ground coffee, espresso grind if possible

2 (8 oz.) packages of mascarpone cheese

2 packages of lady fingers

4 eggs, separated

4-5 spoons sugar, not too full

Cocoa powder for dusting on top 

Brew coffee in a moka pot. Place brewed coffee in a flat bottomed dish and add a little water to it. Set aside to fully cool. 

Separate eggs, placing yolks in a larger mixing bowl and whites into a medium mixing bowl. 

Beat egg yolks and sugar, then add mascarpone cheese and mix thoroughly. With clean beaters, whip egg whites until stiff, then fold stiff egg whites carefully into cheese mixture. 

In a lasagna pan, place a layer of the cream mixture, then dip each lady finger in the cooled brewed coffee and layer onto the cream mixture. Continue until all lady fingers and cream mixture are used, then dust with cocoa powder if desired. Cover tightly with lid or foil. 

Refrigerate over night or until thoroughly chilled. Keep any leftovers refrigerated.  

1 cup very cold heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon confectioners sugar, more to taste

Optional: 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or flavoring, or flavoring of your choice

For optimal fluffy whipped cream, chill your bowl and beaters in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before proceeding. 

To the chilled bowl and with chilled beaters, add the whipping cream and whip on high speed for about 2 minutes, or until cream is thickened but not stiff. Pause the mixer and add the powdered sugar and flavoring if used, then whip until cream is thickened to your liking. Be aware that if you over beat the cream, it will begin to separate into butter and buttermilk, and there is no recovering from that. Use immediately or place in an airtight container for longer storage. Keep in the refrigerator.

Recipe may be increased, just keep the proportions for cream, flavoring and confectioners sugar as you increase it. 

Whipped cream made with confectioners sugar will stay stable and firm for several days at least. The cornstarch in confectioners sugar is the secret to firm, stable whipped cream.

Another variation: Add a tablespoon or more to taste of baking cocoa to the whipping cream when you add the confectioners sugar. You will also need more confectioners sugar so add more sugar to taste and continue beating until firm. 

You may also add food coloring, a drop at a time, mixing well after each addition, until you get the color you like. This works well for shower themes, etc.

1 pkg. instant pistachio pudding mix 

1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 cup miniature marshmallows

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups thawed whipped topping

1 cup maraschino cherries

 

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Cover tightly and chill for 1 hour or until serving time. Keep refrigerated. Recipe may be doubled.

 

 1 Duncan Hines butter recipe golden cake mix

4 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 stick (1/2 cup) real butter, not margarine, melted

1 quart heavy whipping cream, divided

1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk such as Pet or Carnation

1 can sweetened condensed milk such as Eagle Brand

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 350*.

 

Spray a 9x13 baking pan or glass dish with cooking oil spray. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl prepare cake batter using the boxed cake mix, melted butter, 4 eggs and 3/4 cup milk. Mix with electric mixer for 3-4 minutes until well combined and thickened. Pour into prepared pan and bake for time recommended on the box, or until a pick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake and cake springs back when touched. Don't over bake. Place on cooling rack.

While cake is baking, combine 2 cups of whipping cream, the evaporated milk and the sweetened condensed milk in a medium bowl. Stir to mix well. As soon as you remove the cake to the cooling rack, slowly pour the milk mixture over the hot cake until all is used. The cake will absorb all the milk as it cools. 

Continue cooling on wire rack to room temperature, then prepare the whipped cream.

In a medium mixing bowl, using clean beaters, beat the remaining 2 cups of whipping cream until slightly thickened. Stop the mixer and add 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar. Start mixer on lowest speed until combined then increase speed and mix until the whipped cream is thickened to your taste. Spoon onto prepared, cooled cake and spread evenly. Cover with a well fitting lid or cover tightly with foil and refrigerate until well chilled. Serve cold and keep any leftovers refrigerated.

This is my granddaughter Emmy's favorite cake.

*Notes: You can use any cake mix for this, including white or even chocolate. I have made my own version of this with a white cake mix and added cream of coconut with the milk mixture that you pour over the cake, then added shredded coconut on top of the whipped cream topping. I'm sure many other combinations can be made by using a little imagination.

Preheat oven to 350. Wrap each apple slice in a crescent roll, starting with the small end. Place in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Melt butter in a pan on stove top. Add sugar and cinnamon, then add Mountain Dew slowly. Pour over apples. Bake 35-45 minutes.

 

 

 

1/2 cup butter, softened*
2 cups white sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tablespoon plain cornmeal
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 425*.

In a large bowl mix the butter, sugar and vanilla together. Mix in the eggs, then stir in the cornmeal, evaporated milk and vinegar until smooth.  

Pour into pie shell. If using bought pie crust in disposable aluminum pie pans, place on a cookie sheet for extra support.

Bake for 10 minutes at 425* in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 300* and bake for 40 minutes. 

Let cool on a wire rack. Serve immediately or refrigerate for longer storage. Top with whipped cream for an extra treat.

*Do not substitute margarine or spread for the butter.
 
