Almond-Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

Christmas card photo 1955

Almond-Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

The first time I made these cookies I mistakenly used Almond Paste instead of the Almond Filling--the batter was much stiffer, instead of spreading the cookies maintained their pre-baked shape and they were not as sweet--but they were tasty anyway! 

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 can Solo Almond Filling

2 egg yolks

1 tsp almond extract

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Raspberry Jelly or Jam (seedless is preferrd)

Powdered sugar

Beat butter and sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add almond filling, egg yolks and almond extract; beat until blended.  Mix flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl--stir into butter mixture with wooden spoon to make soft dough.  Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls, placing on parchment-covered baking sheets about 1-1/2 inches apart.  Press thumb into center of each ball to make indentation.  Spoon Raspberry Jelly or seedless jam into a decorator’s tube with a large tip and fill indentations (this method is much quicker and easier than trying to spoon it into ech cookie). Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until edges of cookies are golden brown.  Cool on baking sheets for 1 minute, then transfer cookies on parchment to wire rack.  Sift powdered sugar lightly over tops of cookies, if desired.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies

Notes: the dough will keep in the refrigerator for at least a week, so you don't have to bake all the cookies at one time. I have also found one easy way to sift the powdered sugar directly onto each cookie is by using an individual wire-mesh tea strainer.

Sherrie's Apple Cake

My brother's first birthday

Sherrie's Low-fat Apple Cake

Most Apple Cake recipes seem to contain quite a lot of oil or butter, but there is a really good packaged mix (Little Granny's Northwest Apple Cake) which has no oil and the only liquid is from the apples, eggs and vanilla. The packaged mix isn't readily available in most stores and it is quite expensive, so I "tweaked" some apple cake recipes and came up with my own version, which is quite moist and tender. I confess I chickened out on omitting oil entirely, but it has only two measly tablespoons!

1 cup sugar

2 tart apples such as Granny Smith, 

peeled and chopped (about 1/2-inch dice)

2 eggs

2 Tbs oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp cardamom (optional)

1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Place sugar and chopped apples in a large mixing bowl and stir to start macerating the apples. Add eggs, oil and vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients and spices together in a separate bowl (or sift onto waxed paper), then stir into the apple mixture until well combined. Stir in the cranberries and nuts, if desired. Pour into a greased 8-inch square pan and bake for about 35 minutes or into about 12 muffin cups and bake for about 18 minutes.

Cherry‑Almond Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Mom & Cousin Terri, ca 1949
(both cookie lovers!)

The chocolate-cherry-almond combination in these cookies makes them delicious and a little out of the ordinary for chocolate chip cookies. They won a blue ribbon at the 2013 Clatsop County fair in the Chocolate Chip division (the first time I'd entered anything in a fair).

Cherry‑Almond Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 Tbs (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup old‑fashioned oats
1 to 1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 to 1 cup dried tart cherries
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Preheat oven to 325° F. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and brown sugar in large bowl until well blended. Mix in egg and both extracts. Beat in flour mixture. Mix in oats, then chocolate chips, cherries and almonds.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake cookies 12 to 14 minutes. Dough can be prepared ahead, formed into “logs” wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated. Then slice and bake.

Makes 2 dozen.

Excellent Chocolate Fudge Cake and Frosting

It isn't hyperbole--this really is an excellent cake, well worth making "from scratch."

Excellent Chocolate Fudge Cake

3 squares unsweetened chocolate

Me with cousin Terri, Roseburg, OR ca. 1955
(Chocoholics from childhood)

2-1/4 cups sifted cake flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened

2-1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs

1-1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350° F. In a small bowl melt chocolate over hot, not boiling water. Let cool. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Sift together the flour, soda and salt.

In a large bowl mix together butter and brown sugar, then add eggs and beat at high speed for five minutes until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and cooled melted chocolate.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in half the dry ingredients alternately with half of the sour cream, beating well with the spoon after each addition until batter is smooth. Stir in boiling water. Pour into prepared pans (batter will be thin).

Bake at 350° F. for 35 minutes or until centers of cake spring back when lightly pressed with fingertips. Cool in pans on wire racks for about 10 minutes, then run a thin knife around sides of pans to loosen and turn onto wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

4 squares unsweetened chocolate

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened

1 pound powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp of vanilla

Melt chocolate and butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat just until melted. Combine sugar, milk and vanilla in a deep bowl and stir until smooth, then stir in chocolate mixture. Place bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice and water, then beat with a wooden spoon until frosting is thick enough to hold its shape when spread.

Use about one fourth of the frosting to fill between the layers and the remaining to cover the cake.

Cucumber-Pepper Salad

Mom used to make marinated cucumbers as an easy side-dish, but this updated version has a little more punch and nutrition with the addition of onion and red pepper.

