Razzleberry Pie

It will come as no surprise to some readers that I chose a berry pie for our first pie recipe of the blog.  It is my all-time favorite dessert (you lemon meringue lovers may have a long wait).  The crust recipe isn't necessarily the one Mom used most, but it was in her box and it sounded interesting.   I brought this to a church function and it disappeared fast!

1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
1 cup boysenberries or blackberries
1 rounded tablespoon cornstarch
1 rounded tablespoon tapioca
1 1/2 cups sugar
pinch salt
pinch nutmeg
1/2 Tablespoon butter
1 beaten egg for egg wash

Mix together and pour into prepared pie shell.  Place small pieces of butter on top. Top with crust.  Brush with egg wash.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.  Sprinkle with sugar, if desired.

Pie Crust

3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup shortening
1 beaten egg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
water

Blend flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.  Add shortening and mix with a pastry blender.  Add egg, lemon juice and enough water to form a soft ball of dough.  Roll out into crusts.  Makes 2 singles or one double crust.

Potato Supper Omelet

"This is a good recipe."  Those are the words written in pencil by Mom on the index card with this newspaper food section clipping.  It is also a terrific fast meal because the ingredients are usually on hand.

6 slices bacon
2 cups cubed cooked potatoes
1 small onion, minced
1/2 green pepper, minced
4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Cook bacon until crisp and remove from skillet.  Add potatoes, onion and green pepper to bacon drippings and cook until potatoes are lightly browned, stirring now and then.  Mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper.  Pat potato mixture evenly over bottom of skillet.  Pour egg mixture over potatoes.  Cover and cook over low heat until eggs are set, about 10 minutes.  Top with cheese and crumbled bacon.  Cover and cook 2 or 3 minutes or until cheese begins to melt.  Cut in wedges to serve.  Makes 4 servings.

Note from Ruth:  The fat from 6 slices of bacon is too much.  I pour about half of the fat off before adding the vegetables and potatoes.

Poppy Seed Bread

1 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs, separated
2 1/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup poppy seeds

Cream butter and sugar together until creamy.  In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients together.  Alternately add dry ingredients and sour cream, a few tablespoons at a time.  Add vanilla.  Beat egg whites to moist peaks and fold into batter.  Bake at 350 degreed for 45-50 minutes.  Makes 4 small loaves.

Marinated Carrots

2 pounds carrots, sliced thin and cooked in salt water until crisp tender.

1 green onion, chopped
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. prepared mustard
1 cup sugar
1 can tomato soup
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients except carrots.  Heat to boiling.  Pour over carrots and refrigerate at least 24 hours.

My husband Phil loved this dish, saying it was "like baked beans, only with carrots."  There was enough marinade for another pound of carrots if you're cooking for a crowd.

Hot Milk Sponge Cake

It is sad to think that this Sunday will be our first Mothers Day without Ruth.  I know if she were still here she would be making this cake for Sunday dinner.  Hot milk sponge cake was always served as shown, with strawberries and whipped cream, usually in the months of May and June when strawberries are in season in California.  Mom usually bought strawberries from a roadside stand where they were picked straight from the field.  I've never tasted better strawberries, or a better way to eat them.

1 cup milk
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon extract

Put eggs in a large bowl and beat with rotary beater until very light.  Keep beating while adding sugar 2 tablespoons at a time.  Add salt and flavorings.
Heat milk and butter in a saucepan just to boiling point.  Add all at once to egg mixture.  Mix in.  Combine flour and baking powder and add all at once to the batter.  Beat with mixer until smooth.  Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.  Pour batter into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.

To serve, mash 2 or 3 cups of strawberries and sweeten with sugar.  Add desired amount of sliced strawberries.  Slice a square of sponge cake in half and cover both layers with strawberry mixture.  Top with whipped cream.

Neopolitan Casserole

This is one of Mom's classics.  It's a hearty pasta casserole that kids love.

1/4 cup salad oil
6 sweet Italian sausages (about 1 1/4 pound)
1 pound ground chuck
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
2 cans (1 lb.) stewed tomatoes
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce with onion
1 Tbls. minced garlic
2 Tbls. Italian seasoning
2 cups macaroni
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 lb. sliced Muenster cheese (optional)

Brown sausage with oil in large electric skillet at 375 degrees.  Add macaroni and ground chuck.  Saute-stir for 5 minutes or until beef loses pink color.  Drain off excess fat.  Stir in tomato paste, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, seasonings, and 2 1/2 cups water.  Bring to boiling, stirring.  Reduce heat and simmer covered for 45 minutes.  Arrange cheese slices over top, heat just until cheese melts slightly.   Makes 6 servings.

