Three-egg cake

I remember having homemade cakes as a child. I especially loved homemade chocolate cake, but generally I enjoy any cake. In looking through Mom's recipe box I found this recipe for a three-egg cake. Why three-egg? Based on some internet research, it appears that a recipe by this name was published by a baking soda company and seems to have spread. Whatever the source of the name, the resulting cake is a classic vanilla cake that is strong enough to support just about any type of frosting. In fact the recipe calls for making a layer cake, which works best with a sturdy cake.

When I made this cake, I decided to make cupcakes because I was bringing them to Mom's for a standard Saturday dinner with most of my nieces and nephews. Because this is a basic yellow cake, many flavors of frosting would work. I made strawberry cream cheese frosting, which was a hit with just about everyone. But I did bring a few unfrosted cupcakes because a certain nephew claims to not like frosting, as hard as that is to understand. Frosted or not, this cake recipe is classic and delicious.

Three-egg Cake 

• 2 1/3 cup four
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt until well-mixed; set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs until fluffy. Stir in flour mix alternating with milk until well-blended. Stir in vanilla. Turn batter into greased pans. Bake at 350 for the recommended time for the pan size. Allow to cool before frosting. Enjoy!

German Cream Cheese Brownies

What is not to love about brownies? This brownie recipe results in a delicious cake brownie with rich swirls of cream cheese. Mom has many brownie recipes, and it is hard to pick the best one, but this recipe makes excellent brownies. These brownies are a decadent treat and well worth the effort to make.

This recipe is slightly more complex than a basic one-bowl brownie. To create the swirl pattern, the brownie batter and the cream cheese batter are made separately. Then, the batters are layered and a knife is used to create the swirl pattern. This recipe calls for German Sweet Chocolate, which is a variation on baker's chocolate. If you cannot find German Sweet Chocolate, for each ounce needed, use one ounce semisweet chocolate plus one-half tablespoon sugar.

German Cream Cheese Brownies 

• 4 ounces German Sweet Chocolate
• 5 Tbsp. butter
• 1 package cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract (optional)

Melt chocolate and three tablespoons of butter over low heat, stirring constantly. Cool. In separate bowl, cream the remaining butter with cream cheese until softened. Gradually add in one-quarter cup sugar, creaming until light and fluffy. Stir in one egg, one tablespoon of flour, and one-half teaspoon vanilla until blended. In another bowl, beat the remaining eggs until fluffy and light in color. Gradually add remaining three-quarters cup of sugar, beating until thickened. Fold in the baking powder, salt, and remaining one-half cup flour. Blend in the cooled chocolate mixture. If desired, stir in the nuts and almond extract. Set aside one cup of the chocolate batter. Spread remaining chocolate batter in a greased nine-inch square pan. Pour cheese mixture over the top. Drop the set aside chocolate batter over the cream cheese layer. Swirl together with a spatula or knife just to marble. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool. Cut into squares and store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Cheery Cherry Cookies

Mom's recipe box contains many cookie recipes. When I found this recipe, I thought it would make a great Christmas cookie. These cookies could be great any time, but they were especially good for Christmas. The cookies are chewy with delicious cherry chunks throughout the cookie.

The recipe calls for topping each cookie with some cherry preserves and a piece of almond. The way these cookies baked up, there was not a good way to get the preserves to stay on the cookie and there was not a need for extra preserves, so I left off the extra preserves and almond. If you want to add the preserves, make a small indent in the middle of the cookie with your thumb before baking.

Cheery Cherry Cookies 

• 3/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup cherry preserves
• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• cherry preserve (optional)
• halved blanched almonds (optional)

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and the 1/4 cup cherry preserves. Thoroughly stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt; add to butter mixture, mixing thoroughly. Drop from teaspoon two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes until delicately brown. Let cool on the sheet for one to two minutes before removing. If desired, top each cookie with preserves and almonds. Enjoy!

Almond Butter Balls

This Christmas, I tried out more of Mom's cookie recipes than usual, so January this blog will see two more Christmas cookie recipes. This recipe is delicious and so easy to make. I especially like to honey and almond combination of this cookie. These cookies are similar to Almond Crescent Cookies, another Christmas favorite.

