Christmas Fruitcake Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons (1/2/ stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup diced red and green cherries
1/2 mixed diced candied pineapple
1/2 cup raisins
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons orange zest

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 400º.
2. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. In a second bowl, mix together the egg, milk, and melted butter.
4. Add the egg/butter/milk mixture to the flour to make a lumpy batter (do not over mix).
5. Fold in the rest of the ingredients.
6. Spoon the batter into muffin cups or tins, filling each cup about two thirds full. I usually line the cups with paper muffin shells.
7. Bake at 400º until the muffins are plump, golden, and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean; about 30 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

Candied Fruitcake

Ingredients:

3 7 1/4 ounce packages of pitted dates
1 pound candied pineapple, red and green, and yellow
1 pound whole candied cherries, red and green
2 cups sifted all purpose flour *
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 pounds pecan halves (Taste them; they must be fresh)

*Mom says you can get by with "fluffing" the flour with a fork.

This makes roughly four loaves, depending on the sizes of the pans.

Procedure:

1. Prepare the pans by oiling them and lining them with brown paper cut to fit. Then oil the paper.
2. Preheat the oven to 275 F.
3. Chop the dates into three pieces or so. (It’s about 3 1/2 cups cut)
4. Chop the candied pineapple into about 1/3 of inch wide wedges (about 2 1/2 cups)
5. Put the chopped fruit in a large mixing bowl. Add the candied cherries, whole (about 2 cups).
6. Lightly spoon the flour into a measuring cup.
7. Add the salt and baking powder to the flour.
8. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the fruit.
9. Mix fruit and dry ingredients until all the fruit is well coated.
10. Using mixer, beat four eggs until frothy.
11. Gradually add one cup sugar to eggs, beat until well blended.
12. Add eggs and sugar to fruit mixture, mixing well.
13. Add two pounds (eight cups) of pecan halves.
14. Mix until nuts are evenly distributed and well coated with batter.
15. Pack into pans, pressing down with the back of a spoon. If necessary, rearrange pieces of fruit and nuts to fill up empty spaces. This should be a dense cake, without holes.
16. Bake one and a half hours at 275 F. When done, tops of cakes should look dry. If there is any doubt, leave cakes in oven longer, as a little extra baking does no harm. Watch for the edges of the cake to pull away from the pan; that’s a sign of doneness.
17. When cakes are done, remove from oven and place on cake racks.
18. Let stand about five minutes.
19. Turn out on racks, and carefully remove paper.
20. Cool cakes, and turn top side up.

Traditionally you would douse the cake with sherry, or bourbon, or brandy, and wrap the cake in several layers of cheescloth and put it in a container for at least two or three weeks. It isn't requires. You may use the same method to freshen a dry or over cooked cake.

Wrap cakes in plastic food wrap and then foil to freeze them; they freeze well. Thaw at room temperature.

After making the cake the first time, you may find you prefer more nuts or fruit, in which case you may need to add extra batter, using the instructions above. You can use half the eggs, sugar, etc. to make more batter if you don’t need quite so much.

From LRS; originally from Woman’s Day December, 1954.

Grad Student Chili

Ingredients:

2–3 Tablespoons Olive oil
1.5 to 2.0 pounds hamburger
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small can green chilies
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup Beer
1/2 cup strong brewed black coffee
1 128 ounce (794 grams) can of crushed tomatoes
2 12 ounce cans of beans (424 grams per can)
5 Tablespoons Chili powder (to taste)
1 teaspoon ground cumin (or crushed cumin seeds)
1 teaspoon dried Oregano
Salt and black pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan.
2. Add the onion and garlic, saute briefly, then add the hamburger. Cook until the hamburger is lightly browned, stirring frequently.
3. Add the beer and the coffee. Cook for five minutes, stirring it once.
4. Add the canned tomatoes, with their juice, the beans, chili powder, cumin and oregano.
5. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and cook, partly covered, for half and hour, stirring it every ten minutes or so.
6. Taste the chili; season to taste, and cook a little longer, say, thirty minutes to an hour
7. The most important thing is to taste the chili, and adjust the seasonings accordingly.
8. Garnish with chopped cilantro, onions, and grated cheese. Serve with tortillias, grated cheese, cornbread, or over rice or baked potatoes.

