Banana Pudding, Southern-Style
My mother made this recipe, but without the meringue… it was yummy!
Ingredients:
1 pkg. Vanilla Pudding & Pie Filling
2 Egg Yolks, slightly beaten
2 ½ C Milk
25 Vanilla Wafer brand cookies
2 Lg. Bananas, sliced
Directions:
Combine pudding mix, egg yolks, and milk in saucepan. Cook and stir until it comes to full boil. Remove.  Arrange layer of vanilla wafers on bottom and sides of 1-1/2 qt. Baking dish.  Add layer of banana slices and cover with pudding. Continue to layer wafers, banana slices and pudding , ending with pudding. Top with meringue.  
Meringue Topping
Beat 2 egg whites and dash of salt until foamy. Slowly add ¼ C. Sugar, beating constantly, ‘til it forms stiff peaks.  Pile meringue on pudding and bake 10 minutes in oven preheated to 450º, ‘til light brown. Garnish with more banana slices and wafers, serve warm or chilled.

Chocolate-Pecan Brownies
Ingredients:
¾ C Flour
¼ tsp Baking Soda
¾ C Sugar
1/3 C Butter
2 tbsp Water
1 pkg. (12 oz) Semisweet Chocolate Morsels
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 large Eggs
½ C Pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 325º
Directions:
Grease or butter a 9” square baking pan. In small bowl, mix together flour and baking soda. In small saucepan, combine sugar, butter and water. Bring to a boil over med. heat; remove immediately from heat. Stir in 1 C chocolate morsels and vanilla, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  Transfer mixture to medium bowl, cool completely. Stir in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually stir in flour mixture until smooth. Stir remaining chocolate morsels and nuts into batter. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 min.  Transfer pan to wire rack to cool completely, cut into squares.

Christmas Bundt Cake
This is one of the best cakes I’ve ever eaten, and it is great to have at holiday time.
Cake:
1 Yellow Cake Mix (18 ½ oz)
Vanilla Instant Pudding mix (3 ¾ oz)
Cold Water, ½ C
4 Eggs, beaten together
½ C Wesson Oil
½ C. Bacardi Dark Rum, 80 proof
Glaze:
¼ lb. Butter
1 C Sugar
¼ C Water
½ C Dark Rum
Preheat oven to 350º
Directions:
Grease and flour 12 cup Bundt cake pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. Mix all cake ingredients together, and pour over nuts.  Bake one hour, test with toothpick inserted in center of cake and then removed; it will be clean if cake is done.  Remove cake when done and Cool on racks 15 min. Invert over pie plate to remove from pan. Prick top every inch or so. Make glaze and drizzle and smooth glaze evenly over top and sides; allow them to absorb and repeat.  Use glaze until all is gone.
Glaze instructions: Melt butter, stir in water and sugar; boil 5 min., stirring constantly. Remove and stir in rum. 

Betty Stumpf’s Christmas Nut Bread
Betty was my great mother-in-law from my first marriage, and this bread was a tradition in her house and ours at Christmas time.  I hope my sons are keeping up that tradition.  It is also delicious to eat, and something to really look forward to on Christmas morning when you don’t have much time.  Prepared ahead, a thick slice heated in the microwave with butter melting on top… Yum!!!  After Betty died I began baking it on my own, with a slight change.  She made a sweet bread dough from scratch, and to save time I used frozen bread dough.  Some of this was always eaten Christmas Day, and at least half a loaf was frozen to have for breakfast on New Year’s Day, signifying the end of the Holiday season.
Ingredients:
3 loaves frozen white bread dough
approx. 4 cups ground walnuts (I used a meat grinder, although a food processor works well)
1 lb. margarine, softened
1 lb. powdered sugar
Cinnamon
Granulated sugar
Juice of one lemon
Preheat oven to 325º
Directions:
Separate loaves and thaw according to pkg. directions.  Grind nuts to fine consistency.  Mix 2 C. sugar and enough cinnamon in bowl to make a “cinnamon toast” look  Melt margarine over slow heat to avoid burning.  Roll dough out into rectangular shape, about 12x15 inches.  Using pastry brush, spread margarine over dough.  Spread nuts about 1/8-inch thick atop margarine, sprinkle thoroughly with cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Roll dough up as tightly as possible, keeping the roll even.  Place on large greased cookie sheet, shaping into crescent shape, with the open edge down.  Cover with towel and allow to rise until doubled in size.  Bake according to directions, usually about 20 minutes.  While bread cools, mix 2 C. powdered sugar and a little lemon juice, & a little water to make a glaze.  Spread glaze over bread when cool, allowing it to run down the sides.  Decorations are nice to place on top and are easy to do. This is something children in the family can participate in.  Simple ones would be colored holiday sprinkles or candy “glitter.”  More elaborate decorations can be made simply by using soft gumdrop candies, snipped with scissor to form a small wreath on top.

