RUM CAKE
The flavor gets even better and better as cake sits! ~ Sue Christensen, Indiana

Ingredients:
Cake:
1 cup chopped pecans
1 package instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1 box yellow butter cake mix
1/2 cup rum
4 eggs

Hot Rum Sauce:
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 stick butter
1/8 cup rum
1/8 cup water

Directions:
Grease and flour tube or bundt pan.
Sprinkle nuts on bottom.
Mix remaining cake ingredients thoroughly (about 2 min. with elec mixer).
Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.
Remove cake from pan.
Combine sauce ingredients in pan.
Cook until ingredients come to a boil.
While cake is still hot, drizzle slowly by spoonfuls over cake.

MOM'S CHOCOLATE FUDGE PUDDING
This remains a gooey and decadent dessert! If you don't like nuts, leave them out, as they aren't critical to the recipe. Need I mention that serving it with decadently rich vanilla ice cream is another great option? ~ Meg Sondey, Mexico

Ingredients:
1 cup of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2/3 cup of sugar
6 tablespoons of cocoa
1/2 cup of milk
2 teaspoons of melted shortening
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 cup of chopped nuts
1 cup of brown sugar
1-1/2 cups of boiling water

Directions:
Sift flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and two tablespoons of cocoa. Add milk, shortening, and vanilla. Mix only until smooth. Add nuts. Put in greased, shallow one quart baking dish. Mix brown sugar and remaining cocoa. Sprinkle over mixture in baking dishes. Pour 1-1/2 cups of boiling water over top. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold with whipped cream.

Mrs. Wildermuth's Old fashioned Stamp Cookies
Growing up, one of my mom's friends came from the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country and could she cook!! This was one of my favorite cookie recipes from her. ~ Meg Sondey, Mexico

Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 cup of butter
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of white sugar
4-1/4 cups of sifted flour
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of soda
2 well beaten eggs
1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
1 cup of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Icing:
2 cups of sifted confectionery sugar
2 Tablespoons of liquid (milk, water, lemon juice)
2 tablespoons of softened butter
2 teaspoons of vanilla

Directions:
Combine above ingredients and roll dough into small balls. Press down to flatten with the bottom of a glass. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes. If desired, tint icing to match your "theme" and frost cookies when cool.

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Grandma Hines' Crumb Pie
Grandma Hines only had a third grade education but managed to raise three kids by herself during the Depression after the tragic death of her husband. How? Well, this Pickaway County, Ohio woman could cook (and did for many years as a cook at Rickenbacker Air Force base.) My husband, Bill Hines, said that you could always walk into Grandma's kitchen and find her whipping up the most delicious meals when her cupboards appeared bare! She could cook anything that had meat on it (squirrel included) and knew all of the fruits and herbs of the fields. This remains one of our favorite breakfast treats, especially when warm from the oven! ~ Meg Sondey, Mexico

Ingredients:
5/6 cup of sugar
3/4 teaspoon of soda
1-1/4 cup of water
(Mix above and let stand while you prepare the rest.)
1/2 cup shortening
5/6 cup of sugar

Directions:
Cream together and add 3 cups of flour. Mixture should be course. (Save out two tablespoons for crumb topping.) Combine with the first mixture, but don't over mix. Pour into a greased and floured round cake pan. Top with reserved crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees until pick inserted in center comes out clean (anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes depending upon size of cake pan!)

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Ellen Rice Greenslit's Blueberry Pudding
Ellen came from Readsboro, Vermont back to her ancestral family home in Cheshire, Connecticut in the late 19th century. Undoubtedly, she made this with the wild blueberries she found in the overgrown fields around their farms. Cultivated blueberries, however, do work and this makes an especially elegant and tasty dessert during the height of fresh blueberry season! ~ Meg Sondey, Mexico

Make a plain loaf cake (use a recipe from Fanny Farmer or another New England style cookbook) or purchase a pound cake. If you make your own loaf cake, add one cup of blueberries to the batter and then bake according to directions.

For the sauce:
1 or 2 cups of blueberries (Ellen used whatever amount she had!)
1 cup of sugar
One lump of butter (They were farmers, and this WAS before store bought butter!)
1 egg white

Mix together and cook in a double boiler until thickened. (You should still be able to see whole blueberries). On slices of purchased pound cake, or on warm slices of homemade loaf cake made with blueberries, pour generous amount of blueberry sauce. For real decadence, add a small scoop of high quality (if not homemade!) vanilla ice cream to the side.

