Monday, November 23, 2009

Searching for Chocolate Nutmeg Cake Recipe...

New request:

"Years ago I got a recipe from a magazine – Good Housekeepng or Better Homes and Gardens perhaps – for a square chocolate nutmeg cake frosted with chocolate butter cream frosting and then using marzipan – making “ribbons” and a bow from marzipan to make the square cake look like a package with ribbons. I have lost the recipe and was wondering if anyone still had it. Thank you for any assistance, Marcy"

If you have this recipe or a link to it, please post it in the comments section. Happy Thanksgiving and don't forget to share your favorite heritage recipes with us at HeritageRecipes.com

Monday, October 26, 2009

New Lost Recipes Requests

Bean Pie
Mei is looking for "an authentic and reliable Bean Pie recipe that someone has used for years."

Caraway Cookie/Cake
Ellen is searching for "a recipe for these bakery treats. Last time we recall tasting them was in the 1950s in the Brooklyn, Queens area of New York. These “cakes” were really hard, flat cookie bars (very crunchy) that contained caraway seeds. They weren’t very sweet but were a delicious accompaniment to coffee. Can you help me find a source to buy them or a recipe to make them? I would love to surprise my family with these for the holidays this year!"

Please let me know if you have either of these recipes and post them in the comments section for this blog.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Recipes That Mom Use to Make...

Please get your family members to write down the recipes you love while they still remember them! This is the main way to perserve your own personal family culinary history. And meanwhile please help the following folks find recipes that have been lost.

Good German Brown Bread
"I am looking for an authentic recipe for "Good German Brown Bread" as it is described by elderly Germans who lived through the 1930's and 1940's in Germany. My own research has turned up very little. Apparently, It was well known and widely available throughout Germany during this period. Even if you can only help me identify the specific type of bread being referred to it would be a great help. I have no doubt that there are people alive in Germany today who would know what I am looking for but I can neither read nor speak German. I would appreciate anything you turn up. Thank you, Hraefn"


Peanut Pudding
"My grandmother used to make a peanut pudding. She use almost a clear, light colored custard and roasted peanuts with the skins on. She ground the peanuts in a meat grinder. Once the nuts were mixed with the custard, she then put a meringue on top. My father really enjoyed this dessert and this in one of those that was not written down. Any ideas on getting this recipe? Thanks, Elizabeth"

Cape Cod Turkey
"I am looking for a recipe my mom used to make when I was a child. She passed away in 2002 and everyone on her side of the family that would know the recipe have also passed so I don't know where to find it. She called it Cape Cod Turkey I know it consisted of mashed potatoes, fried salt pork, and cod fish but no idea how she cooked the cod fish any help would be appreciated. Carol"

Stanley Plum/Prune Filling
"My grandma made a prune pie filling from fresh stanley plums. She would then use this through the year to make may different polish desserts. No one can seem to find this recipe at all. My parents stopped canning anything about 25 years ago, and my mom says she doesn't know whatever happened to her recipes. I don't know much about it at all, but if anyone has a recipe please let me know. I will test them all if I have to. Todd"

Italian Country Chicken
"Several years ago a recipe appeared in Woman's Day magazine. The woman in the article stated it was her grandmother Ameneia's (sp) recipe for Italian country chicken. It was done on the stove top with red potatoes , rosemary and calamata olives. I'll be darned if I can find it. This is one of those recipes that has people drooling for Sunday dinner at just the thought of it. I would love to find a copy of this if anyone has it. Thanks Bonnie"


Hard Cake Icing
"I remember as a little girl coming up in Natchez Ms in the early 60’s, at Christmas everything was homemade, even the icings for the cakes. I remember the icing being soft when they put it on the cake, but it got hard. When you would cut the cake, the icing would kind of crumble. Does anyone out there have any idea how it is made. Any help will be greatly appreciated. MANY THANKS, IN ADVANCE Patrice "

If you have any of these recipes, please post them in the comment section. Thanks for your help!

Monday, September 07, 2009

Urgent Request!

