HOMEMADE SWEET LIME PICKLES

This is a stretch to be included on a 'Sweet Treats' page but I know some of you love sweet pickles so here's your chance to make your own tasty sweet pickles. This is an old-fashion recipe that assumes you know how to can.

Slice 7 pounds of cucumbers and soak in 2 gallons of water. Add 2 cups of lime. leave in this for 24 hours. Wash well and soak in water for 3 more hours.

Cover with this solution:
2 qt. vinegar
9 c. sugar
1 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. whole cloves
2 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. mixed spices

Let stand overnight in this solution. Bring to a boil and can.

file photo for reference only

from themountainkitchen

AMISH BAKERY CUSTARD PIE

 

1 (9-inch) baked pie crust

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups half-and-half

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 Ground cinnamon for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
 

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in the half-and-half and cook over medium heat until mixture is thickened and bubbly, stirring occasionally.
 

Remove from heat, add butter, brown sugar, and vanilla and stir until butter is melted. Pour into baked pie shell and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon.

Bake 35 minutes; center of pie will not be set. Cool pie 1 hour, then refrigerate 6 to 8 hours, or until ready to serve. Pie will set upon chilling. Cover for longer storage.

This is another of my old Mr. Food recipes. I have collected his recipes for years since one of my daughters met him many years ago.

HOMEMADE FUNFETTI CAKE

 

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
4 egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon lemon extract
3/4 cup rainbow sprinkles

1. Sift together cake four, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together buttermilk and egg whites.
2. Put the sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of the mixer and rub it together with your fingers. Dorie says to do this, so I do. Add the butter and cream together until creamy, 3 minutes. Add the lemon extract. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Add 1/2 of the buttermilk mixture. Repeat until all of the ingredients are added. Add the sprinkles and fold until combined.
3. Pour batter into 8 or 9-inch pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray with flour. Bake at 350 degree for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely.

Note: This recipe is from Baked Bree who frosts this cake with her Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting.

MARSHMALLOW BUTTERCREAM

1 cup room temperature butter
1 (7-ounce) jar marshmallow creme
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla (Omitted and used lemon extract for this cake.)
1 vanilla bean (optional) 

1. Cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the marshmallow creme.
2. Whip for 2 minutes.
3. Add the confectioners sugar and continue to beat for 2 minutes. Add vanilla extract and vanilla bean.

CREAMSICLE FUDGE

 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

1 cup marshmallow creme/ marshmallow fluff

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

6 tbsp butter

1 tbsp vanilla extract

4 tsp orange zest

Orange food coloring

Line a 9 x 5-incch pan with aluminum foil, leaving ends hanging over for handles. Coat foil with cooking foil.

Place the chips and marshmallow cream in a heat-proof medium to large bowl.

In a small saucepan, over medium-low heat, combine the sugar, milk, and butter; bring to a boil. Boil for 4 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add sugar mixture to the chips and marshmallow cream, stirring until smooth. Stir in the vanilla.  Reserve 1 cup. Stir in the orange zest and a few drops of food coloring to the remaining mixture. 

Pour half of the orange fudge into the prepared pan, smoothing it out. Freeze for 5 minutes. Layer the white fudge evenly over orange layer; freeze for 5 minutes. Add the remaining orange fudge and refrigerate until, at least 2 hours. 

Use the foil handles to remove fudge from the pan to a flat cutting surface. Cut fudge into 1-inch squares using a sharp knife. Keep fudge refrigerated until ready to serve.

The file photo

STRAWBERRY GLACE PIE

This is an old recipe my mother cut from a local newspaper column when I was a child in the 1950s.

Piecrust Shell, baked and cooled
1 quart fresh Strawberries, washed and hulled
1 c. sugar
3 T. Corn Starch
1 cup Water
2 tsp. Brandy Flavoring
Few drops red food coloring
1 cup Whipping Cream, whipped and sweetened

Cut up 1 cup of berries. Mix sugar and corn starch in medium saucepan. Stir in water gradually until smooth. Add the cut-up berries. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick and clear. Stir in brandy flavoring and food color. Stir in remaining berries, saving 1/3 cup for garnish. Refrigerate until filling mounds. Pour into baked piecrust shell. Chill until firm, about 4 hours. Top with whipped cream and reserved berries.

FILE PHOTO

PATTI'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPCAKES AND BUTTERCREAM

This recipe is from my friend Patti Crane who is an excellent baker.

