Berry Trifle

I asked Facebook for a trifle recipe, expecting something involving Jell-O pudding mix. Instead my friend Anna, a former pastry chef, came through with this.

strawberries, blueberries, or other berries
pound cake (she likes Harris Teeter store brand) or ladyfingers
amaretto, triple sec, or simple syrup
whipped cream
pastry custard

Place a layer of berries in trifle dish. Place a layer of pound cake and sprinkle with liqueur/simple syrup to moisten. Then layer with berries, custard, and whipped cream. Repeat pound cake through whipped cream layers to fill the dish.

(photo by Anna Fraser)

Pastry Custard

4 cups milk
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided in half
6 eggs (2 whole & 4 yolks)
7 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons vanilla

Dissolve first half of sugar in milk and heat to boiling. Mix eggs, cornstarch, and other half of sugar together. Temper eggs with hot milk and whisk. Heat on stove until thickened, stirring constantly. As soon as the custard starts thickening, remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla. Chill in fridge.

Sour Cream Cheesecake

This is my dad's favorite kind of "cake" :)

Crust:
2 c graham cracker crumbs
6 T melted butter
1 t cinnamon

Mix together. Press into deep pie pan. Chill.

Layer 1:
2 eggs
3/4 lb soft cream cheese
1/4 honey
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t salt

Preheat oven to 375F. Beat eggs well, then combine all. Pour into crust. Bake 20 minutes. Dust top with cinnamon. Cool to room temperature.

Layer 2:
1 1/2 c thick sour cream
2T honey
1/2 t vanilla

Heat oven to 425F. Combine all. Pour over cake. Bake 5-10 minutes to glaze. Cool to room temperature, then chill at least 6 hours.

Instant Cocoa

2 cups dry milk
dash salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup non-dairy creamer powder

Combine well. To prep, add 4 T to 1 cup hot water and mix to dissolve.

Danish

This one is on the back of the Swedish Nuts and Baked Apples.

2  8-oz packages cream cheese
1 egg
3/4 c sugar
1 t vanilla
1 t lemon juice
2 packages crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 350F, or 325F if using a Pyrex pan. Mix together cream cheese, egg, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice. In 10x13" pan, lay out one package of crescent dough. Spread the filling evenly over it. Cover with the other package of crescents. Bake 20 minutes. Optional: Drizzle with glaze of powdered sugar and lemon juice.

Baked Apples

This is written on the same card as Swedish Nuts and Danish, which is titled "from Amy to me & to you". It's like a self-contained, crustless apple pie. One of many of Grandma's recipes that could either be dessert or breakfast, depending on your mood.

1/3 c walnuts
4 T water
4 apples
1/2 c sugar
2 T flour
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 c butter

Core and peel apples - do not slice. Combine sugar, flour, and cinnamon well. Melt butter. Roll apples in butter, then in sugar to coat them. Place apples in cups or baking dish. Sprinkle walnuts and 1 T water on each apple. Microwave 1 1/2 to 3 minutes, or bake 35-40 minutes at 350F.

4 servings. Per serving: 374 cal, 18.2g fat (7.9g sat. fat, 30.5mg chol.), 55.4g carbs (5.6g fiber, 44.4g sugar), 2.5g protien

Swedish Nuts

These are seriously addictive, and apparently originally came from my mom's cousin's daughter, aka Cousin Amy. It's on the same recipe card as Baked Apples and Danish.

1/2 cup butter
1 egg white
1/2 cup sugar
dash salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups pecan halves

Preheat oven to 300F. Melt the butter in a 9x13" pan. Beat the egg white until stiff. Add sugar, salt, and vanilla. Fold in pecan halves. Spread mixture over melted butter in pan. Toast 30 minutes.

Nana's Cookies

Also known, by sticklers for precision, as Betty Crocker's Vanilla Cookies, these are the cookies my husband used to make when his nana, Louise, babysat him. One day when we were dating, he called her up to get the recipe, and at our wedding shower she gave us a copy of the page from her Betty Crocker cookbook, which you can just barely see at the back of my photo. We make them every now and then, but he usually ends up eating all the dough before we can actually make it into cookies.

