarch)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon soda
  • 1 Tablepoon hot water
  • 1 Tablespoon vinegar

Directions
Cream shortening, sugar, and eggs. Make a paste of food coloring and cocoa. Add buttermilk & salt alternately with flour. Add vanilla. Dissolve soda in hot water, mix with vinegar, holding over bowl as it foams. Quickly add mixture to batter. Pour into 3 greased and floured 9 inch round pans. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Frosting Ingredients

  • 3 Tablespoons flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup butter

Directions
Cook flour and milk until very thick, stirring constantly. Chill in refrigerator. Thoroughly cream sugar, vanilla, and butter until fluffy. Blend into chilled flour mixture. Beat until frosting is spreading consistency.
Store covered in refrigerator.

Chocolate Cherry Bars

Chocolate Cherry Bars
Chocolate Cherry Bars
I think this is a recipe that won the Pillsbury Bake-Off many, many years ago. It was indeed a family favorite recipe of my Mom’s. We loved it when she made these rich, gooey bars. They are easy and one of those recipes that you can whip up on a minute’s notice.

Ingredients for Cake

  • 1 package fudge cake mix
  • 1 can cherry pie filling
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 eggs beaten

Ingredients for Frosting

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 5 Tablespoon butter
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 6 ounces chocolate chips


Directions
Mix together in a large bowl the cake mix, pie filling, almond extract and eggs. Pour into a greased and floured 13×9 inch pan. Bake @ 350 degrees for 25 to 30 min.

In a saucepan, combine sugar, butter and milk. Bring to a boil and stir constantly for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate chips and mix until smooth. Pour over warm bars. Cool.

Categories
Cookies

Old Fashioned Date Turtles

Chocolate
Chocolate
This is a really old favorite recipe of my Mom’s. If you like dates these are really scrumptious. They are easy and require no cooking. My Mom used to add paraffin to chocolate chips, but that is not recommended nowadays. So I use dipping chocolate for the coating.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup sifted powdered sugar
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 2 teaspoons butter
  • 1 cup dates, cut up
  • 1 cup nuts, chopped
  • Dipping chocolate

Directions
Mix together the sugar, peanut butter, and butter. Add dates and nuts. Roll into balls and flatten into patties with a glass. Chill in the refrigerator. Using a fork, dip the chilled patties into the dipping chocolate, following the directions on the package of chocolate. Place on waxed paper to cool and harden.

Categories
Bread Machine

Seeduction Bread

My daughter lived in Washington D.C. and we used to go to a whole food market by her house, I think it was Wild Oats. We would buy a bread there that we loved, called Seeduction Bread. I found a similar recipe online and revised it a bit and make it in my bread machine. It is fabulous and one of my favorite bread machine recipes.

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 1 1/4 cups water
  • 2 Tablespoons molasses
  • 2 Tablespoons honey
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cups bread flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 Tablespoons pumpkin seeds
  • 2 Tablespoons sunflower seeds
  • 2 Tablespoons millet seed
  • 3 Tablespoons malted barley flour
  • 1 Tablespoon wheat gluten
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon millet seed

Instructions
Add ingredients in order suggested by your bread machine.