I stick butter
1 cup of water
3/4 cup peanut butter ( I use creamy)
1/2 cup oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 eggs beaten
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. baking soda
Bring butter, water, peanut butter, and oil to a boil. Set to cool. Mix together sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla, milk and baking soda. Add to first peanut butter mixture. mix well. Pour into cupcake pans and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean....it makes 30 cupcakes.

Peanut butter butter cream
1 stick softened butter( I use Land O Lakes only)
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 lb. powdered sugar

Mix frosting ingredients together and spread on cooled cupcakes......

I always double this recipe because I pipe the frosting and I think it takes more....

CHOCOLATE PRALINE ICE CREAM TOPPING

1 cup whipping cream

2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

In a saucepan over medium heat, bring cream, brown sugar and butter to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat then simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from the heat.

Stir the chocolate chips into the hot mixture until melted and smooth. Stir in the pecans.

Serve warm over ice cream (also good over pound cake).

Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Yield: 3 cups

FULE PHOTO

SODA CRACKER PIE

3 egg whites

1 cup nutmeats (pecan or hickory*)
7 soda crackers
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar

Beat egg whites until they stand in stiff peaks. Roll soda crackers into a very fine meal; add baking powder. Fold this mixture into the egg whites, add nutmeats. Pour into an 8 in pie pan that has been well greased. Bake 35 minutes at 350. Top with whipped cream or ice cream to serve.

*This is an old Southern Indiana recipe. In Southern Indiana we have hickory nuts from our hickory trees in the Fall. We usually used them as substitutions for pecans since we had to buy pecans there.

Note: In the "old days" as my kids and grandkids say, our soda crackers came in wide sheets with 4 of todays crackers together and we broke them off. I'm not sure if the 7 crackers might really be 28 of todays soda crackers. Any feedback out there??????

pie clipart

COFFEE ANGEL FOOD CAKE AND BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

 This recipe is from the 1960s when it was a favorite in the South.

1 1/2 cups sifted sugar, divided
1 cup sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups egg whites
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp instant coffee powder or granules

Sifting is important to this recipe and directions should be followed for best results. Combine 1/2 cup of the sugar with the cake flour and sift together 4 times.

Add the salt to the egg whites in a clean and cool mixing bowl; beat until foamy. Sprinkle the cream of tartar into the egg whites and continue beating until soft peaks form. Add the remaining cup of sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until stiff peaks form.

Fold in the vanilla and coffee. Fold in the flour mixture, a half cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and invert pan over a wire rack.

Ice the above cake with this icing:

Coffee Butter Cream Icing

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 to 4 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp instant coffee
slivered toasted almonds for garnish, if desired

Cream the butter and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Sift the sugar into the creamed mixture, a little at a time, beating well after each time. Add enough milk to make the icing of a good spreading consistency (icing that is too stiff is hard to spread on angel food cake)and mix well. Add the vanilla and coffee and beat until light and fluffy. Spread over the cooled cake. Sprinkle with the almonds, if desired.

FILE PHOTO

STRAWBERRY POUND CAKE

 

For the Cake:

8 ounces strawberries, hulled and quartered
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
Grated zest (rind) of 1 orange
1 teaspoon baking powder

For the Icing:
4 ounces hulled strawberries
1 1/2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 1/4 cups heavy cream, whipped
5-6 extra strawberries, for decoration

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter a 9-inch round cake pan and line the base with parchment or waxed (grease-proof) paper.

Toss the strawberries in a little of the flour, to coat. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in the orange zest (rind), flour, baking powder, and strawberries in 3 batches. Stir to combine after each addition.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

FOR THE ICING: Place the strawberries and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process to a puree. Fold into the whipped cream. Ice the cake and decorate with the strawberries and serve .

Place the strawberries and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process to a puree. Fold into the whipped cream. Ice the cake and decorate with the strawberries and serve.

Recipe reprinted by permission.

MOM'S SUGAR CREAM PIE

This recipe was my late mother's. When my mother passed away, a gentleman came up to me at the visitation and told me she made the best sugar cream pies he had ever eaten.

1 baked pie shell
1/4 cup corn starch (don't skimp!)
1 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1 stick oleo
1 tsp vanilla
cinnamon
nutmeg

Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, and milk. Cook until thick. Remove from heat and add vanilla and oleo. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour into the pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

file photo

CHOCOLATE BANANA CREAM PIE

This recipe came from a lady in Washington state who combined her love of chocolate and her husband's love of banana cream pie into this tasty treat.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup whipping cream
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 tbsp butter or margarine
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 (9-inch) pastry shell, baked
4 squares (1-oz each) semisweet chocolate, melted
2 medium-size firm bananas, sliced
Whipped cream for garnish, optional
chocolate shavings for garnish, optional

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt; gradually add milk and cream until smooth.  Cook, stirring, over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly, about 2 minutes.  Add a small amount to the egg yolks; mix well.  Return the egg yolk mixture to the pan and bring to a gently boil. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.  Pour half of the mixture into the pastry shell; cover and refrigerate.

