Sugar Cookie Murder (28 page)

SWEET POTATOE CASSEROLE

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

Lucille Rahn contributed this recipe. She got it from her friend Meryl in New York, who got it form her friend Hazel. Lucille asked Meryl to ask Hazel, but Hazel’s not sure where she got it in the first place.

3 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes or yams *

2/3 cup white (granulated) sugar

¼ cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup whipping cream

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup chopped pecans

½ cup flour

½ cup butter, softened

• It’s better with freshly cooked sweet potatoes or yams, but you can also use well-drained, canned sweet potatoes or yams. It’ll take one 29-ounce can and one 15-ounce can to make a scant 3 cups of mashed sweet potatoes.
  

Coat a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl combine sweet potatoes, sugar, melted butter, vanilla, and cream. Mix in the beaten eggs and stir thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the baking pan you’ve prepared.

Rinse out the bowl you used and dry it with a paper towel. Combine the brown sugar, chopped pecans, and flour, mixing them up with a fork. Add the softened butter and mix with the fork until it’s crumbly.

(You can also do this in the food processor with the steel blade and cold butter cut into 8 pieces. If you do this, add the chopped pecans by hand after everything else is processed.)

Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture over the top of the sweet potato mixture. Bake, uncovered, for 30-45 minutes. If the rest of the dinner’s not ready, cover the pan with foil, turn off the oven, and leave the casserole inside. When the guests arrive, take out the casserole and serve.

An note from Hannah: When you page through the dessert section, you may wonder why you don’t see Shawna Lee Quinn’s Brownies, especially since you know that they were accepted by the Lake Eden cookbook committee.

To make a long story short, Lisa happened to be paging through her mother’s copy of Joy of Cooking, and she came across a brownie recipe that sounded wonderful. She started to make it and that’s when she realized that it was EXACTLY the same as the brownie recipe that Shawna Lee had submitted, right down to the amounts and the method and everything. The cookbook committee thought it was only right to attribute the previously printed source, Joy of Cooking, but Shawna Lee didn’t like that idea and she told us to just leave her brownies out if that’s the way we felt about it.

CHRISTMAS DATE CAKE

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

This recipe is from my Grandma Ingrid. She used to make this cake every Christmas.

2 cups pitted dates, chopped (you can buy chopped dates, or sprinkle whole pitted dates with a bit of flour and then chop them in a food processor)

3 cups boiling water

2 teaspoons baking soda

Pour the boiling water over the dates, add the soda (it foams up a bit) and set them aside to cool. While they’re cooling, mix the following ingredients together in a large mixing bowl:

1 cup butter, softened or melted

2 cups white (granulated) sugar

4 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

3 cups flour (you don’t have to sift it)

Once the above are thoroughly mixed, add the cooled date mixture to your bowl and stir thoroughly.

Butter and flour a 9 x 13 inch cake pan. (This cake rises about 1 ½ inches, so make sure the side are tall enough.) Pour the batter into the pan. Then sprinkle the following on the top, in this order BEFORE baking:

12 ounces chocolate chips

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

1 cup nuts, chopped (use any nuts you like — I prefer walnuts or pecans)

Bake at 325 degrees F. for 80 minutes. A cake tester or a long toothpick should come out clean one inch from the center when the cake is done. (If you happen to stick the toothpick in and hit a chocolate chip, it’ll come out covered with melted chocolate — just wipe it off and stick it in again to test the actual cake batter.)

Let the cake cool in the pan on wire rack. It can be served slightly warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

CHOCOLATE FRUITCAKE

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

These cakes pack a punch, especially if you have more than one piece.

If you’re planning to give them as Christmas gifts, bake them at least 3 weeks ahead of time, preferably right after Thanksgiving.