Cucumber-Pepper Salad

Dad, August 1965
(about the time we moved to Sunnyside, WA)

3/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1-1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp mustard seed 

(in a pinch you can just use prepared stone-ground mustard)

3 unpeeled “English” cucumbers

1/2 purple onion

1 red pepper, cored

Put vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and mustard seeds in a non-reactive pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool while you cut up the vegetables.

Slice the cucumbers into thin rounds. Slice the onion half and the pepper into strips (I generally cut them into shorter pieces for less messy eating). Place the vegetables into a bowl and mix, then pour the vinegar mixture over while it is still warm. Stir to mix and place in refrigerator until chilled. This can be stored in two quart-sized jars, if desired. It will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.

Easter Pâté

Mom made cute cakes for my birthdays!

When I was about 11 years old I was tasked with preparing Easter dinner for my family because my Mom worked. I cranked the oven up to 500° F to preheat while I lined the the roasting pan with foil. I put the ham in the oven and started whipping the cream to frost a cake Mom had baked. 

I poured the pint of cream into a bowl, and then I dumped a one-pound box of powdered sugar into the bowl and started beating the cream. Apparently I'd never really paid attention when Mom had whipped cream, because I thought this one-to-one ratio was correct. After running the beaters on high for about 5 minutes the cream was still not achieving the correct texture, so I added MORE sugar and continued beating. After another five minutes chunks of butter began floating around. That's when I smelled the ham burning. When I opened the oven door I found the ham completely charred on the outside. I can't remember for sure, but I think I started crying about then. I turned the oven down to a normal temperature and gave up on the churned cream. 

How did our Easter dinner turn out? Well, after removing the charred fatty layer from the outside, that was the juiciest and most succulent ham EVER, and Mom made some quite nice buttercream frosting for the cake. So it all ended well.

This recipe is good as a sandwich spread (especially if your ham is a little dry) and uses up some of those boiled Easter eggs. It is also good on crackers. You can substitute leftover beef roast for this recipe to make a sandwich spread.

Easter Pâté

3/4 to 1 cup ham, cut into chunks

2 or 3 hard boiled eggs, peeled

2 or 3 small sweet pickles (or use relish)

2 or 3 Tbs (or squirts) of prepared mustard (I use stone ground)

Enough Mayo to moisten the mixture
Salt, Pepper, Paprika, Dill Weed to taste

Place ham, eggs and pickles in food processor and pulse until very finely minced. Add mustard and mayonnaise and mix to combine. 

Pecan Pie Bars

These bars were another popular cookie we sold at Mom's Seafood Market--and since I made all the cookies we sold and these are pretty easy to make they were one of my favorites. The eponymous name gives it away: they do taste like little pecan pies--but not quite as cloyingly sweet.

Mom and Rick, ca. 1954

Pecan Pie Bars

2 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into pieces

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup Karo Dark Corn Syrup

2 Tbs butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

1-1/4 cups coarsely chopped pecans

Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix flour, sugar and salt in food processor; add butter pieces and process until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Press into bottom and 1/4 inch up sides of prepared pan and bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, corn syrup, sugar, margarine and vanilla until well blended.  Stir in pecans.  Pour over hot crust and spread evenly.

Bake 20 additional minutes or until filling is firm around edges and slightly firm in center.  Cool completely.  Cut into 1-1/2 x 2-inch bars.

Beefy Dog Biscuits

I usually make several batches of these as gifts for the dogs of family and friends during the Holidays. Dogs love 'em!

Beefy Dog Biscuits

Mom with cousin Terri's dog Whiskers
(Best dog in the world)

1 cup ground beef

1 cup beef broth

1 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 cup whole wheat flour

2 cup cornmeal

1 cup wheat germ

1 tsp salt

Using the paddle blade of a stand mixer stir the ground beef, broth, vegetable oil and eggs together on a low setting until well mixed. Stir the dry ingredients in a bowl then mix them into the wet ingredients. Pat or roll the mixture out to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Cut to biscuit size. Bake on foil-lined cookie sheets at 350 F for 25 to 35 minutes until solid and slightly crispy. When cool, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Notes: You can usually purchase smaller amounts of wheat flour in the bulk foods section of the grocery.  Wheat germ is also usually near the natural foods section, in the refrigerator.

I’ve found it easiest to just pat the “dough” out on a piece of waxed butcher paper or another cookie sheet, then use bone-shaped cookie cutters near the edges of the dough and just slide it away from the rest of the dough (peel any excess from around the biscuits after cutting). Transfer the biscuits to the cookie sheets and re-pat the dough to cut more.

This recipe is easiest using a large “stand” mixer, but can be mixed by hand using a large wooden spoon and plenty of “elbow grease.”