Add the melted chocolate to the remaining mixture and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Do not stir.

Arrange the bananas over the custard filling in the pastry shell. Carefully spoon the chocolate mixture over the bananas. Refrigerate pie for at least 2 hours before cutting to serve.

Garnish with the whipped cream and chocolate shavings, if desired.

file photo

QUICK BUTTERSCOTCH CREAM CHEESE PIE

 This pie goes together quickly but it does require approximately 2 hours of chilling time.

1 brick (8-oz) cream cheese, softened
1 can (14-oz) sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup cold water
1 pkg (4-serving size) instant butterscotch flavor pudding mix
1 cup whipping cream, whipped*
1 prepared graham cracker pie crust**

In a large mixer bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy; gradually beat in the milk until smooth. With mixer on low speed, beat in the water and pudding mix until smooth. Gently fold in the whipped cream.

Pour the mixture into the pie crust and chill for around 2 hours until set.

Garnish as desired with whipped cream, nuts, sauce, etc.

* May use an 8-oz carton of frozen whipped topping, thawed.
**May use a baked pastry shell.

This recipe is my own combination of one from a 1987 Borden cookbooklet and a recipe I saw on line. This is a file photo.

GHIRARDELLI CLASSIC FUDGE

2 cups Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

2 ounces (1/2 baking bar) Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 can (14-oz) sweetened condensed milk
2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Line an 8-inch square baking pan with waxed paper.

Place the chocolate chips, bittersweet chocolate and milk in the top of a double boiler over hot but not boiling water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted. Stir in the vanilla and nuts. Spread fudge out evenly in the prepared pan.

Refrigerate for 2 hours or until fudge is firm.

Cut into small squares and store, uncovered, in the refrigerator.

file photo

ORANGE SLICE COOKIES

This recipe is from my Capitol Cookies cookbook that features a recipe from each of our state capitols. This recipe is from Montgomery, Alabama.

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon soda
1 pound orange slice candy
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream sugar, shortening, and eggs until light and fluffy. Sift the 2 cups of flour with the soda and salt.  Blend into the creamed mixture. Dice orange slice candy. Mix with 1/2 cup flour and add to the first mixture.  Stir in coconut, chopped nuts, and oats.  Roll into 1-inch balls.  Place on a greased cookie sheet and press with a fork.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.  Makes 6 dozen.

Note: When dicing candy, dip kitchen shears in powdered sugar frequently.

This is a file photo used for reference only.

RICOTTA-WHEAT CREPES WITH BLUEBERRY SAUCE

This is a recipe sheet I got years ago from McCall's Cooking School.  I've just never had much patience for making crepes but these are very good.

Click on picture to enlarge for easier reading.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CRACKLES

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in the melted butter and eggs until combined, then stir in the white chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

Put the confectioners' sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls, then roll in the sugar until well coated. Place 1-inch apart on the baking sheets.

Bake until the cookies are puffed and the tops are cracked, about 10 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets then remove to wire racks to cool completely. Store in a airtight container for up to 1 week.

Yield: About 24 cookies.

Note: This is a recipe I got several years ago from a Food Network Magazine.

KEY LIME CHEESECAKE BARS

Crust:

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp sugar

Combine the ingredients in a small bowl; press onto the bottom of a square 2-quart dish. Refrigerate while you make the filling.

Filling:
1 pkg (4-oz) lime gelatin
3/4 cup boiling water
1 container (16-oz) low-fat cottage cheese
1 brick (8-oz) fat-free cream cheese, softened
1 container (8-oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
Lime wedges or slices for garnish, optional

In a large bowl, combine the gelatin and boiling water; stir until gelatin is dissolved. Set mixture aside.

In a blender or food processor, combine the cottage cheese and cream cheese. Process until smooth, stopping often to scrape down the sides. Whisk 1/2 cup of the mixture into the gelatin. Whisk in the remaining mixture until smooth. Gently fold in the whipped topping. Spoon the mixture over the chilled crust and smooth out.

Cover dish and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours until firm. Cut into 9 squares for serving. If desired, garnish with fresh lime wedges or slices.

Note: This is my version of a BH&G recipe.