Quick Peach Cobbler
This recipe came from the Bisquick box first, and then in the 1970’s from a small cookbook I sent for called “Betty Crocker’s Bisquick Cookbook.”  When the children were small it was a quick, nutritious and delicious dessert, and one that reminded me of my grandparents.  They loved peaches, and ate a lot of them.  My grandmother, Lola McClure, “put up” or canned peaches every summer of her life until she was well into her 80’s.  When she did not prepare a dessert, they had canned peaches for dessert, as my grandfather Sam expected dessert every evening, and she delivered.  She made delicious peach cobbler using her canned peaches, and she often shared some of her peaches with me.
Ingredients:
1 can (29 oz) sliced peaches
3 tbsp. Cornstarch
½ tsp. Cinnamon
___
1 C. Bisquick baking mix
1 tbsp. Sugar
¼ C. milk
¼ C. Sour Cream
Preheat oven to 400º
Directions:
Combine peaches (with syrup), cornstarch and cinnamon in large saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Pour into ungreased 1-1/2 quart casserole (I use Pyrex loaf pan).  Keep hot in oven while preparing topping.  Stir remaining ingredients to a soft dough.  Drop dough by 6 spoonfuls onto hot peach mixture.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until topping is light brown. Serve warm.   6 servings.

Strawberry Shortcake
This recipe comes from my Bisquick cookbook, and it has always meant “real” shortcake to us. This is the shortcake I made for my children each spring, as soon as the berries were available.
For Shortcake:
2-1/3 C. Bisquick baking mix
3 tbsp Sugar
3 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
½ C. Milk
2 tbsp butter for top of shortcake
For Berries:
2 C. cleaned, sliced strawberries (with additional whole berries for garnish)
1 C or more of granulated Sugar for sweetening berries
1 C. sweetened whipped cream (or Cool Whip)
Preheat oven to 450º
For Berries, core and slice berries, rinsing and then placing in large bowl.  Coat liberally with granulated sugar, about 1 C or so, then mix and mash some of the berries with potato masher, and adding a bit of water to increase liquid.  Dust with more sugar, cover and refrigerate for several hours to allow juice to thicken and become flavorful.
For Shortcake: Stir baking mix, sugar, 3 tbsp. Butter and milk to a soft dough. Gently smooth dough into a ball on floured cloth-covered board.  Knead 8-10 times. Divide dough in half.  Roll one-half dough into 9-inch circle with rolling pin, or pat into circle in 9-inch cake pan with fingers; dot with 2 tbsp. Butter.  Roll or pat other half of dough into circle and place on top of dough in pan.  Bake 15 minutes or until light brown.  Split warm shortcake crosswise, but keep stacked.  Cut into wedges, topping each layer with strawberries and sweetened liquid, then garnish with whipped cream with a whole berry on top.

My Pie Crust
My mother did not bake pies, and I never had the chance to learn to bake piecrust from my grandmother.  However, my mother-in-law, Betty Stumpf, made great piecrust, and from her I learned to make good crust.  She had a simple recipe, and while it is not exact, it is close, and pretty easy to follow.  Piecrust should not be “fiddled” with much, or it gets tough.  And when I don’t bake pies often, I generally roll it thicker, to make it easier to handle so I don’t have to fiddle with it.  I like thick crust anyway, if it is good tasting, so it works out well.
Betty’s recipe was as follows - For each piecrust, measure out the following:
1 C. flour
½ C. Crisco solid shortening
¼ C. water
(notice each ingredient is half the amount of the previous one)
½ tsp. Salt
Preheat oven to 450º
Directions:
Mix flour, shortening and salt together with Pastry Blender, or knives, until mealy.  Add water, not all at once, as you may not need all of it.  When I tried it out, I found that the water measurement was too large.  Betty had told me that it was too large an amount for her, too, and that she just mixed most of the water until it seemed right.  That threw me, since I was not familiar with it, but found I could work with that.  I generally add about ¾ of the water, and then, if it is not moist enough, I add more in very small amounts until it is moist enough to roll into a good ball.  If I mix dough for four piecrusts, I only divide it into three equal amounts.  This is important, so that you have plenty of dough to make a crust large enough for your pan.  I use large Pyrex pie plates (I usually pick them up at yard sales), so each one takes a good amount of dough, and you don’t want to have to roll it out twice… that just doesn’t work with pie dough. After rolling out a piece that is more than large enough I fold it over, and place the fold in the center of the pie pan, gently open it out, and easing it down into the corners, making sure not to stretch it. If you stretch it, it will pull back during baking and will not fill the pan.  Once it is in place use scissors to cut it about an inch below the outer edge of the pie pan.  Lift the edge up and gently fold over, half-inch or so above the edge, and begin forming a standup edge. When that is done, I use a fork to poke continuous holes in the crease where the sides come up, another just below the top edge, and then turning the tines on edge, I poke about every inch all along the sides of the pan.  Then, I poke about every inch all over the bottom, and it is ready to go into the oven for a one crust, or cream pie where the filling does not have to bake.  (I regularly make banana cream (I guess my all-time favorite), lemon meringue, and chocolate cream pies in this type of crust.)  Bake your piecrust for 8-10 minutes, and be sure to time it.  Remove immediately from oven, and cool on wire racks when golden brown.

