Make an Old Fashioned Plum Pudding for Christmas

Old Fashioned Plum Pudding

Plum pudding, a Christmas pudding, has been served on Christmas day for centuries. The traditional plum pudding is served in a blaze, with a sprig of holly stuck on top. For the plum pudding sauce, a little brandy is poured over the Christmas pudding and lighted at the last moment to produce the desired effect.

Plum pudding is best when made four or five weeks prior to Christmas and can be stored for months. During the Victorian era, a silver coin was baked in the pudding, with a promise of wealth in the coming year.
Many households have their own recipe for Christmas pudding, some handed down through families for generations. Essentially the recipe brings together what traditionally were expensive or luxurious ingredients, notably the sweet spices, that are so important in developing its distinctive rich aroma, and usually made with suet.

Ingredients:
1 Cup light molasses
3/4 Cup melted butter
1/2 Cup warm milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 Cup all-purpose flour, plus more to toss fruit
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 pint candied mixed fruit
1 Cup raisins
1 1/2 oz. brandy, plus 1 oz. for sauce
Holly sprig, for garnish
1/4 lb. butter
1 Cup sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Prepare wet and dry ingredients
In a mixing bowl, combine the molasses with the melted butter, milk and eggs. In another, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Add one third of the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture at a time, combining thoroughly. Add fruit and bake

Coat the candied fruit and raisins with a little flour by tossing, then add them to the batter, along with the one and a half ounces of brandy. Mix well and pour the batter into a greased, sugared steamed pudding mold. Place a rack into a large pot of water and stand the pudding mold on it. The mold should be half submerged in the water. Cover the pot and steam for 2 hours, adding more water if necessary. Prepare the hard sauce and serve

Allow the pudding to cool in the mold for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat together the quarter-pound of butter, the sugar, a pinch of salt, the vanilla extract and the remaining ounce of brandy. Turn out the pudding and garnish with powdered sugar and the holly sprig before serving with the hard sauce.

Making A Traditional Yorkshire Pudding

Traditional Yorkshire Pudding

Yorkshire pudding is an English food made from batter consisting of eggs, flour, and milk or water. It is often served with beef and gravy and is part of the traditional British Sunday roast.

You will need a solid roasting tin measuring 11x9 in.

Ingredients:
6oz of flour
2 eggs
6fl oz milk
4fl oz water
2 tbsp beef dripping
Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 425F
Begin by placing a sieve over a large mixing bowl, then sift the flour in, holding the sieve up high to give the flour a good airing as it goes down into the bowl. Now, with the back of a tablespoon, make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Add the salt and pepper.
Now measure the milk and water into a measuring jug. Then begin to whisk the eggs with an electric whisk and as you beat them the flour around the edges will slowly be incorporated. When the mixture becomes stiff simply add the milk and water mixture gradually, keeping the whisk going. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula so that any lumps can be pushed down into the batter, then whisk again till all is smooth. Now the batter is ready for use and although it's been rumored that batter left to stand is better, I have found no foundation for this - so just make it whenever is convenient.

To cook the Yorkshire pudding, remove the meat from the oven, and turn the oven up to the above temperature. Spoon two tablespoons of beef fat into the roasting tin and allow it to pre-heat in the oven. When the oven is up to temperature remove the tin, and place it over direct heat (turned to medium). Then, when the fat begins to shimmer and smoke a little, pour in the batter. Spread it evenly all round and then place the tin on a high shelf in the oven and cook the Yorkshire pudding for 40 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.

Wonderful Gooey Butter Cookies

Gooey Butter Cookies

A clever twist on Gooey Butter Cake is making it into cookies. Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Add cake mix, and stir until well blended. Roll into 1inch balls and roll the balls in the confectioners' sugar. Place 1 inch apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 to 13 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

Alternate Recipe that I used.
Ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Instructions:
In a medium bowl, add the cream cheese and butter. Beat together with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 30 seconds.
Slowly add the sugar to the cream cheese mixture while continuously beating. Beat the sugar into the cream cheese mixture until light and fluffy, 1 minute.
Next, add the vanilla, whole egg, and egg yolk. Beat until combined.
In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add this to the cream cheese mixture in three increments, beating in between each addition.
Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. This should not be optional.
Preheat the oven to 325-degrees, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Have the powdered sugar ready in a shallow bowl nearby.
Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of dough, roll it in your hands to form a ball. Roll the dough into the powdered sugar before placing them evenly on the baking sheet.
Bake for 14 minutes. Keeping a close eye on these cookies, they should not brown in the oven. The top of the cookies will be puffed and slightly wet.
I think, no matter the recipe, you will be very pleased with these cookies. As will your guest.