1 ½ cups butter, melted

4 cups white (granulated) sugar

8 eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon cardamom (or 1 teaspoon cinnamon, but cardamom’s better)

½ cup unsweetened baking cocoa

½ cup molasses

1 cup milk (or light cream)

4 ½ cups flour (you don’t have to sift it)

1 cup brandy or rum * (you’ll need an additional cup or two for the cheesecloth wrapping)

1 cup dried apricots, chopped (or any chopped dried fruit)

2 ½ cups nuts, chopped (any kind will do)

1 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate)

1 ½ cups coconut flakes

cheesecloth to wrap cakes

• If you don’t want to use alcohol, use a cup of fruit juice instead of the brandy, do not wrap in cheesecloth, and either give the cakes as gifts within a day or two of baking, or wrap them tightly in foil and freeze them in freezer bags.
  

Coat 8 baby loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. (My pans are stamped 5 ¾ x 3 x 2 1/8 on the bottom.) Line the pans with wax paper by cutting a strip to extend over the width of the pan, leaving “ears” on the side. You don’t have to worry about the ends of the pans — they’ll be okay unlined.

Coat the whole thing again with nonstick cooking spray, dump in some flour, and swish it around (over the wastebasket or sink) so that all the inner surfaces of the wax paper and the pan are dusted with flour. Knock excess flour out.

Mix melted butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add the sugar and mix it up. Beat the eggs in another bowl, then in with the butter and sugar mixture.

Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cardamom, and cocoa, stirring after each addition. Mix in molasses and milk.

Add the flour cup by cup, stirring after each addition. Then add the cup of brandy and mix some more. Dump in the apricots, nuts, chocolate chips, and coconut and stir until everything is thoroughly mixed.

Fill the baby loaf pans ¾ full with batter. This batch should make 8-9 mini-cakes.

Bake at 300 degrees F. for 1 hour. Remove from oven, place pans on rack, and let them cool for 10 minutes. Gently lift out the cakes, put them back on the rack, and allow them to cool for another 10 minutes. Peel off the wax paper and finish cooking.

Open a window near your work surface. This sounds silly, but you can get pretty light-headed doing the next step, as it involves some powerful fumes.

Pour a cup of brandy into a bowl. Fold the cheesecloth over so it’s double thick and cut lengths that are long enough to wrap around the cakes. Dip lengths of cheesecloth in the brandy, one at a time. Spread the cheesecloth out on a breadboard or on wax paper on your counter, wrap each cake in the cheesecloth, and place it in a gallon freezer bag. (I put 2 cakes in each bag.) Seal the bags and store them in the bottom of the refrigerator for at least 3 weeks, taking them out every week to add more brandy to the cheesecloth. (I use a small bulb baster so I don’t have to unwrap them.)

If you give these cakes for Christmas, just take them out of the refrigerator, leave the cloth on, and wrap them in plastic wrap. Then wrap them again in foil and stick a bow on top. These cakes are wonderful sliced and topped with ice cream!

NOTE: Cheesecloth has gotten really expensive. If you can’t find any on sale, I’ve substituted one thickness of unbleached muslin from the fabric store. Just wash the muslin in hot water with NO SOAP and dry it in your dryer. Cut it into length AFTER washing and drying (it’ll shrink in the dryer), and it’ll work almost as well as the cheesecloth.

COFFEE CAKE

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

Note: Some coffee cake is more like sweet bread. Regina Todd’s is really a cake, so the cookbook committee decided to put it in the cake section.

1 cup butter, softened

1 ¾ cup white (granulated) sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

6 eggs

3 cups flour (no need to sift)

The Filling:

3 cups chopped fruit (or crushed berries— the fruit can be fresh, frozen, or canned*)

1/3 cup white (granulated) sugar

1/3 cup flour

The Crumb Topping:

½ cup brown sugar (tightly packed0

1/3 cup flour

¼ cup butter, softened

• If you choose to use drained canned fruit, make sure it’s been canned in its own juice or in water.
  

Grease the inside of a 9 x 13 inch cake pan, or spray it with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix the cup of softened butter with the white sugar until it’s fluffy. Add the salt, vanilla, and baking powder. Mix thoroughly.

Add the eggs one by one, mixing after each addition.

Add the flour in 1-cup increments, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

Spoon one-half of the batter in the cake pan and spread it out with a rubber spatula. Leave the rest in the bowl for later.