Now, hopefully you will end up with at least one “extra” crust of dough.  In fact, you might want to plan on having more than that, just for this.  This is the best part of making piecrusts.  Roll out that dough, even though at least some has been previously rolled.  Keep it thick, and then cut with a sharp knife into strips a little more than an inch wide.  Place these near each other, but not touching, on cookie sheets, until you have used all of it, and when your piecrusts are done, sprinkle these strips heavily with sugar, and put into the hot oven.  Watch them closely, because they burn easily, especially on the ends, but when they are done.... Oh, what a treat!  I use Jell-O cooked puddings for making banana cream, chocolate cream, and lemon meringue pies for this crust, and top the first two with whipped cream.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
My grandmother made this often, and it is the only cake I can remember my mother making.
Ingredients:
½ C Butter
1 C Brown Sugar
1 Yellow cake mix
1 can (about 10 slices) Pineapple Slices in syrup
Preheat oven to 350º
Directions:
Melt butter, stir together with Brown Sugar and 4 tbsp syrup from can. Divide equally and pour this mixture into bottom of two layer pans, 8 or 9” diameter.  With hands or back of spoon, spread mix out to cover bottom of pans. Place pineapple slices over mix on bottom of pan. Prepare cake batter according to package directions and pour ½ into each cake pan over pineapple slices. Bake 45 minutes; remove from oven to wire racks.  Cool 5 minutes, then invert pans with cake plate to remove cake.

(Jim’s) Ma’s Squash Pie
This pie means holiday time to Jim, and he does not like to go without it. Funny thing is, he hates pumpkin pie (he says), but to me they taste almost the same. Very good pie!  Note: if Hubbard Squash is not available, Butternut Squash will substitute.
Ingredients:
1 ¾ C Hubbard Squash 
1 tsp Salt
½ tsp Nutmeg
1 ½ C Milk
1 C Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
3 Eggs, beaten
1 tbsp melted Butter
Preheat oven to 400°
Directions:
Peel squash, cut up and cook in boiling water (as for potatoes). Drain and mash until smooth with potato masher.  Mix other ingredients in with squash thoroughly, and pour mixture into unbaked pie shell. Place strip of aluminum foil over piecrust edge to prevent burning, and remove it during last 15 minutes of baking for browning. Bake until knife comes out clean.  Very similar to pumpkin pie. As it bakes, filling becomes puffy around outer edges, and that spreads toward the center of pie. When it reaches 1-2” from the center and jiggles only slightly, check center with knife to test; if not done, watch carefully until done (about 35-40 min).

Wild Blackberry Cobbler
I lived in Happy Camp, California for 12 years.  This small town is near the Oregon border and in this area wild blackberries grow in profusion.  In fact, they are the bane of anyone trying to eradicate the prickly brambles.  They do make for delicious eating…  We enjoyed them a great deal whether we were camping out while prospecting for gold, or we were at home in Happy Camp.  Mention of making a cobbler brought an immediate offer from someone who was eager to collect the berries needed.
Ingredients:
1-1/2 – 2 quarts fresh blackberries
Water
Sugar to taste
2 tbsp. Grated lemon peel
Crust:
2 C. Bisquick
6 tbsp. Boiling water
½ C. butter or margarine, softened.
Preheat oven to 400º
Directions:
Clean berries and place in large bowl that won’t stain (berry stains are often permanent).  Add sugar to taste (approx. 2-3 C.), the lemon peel and a small amount of water.  Mix well and mash just enough to make thick juice – set aside.  For crust, mix Bisquick, butter or margarine, and water in mixing bowl.  Stir vigorously until dough forms a ball and cleans bowl.  Pour berry mixture into 9 x 13 glass baking dish and drop dough by spoonfuls on top.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until top is browned.  Yum!