Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Filling

This recipe is from Todd's Grandma A. (Pauline). At the top of the recipe card she had written, "Very good." Other notes from the recipe written by Grandma A. are shown in quotations below.

Chocolate Cake

3/4 cup butter or margarine ("I used some butter & shortening.")

1 3/4 cups sugar

Cream till fluffy. Add 2 eggs.

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour ("I used pastry.")

3/4 cup cocoa

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/3 cups water

"I used the chocolate filling. You cook & choc icing. Make Todd & Dan a big cake for me."

Chocolate Filling for Cake

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp cocoa

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 cup boiling water

Cook until thick, add a small piece of butter and vanilla. "Joyce: This recipe is good for chocolate sauce. For filling I find you need more cornstarch (2 tbsp.)."

Chinese Casserole

This recipe is from Todd's Grandma A. (Pauline). It is now a favourite in our family as well.

Chinese Casserole

1 1/2 lbs hamburg

1 onion

1 lg can cream chicken soup

1 can mushrooms (liquid included)

1 cup water

1 cup celery

1/2 cup minute rice

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tin bean sprouts (drained)

1 - 7 oz tin Chinese noodles (or use broken up pieces of spaghetti)

Fry hamburg and onions. Add rest except noodles. Put 3/4 can of noodles in large casserole or 2 small ones. Then put in ingredients and top with rest of noodles. Bake 350 degrees for 3/4 hour. "I used just plain rice and macaroni or spaghetti."

Jellied Carrot and Pineapple Salad

This recipe was found written out on a scrap of paper slipped inside one of my Grandma M.'s (Doris') cookbooks.

Jellied Carrot and Pineapple Salad

1 pkg lemon gelatin

1 pint hot water

1 1/2 cup grated carrots

1 tbsp vinegar

1 cup crushed pineapple

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

mayonnaise

Dissolve gelatin in hot water. Add vinegar, sugar and salt. Chill until slightly thickened. Fold carrots and pineapple into slightly thickened gelatin. Turn into moulds. Unmould on crisp lettuce and garnish with mayonnaise.

Cherry Delight Pie

Todd's Grandma R. (Millie) used to make this recipe.

Cherry Delight Pie

1 can cherry pie filling

1/2 pint whipped cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 oz cream cheese (room temp)

1 tsp vanilla

Whip cream, then whip in cream cheese then sugar and vanilla. Pour into graham wafer crust, chill at least an hour or overnight, then add cherry pie filling and chill again. Make 24 hours ahead.

Cheese Cakes

This recipe was often made by Todd's Grandma R. (Millie). She often frosted these very lightly with a lemon flavoured glaze.

Cheese Cakes

Line mini muffin tins with pastry.

Make Filling:

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp sugar

1 egg

grated rind of one lemon

1 tsp lemon juice

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

In lined muffin tins put 1 ts of jam and cover with cake mixture. Bake.

Chili Sauce (Fruit)

This recipe is from Todd's Grandma A. (Pauline). The last little note was written to Todd's Mom, Joyce. See the tomato version of this recipe here.

Chili Sauce (Fruit)

30 ripe tomatoes

6 onions

6 pears, 6 peaches

a bag of whole mixed spice

3 green peppers

4 cups white sugar

4 tbsp pickling sauce (less)

1 pint vinegar (cider) I use

Chop all together. Boil for 2 hours until fairly thick. Do not put pears and peaches through grinder, just cut in small pieces.

"Joyce, when I don't have any pears I open a can of pears and use what I think is 6, but I have put less pears and peaches in. Also I make a chili sauce with this recipe and leave out the fruit, sometimes I put a couple stalks of cut up celery and less peppers. I think the whole sp8ice make it best. (Have fun.) It don't make a lot."

Chili Sauce

This recipe comes from Todd's Grandma A. (Pauline). See the fruit version here.

Chili Sauce

12 ripe tomatoes

2 onions

1 gr & 1 red pepper

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/8 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp salt (less)

1/3 cup cider vinegar

celery or celery seed

Chop ingredients and cook all till thick.

Variation: Chili Sauce with Apples

12 tomatoes

4 gr peppers (I use 1 big)

2 large onions

4 medium apples

2 cups brown sugar (I use 1 white)

2 cups vinegar

2 tbsp salt (scant)

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp gr. cloves

1/2 tsp allspice

1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Chop and cook till thick. I mash (with) potato masher when cooking.

Pumpkin Bread

This recipe was found written out on a scrap of paper slipped inside one of my Grandma M. (Doris's) cookbooks. My Mom and her sister remember that cans and pails were used for baking instead of baking tins. When the loaf came out, it would be cut into round slices.

