A Christmas Favourite

A Christmas favourite of my husband's :o)

Before his mother passed away several years ago, she made enough of this light fruit cake to give all her children a generous portion for their families.

This year we have one of our sisters-in-law to thank for continuing the tradition :o)

Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Pie

7-10 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Place sliced apples in 9 inch unbaked pie shell. Mix and sprinkle over apples:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves

Sprinkle 1 Tbsp lemon juice over top.

CRUMB CRUST:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 stick butter

Mix together sugar and flour. Cut the butter into the sugar and flour mixture using a fork, pastry blender or food processor. Sprinkle over top of pie.

Bake at 400°F for 40-45 minutes. If the pie begins to brown too rapidly, cover lightly with foil.

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Art by Susan Rios

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cooking apples, peeled and sliced

DIRECTIONS

Put flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl.
Cut in or rub in butter until crumbly.  Make a well in center.

In another bowl, beat the egg until frothy.

Mix in milk and vanilla then pour into well. Stir just enough to moisten.
Pour into greased 8 X 8 cake pan. Push apples well into batter close together.

TOPPING

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over top.
Bake in 350 deg. F oven for 50-60 min. until it begins to shrink from edge of pan. Serves 9.

Simple White Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

I'm one of those that doesn't really like cake mixes because to me, they taste like I'm eating icing on *air* ... this is the exact recipe that my daughter brought home from school and I'm glad that I found it again because it's so simple and delicious and you definintely notice that you are eating icing on something with SUBSTANCE :o)

A Rainy Day and Monday

Unlike the old song, *Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down* ~ this one didn't :o)

Actually I accepted it like a breath of fresh, cool air in the midst of a rather hot and humid summer and turned on my oven and started baking!

Of course, laundry can never take a back seat for long , so that was done while the goodies baked and even after using the oven twice, the house was still a pleasant temperature :o)

Blessings,

Banana Muffins

I don't know about your experience, but I find that any bananas that I buy ripen really fast, so I usually end up making a batch of these moist banana muffins every week :o)














2 large or 3 small bananas PLUS 1 cup of sugar, MASHED TOGETHER.

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch salt
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 egg

ADD oil and beaten egg to banana-sugar mixture.
BLEND dry ALREADY BLENDED ingredients to wet mixture.
MIX well but do NOT overdo.

At this point, I usually vary the muffins by what I have on hand at that time.

I always add a handful of walnuts but you could add other kinds.
I often toss in a handful of either chocolate chips or white or butterscotch chips.

IF I am short 1 banana, I add a couple of teaspoons full of jam or marmalade or chop up a bit of canned peaches ... anything to give it that extra bit of moisture.

LOAF = Bake @350 until done, about 1 hour
MUFFINS = Bake @350 for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of muffin pans used.