Grandmothers Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

Grandmothers Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

Nothing compares to the baking your grandmother did, and this Cinnamon Streusel Cake is no exception. It's a wonderful cake for a small gathering, or double the recipe for a larger one. It will certainly impress all of your guest.
Ingredients:
STREUSEL
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted
CAKE
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
3/4 cups milk
1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 9" square baking pan. Combine streusel ingredients thoroughly in a small bowl, set aside.
Cream together sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl.
Beat in egg. Stir in milk. Sift together dry ingredients, add to mixing bowl. Stir until just combined.
Spread batter in pan, and sprinkle streusel over top.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes, until batter is golden brown and center springs back when touched. Let cool, and serve to your favorite guest!

A Fantastic M & M Toffee Bark Recipe

It's the perfect treat for any holiday, but especially at Christmas time. The bark is graham cracker based mixed with a layer of hard and brittle toffee, a layer of peanut butter, then a layer chocolate and an extra special layer of M&M's® and red and green sprinkles for the topping. You cannot fail with this extra special treat. Your friends and family will eat this up in no time at all. You may have to make more.

We begin by buttering the pan, or cooking spray if you prefer. Add 1 cup each of butter and brown sugar to a pot, and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Next you layer the bottom of the pan with Graham Crackers, and pour in your boiled butter/brown sugar mixture. Bake for 4 minutes at 400 F.

Remove from oven and add 3/4 cup of peanut butter. You can spread it with a spatula, but as you can see...I did not. I'll leave that up to you. Place back into the oven for a minute, until the peanut butter is melted (about 1 minute).

Remove from oven and layer your chocolate on top (2 cups, and I used milk chocolate chips), and place back in oven until melted. This will probably take a minute or two. When the chocolate is melted you can then spread it out with a spatula.

When you are finished spreading the chocolate, sprinkle the M % M candies over the top, and add red and green sprinkles...just for fun. Cool at room temperature, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill completely. Once it is chilled completely you will be able to break the toffee bark into pieces. Then it's time to enjoy your work!

Valentines Day: Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake Recipe

Nothing say's valentines Day like chocolate, at least for me, and nothing is baked as well as grandma use to do it. So for your happiest of days why not try this vintage old fashioned Chocolate cake recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
*CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe below)

Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin, it's o.k.). Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with Chocolate Frosting.
2 LAYER CAKE: Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8-inch round baking pans. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup Cocoa Powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.
I hope you enjoy this made from scratch chocolate cake as much as I did. Personally I think you will love it!

The Original Hello Dolly Cookies Bar Recipe

The Original Hello Dolly Cookies

AKA: Magic Bars or Seven Layer Cookies

Though the original recipe was called Hello Dolly Cookies, there were other names used sometimes: Magic Cookie Bar, and Seven Layer Cookies. The names were different, but the recipe was the same. What makes this cookie an original is that the recipe is only made with graham cracker crumbs, semi-sweet chocolate, coconut, pecans, and sweetened condensed milk. Recipes that have followed through out the years have change with adding walnuts, white chocolates, butterscotch chips, and etc.
In the case of this cookie, the original recipe is made by layering condensed milk, chopped nuts, semi-sweet chocolate chips and sweetened coconut on top of a tender, buttery, graham cracker crust.

History say's the recipe became famous during the 60′s when Hello Dolly was on Broadway. During the show, there is a restaurant scene. Clementine Paddleford’s (our countries first food journalist, the original foodie!) food column in “The Week “ magazine on September 19, 1965 featured a “Hello Dolly Cake” which an 11 year old girl borrowed from her grandmother. The recipe included graham cracker crumbs, flaked coconut, chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and condensed milk.
19 September 1965, Syracuse (NY) Post-Standard, “Clementine Paddleford Recipe Swap,” This Week magazine, pg. 20, col. 2: “Hello Dolly” Cake: ALECIA LEIGH COUCH OF DALLAS, TEXAS, 11, is today’s youngest. She sends a cake recipe borrowed from her grandmother, who cooks young, too. The “Hello Dolly” name was Alecia’s idea. “No need even to mess us a bowl,” Alecia writes, “and that’s the big reason why I call this my favorite cake recipe. And of course it’s good!”

The recipe above was found is under the name “Hello Dolly” cookies, in the July 6, 1965 edition of The Hutchinson (Kansas) News:12:39 PM 2/10/2017

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Melt butter in a small bowl in the microwave on high for 30 seconds. Combine graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter. Place in an 9″ X 9″ baking dish. Pat the crumb mixture down evenly with your hands.
Layer the chocolate chips, walnuts, and coconut on top of the graham cracker mix. Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the entire mixture.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is light brown. Let cool completely before slicing.

Here are 2 more even earlier Recipes.

The Best Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffin Recipe

The name is first found in print in 1703, spelled moofin, it is of uncertain origin but possibly derived from the Low German Muffen, the plural of Muffe meaning a small cake, or possibly with some connection to the Old French moufflet meaning soft as said of bread.
The type of English muffin sold today was popularized in the late 1800s by English-American baker Samuel Beth Thomas (whose baked-goods company Thomas' survives to this day).

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1 (15 oz) can pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375° F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners, and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Whisk to combine and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the eggs, pumpkin puree, coconut oil, milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and fold to combine. The batter will be thick.
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Bake for 22-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before removing the muffins from the pan.

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.

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.

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.

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