Brentwood Waffle Maker How to make Waffles

How to make your own Waffles, including a Brentwood Waffle Maker Review.

If you have any ideas, and/or recipes you have found that help you, fell free to comment.

Old Fashioned Potato Chip Cookies

Pecan Crunch Cookies (Also known as Potato Chip Cookies)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup crushed potato chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
Directions:

Cream together butter or margarine, sugar and vanilla. Add crushed potato chips & pecans. Stir in flour. Form into small balls, using about 1 tbsp. dough for each. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press balls flat with bottom of a tumbler dipped in sugar. Bake in moderate oven 350 degrees for 16 to 18 minutes or till cookies are lightly brown.

Photo above from The Clara Project

The Best Sweet Potato (Yam) Casserole With Marshmallows

Time for a good old fashioned Sweet Potato (Yam) Casserole With Marshmallows

Sweet potatoes are a new world tuber, although they weren’t present at the Original Thanksgiving. Native to Central and South America, they were introduced to the North via colonists from Europe. Columbus is credited was transporting them home to the Old World, and by the 16th century they appeared in a British herbal encyclopedia, which recommends serving them “roasted and infused with wine, boiled with prunes, or roasted with oil, vinegar, and salt.”

It wasn’t until after the 1740’s that the term sweet potato began to be used by American colonists to distinguish it from the white (Irish) potato.
by 1880 Americans were enjoying some sort of variation of candied sweet potatoes. American cookbooks, such as the widely published 1893 Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fannie Farmer featured a recipe for glazed sweet potatoes. Likewise, in 1896 Texas Farm and Ranch published Sweet Potato Culture for Profit: A Full Account of the Origin,History and Botanical Characteristics of Sweet Potato, which included a recipe for glazed sweet potatoes.
Now you are probably hungry, and ready to make that Sweet Potato Casserole!
Ingredients:
1 (40 ounce) canbruce cut yams, drained
1⁄2 cup brown sugar
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 (16 ounce) bag miniature marshmallows *Note: I used the large marshmellows, and cut them in half.
Directions:
Butter 1 quart baking dish.
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mash yams in a large bowl and add brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, egg, and melted butter. Mix well.
Line bottom of baking dish with 1 cp of chopped pecans.
Place 1/2 mixture in baking dish. Top with a layer of marshmallows, then add remaining mixture, and top with the remaining marshmallows.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and top with remaining marshmallows.
Bake for another 10 minutes or until marshmallows are lightly browned.

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Johnnies Salty Peanut Cookies

Johnnies Salty Peanut Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup Rice Krispies®
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup salted peanuts
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:
Combine sugar, and shortening, blend until creamy. Add the eggs,and vanilla.
In a separate bowl add the remaining ingredients; mix well.
Combine both bowls, and mix. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet, flatten slightly.
Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.

The Famed Mississippi Mud Cake Recipe

Mississippi Mud Cake

It is thought that the basic concept of this cake was likely created by a home cook sometime after World War II, because it was made with mostly pantry staples, simple ingredients that could easily be found. The actual name Mississippi Mud Cake and the exact method, probably got attached to it a little later though, with the first known printed recipe believed to have been in a newspaper column sometime during the early 70s. Its roots, however, are surely deeply implanted in the hearts of all of us who live in the Deep South. The photo below is a newspaper clipping of unknown year which included coconut.

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
10.5 oz. miniature marshmallows *(I used the large ones cut in half)
Frosting:
1/2 package powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup butter, softened
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Add the sugar, butter, cocoa, eggs, vanilla, and salt to a large mixing bowl. Whisk together until well combined. Stir in the flour and 1 1/2 cups of the toasted pecans.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured 15x10-inch pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from oven and top evenly with the marshmallows. Return to the oven and bake for 5 more minutes.
While the cake is baking, make the frosting. Place all ingredients in a medium bowl. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until combined and smooth.
Remove cake from the oven and drizzle chocolate frosting over warm cake. *If you used the large marshmallows cut in half as I did, you will notice that it is now easier to cut the pieces. All you have to do is cut between the marshmallows.

Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Cookies

Sweet potatoes are thought to be one of the oldest consumed vegetables, dating back thousands of years ago in areas across Central and South America. Today there are many advantages to eating and cooking with various types of sweet potatoes.

