Back in college, my good friend Jennifer took me to visit her hometown of Chicago.  We spent a weekend touring her favorite sites but also visiting with her grandmother, "Oma".  Oma came to the United States from Austria when she was young and with her husband they established a successful restaurant during the middle part of the 20th century.  She made this wonderful apple cake for me and I loved it so much that I asked her to write down the recipe for me.

Apple Cake with Streusel Topping

Cake
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 lb. butter (or margarine)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
milk as needed (about 1/2 cup)

Fruit Topping
2 apples, cored and sliced (or peaches)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Streusel Topping
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soft butter
1/4 nuts (optional)

Beat sugar, butter and eggs.  Add baking powder to flour, then stir into the butter mixture.  Place batter into a 9" round cake pan.

Toss the apples with cinnamon and sugar.  Arrange the slices in concentric circles on top of the cake batter.

Mix the streusel ingredients together in a bowl.  Sprinkle streusel over the apples.  If you'd like, you can also sprinkle the top with a little cinnamon and sugar.

She had written to bake at 375 for 45 minutes.  When I made it, I baked at 350 for 30-35 minutes.  The entire recipe is one that only existed in Oma's head and she made it more from feel vs. actual measurements/directions.  This was the first time she had made the cake with the intent of actually writing it down.


 

 

This recipe is fairly hard to read but I will do my best to transcribe it.  The cake sounds as though it would be wonderful -- a white cake, swirled with a darker molasses-spice cake.

Marble Cake

White Part
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sweet milk
3 egg whites
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Dark Part
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour milk
1 cup molasses
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon soda
Cinnamon, Spice and Cloves
2 1/2 cups flour

Mix each part (white and dark) in separate bowls.  For the white part, cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the milk and egg whites, stir to combine.  Gradually add flour and baking soda until batter is smooth.  Season with salt to taste.

For the dark part, combine sugar, milk, and molasses.  Beat in the egg yolks.  Add soda and spices -- I am uncertain of the quantity to use but likely no more than 1 1/2 teaspoons in total (maybe: 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. ground ginger, 1/4 tsp. cloves).

I'm assuming that you could make this in a 9x13 pan, alternating between pouring in the white and dark portions.  When fully poured into the pan, stick a knife at one end and draw it across the pan to swirl the two mixtures together.  Repeat 2 more times at different spots in the pan.

Uncertain of baking, but likely 350 for 30-35 minutes until it tests done.

Dates commonly used as fillings in cookies or in fruit cakes when I was growing up. I am intrigued by the use of dates in this cake.  It sounds absolutely delicious.

Date Cake
1 cup dates, chopped
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon soda
1 egg
1 cup sugar
2 large tablespoons shortening
salt (suggest a 1/2 teaspoon)
vanilla (suggest 1 teaspoon)
1 1/2 cups flour

Heat a cup of water until boiling, then add dates and soda.  I suggest cooking for 5 minutes or until dates appear softened.  Set aside to cool.

Cream together egg, sugar and shortening.  Add vanilla and salt, then add into the cooled date mixture.  Stir to combine.

Add flour gradually until the cake batter is formed.  Pour into prepared pan.  There aren't any directions for baking, so I would suggest 350 F for 30-35 minutes or until cake tests done.

One of my favorite muffin recipes, so delicious in fact that it's my teenage writing in the upper right corner confirming that these are indeed, "good".  These are best made with fresh blueberries.

Blueberry Muffins
1 egg
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted shortening
2/3 cup milk
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries

Beat all of the ingredients (excluding blueberries) until batter is smooth.  Fold in blueberries.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full and sprinkle the tops with sugar before baking.  Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until they test done.

Banana bread is one of my favorite baked goods with bananas, but this banana cake is another great way to use up over-ripe bananas.  I've had this cake both plain and frosted, and it's good either way you decide to make it!

Banana Cake
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter (scant)
2 egg yolks
4 tablespoons sweet milk
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3)

The cake is prepared by combining the sugars, butter, yolks, milk and soda in a bowl.  Sift the baking powder and flour into this mixture, stir to combine.  Add the mashed bananas and mix until blended.

The recipe will make 2 layers.  Grease and dust your cake pans with flour.  Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.  For layer cakes of this type, I would suggest baking at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

 

A buttery sweet candy cooked without stirring.  The end result is a hard butterscotch candy that you can break into pieces, similar to a brittle or hard toffee.

Butterscotch Candy
2 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar
3 or 4 tablespoons water
1 big tablespoon butter

"Cook slow and don't stir until spins a thread."  Well, the instructions are simple but I should elaborate somewhat.  You should stir the ingredients as you add them to the pan to form the initial mixture.  As you bring this to a slow simmer, do not stir. 

The candy is cooked to what is commonly called a 'hard crack' stage, about 300-310 F.  If you take a bit of the candy on a spoon and allow it to slowly drip into a bowl of cold water, the candy will form a thin thread.  When the thread hits the water, it will become hard and brittle when snapped.

Once the candy reaches the correct temperature, pour onto a lightly greased baking sheet to cool.  Break into pieces.
 

This recipe is one of my childhood favorites and comes from my great-grandmother.  You'll see a notation in the upper right corner stating it was her "mother's reciept".  I remember these cookies being thin and chewy, a delicious treat that is hard to stop eating.

Molasses Cookies
(Mother's old recipe)

1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of lard
1 1/2 cups of molasses
1 cup of sour milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. ginger and cinnamon
1 tsp. soda
Flour

You'll notice from the recipe there are two ingredients which differ from most modern day molasses recipes, sour milk and the use of lard.  The use of sour milk is perfect for those of us who never seem to finish a carton and always seem to throw away that last cup or two of milk because it's started to spoil.  Lard is not commonly used in baking but does add a different taste to baked goods.  You can still find it sold in some grocery markets.

The secret to this recipe isn't written in the recipe though.  My great-grandmother didn't have lard on hand all the time when I was growing up, at least that's not how I remember it.  For the lard, she often used a mix of shortening (i.e. Crisco) and bacon grease.  Bacon grease is simple the rendered fat from cooking bacon.  When allowed to cool, the fat will thicken and harden into a solid when refrigerated. She would use the shortening and bacon grease at room temperature.

The use of bacon grease adds further flavor - don't worry, it isn't outwardly noticeable but the smokey richness somehow elevates the flavor of these cookies.  It's not a cookie to eat every day but is definetly worth trying at some point in your life.

Unfortunately, the amount of flour isn't noted in the recipe nor is the cooking time or oven temperature.  This is common in my great-grandmother's recipes.  Based on the ingredients used, I would expect it to be about 2-3 cups but you should add enough to form a basic cookie dough consistency.

Mix ingredients together until blended.  Scoop into tablespoon sized balls, rolling between your hands to form them.  Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.