Notes:

Trader Joe's frozen garlic is Just Fine. Omit the beer or chili as long as the same amount of liquid is used. Substitute broth (beef, chicken or vegetable. Use ground turkey, or tofu, if you'd rather. You can extend the chili, by adding another can of beans, or a can of corn. Chopped green pepper, celery and mushrooms are nice additions; saute them with the onions. The chili is better the next day, and freezes well. You can even freeze the cooled chili in Ziplock bags. Make sure the bags are tightly sealed, and don't over fill them.

To those who ask why this is "grad student chili" . . . I started making it as a grad student, and it's well suited for cooks on a budget since it's easily extendable and it uses ingredients that are fairly common. Plus it includes two staples of many grad students' diets— beer and coffee. I confess, I started using the beer because I had some and didn't drink beer, but it does add something.

Red Potatoes with Lemon, Parsley, and Olives

Ingredients:

2 pounds of red potatoes
1 lemon
3 tablespoons Olive oil
1/4 chopped fresh Parsley
Several cloves of Garlic
1/3 cup olives, pitted
Salt to taste
1 well-oiled 9 x 13 inch pan

Procedure:

1. Slice the potatoes, unpeeled. They should not be sliced too thinly.
2. Thinly slice the lemon, peel and all, being careful to discard the seeds.
3. Mince the garlic.
4. Chop the Parsley
5. Toss everything except the olives, with the olive oil, then spread evenly in the x 13 pan.
6. Bake at 425F for an hour, stirring everything two or three times.
7. Add the olives during the last five minutes of cooking.

Notes:

The recipe is from T. Carter who found it in Fine Cooking March, 2004 and posted it here and wrote:

The recipe called for oil-cured olives . . . The potatoes are supposed to crisp while the lemons caramelize.

The thinner you slice the lemons, the happier you'll be. I've found a knife with a serated edge works best. Do try lemon varieties; they all taste slightly different. The recipe doesn't call for it, but when you add the olives, a sprinkle of salt and pepper won't go amiss.

Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients:

3 3/4 to 4 cups all purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup dried currants or raisins
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs

Procedure:

1. In large mixer bowl, thoroughly stir together 1 1/2 cups of the flour, the yeast, and the cinnamon.
2. In a saucepan, heat together milk, oil, sugar, and salt just till warm (115 to 120 F.). Add to dry mixture in mixer bowl; add eggs. Beat at low speed of electric mixer for 1/2 minute, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes at high speed.
3. By hand, stir in currants and enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough. Cover and let rise till double, 1 to 1/2 hours.
4. 4. Stir dough down. Shape dough into 14 balls. Place on greased baking sheet, 1 1/2 inches apart. Cover and let rise till dough is nearly double, 30 to 45 minutes.
5. Bake in 375 oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly; pipe crosses through pastry tube or bag with using white icing or a powedered sugar glaze.

Notes:

My mother makes these at Easter, and sometimes, at Christmas. The recipe is originally from Better Homes and Gardens, March 1973. The original recipe suggests making 24 buns; I like them slightly larger, so I usually make 16 to 18. I tend to use a candy thermometer to check the temperature of the milk and oil solution, and I use a generous 1 and a half teaspoons of cinnamon. I also use more currants; the original called for 1/3 cup. It also called for brushing the buns with a beaten egg white before baking; I don't bother. These freeze quite well.

