Aunt Trudy's Refrigerator Pan Rolls

My Aunt Trudy lives in California.  Although I don't get to see Aunt Trudy very often, I have some great memories.  She is a feisty woman!  I remember one time we were in Oregon at my Aunt Hazel's farm.  We were picking blackberries or some kind of berry.  As we were picking, Aunt Trudy looked up and there was a snake staring right at her!  Needless to say, some of her feisty-ness came out that day!

Aunt Trudy shared this recipe with me for the blog.  As I type, I am eating one of these fabulous rolls!  This roll is fluffy and mmmm, mmmmm good.  I slathered mine with butter and am loving it!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 packages dry yeast
6-6 1/2 cups flour
2 cups water
1 stick butter
1 egg
melted butter

In my Kitchen Aid mixing bowl I added the sugar, salt, yeast and 2 1/4 cups flour.  I gave that a stir to mix all of the ingredients.  In a Pyrex bowl measure out 2 cups hot water.  I put the stick of butter in the measuring cup and stuck it in the microwave to heat it up.  The butter doesn't have to melt all the way but the water should be hot.

Slowly add the water/butter mixture to the flour mixture.  Beat well - add the egg.  Slowly add the flour, a 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough forms onto the dough hook and the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.

Knead everything for about 10 minutes.  Remove the dough from the bowl.  Form the dough into a ball and let it rise in a warm place until double in size.  Punch down the dough.  Spray a large plastic Ziploc bag and put the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.  If you leave it overnight, you will need to punch the dough down a few times.

About 3 hours before you are ready to cook the rolls, let the dough come to room temperature.  Cut the dough into 30 different pieces and form into rolls.  Place in buttered dish and let rise until double.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 -20 minutes.  Brush rolls with melted butter and serve.

Thanks Aunt Trudy for this great recipe!  These might be the best rolls I've ever eaten!

Aunt Trudy with my great nephew Callahan

Enjoy!  This recipe is featured on Lady Behind the Curtain!

Aunt Lily's Moon Cake

I have been on a quest, gathering old family recipes.  Thanks to cousin Jo Agrusa for sharing this recipe from my Aunt Lily.

Dad, Aunt Lily and Uncle Vince

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/2 cup margarine

5 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

5 egg whites

1/2 cup crushed walnuts

The first thing I did was separate the yolk/whites from 5 eggs.

Don't look too close- I broke one of my yolks!

In my Kitchen Aid mixer (LOVE), mix the sugar, butter, margarine, egg yolks and vanilla.  Beat until combined.  Add flour and baking powder.

Transfer that to another bowl.  Clean out your mixer bowl and switch attachments so you can whip the egg whites.

The egg whites need to be whipped, on high speed, until stiff peaks form.

See how the egg whites "stick" to the attachment?

Next, fold the egg white mixture into the batter.  Spread the batter in a shallow rectangle pan.  Sprinkle crushed walnuts and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Here is where is got tricky for me.  Cousin Jo said that Aunt Lily used to take a shot glass and cut crescent shapes into the cake..........hard for me to visualize but I did my best!  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and you are ready to eat!

Notice the angle of the camera doesn't allow you to see if I cut it correctly!

This cake is light and fluffy.  It isn't too sweet - just right!  Thanks Cousin Jo for sharing this recipe!

Mangia!

Zucchini Bread

One of my favorite vegetables is zucchini.  I love summer when you can go to your local farmer's stand (or raid your neighbors garden) and get those huge zucchini.  The problem with those HUGE zucchini is that I'm the only one in my house that eats it!

To solve this problem, I decided to make zucchini bread!  Here is a list of ingredients:

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 teaspoon allspice
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup raisins

To make the bread combine the first 8 ingredients in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar and vanilla.  Add oil, applesauce, zucchini and raisins.  Stir to combine ingredients.

Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients.  Stir and place in bread pans that have been sprayed with PAM or buttered/flour.  This recipe makes one large loaf and one small loaf.

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until brown.  When you stick a toothpick in the loaf, it should come out clean or with a few crumbs.

This zucchini bread is so moist!  It is a fantastic recipe.  If you want to get creative, you can substitute crushed pineapple for the applesauce or dried cranberries for the raisins.  If you like nuts, go ahead and add some!

Enjoy!

Grand Pee Paw's Oatmeal Cookies

Yes, for those of you that know me, go ahead and start making fun.  I called my Grandpa Grand Pee Paw.  He was fun and died when I was way too young.

My Grand Pee Paw helping me hold the new terror of the family:  TONETTE!

Last week my husband and I were fortunate to travel to Hawaii.  Being in the islands reminded me of my Grand Pee Paw because he and my Nana used to live there.  I was fortunate enough to visit them twice when I was a child.  When you are young you don't appreciate your parents or your grandparents.  Looking back now, there are many things I remember and I wish I had appreciated them more while I was visting.

Karrie and Tonette, Grand Pee Paw and me on one of our visits to Hawaii

One of the things I remember about Grand Pee Paw was that he was always in the kitchen.  I remember that he had these HUGE kitchen mixers and he was always making bread.  When I started cooking my mom said I cooked just like him because I didn't clean up after myself as I cooked!

Unfortunately, my Grand Pee Paw was a cook with all of his recipes in his head.  The family has very few recipes of his.  One of the recipes we do have is his recipe for oatmeal cookies. 

My niece, Maria Tortilla, was here visiting and we decided to make his cookies.  Here are the ingredients (I'll post them at the end).

The first thing we did was put 1 cup of shortening in the mixer.  To this we added 1 cup of white sugar and 1 cup of brown sugar.  Beat this together and add 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 teaspoons molasses.   Mix for 1 minute and add 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon ginger.

In another bowl assemble 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 cups oatmeal, 1 cup raisin bran flakes, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 cup raisins, and 1 1/2 cup nuts.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry.

Spoon the mixture onto a baking pan and bake for 13-14 minutes at 350 degrees.  When you take them out of the oven they will not look set.  Don't panic!  As the cookies cool, they will set. 

I remember the first time I made these cookies.  I took them out of the oven, called my mother and told her that there was no way this recipe was right.  She told me to simmer down, as she does in her Bertha way and told me that they would be fine.  She was right (as usual).  Give it a try!

Ingredients:  1 cup shortening
                     1 cup sugar
                     1 cup brown sugar
                     2 eggs
                     1 teaspoon vanilla
                     2 teaspoons molasses
                     1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
                     1 teaspoon salt
                     3 cups oatmeal
                     1 cup raisin bran flakes
                     1 teaspoon baking soda
                     1/2 cup raisins
                     1 1/2 cup nuts
                     1 tablespoon cinnamon
                     1 teaspoon nutmeg
                     1/2 teaspoon ginger