This morning I recieved a request from Cheryl who is urgently seeking a recipe for a Cranberry Christmas Pudding -- here's what she wrote:

"As for the Christmas Pudding recipe (at least my mother used to make it for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas) back in the mid to late 60's. I believe it had Cranberries in it, baked in a loaf pan and served with some kind of rich buttery sauce. My youngest brother has terminal lung cancer and has asked if I could find this recipe......it's not in anything of my mom's. Can anyone help find this one? I would like my brother to have it at least once more before he's gone...This request is REALLY urgent and you can see why.........please help, someone out there must have had this same dessert (as we called it) besides my immediate family. God Bless you for your help. Cheryl"

Cheryl is also looking for a great apple butter recipe ... "Back in the 50's and 60's my mother had a recipe that I remember seeing on a handwritten card. Back then I had no interest in canning or such things so I couldn't even tell you what the recipe included or where it came from. All I know is it was the BEST apple butter others and myself have ever tasted. My mother is 90 and has Alzheimer's and there is no way she would remember let alone tell me where the recipe came from. I would appreciate any GREAT TASTING recipes for apple butter from back in the day."

I posted two of my favorites on the Heritage Recipe website: Apple Butter and Crabapple Plum Butter. I had some of the Crabapple Plum Butter on toast this morning -- yum! It can be made with any slightly tart apples if you don't have access to crabapples. I've also used Gravensteins.

Another request this week came from Stella. She is looking for two recipes that were in Comospolitan Magazine sometime around 1976-1977. One is Texas Bowl of Red Chili and the other is Zucchini Tomato Souffle Roll. I Googled the chili recipe and found several recipes for her to try but had no luck with the zucchini recipe.

If you have any of these recipes, please post them in the comment section. Thanks!

Monday, August 24, 2009

I'm Baaack!

It's been a long time since I've posted. However, I have been searching for recipes as requests come in. If you send a request and don't hear from me right away -- it is usually because I didn't have any quick results finding the recipe you request. Once in a while a request does slip past me.

This summer I have been working on getting my recipes better organized. My teenage neighbor has spent more than 60 hours this summer sorting all the loose index card recipes and newspaper clippings people (think family members) have given me over the years. That project is now complete. She sorted them by category and then in alpha sort.

Now she is typing all my cookbooks into LibraryThing. Currently the count is 133 cookbooks...and we many, many shelves of cookbooks to go! I keep telling my husband "no more cookbooks!", then I go to an estate sale and buy them myself! This weekend I found two pickling cookbooks printed many years ago by a local cucumber grower...the parents of the same farmer that I buy my pickling cukes from.

So here are a lot of recipe requests...hopefully you all can help these folks. I still have more to publish. Maybe next week.

Inspiration Cake
“A friend of mine was looking for a cake recipe. She said that her grandmother called it an inspiration cake. It was a white cake that used egg whites and shaved pieced of semi-sweet chocolate were folded into the batter. Would you know of this recipe? Thank you, Beth”

Molasses Corn Cake
“My mother is 92 years old and going strong. She has been talking about and searching for a recipe for the molasses cake her mother made using cornmeal and spices. Any help in providing one will be appreciated greatly. Thanks in advance, Brenda”

Sweet Milk Pie
“I am looking for a recipe of my Great Grandmothers. She called it a Sweet Milk Pie but it seems to me more like dumplings. I do know she would boil sweet milk and may have added sugar to the milk. Then she would cut dough and drop it into the boiling milk-in layers. It also seems that the dough was sweet. Any suggest would be appreciated, Candy”

Holiday Cookies from Imperial
“What I am looking for is a recipe that I have used for many years. It was a magazine ad for Imperial Margarine. The cookies are called: Holiday Cookies from Imperial. They are rolled sugar cookies that you cut out, bake and then frostdecorate. Thanks again, Dora”

Durham Scald Cream
“We were sitting around last night discussing memories and old recipes. My Mother-in-law talked about her childhood memories of visiting relatives in Durham County, Ontario during the 1930's. She remembers Durham Scald Cream, apparently used as a custard substitute (maybe?). Is there any way to locate more info on this recipe? Internet searches and searches on food sites have turned up nothing. Thanks for your help. Nick”

Chicken Casserole
“Was wondering if you could help. I found a recipe a thousand years ago in a Women’s Day or something. It include chicken parts, golden delicious apples, white sauce. I do know you brown the chicken parts and apples in a skillet...then you transfer to a baking dish or casserole dish...then you make the white sauce...this is what I cant remember...I remember you use the same pan that you browned the apples and that you use a bit of white wine but I cant remember the rest...then you pour it over your chicken and apples...and bake...its fantastic...and I would really love to make it again....can you help...thank you...sincerely.. Joan....

PS I remembered too that it included heavy whipping cream in the white sauce..butter??? not sure...probably flour to thicken more and you put it in the same pan you use to brown the apples, leaving behind a sweet glaze that incorporates into the sauce. I just cant remember the exact way to make the sauce...it was very rich..a little sweet..the wine countered that a bit...then you bake it in the oven on a low temp to ensure the chicken bakes threw while the sauce on top browns...i wish i could remember it..it was heavenly...”