The filling: In another bowl, mix the fruit, sugar, and flour. (If you’ve used chopped apples, peaches, or pears, add ½ teaspoon cinnamon to the mix.) Spoon the fruit mixture on top of the batter.

Drop spoonfuls of the remaining batter on top and spread them carefully with a rubber spatula. (The fruit doesn’t have to be covered completely — the batter on top will fill in as it bakes and the crumb topping will cover the rest.)

The crumb topping: Mix the brown sugar and the flour in a small bowl. Add the softened butter and cut it in until it’s crumbly. (You can also do this in a food processor with chilled butter and the steel blade.)

Sprinkle the crumb topping over the pan as evenly as possible.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 45-60 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the coffee cake cool on a wire rack.

Andrea, Bill, and Bill’s father like this served warm, right from the pan. Regina likes it thoroughly cool.

Regina told me that one time she wanted to make this coffee cake, but she didn’t have anything in the pantry except a can of cherry pie filling. Instead of mixing the ingredients for the filling, she just dumped in the whole can of pie filling and it worked just fine.

JELL-O CAKE

Preheat oven to whatever it recommends on the cake mix box, rack in the middle position.

This recipe is from Andrea, who makes it for Tracey’s birthday every year. Tracey’s friends love it because it’s colorful. Andrea loves it because it’s easy, and she’s the undisputed Jell-O Queen of Lake Eden.

1 package white cake mix (1 pound 2.25 ounces)

the ingredients called for on the cake mix box

2 packages (3 ounces each) Jell-O in contrasting colors

1 small tub of Cool Whip, or one can of whipped cream

Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch cake pan.

Mix up the cake using the directions on the box. Bake the cake for the required amount of time. Let the cake cool to room temperature.

When the cake has cooled, dump one package of Jell-O into a small bowl. Add one cup boiling water to the Jell-O and stir until it’s dissolved.

Poke about 30 holes in the top of the cake with a fork, punching it all the way to the bottom of the cake pan.

Pour the Jell-O evenly over the top of the cake. Give it a minute or two to sink down into the holes you punched.

Refrigerate the cake for 1 hour.

Prepare the second package of Jell-O as above.

Punch more holes in the top of your cake, crisscrossing the first holes. Pour the second bowl of Jell-O liquid over the top of the cake. Give it a minute or two to sink down and then cover it with plastic wrap or foil. Refrigerate the cake for at least 4 hours. Overnight is fine, too.

Andrea says to warn you that the top is going to look ugly, and that’s why you’ll frost it with Cool Whip or whipped cream and cut into square pieces.

To Make A Layer Cake:

For a truly gorgeous cake, divide the batter into two 8-inch round pans and bake it according to the package directions. Then divide the Jell-O between the two pans.

To frost, remove the cakes from the pans, use Cool Whip or whipped cream between the layers and to frost the sides and top. Everyone will ooh and ahh when you slice the cake.

Andrea made a confession to me the night of the Christmas potluck dinner. She said she doesn’t bake the cake. She buys an unfrosted sheet cake at the Red Owl, does the part with the Jell-O, and frosts it with Cool Whip. I thought about this for a few minutes and decided it’s probably a good thing.

LADY HERMOINE’S (HANNAH’S) CHOCOLATE SUNSHINE CAKE

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate

1 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, defrosted

½ cup butter, softened

2 ½ cups white (granulated) sugar

2 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon orange extract (or ½ teaspoon vanilla)

2 eggs

2 cups flour (no need to sift)

½ cup milk

1 cup pecans, chopped (or walnuts)

Grease the inside of a Bundt pan. Dust with flour, or cocoa, knocking out the excess.

Put the chocolate and the orange juice concentrate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat it for one minute on HIGH. Stir it and then heat it on HIGH for another minute. Stir until the chocolate has melted. Set the bowl aside to cool.

The following steps are a lot easier if you use an electric mixer: Combine the butter and sugar, and mix until fluffy. Mix in the baking powder, salt, and orange extract. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition.