Nut Bread by Mildred M.

As we have already discussed, nuts are gross, so I left them out of all but 1 loaf of this bread.  It is interesting that the one with nuts baked up prettier.  I have had this happen before when I added nuts to only half of a recipe.  My theory is that the nuts affect the moisture and fat content and change the consistency.  So, if it is nut bread, and you don't like nuts, you should look for another recipe.

The concensus on this bread is that it is o.k., but we don't need to make it again.  It is kind of tough and chewy.  I don't think I over-mixed it, because I was careful not to.  The flavor is a lot like brown sugar muffins, which are much tastier and have a better consistency, so make those instead.

Nut Bread by Mildred M.

2 well beaten eggs

2 c brown sugar

2 c sour milk

4 c flour

2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 c chopped walnuts

Cream eggs and sugar; add milk and mix well.  Sift together dry ingredients and add to sugar mixture.  Stir in nuts.  Pour into well greased loaf pans, I got 3 loaves.  Bake at 350 for  50-60 minutes.

Kona Banana Bread - Ann W.

Why is the word "Kona" in the recipe?  It makes it sound like it should have pineapple or coconut in it.  This bread has wonderful flavor.  It is very moist and has great texture.  I turned the temperature lower than the original recipe because I was afraid it would burn on the outside.  (It would have.)  With the toothpick test it was cooked completely.  But as soon as I took it out of the oven.....as you can see there is one small problem.  It sunk so far in the middle even though it was completely cooked that it looks pitiful.  Looking at the ingredients I think it should have more flour.  The sugar and flour are almost equal amounts.  After you add the moisture of the eggs, shortening and bananas it is just not stiff enough to hold a proper shape.  I would maybe try this again and just add an extra 1/4 to 1/3 C. more flour than listed.  Once again, how can you go wrong just using the old stand by.  Grandma Helen's still can't be beat!

Kona Banana Bread - Ann W.

1/2  C. Shortening                                                    1  1/4 C. Sifted Flour (add additional 1/4-1/3 C.)
1  C. Sugar                                                              3/4  tsp. Baking Soda
2  Eggs                                                                    1/2  tsp. Salt
3/4  C. Mashed Bananas                                        

Cream shortening and sugar until light.  Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each.  Mix in bananas.  Sift together dry ingredients and add to banana mixture.  Mix well.  Pour into a well greased or wax paper lined loaf pan.  Bake in moderate oven 325o F. 30 to 40 minutes.

Banana Nut Cake by Louise M.

I always like doing recipes from Grandma!

This cake was good, but not earth shattering.  I followed the directions exactly, except for leaving out the nuts.  One of the layers fell, but not the other.  They were filled the same, but maybe one side of the oven is hotter than the other??  Mom (Louise' daughter) said that the cake always fell, so I didn't feel too bad about it.  I also confirmed the recipe for lemon cream frosting, and I added it below the cake recipe.  Since I can't find the camera ANYWHERE, imagine a two layer cake with bright white frosting, and cake that is a greyish brown.  That sounds like a disgusting color, but I promise it looks yummy!

Banana Nut Cake by Louise Matheson
2 ½ C flour
1 ½ t baking powder
1 ½ C granulated sugar
¾ t soda
¾ t salt
¾ C shortening
6 t flour (I left this out)
½ C brown sugar
6 T buttermilk
1 ½ C mashed bananas (approx. 3 large bananas)
3 eggs
1 ½ t vanilla
¾ C chopped nuts (I left this out)

Sift dry ingredients into large bowl, add shortening, brown sugar, buttermilk, and bananas.  Mix enough to dampen flour.  Beat 2 min.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Beat one minute.  Fold in nuts dusted with 6 T flour
(since we don’t really like nuts in cake, I left out both of these ingredients and this step).  Turn into two greased 8” layer pans lined with paper (or coffee filters, which are the perfect size).  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Frost with lemon cream frosting

Lemon Cream Frosting (all measurements are approximate)

1/2 C shortening

1 t vanilla

dash salt

4 C powdered sugar

1/2 C lemon juice

Mix all ingredients, adding lemon juice as needed.  Beat several minutes to achieve fluffiness.  DO NOT USE MILK.  I guess the lemon juice will sour the milk if you add it.  

Date Nut Cakes

When I looked at my cake recipes, I realized that I have 2 that were almost identical, so I decided to make them both and have people vote for the best one.  Isn't that the only reason we try new recipes, to find out if it is better than the recipe we already have?  I know I come from a family of great cooks, because it is pretty rare for me to find a recipe that is better than what I already have.

Anyway, I HATE nuts and I only like dates a little, so I relied on the opinions of others to tell me which one tastes best.  The consensus is that the Date Cake is moister and more cake-like.  They said it is not just the topping, the whole cake is moister.  The Queen Elizabeth Cake is more like a bread.  The Queen Elizabeth Cake definitely had more steps to mix up and dirtied more dishes.  The Date Cake was easier to mix up, but you have to make the topping, so they take about the same amount of effort, but for the extra effort you get a gooey topping.  Both cakes fell.  I think this is because I tested them with a toothpick at the wrong time.  They definitely took longer to bake than the recipe said.  I will probably never make them again, but for all you date and nut lovers, make Lillian's Date cake, it is better.

left-Queen Elizabeth Date Nut Cake,   right-Date Cake

Date Cake by Lillian G.

1 1/4 c chopped dates
1 c boiling water
1 T butter
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 c chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour a 9 inch square cake pan.  Put dates and butter in a mixing bowl and pour the boiling water over the top.  (I let it sit for a little while because I was making both cakes at the same time)  Add everything else, but the nuts, and beat 2 minutes.  Stir in nuts.  Pour in prepared pan and bake 30 minutes, or until it is done in the center.  It will be a dark brown.  Cool slightly, and spread with slightly warm date topping.

