It's hard to pass up a recipe that uses dates and I have also become very interested in Amish/Mennonite recipes for "puddings". This recipe offered by Judy Hochstedler in the Hochstedler Family Cookbook, A Collection of Edible Treasures from the family of Emanuel and Mattie Hochstedler.
I love dates in recipes and just by themselves. This Date Pudding is incredibly sweet. As I usually do when I bake with fruit/dried fruit, I decided to use a stevia/sugar blend for the sugar when I mixed it up. Personally I don't think I could have eaten it if I had made it with 1 cup of sugar. It is really sweet due to the natural sugar in the dates. I know my husband and I are used to desserts with less sugar, but really with all of the dates, it is really sweet.The next time I make it, I will just use a cup of stevia. I will leave it up to you as to which you decide to use.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
DATE PUDDING
1 lb chopped dates
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup hot water
1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup stevia/sugar blend, but could have used 1 cup stevia instead)
1 egg
1 tablespoon butter
1-1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup walnuts chopped
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray baking dish around 8 x 10 - inches. (Will not be as thick in a 9 x 13 - inch pan.)
Mix the dates with the soda and add the hot water.
Press dates down in bowl to cover with the water. Set aside.
Stir together in a large mixing bowl the sugar, and flour.
Add the egg and softened butter and walnuts. Stir til blended.
Add dates
and stir.
Spread in prepared pan.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes.
Cool in pan on wire rack.
Cut in squares to serve. (Judy recommends serving with whipped cream and bananas.)
I just used whipped topping. My husband ate his plain.
I finally found a recipe to try using the blackberries that our bushes produced. We don't get blackberries every year (not sure if the birds get them before we can or why). We don't have that many bushes (yet) so when we do get berries, I freeze them to enjoy later (like in the midwinter) instead of eating them fresh off the bushes.
This recipe is one in Paula Deen's cookbook, The Lady & Sons Just Desserts. I usually use stevia in fruit desserts that call for lots of sugar, but will use the stevia/sugar blend for the "dough". That's what I did for this recipe. Blackberries being a little tart means that this dessert was not real sweet, but that's the way we like our desserts (usually). You may not want to make the substitution if you like really sweet desserts.
FRESH BLACKBERRY CRISP
4 cups fresh blackberries, or frozen blackberries, thawed and drained well
2 cups sugar (divided)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, at room temperature
Vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream, for serving
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter sides and bottom of a 9 x 2 - inch square pan (or an 8 - inch square one works well).
Put blackberries in a bowl, sprinkle with 1 cup of the sugar, add cinnamon, and mix well.
(I used stevia, thus the pink color.)
(I also added the stevia mixture slowly to the berries and tossed them before adding more.)
In a separate bowl, stir together flour and remaining 1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup of sugar/stevia blend.)
Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until crumbly.
(I always end up using my fingers.)
Pour sugared berries into prepared pan spreading out to completely cover the bottom of the pan.
Cover with flour mixture.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.
Serve with vanilla ice cream or a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.
We have been visiting with my cousin Judy and her husband Charles in San Diego and missing out on the latest snow storms in Kansas City. The temperatures are cooler than normal for San Diego but the upper 50s can feel warm after our freezing temperatures back home. Even though we lived in CA (Ventura) for 21 years and did make it to SD a couple of times, we have been having so much fun and doing a lot of walking. (Pictures to follow in later posts.) We have also been enjoying some scrumptious meals that Judy has been preparing. I am so excited to be sharing with you several of the recipes Judy has made.
The first one I am sharing is her McCall's best Cheesecake recipe. I love cheesecake, but rarely make them. This one is one I should try after we get back home.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
JUDY'S CHEESECAKE
Crust:
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
Filling:
3 pkgs (8 ounces each) cream cheese, at room temperature
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
Topping:
1 pint dairy sour cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Prepare the crust by combining the crumbs, sugar, and butter in a medium sized bowl, mixing well.
Spread evenly over the bottom of a 9 - inch spring-form pan, pressing lightly with fingertips. Refrigerate while filling is prepared.
Prepare the filling by beating the cream cheese until light in a large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed.
Add eggs, vanilla, and sugar; continue beating until creamy and light.
Pour into crust in pan and bake 35 minutes.