1 3/4 c sifted flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c butter
1 egg
2 T milk
1 t vanilla

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and sugar. Cut butter into flour mix to the consistency of coarse cornmeal. Stir in egg, milk, and vanilla. Mix well with clean hands. Form into a ball. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Roll dough to 1/8" thick and cut out. Place cookies 1" apart on sheet. Bake 7 minutes. Cool on racks.

Pumpkin Roll

My recipe card says it came from my aunt Robin, which almost certainly means it came from Bettie originally. Pumpkin roll is nice and moist, and depending on which way you roll it, you either get about 12 big slices that we usually end up cutting in half for serving, or about 25 little slices.

 img via: Very Best Baking

Batter:
3 eggs
1 c sugar
3/4 c flour
2/3 c canned pumpkin
1 t baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese
1 c powdered sugar
2 T butter
1/2 c chopped walnuts

Plus about 1/4 c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease 10x15 inch jelly roll sheet. Line w/ waxed or parchment paper and grease again. Mix batter ingredients & pour into pan evenly. Bake 15 minutes. Mix filling ingredients. After baking, sprinkle liberally with extra powdered sugar. Invert onto a clean dishtowel. Peel off waxed paper and spread filling evenly. Roll up and store wrapped in towel in refrigerator. Slice and serve.

Chai Tea

Yeah, yeah, "chai" actually means "tea," but you know what I mean, right? Masala chai. Sweet, milky, spiced tea. Ten times better than that weird syrup they use at Starbucks.

2 c milk
2 1/2 c water
1/3 c sugar
3 cardamom pods, crushed
6 bags Indian black tea

Combine milk, water, and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and add the tea bags. Boil 2-3 minutes, watching carefully so the milk doesn't make it boil over. Turn off heat. Cover and let steep 2-3 minutes. Be sure to strain out the cardamom pods before serving.

Crescents

I'm getting ahead of myself, because we don't make these cookies until Christmas, but that's okay. It's another from Grandma.

img via: the bon appetit diaries

2 cups ground pecans
1 pound butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 cups flour
1 T vanilla
powdered sugar (at least 1 cup)

Mix pecans, butter, and sugar together. Add flour and vanilla. Knead dough until smooth, then shape into crescent-moons about 3" high. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool 1 minute, then roll in powdered sugar. Let cool, then roll in sugar again. Makes 56 cookies.

Easy Freezy Pumpkin Pie

I think this recipe must have arrived to our house in a cookbook one of us made at school, because the girl who works at the video store knew exactly what we were talking about.

img via: food.com

2 graham cracker pie crusts
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 t salt
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 t cinnamon
4 cups (1 quart) vanilla ice cream

Set the ice cream out to soften a bit. In a bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Add the ice cream and combine until thoroughly mixed. Divide evenly between the two crusts. Freeze until serving.

Pecan Pie

Another recipe from Grandma. The first set of measurements is for a 9" crust, the ones in parenthesis are for an 8" crust.

1 pie crust
3 eggs (2)
2/3 cup sugar (1/2)
1/3 t salt (1/4)
1/3 cup melted butter (1/4)
1 cup dark syrup (3/4)
1 1/2 cups pecan halves

Put the crust into a pie dish. Beat together eggs, sugar, salt, butter, and syrup. Put pecans into the crust, then pour mixture over. Bake 40-50 minutes at 375 degrees.

Cherry Pie

My grandma was a big fan of baking, and she gave my mom a lot of sweets recipes. Thanksgiving, of course, is pie season.

2 cans sour pitted cherries (not cherry pie filling - look in the canned fruit aisle)
1 cup sugar
1 t salt
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 T butter
1 t almond extract
2 pie crusts

Put one crust into a pie dish. Use a knife or small cookie cutter to make steam vents in the other crust, then set it aside to be the lid. In a sauce pan over medium heat, combine sugar, salt, cornstarch, and the liquid from the cherries. Stir constantly until the liquid becomes thick and clearish (about 15 minutes). Add the butter, almond extract, and cherries. Mix, then pour into the pie dish. Cover with the top crust, seal the edges, and sprinkle with sugar. Cover the edges loosely with a strip of tin foil to keep the crust from burning. Bake 30 minutes at 425. Remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes.