Peanut Blossoms

There are a lot of versions of this; mine came from an old coworker named Katie: your basic can-cook-anything grandmother!

1 and 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Chocolate Kisses

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
Cream together the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar.
Beat well the egg, milk and vanilla; beat into the butter and sugar mixture.
Blend in the dry ingredients gradually and mix thoroughly. Shape into balls, roll into additional granulated sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Remove from the oven and place an unwrapped chocolate Kiss on top of each cookie, pressing down so the cookie cracks around the edges. Return to the oven and bake an additional 2 minutes.
Bake for 8 minutes at 375 degrees.

Mom's Fruit Pizza

I don't know if my mother made this one up on her own, but I've never seen or heard of it elsewhere. Like most home-grown recipes, there's no quantities because you can vary them to suit yourself.

Mom usually did this with apples or peaches; if you use apples, use tart baking apples. Have fun and experiment with other fruit: pears, for instance, would also work well.

1 biscuit recipe (Mom made hers from Bisquick, but homemade works well too.)
Peeled, cored and sliced fruit
Granulated sugar

Roll out the biscuit dough to fill a lightly-greased baking sheet, about 1/4 inch thick. Lay out the fruit in a single layer, covering the entire dough. Sprinkle the top with sugar; if you're using apples, also sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 450 degrees until the dough is a light golden brown, about 15 minutes.

It's wonderful served warm, with ice cream!

Mincemeat Pie (the EASIER version)

If you're not into the previous mincemeat's all-day recipe.....

2 cups prepared mincemeat (Cross & Blackwell is my family's favorite)
2 cups thinly-sliced pared tart apples
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel
Pastry for a 2-crust 8-inch pie

Combine mincemeat, apples and lemon peel. Pour filling into the unbaked bottom crust; cover with top crust and crimp edges. Cut vents in top crust. Sprinkle lightly with sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees about 35 minutes.

Homemade Mincemeat Pie (NOT from a jar!)

Someone mentioned how she hadn't had a good mincemeat pie in a while; it's even gotten hard to find the jarred fillings at the holidays anymore. Hrumph. Well, for all the deprived mincemeat lovers, here's an older from-scratch recipe --- it's very good, but boy is it ever a lot more work than opening a jar! Serve it warm; it's great with a really good vanilla ice cream.

(I honestly can't say how many total pies this will make..... I started to simply eat bowls-full of it.....)

2 pounds beef neck
1 pound suet
4 pounds tart apples
4 cups sugar
2 pounds currants
3 pounds raisins
1/2 pound finely-chopped citron
Juice and grated peel of 2 oranges
Juice and grated peel of 2 lemons
1 pint apple cider or apple juice
1 tablespoon salt
1 and 1/4 teaspoons grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon mace

Simmer beef, covered in water, until tender, approximately 3 hours. Cool. Coarsely chop with suet and apples.
Add all other ingredients and mix. Simmer 1 hour.
Fill the unbaked bottom crust of an 8-inch pie with 2 to 2 and 1/2 cups of the mixture; cover with top crust, seal edges. Make vents in top crust. Bake at 450 degrees about 35 minutes. (Yes, a very hot 450 degree oven is correct!)

Pumpernickel Bread

If you prefer a lighter pumpernickel, just replace the cocoa with an additional 1/4 cup all-purpose flour and use a light instead of a dark molasses.

3 packages active dry yeast
1 and 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup dark molasses
3 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons caraway seed (optional)
2 and 3/4 cups rye flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 and 1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
Cornmeal

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water; stir in the molasses, salt, caraway, rye flour and cocoa, and beat until smooth. Stir in enough all-purpose flour to make the dough easy to handle.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured surface, cover and let rest 15 minutes. Knead until smooth. Place in greased bowl, and turn greased side up (so all the exterior surface gets greased). Cover and let rise until doubled, about one hour.

Punch down dough, round up and return to bowl. Let rise until double, about 45 minutes.

Lightly sprinkle cornmeal on a greased baking sheet (no greasing needed if it's a non-stick sheet, but still sprinkle it with the cornmeal). Punch down the dough, and divide it in half. Shape each half into a round, slightly flat loaf, and put these on the baking sheed. Let rise one hour.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes; loaves are ready if they sound hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

French Bread

Just for informations' sake: I really don't recommend ever using self-rising flour, for any bread recipe. And flour amounts will vary, depending on your location's humidity, temperature and even altitude. For most breads --- and particularly for ones like this French bread, where you really want a crunchy crust! --- you should remove the loaves from the pans or baking sheets right away, and cool them on wire racks: letting bread cool in the pan usually results in a loaf sweating, making a much softer, if not downright soggy, crust.

If you'd like to, you can divide this into four submarine loaves, instead of a single loaf of french bread.

1 package active dry yeast
1 and 1/4 cups 105-115 degree warm water
1 and 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
3 and 1/2 to 4 cups flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal
Cold water
1 egg white

Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Stir in salt, butter and 1 and 1/2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough additional flour to make dough easy to handle.
Turn dough out onto a lightly-floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about five minutes. Place in greased bowl, turn greased side up so all sides are greased. Cover and let rise until double, 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours; dought is ready when and indentation remains when touched.
Punch down dough; round up and let rise one hour. Punch down again, cover and let rest 15 minutes.
Sprinkle cornmeal onto a lightly-greased baking sheet. (If you're using a non-stick sheet you can omit the greasing.) Roll the dough out into a 15x10 inch rectangle, then roll it up tightly beginning at one of the long sides. Pinch edges to seal, and place the loaf on the baking sheet sealed-edge down.
Make 1/4 inch slashes diagonally every two inches across the loaf, or one lenghtwise slash. Brush the top with cold water and let rise uncovered 1 and 1/2 hours. Brush the top again with cold water.
Bake 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Beat the egg white with two tablespoons cold water, and brush this over the loaf. Bake an additional 25 minutes.
Remove from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.

Quick Dinner Rolls

This is a batter recipe: no need for kneading or shaping, and they only take about an hour and a half from start to finish.

I package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water, 105-115 degrees
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter
2 and 1/4 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in water; add sugar, salt, butter and 1 cup of the flour. Beat until smooth. Add remaining flour, beat until smooth.
Cover and let rise until double, about 30 minutes.
Stir down batter, then spoon it into 12 greased muffin cups. Let rise until batter reaches the top of the cups, about 20-30 minutes.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.