Oma's Pound Cake

4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2-1/4 cups sugar
1-1/4 cups skim milk
6 eggs
1 pkg. vanilla sugar (check my recipe for vanilla sugar)
1/2 lb. plus 1 T. butter or margarine
1 tsp. lemon extract (variation: almond extract)

Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla sugar. Alternately add flour and milk, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add extract, stir.
Pour into greased/floured loaf pan, filling half way. Makes 2 loaves.
Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Use cake tester.

Variation:
Marble pound cake: Take half of the batter and add 1T. cocoa powder. Stir well. Pour this mixture between two layers of plain batter. Take a knife and pull knife through center of cake (the long way). Creates a nice visual, outside and inside.

Recipe from my mother, Gertrud Wunder

Oma's Waffles

1 stick margarine
1 1/2 T. sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. rum extract
1 c. flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp. baking powder
9 oz. milk
1 T. light sour cream

Cream margarine, sugar, eggs. Mix together flour, cornstarch, baking powder. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to creamed mixture. Mix sour cream, vanilla and rum extracts. Add to dough mixture. Heat waffle iron (griddle). Bake until brown. Serve as a breakfast waffle or as a dessert waffle.

Pumpernickel Dip

2/3 c. light mayonnaise
2/3 c. light sour cream
1 T. parsley flakes
1 T. onion flakes
1 tsp. dill seed
1 tsp. celery salt
1 tsp. garlic salt

Mix together above ingredients and refrigerate. Cut center out of round pumpernickel. Cut into cubes. Spoon dip into pumpernickel. Use cubes for dipping.

Spice Cranberry Sauce

1 c. sugar
6 whole cloves
juice and rind of 2 oranges (substitute 1 cup commercial orange juice and 2 T. dried orange peel)
1 stick cinnamon
2 c. fresh whole cranberries
Sort and wash cranberries. Moisten sugar with orange juice. Add chopped rind. Boil 5 minutes. Add spices and cranberries. Cook until cranberries burst. Remove spices, cool and serve.

Quick Crumb Cake

Grease and flour jelly roll pan.

1 box yellow cake mix
Prepare batter according to box directions. Spread onto jelly roll pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Crumbs:
3 sticks of melted margarine
1 c. sugar
3 cups flour
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix well and crumble over hot cake. Bake again at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Sprinkle confectionery sugar over cake when cooled. For thicker crumbs, double crumb recipe.

Garlic Soup

Yes, garlic soup! It is so delicious and SO healthy! When I lived in Arizona, I made this all the time. Garlic grows very well there. I grew my own in the backyard, planted in October, harvested in May. And during the winter I cut the growth on top for salads.

Serves 4-6
1 head garlic
1-1/2 quarts chicken stock
4 oz. stale country bread (2 or 3 days old), crusts removed
salt and pepper
2 large carrots, chopped fine in food processor
2 celery stalks, chopped fine in food processor
Optional garnishes: green garlic leaves, cut very thin, or shredded basil leaves

Peel the garlic and poach the cloves in 2 cups chicken stock. While this is cooking, saute carrots and celery in 1 T. olive oil. In 10 to 15 minutes, when garlic is completely soft,puree stock and garlic in blender. Meanwhile, cube the bread. Soak in warm water until very soft, about 10 minutes. Squeeze out excess water, and crumble the bread.
Add the garlic puree and carrot/celery mix to the remaining broth, and whisk in the softened, crumbled bread. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve hot, garnished with garlic or basil leaves.

I usually double the recipe if I have company, they always ask for seconds!

Cheese Cake, Again

In a very large bowl, combine the following:
1 lb. ricotta cheese
1 lb. cream cheese
4 eggs
½ lb. butter (melted in a saucepan, let cool)
1 ½ cups sugar

Mix well – high speed on mixer, approx. 15 min.

Fold in (one at a time)
2 T. lemon juice
4 T. flour
4 T. corn starch
1 tsp. vanilla

Spoon in 16 oz. sour cream. Mix well.

