Pumpkin Cake

There is something about pumpkin desserts that I just love. I recently found this recipe in Mom's recipe box and knew that I had to try it. This recipe is quite basic, but don't let its simplicity fool you. The cake tastes delicious. Sometimes pumpkin desserts use other spices such as nutmeg or ginger, but this recipe just uses cinnamon. By using only cinnamon, the pumpkin and cinnamon flavors dominate.

The recipe card called for using a tube pan, but any pan can be used by adjusting the baking time. The recipe does not list a suggested frosting. A cream cheese frosting would be excellent. I just dusted the cake with powdered sugar, and the cake was delicious on its own.

Pumpkin Cake 

• 1 1/2 cup oil
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 2 Tbsps. baking powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Blend all the dry ingredients together. Then add pumpkin, eggs, and oil. Beat until blended. Pour into a greased cake pan. Bake at 325 for i hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan. Enjoy!

Dropped Sugar Cookies

Mom has lots of cookie recipes. I found this sugar cookie recipe and was intrigued by the fact that the cookies were not rolled and cut with a cookie cutter. Also, the use of sour cream seemed interesting. These cookies were delicious. The sour cream gave the cookies just a touch of tartness to balance out the sugar.

The dough is very sticky and thick. When dropping these cookies, I needed to use one spoon to scoop the dough and one spoon to push it off the spoon. The cookies did not spread too much and stays in the basic shape that they are dropped. I used regular sugar to sprinkle, but you could use brown sugar or a courser sugar for slightly different flavor.

Dropped Sugar Cookies 

• 2 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Sift flour, soda, and salt together. Beat the butter, sugar, and eggs with a mixer for three minutes. Stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture gradually beating after each addition to make soft dough. Drop by spoon two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Pound Cake

Mom's recipe box is filled with many cake recipes. Recently, I have been looking through them for easy cakes to make on a weekend and enjoy throughout the week. I found this one to fit the bill. The resulting cake was a bit lighter than most pound cakes, but delicious nonetheless.

This recipe calls for ingredients that you probably have around the house, which makes it easy to make even if you haven't planned on making a cake. The recipe calls for a tube pan, but I used a bundt pan. You can use just about any size pan, but just adjust the baking time as needed.

Cinnamon Pound Cake 

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Cream butter and 2 cups sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Sift together flour and baking powder; add to creamed mix alternating with the milk. Grease a 10-inch tube pan. Pour half the batter into the pan. Mix together the 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Cover batter with the cinnamon sugar. Cover with the remaining batter. Bake at 350 for one hour. Allow to fully cool in the pan. Enjoy!