The recipe calls for refrigerating the dough, but it was a bit to hard to work with after refrigerating, so you can probably skip refrigeration or just for a short time. I used a cookie scooper to shape the cookies, but because the dough was a bit too cold, it was hard work. But the hard work was worth it; these cookies are great at Christmastime or any time of the year.

Almond Butter Balls 

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup soft butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3/4 tsp. almond extract
• 1 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
• confectioner's sugar

Sift together flour and salt. Work butter in bowl until creamy. Add honey and beat until well blended. Add almond extract. Gradually add flour, beating well after each addition. Stir in nuts. Cover and chill for about an hour or less. Preheat oven to 350. Shape dough into one inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Roll in confectioners sugar while warm and again when cooled. Enjoy!

Dutch St. Nicholas Cookies

Some people celebrate St. Nicholas's feast day on December 6 by leaving out their shoes to be filled with treats. Although we did not particularly celebrate that day, these cookies are a traditional treat for the feast day. The cookies are usually molded or imprinted with various designs such as an image of St. Nick. Mom's recipe called for using the spritz cookie press, which worked well with this dough.

This recipe has an intriguing ingredient list including spices and even black pepper. The cookie itself is not overly spicy, but just spicy enough. I also liked the contrast of the sweetness of the chocolate frosting. Mom's recipe did not contain the ingredients for the frosting, so I used the chocolate fudge frosting from Mom's recipe for eclairs. Even if it is not St. Nicholas day, give these delicious cookies a try.

Dutch St. Nicholas Cookies 

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ginger
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1/8 tsp. baking powder
• 2-3 Tbsp. milk
• 1 cup flour
• Chocolate Frosting

Beat butter and sugar until creamy; beat in spices, salt, pepper, and baking powder. Beat in two tablespoons milk and gradually beat in the flour. Use additional milk if the dough is too stiff. Put the dough into a spritz cookie press with a rosette plate. Press onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Allow to cool a few minutes before frosting. Prepare the chocolate frosting. Spoon a little frosting onto the center of each cookies. Press an almond onto the frosting. Enjoy!

German Cinnamon Cookies

December is all about Christmas cookies. Mom's recipe box has so many cookie recipes that it was hard to pick just a few for this Christmas season. This German Cinnamon Cookies recipe has an appealing combination of cinnamon and almonds. And the recipe makes so many cookies, so you won't mind giving some away at Christmastime. These cookies will freeze well and can always be saved for another day.

The cookie dough for this recipe needs to be refrigerated overnight, requiring some advanced planning. Although rolling out the dough and using a cookie cutter might take a little more time than drop cookies, the resulting crunchy cookies are worth it. You can use any shape and size cookie cutter. I used a round shape with scalloped edge. Whatever shape cookie cutter you use, you'll love the cookies.

German Cinnamon Cookies 

• 1 1/2 cup butter
• 1 pound confectioner sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 cups flour
• 3 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 pound finely chopped almonds

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Sift flour with cinnamon, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture. Beat until blended. Stir in almonds. Chill dough for several hours or overnight. Roll out small portions of dough at a time on a lightly floured surface until very thin. Cut the dough with a cookie cutter. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375 for about 10 minutes or until delicately browned. Allow to cool on a rack. Enjoy!

Toffee Bars

In preparation for Christmas, I looked through Mom's recipe box for cookies to make this year. When I saw this Toffee Bar recipe, I remembered making it with Mom because it was so easy and yielded many bars. So I made this recipe for Thanksgiving. I know that pies are the traditional dessert at Thanksgiving, but there were plenty of pies. These Toffee Bars are so easy to eat and can be cut into small bars, it almost doesn't count as having dessert.

When I made this recipe, I used milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips just because I prefer milk chocolate. I also used about twice as many chips as called for in the recipe, in part because I did not use nuts when I made this recipe. If I were to use nuts, I think I would use almonds, but any type of nut would do.

Toffee Bars 

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Thoroughly cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add flour and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Press dough into an ungreased 15 1/2 inch by 10 inch jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until brown. While still warm, cut into bars. Cool before removing from the pan. Enjoy!