 Alternative serving method:  After simmering for 45 minutes, transfer everything into a large casserole dish.  Top with cheese and heat in the oven until the cheese melts.

If you don't have an electric skillet, use a large pan with a lid and simmer the casserole on a stove top.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Taste-Off

The chocolate chip cookie had a dominant presence in our family cookie jar, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Mom had twelve different recipes for said cookies in her collection.  Here's the evidence:

Which is the best recipe?  This is a debatable point, depending on your taste preferences.  Soft or crunchy?  Nuts or no nuts?   Oatmeal or none?  Butter or Crisco?  The opinions can run very strong.  We here at Ruth's Recipe Box test kitchens decided to bake five different versions and test them out.  Many of the recipes were quite similar, so the those selected were chosen because of an unusual ingredient or two.
Our unbiased test panel consisted of young twenty-somethings, mostly students at Princeton University and surrounding institutions of higher learning, who were more than willing to test each cookie (with a little milk in between to cleanse the palate) and rate them in order of their favorite.

Here are the contenders:

Best Basic Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup shortening                                    1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup butter                                            2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar                        1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate pieces
1/2 cup granulated sugar                           1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, beat shortening and butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt; beat until combined.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.
Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.  With a wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour.  Stir in chocolate pieces and nuts.
Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.  Makes about 60 cookies.


Ilene Bryan's Chocolate Chip Cookies


2/3 cup Crisco                                   1/2 tsp. lemon extract
2/3 cup butter                                     3 cups flour
1/2 cup peanut butter                          1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup white sugar                               1 tsp. salt
1 cup brown sugar                              12 oz. chocolate chips (one bag)
2 eggs                                                 1 cups nuts
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix Crisco, butter and peanut butter until blended.  Add sugars and mix well.  Add eggs, vanilla and lemon extract and beat until smooth.  Add remaining dry ingredients.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.  Drop teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets.  Bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes.


Soft and Moist Chocolate Chip Cookies


Cream:  1 cup margarine, 3 eggs, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar
Add:      6 oz. (large) package instant vanilla pudding mix
              1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
              3 1/2 cups flour
              chocolate chips (as many as desired)
Bake at 350 degrees for 9 to 10 minutes
Makes 3 1/2 to 4 dozen cookies
Variation #1  use chocolate pudding mix instead of vanilla
Variation #2  use a combination of white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts in place of the chocolate chips.


Mrs. Fields's Cookie Recipe


Cream together:  2 cups butter, 2 cups white sugar, 2 cups brown sugar (light or dark)
Add:  4 eggs and 2 tsp. vanilla
In a blender or food processor make a powder of:  4 cups flour, 5 cups oatmeal (measure, then blend)
Add to flour/oatmeal powder:  1 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. baking powder,  2 tsp. baking soda
Mix the dry ingredients with the creamed mixture and add:  24 oz. bag of chocolate chips, 3 cups nuts (optional) and 8 oz. Hershey bar, grated.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheets.  Make golf ball size cookies, place 2 inches apart, and bake at 375 degrees for 6 minutes.
To make flatter cookies, flatten with a spatula after 5 minutes in the oven, then bake an additional 3 to 5 minutes depending on your oven.
Makes 100 to 115 cookies


Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies


1 stick margarine                                    2 tablespoons vanilla (less if using Mexican vanilla)
1 stick butter                                           2 tsp. baking soda                                
1 cup butter flavored Crisco                   2 tsp. salt
2 cups brown sugar                                2 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 cups white sugar                           4 3/4 cups flour (5 cups at altitude)
4 eggs                                                     2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together margarine, butter and Crisco.  Add sugars and beat until creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Beat in oatmeal, soda and salt.  Add small amounts of flour at a time until well mixed.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop into cookie sheets and bake until slightly golden brown.

The competition was tough and the opinions varied.......

... some tasters had a difficult time deciding, so they
just kept eating and eating!

The votes were tallied and the cookies were ranked:

First Place:  Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
Second Place:  A tie between Best Basic and Mrs. Fields
Third Place:  Ilene Bryan's
Fourth Place:  Soft and Moist


It should be noted that all of the cookies received at least two first place votes.  They were all good, especially right out of the oven.   We might have to do this again with the other seven recipes, but for now I'm giving my ovens time to recover!  And then there are over 20 brownie recipes to test out.