1. They are inexpensive.
2. They last a long a time in your refrigerator.
3. They are extremely versatile in recipes.
4. They are packed with important nutrients too, and we are going to use that to our tasty benefit now! Let's get started.

Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Cookies
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 Cans Sweet Potato, drained
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon,
nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of
butter and white sugar. Add Sweet Potato, egg, and 1
teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until
creamy. Mix in dry ingredients.
Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven.

Orange Creamsicle Cookies

Perfect for summer, you will want to try these Orange Creamsicle Cookies. just the refreshing touch you need for those hot summer days.

Orange Creamsicle Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup orange juice
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoon orange zest
2 cups white chocolate chips
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl cream together your butter and sugars.
Stir in your vanilla and eggs until well mixed. Stir in your orange juice.
In separate bowl combine your flour, baking soda, salt and orange zest.
Stir in your white chocolate chips.
Allow your dough to chill for an hour before scooping out teaspoonfuls of dough. Drop your cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for about 9 minutes until cookies are golden.
Allow to cool for several minutes on your cookie sheet, before removing to a cookie rack to cool completely.

Fresh Blueberry and White Chocolate Chip Drop Cookies

Looking for a different cookie to serve your guest? These Blueberry and White Chocolate Chip Drop Cookies may just be it.

Perfect for the summertime when those fresh blueberries are in stock.
Blueberry and White Chocolate Chip Drop Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoons lemon extract
6 oz. white chocolate chips
1 cup blueberries
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, sugar, egg, milk, almond and lemon extracts. Mix well after the addition of each ingredient. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; blend into the sugar mixture. Mix in white chocolate chips. Fold in the blueberries.
Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. (I line them with aluminum foil.)
Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Let the cookies cool.

The Chips Ahoy! Cookie Recipe...A copycat that's Great!

Home Made Chips Ahoy, anyone!

Chips Ahoy! debuted in 1963, and has been a favorite of many a cookie lover since that day, but times are tough, and you may be sitting at home right now thinking "I would really like some Chips Ahoy! Cookies", but being the part of the 99%, you just can't afford them. Not to fear, you may have just what it takes, in your home right now, to enjoy this homemade version of that exact Chips Ahoy! recipe.
Why not get into the kitchen, start baking, and at least you can feel like the 1%. After making these you will wonder why you haven't done this all of your life.
Let's start.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg white
1 tablespoons warm water (if needed)
6 ounces semisweet mini chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
Use an electric mixer to mix the two sugars and shortening. When creamy add the vanilla, salt, and egg white.
Add the flour 1/2 cup at a time adding a tablespoon of warm water as necessary to mix the flour. Note: don't exceed 2 tablespoons of water, this will make a firm dough.
Mix in chocolate chips. Roll into 2-inch balls and press down to make flat. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 36 good size cookies.
When they are done you will have a hard time believing that you have just created these. This may have just become my "go to" chocolate chip cookie from now on.

Lemon Squares, A Great Summer Treat

Lemon Squares

Dessert bars, or simply bars or squares, are a type of American "bar cookie" that has the texture of a firm cake or softer than usual cookie.
The term "bar cookies" or "squares" originated in the 20th century. The earliest examples we find in American cookbooks are from the 1930s [Date bars]. A survey of cookbooks suggests these recipes gained popularity as decades progressed. Lemons are ancient foods enjoyed in many cultures and cuisines from the beginning of time through present day. They figured prominently in custards, pies, cheesecakes, candies, and baked goods. They were also used to flavor savory dishes (lemon chicken, etc.). Lemon bars, as we know them today, evolved from Renaissance times. Why? The ingredients provide the answer. This is when shortbread/crust was developed, lemon custard was very popular and sugar was sprinkled on everything.

Ingredients:
Crust
1 cup All-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Topping
2 Eggs
1 Cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons of Flour
Pinch of Salt
Directions:
Heat oven to 350ºF.
Mix flour, butter and powdered sugar. Press in ungreased square pan, 8x8x2 or 9x9x2 inches, building up 1/2-inch edges.
Bake crust 20 minutes.
Beat granulated sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice, baking powder, salt and eggs with electric mixer on high speed about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Pour over hot crust.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched lightly in center. Cool; dust with powdered sugar.