Shaker Lemon Pie

Ingredients:

2 large lemons (or 5–6 small ones)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, well beaten
1 teaspoon of vanilla
prepared pie crust for a double-crust pie

Procedure:

1. Slice the lemons cross-wise (to make circles), rind and all, as thinly as possible, removing seeds as they appear. It's more important that the slices are thin than that the slices are perfect circles.
2. Place the lemon slices in a bowl, alternating a layer of lemons with one of sugar. Mix the two. Let the sugar-and-lemons mixture stand in a refrigerator at least three hours, overnight if possible. Stir occasionally.
3. Line a pie pan with half the pastry.
4. Mix the four eggs and the vanilla with the lemons and sugar, then pour into the pie crust.
5. Cover and seal the pie with the remaining pastry. Make small vents in the top crust.
6. Cook the pie for fifteen minutes in a pre-heated oven at 450 F. then reduce the temperature to 375 F. and cook for about another 25–35 minutes, or until the blade of a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Notes:

Thinner-skinned, sweeter lemons, work best; I prefer Persian lemons, or Meyer's lemons. Limes can also be good. A serrated knife may work best for slicing the lemons thinly. The pie is even better served slightly warm.

The "authentic" Shaker pie doesn't use vanilla; I think it adds a nice touch, but I've also used vanilla sugar. I suspect that the Shakers favored this recipe because it doesn't waste any of the lemons; only the seeds are discarded.

Mac and Cheese with Ham

What "makes" this exceedingly simple recipe is the baked garlic that's stirred into the cheese sauce. Baking the garlic not only makes it soft, even creamy, it mellows the garlic scent and taste, making it milder and sweeter. It goes without saying that better ingredients make better food, and in this case that means good cheese, freshly grated. That said, I've found using canned evaporated milk rather than cream works fine, and you can get by with onions instead of shallots, though the shallots do make a difference. The original recipe is from Bon Appetit, October 2003 who attibutes it to The Federalist in the XV Beacon Hotel in Boston. It makes a very large quantity, so make sure you have a suitable container to mix the sauce and the cooked pasta. It freezes quite well; I like using ziplock bags which can be filled, flattened and frozen.

Ingredients:
1 head of garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large shallots, minced
2 cups whole milk
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1/8 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 pound ditalini or conchiglie or other "small" pasta
8 ounces quality ham, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350�F. Cut top 1/4 inch off head of garlic to expose cloves. Place garlic, cut side up, on sheet of foil. Drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap garlic with foil to enclose tightly. Bake until skin is golden brown and cloves are tender, about 55 minutes. Cool (I tend to put them in the fridge). Squeeze cloves from their skin.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots; saut� until tender, about 4 minutes. Whisk in milk, cream, thyme, lemon peel, and roasted garlic. Simmer over medium heat until reduced to 2 3/4 cups, about 30 minutes. You don't want the milk/cream to boil or overcook. Reduce heat to low. Gradually stir in cheeses.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain.

Toss cheese sauce, pasta, ham, and parsley in large bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pumpkin Pie

9 inch unbaked pie shell
1 Cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Cloves
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon Ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups canned Pumpkin Pie
1 2/3 Cups Evaporated Milk

Procedure:
Blend sugar, spices and salt.
Add eggs, pumpkin and milk.
Mix well and pour into pie shell.
Bake about 60 minutes at 350 F. or until the pie is "set."
Check the pie after 40 minutes. Refrigerate when cool.

Scones

This is a rewrite of a scone recipe from "Stephanie" that Michael downloaded and printed back in 1998. My approach to scones is practical rather than fussy, so I don't, for instance, use a glass or cookie cutter to shape them. These freeze well; I suggest removing them from the oven just as soon as they are cooked through, cooling them, then freezing them. The recipe can be enhanced by adding dried fruit, lemon or orange zest—use your imagination. You can substitute milk for the cream, use a mixture, or in a pinch, use canned evaporated milk, as long as the quantity remains the same.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chilled butter
1 egg, beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Procedure:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour with a pastry blender. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. If you wish to add raisins, or dried fruit, add about 1/3 to 1/2 cup now, and stir them in. In a small measuring cup combine the whipping cream (or a mixture of cream and milk), beaten egg and vanilla. Add this to the dry ingredients, and stir just until it's combined into a dough you can handle. You want to mix and handle the dough as little as possible since the more you handle it, the tougher the scones will be.