Pumpkin Bread

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening

2 beaten eggs

1 cup pumpkin

1 2/3 cup flour

1/3 cup nuts

1/3 cup water

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Cream shortening. Add sugar, eggs and pumpkin. Mix thoroughly. Add flour and spices alternately with water, then nuts. Fill cans 1/2 full. Bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done. I use any size cans.

Cherry Pudding

This recipe comes from Todd's Grandma A. (Pauline). Todd's Mom remembers that they had a sour cherry tree right outside the door at home. "We had lots of cherry puddings while the cherries were in season."

Cherry Pudding

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups cherries (or other fruit)

Put batter into a greased pan.

Combine:

1 cup brown sugar

3 cups boiling water

1 tbsp butter

Pour over batter and bake - 1 hr.

Bran Muffins

This recipe comes from Todd's Grandma A. (Pauline).

Bran Muffins

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup Crisco, lard or shortening

1 1/2 cups bran

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups sour milk

pinch of salt

Caramel Icing

This recipe is from Todd's Grandma A. (Pauline).

Caramel Icing

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp light cream

2 1/2 cup icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine butter, sugar and cream in saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir or beat in icing sugar and

vanilla.

Spread on warm cake. If frosting becomes too thick, add a small amount of water. (Goes good with banana cake.) You can half the recipe which is enough for a 9"x9" cake.

Baba au Rhum

This recipe is from Todd's Grandma R. (Millie).

Baba au Rhum

1 pkg. granular yeast

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup lukewarm water

1/4 tsp salt

4 small or 3 large eggs (room temperature)

1/2 cups plus 1 tbsp sifted all purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

1/3 cup melted butter, slightly cooled

In large mixing bowl, add sugar

and warm water to yeast, stir once and let soak 10 minutes. Add salt, eggs (unbeaten) and measure flour and beat with electric beater 2 minutes or 200 hand strokes. Let rise at room temperature until quadrupled - 3 hrs. Add sugar and slightly cooled butter and beat for 2 minutes. Butter well

12 muffin tins. Divide dough into them filling not more than half full. Let rise at room temperature to above rims of pans. (May leave in fridge overnight before letting rise). Bake at 425 deg for 17-20 minutes. Loosen edges with pointed knife and turn out on large platter and pour over hot syrup.

Syrup

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup hot water

1 - 4 3/4 oz pureed apricots (baby food)

1 tsp rum (Todd says if it was Grandma, it was rum flavouring!)

2 or 3 tsp lemon juice

Combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil. Stir in apricot puree until smooth, boil 2 min. Remove from heat, add flavouring and juice. Pour over hot babas. Then cold serve topped with cream.

Apricot Jam

This recipe comes from Todd's Grandma R. (Millie).

Apricot Jam

3 cups cut up apricots

1 orange peeled and cut into chunks

2 cups sugar

Boil slivered orange peel, white part removed and add to fruit. Crack apricot nuts and chop finely, add. Boil all until thick or add pectin.

Apple Pudding

This recipe comes from Todd's Grandma R. (Millie).

Apple Pudding

Ingredients

1 cup of flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup or less of margarine or shortening

Directions

Rub margarine/shortening into the sifted dry ingredients and make it fine - finer than for pie. Add just enough water or milk to roll out flat to about 1/4". Spread with peeled and sliced apples and 1/4 cup sugar. You can add a little cinnamon but it isn't necessary. Roll up apples and dough and put into a baking dish large enough to put a syrup over all.

Syrup

Mix about 1 1/2 cups water and 1/2 cup sugar and 1 pinch of salt. Add 1 tbsp of butter. This takes a hot oven to start with and when it is browning, lower the heat somewhat. Bake until apples are cooked, about 40 or 45 min. I think one apple will be enough sliced for 1 cup of flour.

Baked Beans

This recipe comes from my Grandma M. (Doris). This is actually my Mom's recollection of the recipe as Grandma didn't have it written down (that we know of). Grandma used to make baked beans quite often.

Baked Beans

Soak 2 lbs beans in water overnight or simmer in water for 1 1/2 hours on stove. Drain water and rinse beans to eliminate excess gas in water. Cover beans with fresh water and add:

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 lb shortening

chopped onion (optional)

1 can whole tomatoes (optional)

Bake uncovered in oven at 325-350 deg f. for most of day. Beans will turn a darker brown and be rather saucy in appearance. Add more water if you notice beans getting dry.

Butter Tarts

This variation on the butter tart comes from Todd's Grandma R. (Millie).