Do not omit the cornmeal. This is what gives the pie that distinctive
texture.

You may use whipping cream or half and half instead of evaporated milk for
a richer pie.

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
3 egg yolks
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 9-inch graham cracker crust**
whipped cream or topping as desired

*Optional for meringue topping:
3 egg whites
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

**You may use purchased graham graham cracker pie crust or make your own, or homemade or bought regular pie crust, or vanilla wafer crust. If using homemade or bought regular pie crust, prebake it as directed in your recipe or on the package.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine lemon juice and grated peel, egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk. Beat with mixer on medium speed until well combined, about 1 or 2 minutes. Pour into prepared crust, cover and chill for several hours or overnight before serving.

OR: After pouring into crust, you may bake in a preheated 325* oven for 20 minutes, until set around the edges but still jiggly in the center. At this point you may cover with meringue and proceed as directed to brown the meringue, or cool on a wire rack then cover and chill for several hours or overnight before serving.

Serve with whipped cream or you may use the 3 egg whites left over from the egg yolks and make meringue topping.

*For meringue: Preheat broiler on high. Using clean beaters and bowl, beat egg whites with 2 tablespoons of sugar and vanilla on medium high speed until stiff peaks form. Cover top of pie filling all the way to the edges of the crust. You can go all fancy and decorative or as plain as you like. Place pan on cookie sheet and place under broiler, watching closely. Brown the top to your liking, then cool on wire rack. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight before serving.

The original recipe does not call for baking the pie filling at all, so it does contain raw eggs. If you are leery about consuming raw eggs, and understandably so, you may bake the filling. It tastes the same but the filling has a firmer texture, which some may prefer. I'll take it any way I can get it.

Keep any leftovers refrigerated.

1 stick butter or margarine
1 cup self-rising flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups BOILING water

Preheat oven to 350*.

Melt butter in an 8x8 baking pan or dish while oven preheats. (If doubling the recipe, use a 13x9 pan.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, and 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa, making sure to whisk out all lumps.

Stir in milk and vanilla until smooth.

At this point you can stir in chopped nuts, coconut, chocolate chips or other flavored chips, miniature marshmallows or any combination of those if you desire.

Spoon batter over the melted butter in the baking pan. DO NOT STIR!!!

Whisk together the remaining 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa.

Sprinkle over the batter. DO NOT STIR!!!

Slowly pour the boiling water over the top of the mixture. There may be dry areas. DO NOT STIR!!!

Bake until set, about 30-35 minutes. The crust will rise to the top and there will be areas that are a bit gooey but some crusty goodness as well. 

Great hot with a scoop or 2 of vanilla ice cream, or at room temperature or cold with whipped cream.

Recipe may be doubled. Use a 13x9 pan if doubling, and I encourage you to use real butter. It does make a big difference in the flavor of the cobbler, but if margarine is what you have on hand it's still great made with margarine. You can even use shortening or *gasp!* lard if you don't have butter, but I haven't tried making it with oil so I can't say how it would turn out, but I don't see that it would make that much difference in the texture. 

1 large or 2 regular size cans sliced peaches*
1 cup sugar
1 cup evaporated milk or sweet milk
1 cup self rising flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter


 Preheat oven to 350*.

Generously grease or spray with cooking oil spray a 13x9 baking dish or pan. Pour peaches and juice into pan and distribute the peach slices evenly. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, mix sugar, milk, flour and vanilla. Stir till well combined and then pour over peaches in baking dish. This will be very runny, but don't panic, it will be fine. Dot the top with the butter and place in oven.

Bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Some of the batter will be puffy and brown and some will still be a little gooey. This is part of this cobbler's charm.

Cool a bit on a wire rack. I suggest serving it still warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

*Notes: Any kind of canned fruit or fruit pie filling can be used, and also fresh apples sliced thin, fresh blueberries, fresh peaches, nectarines or apricots, raspberries, blackberries, cherries, plums, strawberries or even figs. For fresh fruit I use 1/2-1 cup sugar to 2 cups fresh fruit, in addition to the sugar in the original recipe, according to how tart the fruit may be. When using canned fruit pie filling, I use 2 cans for this recipe. I also use 2 sticks of butter sometimes rather than just 1 stick. I'm a rebel that way. ;-)

8 cups fresh or frozen blueberries**
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup plain flour

2 sticks room temperature butter (not margarine or spread!)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup plain flour
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375*.

Grease or spray 2 (9x13) baking pans with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, toss blueberries, 2 cups white sugar and 1/2 cup flour till berries are well coated. Divide berry mixture evenly between greased pans.

In the same bowl, combine remaining ingredients and rub together with your hands, mixing butter into the dry ingredients to make a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle evenly over berries in both pans, dividing evenly.

Bake at 375* for 35-40 minutes or until berries are bubbly and topping is crisp and medium brown.

I freeze one of the pans to cook later, wrapping tightly in aluminum foil. To bake, thaw completely in the refrigerator, then bake as directed above, removing foil before baking.