Remove the dough from the bowl; most of it should adhere into a single lump. Knead the dough gently on a lightly floured surface to mix in any odd crumbs or dry flour left in the bowl. Roll or pat out the dough into a rectangle that's about an inch to an inch and a half thick (depending on how many scones you wish to make). If you want to make the scones sparkle, lightly sprinkle a little granulated sugar over the rectangle. Cut the rectangle into six to twelve scones.

Transfer the scones to a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake 375 F. for about 15 minutes, or until the scones are lightly browned.

Peach or Fruit Cobbler

This is a recipe my mother gave me; she was given it by an unknown friend. I'll have to ask her who it was. I generally make it with peaches, though I've used fresh berries, and even canned cherries. It's best with peaches. I use peaches I've frozen. I buy them at the Farmers' Market, let them ripen, dip them in boiling water just long enough to loosen the skin, peal them, slice them, and mix them with sugar and absorbic acid (to keep them from darkening), then freeze flat in gallon size ziploc freezer bags. Peach cobbler in January through March is a lovely treat, and the frozen peaches have a wonderful flavor.

Cobbler Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups Flour
3/4 Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 1/2 Cups Milk
1 Stick Butter, melted

6 cups fruit

For Syrup:
1 Cup Water
1 Cup Sugar
3 Tablespoons Butter

Mix dry incredients; stir in melted butter and milk until smooth. Spread batter on bottom of a buttered 9 x 13 inch pan. Add and arrange fruit (reserving any fruit juice).

Combine water (substitute any fruit juice you reserved for water), sugar (I adjust the sugar based on the sweetness/sugar of the fruit), 3 Tablespoons of butter, and boil (you want a thick syrup). Pour the syrup over the fruit. Bake at about 400 F. for about an hour; you want the batter to be cooked, the fruit to be slighty crisp on the edges, and cooked all the way through. It can take a lot of cooking, especially if you use a deep dish rather than a flat pan. Serve warm with ice cream, or a little heavy cream.

Chocolate Pound Cake

When I was in my late teens, my mother gave my sister and I each a copy of a Hershey's Chocolate cook book. This recipe was in that book, though I've modified it a bit. It's one of the easiest cakes you could possibly make. You do need a good size mixing bowl, but other than that, it's very straight forward, and exceedingly unhealthy. It freezes very very well, and since it makes a larg bundt cake, you might want to freeze half.

I often add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate bits to the batter, just before pouring it into the Bundt pan. Alternatively, you may want to try soaking 1/2 to 3/4 cup dried cherries (in warm water, or, my personal favorite, Kirsch or cognac), pouring off the excess liquid (saving the liquor for the cook) before you stir the cherries gently into the batter.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter
3 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 eggs
1/4 cup strong brewed coffee
2 cups unsifted all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla in a very large bowl for about five minutes, using a mixer at medium speed. Add the eggs, one by one, mixing them in thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Add this mixture, a little at a time, alternately with the coffee and buttermilk (or sour milk) to the creamed mixture, beating just until the mixture is thoroughly blended. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottoms of the bowl.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured 12 cup Bundt pan or ten inch tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees F. for about an hour and twenty minutes, or until a tester or knife blade inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely; sprinkle with confectioners' sugar if you'd like.

Notes: You can sour milk by adding a Tablespoon of vinegar to the milk, and subtracting an equivalent amount of milk.

The cooking time can vary quite a bit, depending on altitude and weather. Test for doneness with a knife inserted gently into the center; it should be moist, but not gooey.

Chocolate Mousse

Serves 5–6

Ingredients:
8 Ounces semisweet chocolate
1/4 Cup strong coffee
3 Ounces (6 Tbls.) Butter
Six eggs, separated
1 Cup Whipping Cream

Procedure:

Melt the chocolate and coffee. Stir in the butter, and add the egg yolks, one at a time, stirring after each egg.

Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.

Beat the cream until it forms soft traces on the surface of the bowl.

Scrape the chocolate down the sides of the bowl containing the egg whites, to mix them. Caefully fold in the whipped cream.

Refrigerate.

LLS

Chocolate Mousse Pie

My mother, after years of diligent research, came up with what I think is not only the easiest Chocolate Mousse Pie recipe, it's the best. It is, however, incredibly rich, so you'll likely want to serve rather slender pieces. It's especially lovely if you garnish it with whipped cream, slivered almonds, and or fresh berries.