Butter Tarts

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups currants or raisins

4 tbsp butter

2 eggs

2 cups brown sugar

2 tsp rum flavouring (or vanilla)

chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

Soak currants or raisins in boiling water for a few minutes. Beat butter until creamy, then add brown sugar and eggs and blend well before adding currants or raisins.

Put in rich pastry shells, uncooked, and cook 18-20 minutes.

Raised Doughnuts

This recipe comes from my Grandma M. (Doris.) As mentioned in a previous post, she was well-known for her doughnut baking and used to sell to different bakeries and restaurants. This recipe was the original one that she began to make and sell. She later changed to the "Cake Doughnuts" as they were more "in-fashion," however these ones still remained a family favourite.

Raised Doughnuts

Ingredients

3 - 3 1/2 cups flour

2 packages yeast

3/4 cups milk

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup shortening

2 eggs

orange glaze

Directions

In large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour and yeast. Heat milk, sugar, shortening and 1 tsp salt just until warm, stirring constantly until shortening melts. Add to fry mixture. Add eggs. Beat at low speed. Stir in remaining flour.

Cake Doughnuts

This recipe comes from my Grandma M. (Doris.). She was well-known for her doughnuts. She had a couple of different types that she made. (Click for her "Raised Doughnut" recipe.) She would bake them and sell them to various bake shops and restaurants. This is one version which does not require yeast.

Cake Doughnuts

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp nutmeg

3 tbsp shortening

2/3 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1 quart oil

Directions

Deep fry at 375 degrees.

Ice Box Cookies

This recipe comes from Todd's Grandma A. (Pauline). She had two versions of the same recipe. One is shown in the image scanned at right and the other is typed out below.

Ice Box Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter (margarine)

2 cups brown sugar

3 beaten eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

4 cups flour

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Cream together butter and brown sugar. Mix rest of ingredients together. Roll into 2 - 2 1/2" logs. Wrap. Cool in fridge or freezer. Cut into 1/4" slices and bake.

Jam Jams

This recipe comes from Todd's Grandma R., Millie. A family favourite, traditionally made with raspberry jam only.

Jam Jams

Ingredients

1 c margarine

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

3 cups flour

1 tsp soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

Directions

Roll pieces of dough into 1 1/2" lengths. Flatten with a fork. Put 2 cooked cookies together with raspberry jam in the middle.

Cherry Winks

This recipe was passed down from Todd's Grandma R. (Mildred).

Cherry Winks

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup chopped dates

1/3 cup maraschino cherries

2 1/2 cups cornflakes

Directions

Combine butter and sugar and cream together well. Blend in eggs. Add milk plus vanilla.

Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add pecans and chopped dates. Mix well. Shape into balls using 1 tbsp dough for each cookie. Crush 2 1/2 cups cornflakes. Roll each ball of dough in flakes. Place on greased baking sheet. Top each cookie with 1/4 cherry.

Bake 10-12 minutes. Do not store until cold. Makes 5 dozen cookies

Banana Nut Bread

This recipe comes from Todd's Grandma A. (Pauline).

Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients

2 c flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 c butter or shortening

1/2 c brown sugar

2 eggs

1 c mashed bananas

1/2 c chopped nuts

1 tsp grated orange rind (5 tbsp orange juice)

Directions

Bake at 350 deg F for 45 minutes in loaf pan.

Sauce a la Cassonade

This recipe was passed down from my Grandma M. (Doris), a French Canadian. "Sauce a la Cassonade" is basically a butterscotch sauce. I've heard from my Mom and other family members that she would occasionally serve it to her husband and eight children as a dessert with bread for dipping, or with tea biscuits or it was even used as a pie filling. I might also add that it is especially good as an ice cream topping!

Sauce a la Cassonade

Ingredients

1 tbsp butter

1-2 tbsp flour/cornstarch

2 cups farm fresh cream

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

On stovetop, melt butter with flour/cornstarch. Add cream and brown sugar. Stir until heated thoroughly - will have a skim on top. Remove from stove and add vanilla.

About Grandma Pauline

Todd's Grandma A. (Pauline) was his maternal grandmother. She was born in Ontario in 1912 and passed away almost 12 years ago. She was a great cook with a lot of recipes to pass on from her farm life. When Todd and I were first married, I remember sitting in her kitchen copying out some of her delicious pickle recipes. Todd's Mom has a good memory of her mother's cooking and still uses a lot of her recipes today.

About Grandma Millie

Todd's Grandma R. (Mildred/Millie) was his paternal grandmother. She was born in 1910 in the Canadian Prairies of Saskatchewan. She died just over a year ago at nearly 99 (just 2 months shy). Throughout her life Grandma R. did a lot of entertaining and thus had quite a number of recipes to share with her family and friends.