Grease 10 inch spring form pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for one hour. Turn oven off and leave in oven for two more hours. DO NOT OPEN OVEN AT ANY TIME. Enjoy! From a hand written recipe I found in an old cookbook. It’s a real old fashion cheese cake recipe.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

2-3/4 cups sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
6 eggs
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1/2 tsp. orange extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

In a mixer bowl, cream together sugar and butter or margarine till light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, salt and soda. Add to creamed mixture, alternately with sour cream, beating after each addition. Add extracts and vanilla; beat well. Pour batter into greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake in 350 degrees oven for 1-1/2 hours or till cake tests done. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan. When cool, frost or sprinkle with confectioner's sugar, if desired.

Bread Pudding

6 eggs, separated
6 cups milk
1 T. vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/2 pound left over bread, cut into 1" cubes (8 cups loosely packed) I mix different breads
1/2 stick butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup raisins

Combine the egg yolks, milk, vanilla, 3/4 cup of the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and whisk until the sugar dissolves. Place the bread pieces in a large 10-cup rectangular baking pan or casserole dish. Pour the yolk and milk mixture over the bread and let it sit for about 30 minutes, mashing the bread occasionally with a fork. Add raisins, stir until mixed.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into bread mixture. Dot the top of the mixture with the butter. Place the pan in a larger pan and fill the larger dish with enough water to come up halfway on the bread pan or casserole dish. Bake for 1-1/2 hours, or until the pudding sets and a knife comes out clean. Remove the pudding from the oven.

Apple Pancakes

1 1/2 cups flour
3 T. sugar
3 eggs
1 cup milk
4 T. melted butter
1 T. vanilla extract
1 large apple, peeled, cored, thinly sliced

Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl and all wet ingredients in another bowl. Add dry to wet, blend well. Fold in apple slices. Cook as you would any other pancake.

Recipes from Macy's Home Centre

I found this in an old cookbook, along with some newspaper clippings. Since I spent most of my life in New York, this was like finding a touch of home. I spent many Saturdays shopping in Macy's with my mother. The used to have a Home Centre (that's how it was spelled in the 50's) and they had many imported foods, the latest kitchen appliances and gadgets. They also had a restaurant and sometime I got a special treat and mom and I had lunch there.

So here's a recipe from Macy's, in the 1950's. To the right is the copy of the actual paper I found. Below is the recipe, in case you can't read this.
P.S. If anyone can tell me how to put a pdf file in blogs, please email me.
thank you.

Cream Cheese Pastry for Tarts and Turnovers (my comments red)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 lb. cream cheese
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Blend cheese and butter together. Add salt to the flour and work in flour with a blender (pastry blender or I would use a food processor). Add a little ice water or a little cold milk if you need to use up flour. Form into a ball wrap in waxed paper and chill a few hours or over night in a refrigerator.

Tarts

Roll cream cheese pastry out thin. Cut with a cooky or tart cutter. Fit over a tart pan or a muffin tin. Bake at 450 degrees about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the pan, turn upright and cool. Fill with any jam, jelly, stewed fruit, fruit sauce or cut up bananas. Top with a glaze or whipped cream. Any jelly melted slowly will make a good glaze..

Gertrude Gallian, Director of the Home Centre
Housewares Basement

Apple Crumble

A newspaper clipping found in an old cookbook. I couldn't find a date on the clipping, however, mention of rations leads me to believe this is during World War II.

"Here is a dessert in which part of the sweetening is done with honey. Desserts such as this will make your sugar ration go farther.
Peel and core apples, slice and measure four cups. Place these slices in the bottom of a well greased shallow baking dish. Sprinkle one-fourth cup of sugar over the slices, then add two teaspoons of lemon juice and one-half cup of honey.
Combine one-half cup of flour, three tablespoons of brown sugar, a dash of salt and three tablespoons of butter. Work this mixture until it is crumbly.
Sprinkle over the top of the apples and bake in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the apples are tender and the crumbs are lightly browned. Serve warm with thick cream."