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Aunt Madge's Sugar Cream Pie
Aunt Madge learned to cook at the right elbow of her mother, Grandma Hines, one of the best cooks ever to live in Pickaway County, Ohio. the Hines family tradition is that although we serve turkey at Thanksgiving, the real reason for the family get-together is the annual pie baking contest among my husband's Aunts and cousins. Although the table contains such delights as grape, raisin, pumpkin, homemade mincemeat, cherry, apple, and an amazing array of other types of pies, one of the favorites is ALWAYS Sugar Cream Pie. Be warned, however, that this is an extremely RICH dish. A small slice is a sufficient serving, and is great when accompanied by rich, hot coffee. As some would say, "This is to die for!" ~ Meg Sondey, Mexico

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/3 cup of flour
pinch of salt
1 pie shell

Directions:
Mix above ingredients and place in pie shell. (Yes, homemade IS best but I suppose you could use a purchased one!) Pour 2 half-pint containers of whipping cream and 1 teaspoon of vanilla on top of this mixture. Stir with your finger until just combined! (Yes, this is the SECRET of this recipe). Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. It is best to allow this to cool and "set-up" for a bit before serving and should be stored in the refrigerator if not being served until later.

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Pecan Balls
Even now, it wouldn't be Christmas without these cookies! I suppose this is one of the first recipes I learned to make on my own. They are loads of fun to make with children, although it might make the kitchen a bit messy! But I always though a "snow storm" of confectionery sugar just added to the holiday ambiance! ~ Meg Sondey, Mexico

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter (yes, you CAN use margarine, but I never did!)
1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of flour
1 cup of shopped nuts (we always used pecans)
1/2 box of confectionery sugar (used after baking)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients (except confectionery sugar) and make into one large ball. Wrap in wax paper or place in container and refrigerate overnight. Shape into small balls (about a teaspoon of dough at a time.) and bake on ungreased cookie sheet for about 45 minutes or less in a 250 degree oven. Don't wait until they are brown. When taken out of oven, roll in confectionery sugar while still hot. (A jelly roll pan with copious amounts of confectionery sugar works quite well!) Be careful not to break them (and the rule, of course, is that all the broken ones must be eaten by the bakers immediately!) Keep rolling them until most of the sugar is used -- the more sugar the better. (That is not MY comment -- that is part of the original recipe!!)

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Aunt Madge's Best Guess at Grandma Hines' Sugar Cookies
If there is a Holy Grail within the family recipes of the Hines Family, it would be the "exactly right" recipe for Grandma Hines' Sugar Cookies. Whole conversations at reunions are devoted to trying to come up with the exact recipe. Grandma Hines never measured anything when she cooked, but created recipes by "feel" and "taste." So this is the current "best guess" at what must have been the Best Sugar Cookies ever! ~ Meg Sondey, Mexico

Combine:
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of shortening
1/2 cup of margarine (softened)

Add:
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon of salt
4 cups (plus one tablespoon) of four
1 cup of buttermilk (with one teaspoon of baking soda added to it)
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Combine and form into cookies. Bake at 365 degrees for 16-18 minutes.

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1960's-Style Strawberry Parfait Pie
Having an August birthday (and an un-air-conditioned house in Wallingford, Connecticut) I was seldom in the mood for a traditional cake for our family birthday celebrations. But, when we discovered this recipe (most likely in a Jello-brand gelatin ad!), I had finally found my favorite birthday "cake" recipe! ~ Meg Sondey, Mexico

Ingredients
1 package of Lemon Jell-o
1-1/2 cups of hot water
1 pint of strawberry ice cream (Mom always bought Sealtest!)
1-1/2 cups of sliced fresh strawberries

Directions
Dissolve Jell-o in hot water in two quart sauce pan. Add ice cream by spoonfuls, stirring until melted. Chill until thickened, but not set (15-20 minutes). Fold in drained strawberries. Turn into baked 9-inch pie shell (Mom made homemade, but you can use store-bought!) Chill until firm (20-25 minutes). We often reserved some of the sliced strawberries and created a nifty design on the top of the pie when it was just about set!

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Fresh Apple Cake - Laura Probst, Michigan USA

1 1/4 c. oil (may substitute some of oil with applesauce)
2 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
3 c. flour
1 t. each - salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg
3 c. chopped apples (about 3 lg. apples; don't peel)
1/2 c. chopped nuts
directions=Sift dry ingredients together.
Beat oil, sugar, vanilla and eggs together.
Add sifted flour mixture and nuts.
Add apples.
Pour into 9 x 13 pan.
Bake 15 min. at 325, then 35 min. at 350.
No frosting necessary.

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Molasses Ginger Snaps
from Mother's In the Kitchen! Edna Kelly, Texas USA
Those molasses ginger cookies were a huge favorite at our home, too.My daughter, Jessica, used to make them for us for dessert. She’s 36 now and in medical school and when I reminded her about her cookie making she replied: “Well, it was the only way we got to have treats.” She and I still love them. Fresh grated ginger adds zing. I buy a hunk, grate it the Cuisenaire and freeze it so I can grab a teaspoon whenever I need it. Cecily Harkins, Oregon USACecily Harkins, Oregon USA

3/4 C margarine or shortening (I use either butter or Crisco, both are good)
1 cup sugar (I use less, about a heaping 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour (part whole wheat okay)
1 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ginger
 
Mix everything together at one time.  Form into balls.  Roll in more sugar.  Place wide apart on slightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Makes 3 to 4 dozen.  

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