While it is baking, prepare the topping. In a medium bowl, with a wooden spoon beat together the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Remove cheesecake from oven and spread the topping evenly over the surface and bake 5 more minutes.
Cool in pan, on wire rack. Then refrigerate 5 hours, or overnight.
To serve: remove side of the spring-form pan. Cut cheesecake into wedges.
Prize Winning Blueberry Recipes is a delightful little booklet cookbook from the North American Blueberry Council in Marmora, New Jersey. Not only do they provide a variety of recipes using blueberries, but you can also learn the history of blueberries and some basic facts on nutrition and purchasing blueberries. My copy was from the fourth printing - 1983; the first printing was in 1977.
There are a number of recipes I want to try from this little cookbook, but I chose the drop biscuits to try first. I thought they would be a nice treat for my husband Wayne for breakfast last Saturday morning. He was quite pleased and thankful!
My regular biscuits that I make are baked at 450 degrees F. This recipe said 400 degrees F. I baked them at that temperature, but ended up adding an additional 5 minutes because even though they looked done, they were a little gooey in the center. Since the recipe made 11 biscuits in my pan, we were able to enjoy them reheated for several days. To reheat biscuits (and even pizza), I place them in a metal pie plate I have in the oven and turn it on to preheat to 350 degrees F. When it reaches that temperature, I remove the biscuits or pizza and they are nice and hot.
BLUEBERRY DROP BISCUITS
2 cups prepared biscuit mix
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup light cream or milk (I did use fat-free milk)
1 cup fresh or dry-pack frozen blueberries, rinsed and drained
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. (I may try 425 degrees F the next time.)
Combine the biscuit mix and spices with a whisk.
Add milk, all at once.
Stir until just blended.
Fold in blueberries.
Drop by large spoonfuls (I used a medium size ice cream scoop that I have.) onto a greased cookie sheet. (I am not crazy about drop biscuits so I used my iron biscuit pan and dropped a scoop of dough on each section and then flattened it with a knife.)
Sprinkle with granulated sugar.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove immediately and serve warm.
This is the first Amish pudding cake I have made recently. It was in 2012 that I made my first Ozark Pudding and was surprised at the consistency of it. When I talked about it on my post, a reader on Facebook told me that's what they looked like. (I can't remember her exact words.😞) Anyway, so since then, I know what to expect when I made a cake that is called a pudding.
When I saw this recipe for Apple Pudding Cake in a Jamesport Kuntry Favorites cookbook compiled by Esther N. Troyer of Jamesport, Missouri. It was so delicious and the volunteers at the thrift shop (HPC Thrift Shop aka Hillcrest Thrift Shop. They changed to name to be more inclusive to HPC - Hillcrest Platte County but people still refer to it by the old name.)
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
APPLE PUDDING CAKE
1/2 cup margarine (I used unsalted butter.)
1 cup sugar (may use brown sugar which I did)
1 egg
2 cups shredded apple (about 2 medium apples)
1-1/2 cups flour (can use 1/2 cup wheat flour, if desired)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup raisins
.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar;
add egg,
then the apples.
Add milk,
then flour that has been
sifted with the other dry ingredients.
Add nuts and raisins.
Spread in baking pan.
Bake 45 minutes.
Cool in pan on wire rack.
Can be iced or served warm with whipped cream or dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Cut in squares to serve.
Did you catch my post on the Lemon Coconut Pixies? These cookies were so cute and just as delicious. Well, this Orange Glazed Pound Cake recipe came from the same cookbook simply named Amish Cooking. It sounded just perfect for me to make and take to the volunteers at the thrift shop (HPC Thrift Shop). They are so appreciative of everything I take to them and let me know it.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
ORANGE GLAZED POUND CAKE
1 package Golden Butter cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup plus 1 to 2 tablespoons orange juice, divided
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
1 cup confectioners' sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 - inch tube pan.
Combine cake mix, eggs, sour cream, oil, 1/4 cup orange juice and orange peel in large mixing bowl.
(Beat on low speed 10 seconds just to moistened most of the cake mix; scrape the sides of the bowl.)
Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 375 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pan 25 minutes.
Invert onto cooling rack. (I inverted the cake on my cake server.) Cool completely.
Combine powdered sugar and remaining 1 to 2 tablespoons orange juice in small bowl;
stir until smooth.
Drizzle over cake. Garnish as desired.