Gooey Butter Cake

Hot and humid summers may be an unpleasant St Louis tradition, but there is another that is a little more fun, and very much more tasty...Gooey Butter Cake!
Gooey butter cake is a type of cake traditionally made in the American Midwest city of St. Louis. It is a flat and dense cake made with wheat cake flour, butter, sugar, and eggs, typically near an inch tall, and dusted with powdered sugar. Yum! At the bottom of the article is the Real St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake Recipe.

As the story goes, it is believed to have originated in the 1930's as a mistake by a St. Louis-area German American baker. The original bakery, owned by a John Hoffman, hired a new baker who accidentally inverted two ingredients (he was trying to make regular cake batter but reversed the proportions of butter and flour) resulting in a gooey cake that became a best seller in bakeries throughout the St. Louis area.
Another St. Louis baker, Fred Heimburger, also remembers the cake coming on the scene in the 1930's, as a slip up that became a popular hit and local acquired taste. He liked it well enough that Mr. Heimburger tried to promote Gooey butter cake by taking samples of it with him when he traveled out of St. Louis to visit other bakers in their shops. Are you ready to try your hand at it now?

Gooey Butter Cake Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 (18-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 large egg
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 cups powdered (confectioners') sugar
Powdered (confectioners') sugar for dusting top
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13- x 9-inch baking dish.
In a large mixing bowl, combine yellow cake mix, egg, and butter. Press mixture onto bottom of prepared baking dish; set aside.
In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until creamy; add the 2 eggs and vanilla extract. Blend in powdered sugar until well mixed. Pour batter into the crust-lined baking pan.
Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until cake is nearly firm when you shake if (you want the center to be a little gooey, so do not over cook the cake). Remove from oven and let cake cool in the cake pan on a wire rack.
When cool, remove to a serving plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Real St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake Recipe

White Cookies a Recipe from the 1920's

This recipe comes from A CALENDAR OF DINNERS by Marion Harris Neil
Copyright 1920 The Proctor & Gamble Co. Cincinnati

White Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cupfuls sugar
1 cupful Crisco
1/2 cupful thick sour milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoonful backing soda
1 teaspoonful salt
1 teaspoonful vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoonful lemon extract

Directions:
Cream Crisco and sugar together, add eggs well beaten, soda mixed with sour milk, salt, extracts, and about 5 cupfuls flour.Roll very thin, cut with cookie cutter, lay on Criscoed tins, bake in moderately hot oven (350 F.)five minutes. To keep any length of time, when cold, place in covered tin cans and set in cool place, and they will be as crisp as when first baked. Sufficient for ninety cookies.

Note: I did not roll out the dough, and use a cookie cutter, rather, I spooned them on to foil covered cookie sheets, but that is up to you. I also used milk rather than sour milk (I had none). They were indeed a very delicious cookie none the less.

1934 Cake Recipe, Economical Layer Cake

Economical Layer Cake
Ingredients:
1 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Butter
1 Teaspoon Vanilla (or other desired flavoring)
1/2 Cup Water
1 2/3 Cups of Cake Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

Directions:
Stir butter, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla together
until creamy. Sift together the dry ingredients,
and add alternately with the water to the first mixture.
When well mixed, stir in the egg white, stiffly whipped.
Transfer to two 9 inch layer cake pans which have been
rubbed with butter, and dusted lightly with flour.

Bake about 25 minutes at 375 F. When cool, remove from the
pans, and put together with jam, jelly, any fruit butter,
Italian Cream filling, Creamy Icing, or Rich Chocolate Icing.
You can even put the cake together, just before serving, with
whipped cream, or with sliced, and sweetened oranges, or other fruit.
From: Round The World Cook Book by Iad Bailey Allen

Easy Old Fashioned Valentine Treats

Two simple recipes for Valentines Day treats that are sure to please you, and yours.
Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
2 eggs
2 cups peanut butter chips
1 cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Hershey Kisses
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer until well blended. Beat in both sugars. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stir in half of the dry ingredients into the mixture. Add eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Mix in remaining ingredients. Stir in peanut butter chips.
For each cookie, roll 1 heaping tablespoon full of dough into 1 3/4 inch diameter ball. Arrange balls 2 1/2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Flatten slightly.
Bake cookies until dry on top, about 15 minutes.
Place an unwrapped Hershey Kiss on each cookie. Let cool, and enjoy!

Chocolate Crinkles
Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
Directions:
In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into one inch balls. I like to use a number 50 size scoop. Coat each ball in confectioners' sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.