Fresh or frozen blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, peaches or plums may be used instead of blueberries. Sliced apples may be used, adding a teaspoon of cinnamon to the apples, flour and sugar.

**4 cans of blueberry pie filling or any fruit pie filling may be used instead of fresh or frozen berries. Omit the 2 cups of white sugar and 3/4 cup of flour in the berries if canned pie filling  is used, and prepare the oatmeal topping and proceed as directed from that point.

2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (9-inch) baked pie crust
pecan halves for garnish

In a medium saucepan, bring brown sugar, water, and butter to a boil over medium-high heat; cook 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, milk and egg yolks; mix well. Slowly stir milk mixture into boiling mixture, stirring constantly for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Let cool for 5 minutes, then pour into baked pie crust and garnish with pecan halves if desired. Let cool for 30 minutes longer, then cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight before serving. Even better served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzled with caramel sauce.

*Recipe from Mr.Food.com

1 cake mix, any flavor (I used dark fudge cake here)

Ingredients required to prepare cake mix as directed on package

1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup flaked or shredded coconut
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1 lb. package powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325*. Grease and flour a 13 x 9 baking pan and sprinkle chopped pecans and coconut evenly in bottom of pan.

In a medium mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese till well combined, then add powdered sugar and beat until smooth and well combined. Set aside.

In another medium mixing bowl, prepare cake mix as directed on package. Pour cake batter over pecans and coconut in prepared pan, smoothing with a spoon till even. Drop cream cheese mixture randomly over cake batter by tablespoonful. Drop pan few times on counter top to settle batter and place in preheated oven. Bake for time recommended on cake mix package.

Cake is done when a toothpick inserted near center is clean or has only fine crumbs. If you hit some of the cream cheese it will be gooey, so try to check a portion of the cake itself. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

The cake will be uneven and cracked on top, resembling cracks in the ground after an earthquake, hence the name. No need for frosting as this is very rich with the cream cheese mixture inside the cake. I have made this with many flavors of cake mix and they've all turned out delicious. This cake is yummy still warm with a glass of cold milk.

1 pkg. (¼-oz.) yeast
¼ cup warm water (110*-115*)
1 cup warm milk (110*-115*)
¼ cup butter, softened
¼ cup sugar
½ t. salt
1 egg
3-3¾ cup all purpose flour
Oil for deep fat frying

GLAZE:
1¼ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 T. brown sugar
1 T. water
½ t. vanilla
Dash of salt


In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, butter, sugar, salt, egg and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough.

Do no knead. Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 12’x8’ rectangle. Cut into 3’x1’ rectangles. Place on greased cookie sheets. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

In an electric skillet or deep fat fryer, heat oil to 400*. Fry doughnuts, a few at a time, until golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Combine glaze ingredients and dip tops in glaze while warm. Repeat with remaining doughnuts. Or you may prepare and use a glaze of your choice. Chocolate glaze is a traditional topping in Northeast Arkansas where I live.

2 large packages black cherry Jello
2 cans fruit cocktail, drained well
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup miniature marshmallows, optional

Prepare Jello as directed up until chilling. Add fruit cocktail, coconut, pecans and marshmallows if used to Jello and mix well. Pour into serving bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Chill thoroughly until set. Serve and enjoy.

I don't know where Mama got the original recipe or if she invented this one herself, but it was always a part of our family holiday dinners, especially Thanksgiving and more often, Christmas. Just the thought of this Jello salad brings back lots of happy memories of Cook family Christmases.

2 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. good vanilla
1/2 cup oil
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped nuts


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together with mixer the eggs, oil, vanilla, sugar and buttermilk. Add the mashed bananas and blend well. Sift together all dry ingredients except nuts. Stir dry ingredients by hand into creamed mixture until blended, then stir in nuts. Pour into 2 or 3 greased and floured loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks in pans for 10 minutes, then carefully remove from pans and finish cooling on racks. Serve or wrap well for later.

This is the best banana bread I have ever had, bar none. This freezes beautifully if well-wrapped.

1 egg, well beaten
¾-1 cup sugar
dash of salt
2 teaspoons of good vanilla
12-ounce can of evaporated milk, such as Pet or Carnation

Combine in a large bowl and whisk well until the sugar is dissolved, then start adding clean, fresh snow. Mix as you add the snow, until it's the consistency you like.

This will serve 2 or 3 generously, or more if you're not pigs like us.

3 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
3 eggs
1 tsp. good vanilla

Crust:

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
 1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 300-325 degrees.

Combine crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a small bowl. Mix well and press into an 8 or 9 inch springform pan. Press evenly into bottom and 2 1/2 inches up sides of pan. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat softened cream cheese until fluffy, then add sour cream and sugar alternately. Add vanilla, then eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Pour into prepared pan and bake slowly for 45-60 minutes, or till almost set in the center. It should still jiggle just a little in the center. Cool on a wire rack, then cover well and refrigerate. Best if allowed to ripen 24-48 hours in the fridge.

This is our favorite dessert for the holidays or anytime. May be topped with cherry or any pie filling, but we love it best plain.