Kolaczki

Grandma always made these at Christmastime. She filled some with raspberry jam, and some with apricot jam.

8 ounces of cream cheese
3 sticks of butter
3 cups of flour
Raspberry and apricot jam
Confectioner's sugar

Cream the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add flour little by little until combined into a dough. Form into a ball, cover with plastic, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

When ready to make, heat the oven to 350 degrees and roll the dough to about a 1/4" thickness. Slice into 2" squares. Place a dab of the jam in the center of the square, then fold one corner in, then overlap the other corner in.

Bake for 15 minute, until just browning. Store in airtight container. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar before serving.

Banana Cake

If I had to pick one food that represented my childhood to me, it would be this Banana Cake made by Grandma. Well, this or homemade chicken noodle soup. The secret is in the sour cream.

1-1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda (dissolve in sour cream)
4 T sour cream
1 cup banana pulp (mashed)
1-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Cream butter & sugar, add eggs until and beat until very light. Add the soda dissolved in sour cream. Beat well. Then add the bananas, flour, salt and vanilla. Mix well. Bake in well-buttered oblong pan in moderate oven. Frost with lemon butter frosting.

 

Tiramisu

This is the best tiramisu you'll ever have! It's fluffier than the traditional version. Can be doubled, and makes a pretty presentation in a trifle dish or glass baking dish. The perfect Christmas dessert. As a bonus, it is something that you make ahead, so less fuss on Christmas day!

1 package lady fingers
1 cup espresso
1/4 Kahlua (suit to taste)
drop of scotch (this eliminates the egg taste)
2 egg yolks
2 T sugar
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1 cup heavy whipping cream
cocoa powder

Preparation:

1. In small bowl combine coffee, Kahlua, scotch (if doubling, you won't need to double this part). Set aside.
2. In another bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until foamy. Add mascarpone cheese to egg mixture.
3. In a third bowl, whip heavy cream. Fold whipped cream into egg/cheese mixture.

Assembly:

Like a lasagna, this is arranged in layers. Two layers for single recipe, three layers for double:

1. Dip each lady finger in coffee mixture, layer in trifle dish. (Or layer lady fingers, then sprinkle with coffee mixture).
2. Sprinkle coffee-dipped ladyfingers with cocoa powder.
3. Spread half (or third) of cheese mixture.
4. Once layers are complete, sprinkle with more cocoa powder.
5. Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.

Enjoy!

The Tiramisu! This is a double recipe.

 

The kid that got stuck holding the Tiramisu on the way to Thanksgiving dinner!

Grandma's Whiskey Balls

Grandma made these every year just after Thanksgiving so they would be ready for Christmas. Once made, pack them in sealed containers -- aging makes them better. Even as kids, we ate these and, because they ship well, they were packed in care packages.

2 cups finely chopped walnuts
2 3/4 cups of vanilla wafer crumbs
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup whiskey (Jack Daniels, Jameson's or Maker's Mark work well)

Combine all ingredients. Roll into little balls, then roll in some extra confectioners sugar. Store in airtight container.

Tapioca Pudding

A standard dessert and comfort food that both Mom and Grandma made was tapioca pudding. They both used the recipe that was right on the Minute Tapioca box -- usually the variation that used meringue to make it nice and fluffy. It was served warm or cold.

There was always a box of Minute Tapioca in the cabinet. Besides making pudding, tapioca works well as a thickener in pie fillings.

Famous Wafer Dessert

Mom made some spectacular desserts at Christmas. Often it was a big trifle or a creamy tiramisu. But for us kids she would make the Famous Wafer Dessert. It is ridiculously simple to make using the recipe on the box: Just make whipped cream using a pint of whipping cream and some vanilla, then put stack the cookies using the whipped cream to hold it together. Lay the "log" of stacked wafers on its side then frost with the remaining whipped cream. Refrigerate for several hours. When ready to serve, sprinkle with chocolate shavings and slice diagonally.

Here's an article on the origins of this recipe: Famous Wafer Dessert

Gateau a l'Orange

Before us kids came along, Mom and Dad belonged to a gourmet cooking club. They would take turns with other couples planning and preparing a fancy meal for the others. I suspect this recipe may have come from those days...

Banana Chiffon Pie

This recipe comes from the back of an undated letter Grandma sent to Mom. The letter opens with a discussion about a recipe my brother Tom, a chef, sent to her to try. It doesn't say what the recipe is (although based on the rest of the letter, I think it may be a pumpkin dessert), but makes mention of the use of "WOW--20 eggs!!!" and then concern that with her poor eyesight she would be unable to be successful with the recipe:

"after breaking 12 or 13 eggs--I would mix a little of the yolk in with the whites--thereby preventing the 'whites' to attain the desired 'whipped' stage"

but that the recipe "sounds delicious." Instead, she decides to try her hand at a "simpler" recipe. She writes:

. . . "Browsing thru my boxes of cook-books, I came across a "Banana Chiffon Pie"--I'm going to tackle it in a day or two--substituting 'Pumpkin' for the Banana--and use 1-1/2 envelopes gelatin instead of the (1) envelope that it calls for."

Home Ec Apple Coffee Cake

This was from Mrs. Volpe's middle school Home Economics class. I think this was the first project we all had to do in 6th grade:

Sweet Koulourakia

This recipe came from our school. One of the mothers made this for an Easter party at school and distributed the recipe.

Grandma's Chocolate Cake

My cousin wrote to say that when he was in college, Grandma sent him a chocolate cake that weighed about 20 lbs and made him the envy of the dorm!

Here is a recipe for Chocolate Cake in her handwriting that I think may be the one he's talking about. Its clearly a well-loved recipe from the state of the card, so I think this must be it.

There is also another recipe that she used a lot that she got from a neighbor, who's name I don't remember. If anyone has that, please let me know and I will post it.

The White Mountain frosting on the card is not what I remember her using on chocolate cake. I remember her using chocolate fudge for frosting. Besides being delicious, she said it kept better in care packages. She would sometimes flavor the chocolate fudge with pure mint oil for variation.


One reader commented that the recipe was difficult to read, so I've transcribed it here:
2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening (she probably used Crisco or butter)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 2 T vinegar)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa
2-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 cup hot water with a pinch of salt added
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, beat well. Then, add buttermilk. vanilla, and the cocoa. Beat well. Add flour alternately with the hot water with soda/salt.
Bake at 350 degrees in 10" angel food cake pan. Takes about 50 - 60 minutes.

Doesn't even need frosting, but if you want some,

Grandma made fudge frosting with real peppermint oil.



Brownies

Grandma always baked these brownies and layered them with wax paper in empty Entenmann's boxes wrapped in twine.