Ingredients:
Baked and cooled pastry (shortbread, chocolate or plain)
1 12 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate morsels (like Ghirardelli)
2 1/2 c. cream, divided into 2 cups and 1/2 cup
1 t. vanilla
1 T. Rum, Peach Schnapps or Raspberry Liquor (double or triple this according to taste)

Procedure:

1. Beat 2 cups cream till soft peaks form. Place in refrigerator to keep cool while you do the following:
2. Microwave chocolate and 1/2 cup cream about 1 1/2 minutes till melted, stirring twice.
3. Add flavoring, mix well.
4. Cool about 5 minutes.
5. Fold whipped cream into chocolate.
6. Pour into shell. Chill at least 2 hours.
7. Garnish with whipped cream and/or sliced almonds or grated chocolate.
8. Dip a warm knife in hot water before slicing.

Lena R. Spangenberg

Pie Pastry

This is the pastry recipe my mother used when I was growing up, and still uses today, as do I. When I was very small I would stand on a chair in the kitchen and watch while she rolled the pastry out and formed the pie shell. She usually gave me a small piece to make a pie or tart of my own with.

Ingredients:
2 Cups flour
2/3 Cup margerine (1 stick plus 3 Tablespoons)
1 teaspoon salt
4-6 Tablespoons cold water

Procedure:
Cut margerine into the flour and salt mixture until thoroughly mixed.
Add water until moist enough to make a soft dough.

Lena Spangenberg

Pecan Pie

This is another of my mother's recipes, one that I suspect she was making before I was born. It's one of my father's favorites, next to her "Clemson Peach Pie" (a recipe that I can only successfully make 1 out of 3 times). We usually had Pecan Pie at Christmas and Thanksgiving. It's a very Southern recipe, you don't see much call for Pecans in Yankee cooking. My mother always sorts out the Pecans, reserving the best looking Pecan halves to place in an elaborate pattern.

Ingredients:
1 Cup sugar
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon vinegar
3/4 cup Karo syrup (clear syrup)
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Cup plus of pecans
pastry shell

Procedure:

1. Cream sugar and butter.
2. Beat in eggs, syrup, vanilla, salt and vinegar.
3. Mix well, and add nuts.
4. Pour into 8 inch pie shell.
5. Bake at 350 F. for 55-60 minutes or until center is "set: when the pie is gently shaken.

Lena R. Spangenberg

90 Minute Dinner Rolls

This recipe, which came from an advertisement for Fleichman's Yeast, officially makes a dozen rolls. Rather than double it to make more, it works better to make separate batches. If you cook the rolls until they're almost done, then take them out, cool them and freeze them, they can be cooked ahead and you can take out one or two (or more) as you need them. I don't bother with the pan of water in the oven; I just cover the rolls and let them rise in a draft-free but warm area until they look big (they should at least double in size). Just let them sit for an hour or two. I also tend to make 8 balls instead of 12 for dinner rolls, and four for hamburger/sandwiches/cinnamon buns, which one can make by adding cinnamon and raisins to the dough as you knead.

Ingredients:
2 to 2 1/2 cups unsifted flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package Active Dry Yeast
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons margarine

Procedure:

1. Mix 3/4 cup flour, sugar, salt and undissolved yeast.
2. Heat milk, water and margarine to 120 F. – 130 F.
3. Gradually add to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes at medium speed of mixer.
4. Add 1/4 cup flour. Beat at high speed 2 minutes.
5. Stir in just enough additional flour to make soft dough.
6. On floured board knead 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape into balls. Place in greased 8-inch round pan.
8. Pour a 1-inch depth of boiling water into large pan on bottom rack of cold oven.
9. Set rolls on rack above water. Cover. Close oven door; let rise 30 minutes.
10. Uncover rolls; remove pan of water.
11. Turn oven to 375 F. Bake 20–25 minutes or until done. Remove from pan to cool. Serve warm.

LLS