Date Topping

1/2 c sugar
1/2 c chopped dates
1/4 c water
1/2 c chopped nuts

Combine sugar, dates, and water in a small sauce pan.  Boil for 2 minutes, then add the nuts.  Cool slightly.

Queen Elizabeth Date Nut Cake by Veda M

1 c boiling water
1 c chopped dates
1 tsp soda
1/4 c butter
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 c chopped nuts

Measure dates into a small bowl, pour boiling water over the top, and add soda.  In another bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add egg and vanilla.  Stir in dry ingredients, and then the nuts.  Add date mixture, and mix well.  Pour into a greased 9 inch square pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until done in the center.

Applesauce Cupcakes - Loleen G

This is an excellent applesauce cupcake!!!!!  It is very moist and has great flavor.  The texture was very good.  The batter was a little stiffer than regular cake, more like a fruit bread so they are a little heavier but great.  The recipe says to grease the muffin tins so I wonder if the batter was stiffer to allow them to release from the pan easier.  (This was probably before we had paper cupcake papers.)  I baked one with a paper just to see if the paper would stick too hard to the cupcake.  The result was; the paper one worked well, the paper came off fine and it was baked just right.  The non papered ones were a little drier because they were baked harder.  I was surprised how much the paper protected the cupcake from over baking.  Word to the wise.  Paper liners do slow the baking process a little bit.  But, lets get serious who would ever grease 24 cupcake cups when paper liners are so much more convenient!!!!  I used Aunt Mattie's cupcake tins just so the process would be authentic.  I only got 16 cupcakes.  If you need the full 24 you would need to do extra.

Applesauce Cupcakes - Loleen G.

1/3  C. Shortening                                                      2  C.  Flour
1  C. Sugar                                                                1  tsp. Soda
1  Egg                                                                        1/2  tsp. Salt
1  C. Unsweetened Applesauce                                  1  tsp. Cinnamon
1/2  C. Raisins                                                            1/2  tsp. Cloves
1/2  C. Nuts, chopped

Sift together flour, soda, salt and spices.  Mix raisins and nuts.  Cream shortening and sugar well.  Add egg and beat until mixture is fluffy.  Stir in applesauce, raisins and nuts.  Add flour mixture and mix well.  Rub muffin pans with shortening, or use paper liners.  Fill 2/3 full and bake in 350o oven for 18-20 min.  Make sure and check.  Mine cooked really fast.  Makes approx. 16 cup cakes.  Ice with Easy Penuche Frosting or leave plain.

Easy Penuche Frosting:  from Better Homes and Garden Cookbook
Melt 1/2 C butter or margarine; add 1 C brown sugar.  Bring to boiling; cook and stir 1 min. or until slightly thick.  Cool 15 min.  Add 1/4 C hot milk and beat smooth.  Beat in enough of 3 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar for spreading consistency.  Frosts two 8 or 9 inch layers or loaves.

Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies by Marilyn

Disclaimer:  I don't like raisins.  I will skip desert if it has raisins in it.  It's just not worth the calories.

Marilyn must have loved raisins, because there are twice as many raisins in this recipe as chocolate chips, but the title is still all about the chocolate chips.  Were raisins in everything?  And was it just assumed all cookies would have raisins, so the pertinent information was the chocolate chips??  Because of the way the recipe is put together (boiling the raisins in the water first), I couldn't just leave the offending part out, so I decided to make it dairy free and just feed them all to Ben.  (btw: He LOVES them)  That means I left the chocolate chips out of the Yummy Chocolate Chip recipe.

I'm still giving the recipe a 3.5 because the parts I tasted were great.  They have good texture.  The raisins were very soft and kind of spread out in the cookie because of the boiling.  And like I said, my son loves them.  I'm just not a fan.  I'll probably make them again, and feed them all to my kids while I eat something truly yummy, like chocolate chip-peanut butter cookies.

Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies by Marilyn Alger

1 C water

2 C raisins

1 t soda

1 C shortening, part butter (I used all shortening to keep them dairy-free)

2 C sugar

1 t cinnamon

3 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 t vanilla

4 C flour (maybe skimp a bit on the flour because I ended up adding a little extra water at the end)

1 t baking powder

1 C nuts (I left these out)

1 6 oz package chocolate chips or 1 Cup.  (I left these out, too)

Boil water and raisins for 5 minutes.  let cool and add soda and cinnamon to raisins.  Cream shortening, sugar, and vanilla.  Add eggs.  Mix in raisin mixture.  Add dry ingredients.  Mix in nuts and chocolate chips.  Bake 12-15 minutes (I did just 10 minutes) at 350.  

Date Dreams - Lillian G.

I really like dates.  While they are not chocolate, by any means, I like dates.  So when I saw this recipe I was excited.  I wanted to make them GF and couldn't find GF corn flakes or rice cereal (I assumed Rice Krispies) so I substituted Rice Chex and Kix.  Honestly, I don't think the cereal was the problem.  The cookies were good, but just not great.  Two of the kids gave it a 3 and wanted seconds, everyone else was fine at 1.  I honestly don't expect to make them again.  

Also, it doesn't say this in the recipe, but I pulsed each cereal in the food processor a couple of times before measuring and I chopped the dates before measuring.  FYI:I used a food processor to cut the dates, but I think cutting them with a knife wold be better.

Date Dreams

3/4 C sugar

1 C dates

2 eggs

1 C rice cereal

1 C nuts

1 C cornflakes

Coconut

In a saucepan on med heat, cook sugar, dates, and eggs together, stirring constantly until the mixture leaves the side of the pan.  (About 10 minutes). Allow to cool somewhat, but not all the way.  Add cereals and nuts.  With buttered hands, roll into a ball and roll in coconut.