Honey Buns
“I would like to find a recipe for old family honey buns.”

Strawberry Gelatin Cake and Icing
“I’m looking for an old recipe for strawberry gelatin cake and icing. It’s the icing that’s the recipe I’m searching for – it was a cooked (boiled?) icing in a saucepan and had strawberry gelatin as an ingredient, constantly stirred, then poured over the cake while still warm and then it would crust a bit on the outside but still be soft just under the crust. It would be a bit thin due to the pourable nature of the icing. Thanks! Karen”

Cheese Rarebit
“When I was about 7 years old (1972) my mother used to make this recipe she called cheese rarebit that included the following: eggs, bread slices, milk, McCormick’s cheese sauce mix.
I loved this and my mother can't remember it. Do you think someone from your group would? Please let me know if you do. Best regards, Lesley”

Snowballs
“Hello, My aunt and I are looking for an old recipe my mother would make at Christmas. I think she might have gotten the recipe from the Denver Post in the 50's. All I can tell you is that "we" called them Snowballs and that they were frozen and had coconut on the outside. They might have been made with ice cream. Thank you so much, Linny”

Yum Yum Salad
“30 years ago a 90 year 'Grandma Bacon' down the road, gave me her VERY OLD recipe for Yum Yum Salad. I've lost it !! Some of the ingredients were: 1 pkg. gelatin mixed with water, evaporated milk, celery, green pepper, onion, lemon juice, horseradish and maybe a little sugar. None of it was much – but WOW what flavor !! Thanks for your help trying to find it !! Louise”

Graham Cracker Crust Dessert
“I know that my aunt made a graham cracker crust and pressed it into a 9 x 13 in pan. It had lemon juice, I think unflavored gelatin, but I'm no sure what else. I know it set up solid. I think she put something like a cream topping on it. As kids we loved it. Her daughter can't even remember eating it. Thanks for anything you can do to help. It is something my Aunt made years ago, that we loved, and I would love to make it for my grandkids. Mary PS. Love this site.”

Six O’Clock Buns
“Looking for a recipe called “Six O’Clock Rolls/Bun” My grandmother used to mix the bread dough at night – starting at six p.m. Then at ?? 7 punch dough down, then again at 8 and the final step was to shape the dough on the baking sheets and cover with a heavy plastic sheet and towels – to keep them from rising too much that night. At 6 a.m. she would put the dough into the oven and we would have hot bread/rolls/buns for breakfast – plus her bread baking would be done for the day! I am not sure if I have the times right, Nancy”

Soupenblay and Punkyablay
“My Grand Mother and My Mom (both are of Dutch Decent.) Anyways Mom made these 2 kinds of ( I guess You Could call them a type of Soup.) One was Called Soupenblay. Made with Barley & Buttermilk not sure what else, the other Punkyablay was of course made with Pumpkins not sure what else. ( I dont know if I even spelled them right I was Very Young at the Time. but that is how they sounded to Me when they said the Words. I was bout 7 or 8 so that would be bout1947 . My Brother & I are in our 70's now, and I sure would like to find them and Make them for My Brother & Me to. :) I would Appreciate any Help You can Give Us. Mom kept a lot of Dutch Recipes, but not them 2, wouldn't ya know that’s the 2, I wanted. Mom and Dad came here when they were very Young from the Netherlands. They were both Born in 1912. Dad was 3 when He came here & Mom was 5 and came here Later. I really, really hope You Can Help. Silly what We Remember when We get Older. :) Thank You Very Much. Hope I have given You enough info. That’s all I know bout it anyway. Marian”

Snow Ice Cream Memory…“Just wanted to say that I live in Northern BC Canada and have eaten a lot of snow ice cream! Its delicious and a fond memory. Both my husband and I had parents who grew up during the Dirty 30's as they referred to it, ice cream was not something I ever ate until I was in my teens, not that there wasn't such a thing, just that my mother didn't own an Ice Cream freezer, and for many years the stores didn't stock a lot of "fancy" foods, it was mostly the basics as food was trucked into the area from larger centers and took anywhere from 3 days to a week to make it to the stores. In the 1940's stuff did come in by rail to Dawson Creek, but was then trucked to Fort St John by who ever was going that way and had the room to take it. So evaporated milk, a bit of sugar and some flavouring was a real treat when mixed with snow! Eva taking a trip down memory lane.”