About Grandma Doris

My Grandma M. (Doris) was my maternal grandmother. She was born in Quebec in 1921. Being a francophone, she was raised with traditional French Canadian cooking. My Grandfather was an anglophone, but being a fellow Quebecer, also spoke the French language. After the birth of their 4th child, they moved to Ontario where they raised a total of 8 English-speaking children on their farm.

I have memories of Grandma's cooking, since she did not pass away until the last decade. A lot of the recipes and memories attributed to Grandma M. have come from my mom, and aunts. I was also lucky to be passed on a cookbook of Grandma's which no one else seemed to want. When paging through the cookbook, I was very excited to discover some of Grandma's recipes in her own handwriting, sitting between the pages. Real treasures!

About Grandma Hilda

My Grandma A. (Hilda), my paternal grandmother, was born in 1914 in Montreal, Quebec. She passed away when I was 5 years old. I remember her, but only as a child would. Unfortunately, my father passed away about 6 years later and then the following year, my grandfather did too. For these reasons, I do not know a lot about my grandmother's recipes and cooking style. So, recipes for Hilda on here may be a bit lacking, but not for lack of not wishing they were there!

Make Your Own Recipes from Grandma's Kitchen Booklet

You will find it is a lot of work to compile a cookbook, but well worth it in the end. The gathering of content, organizing and compiling it, editing it, and finally binding it all together can surely be a daunting task.

GATHERING CONTENT

If your grandmother is still living, then begin by paying

her a visit. Ask to make copies of her favourite recipes. Som

e may be handwritten o

n scraps of paper, or on recipe cards, or you may find some are clippings from a newspaper or magazine. It is nice to have her handwriting also!

Next, send an email or letter to your grandmother's children and grandchildren. Ask them for the following:

- copies of grandma's recipes

- photos of grandma working in the kitchen or serving at her table,

working in her garden, or any others that may seem applicable to this topic

- memories or anecdotes they have about grandma's cooking in general or about a specific

recipe (e.g. What did she serve for Sunday dinner? Did she do Christmas baking? Did she have a garden? What was her specialty meal? Did she entertain a lot? etc.)

When asking for information for a project like this, it's a good idea to set a deadline for

submissions.

ORGANIZING THE INFO

You may receive a lot of recipes by email. This is great, because the info is already typed out and it will be easier to copy and paste it into your cookbook later. For now, to organize what you are receiving, be sure and have a folder for each grandmother's recipes. Then create a sub folder within each main folder for the different categories of foods. E.g. Appetizers, Main Course, Desserts. etc. Also create a folder for photos and another for memories.

You can use any word processing document to record your recipes and memories, but I usually use Microsoft Word. As each recipe is received, copy it into the document. You can make several separate documents depending on the categories you have selected (e.g. main course, etc.) and put the recipes in alphabetical order as you key them in. For recipes that are scanned, whether they be handwritten or a clipping, it is a good idea to type them in as well. Often the handwriting or old print is hard to decipher when scanning or photocopying. You can still keep some of these for images to illustrate your cookbook though.

In addition, it is helpful to use a spreadsheet program, like Microsoft Excel for recording an index and to keep track of what you have received and from whom. This will also help when you go to begin numbering the pages for an actual table of contents. As each recipe is received, be sure and record it into your spreadsheet and list the source as well as if it is a scanned recipe or a typed out one (so you can locate it easier).

For memories, keep these in a document as well. You can categorize them into different groups depending on what they are referring to. For example, if a memory has to do with your grandma's garden, then perhaps it would be suited for a recipe category on vegetable dishes. You can intersperse the memories in with the recipes so it flows nicely.

As photos are received, be sure and rename the photos with the person's name and date it was taken.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Once your recipe booklet is all compiled, be sure and include an introduction to say who your grandma was and a little about her. You can also include some of your own memories in this section. Make a title page and an index as well.

You can then choose to print out your cookbook and photos and manually turn it into a booklet format and bind it yourself, or you can do it digitally. The latter will look more professional and it will also allow you to save it to CD and then share copies more easily with family members. You can use digital scrapbooking software to do this yourself and even print the end result yourself or have it printed professionally. If you are binding it yourself, there a couple of different products out on the market that will help. One is the Bind-it-All, made by Zutter (for spiral ring binding) and another is a cerlox binding machine (for a plastic comb binding method).

Note: The top photo depicts the recipe book I made for my husband's maternal Grandmother, Millie. This one was printed at home and bound with a cerlox binding machine. The other pictures show a recipe book I made for my husband's maternal Grandmother, Pauline. This one was made digitally using online software from ScrapBlog. They printed and bound it as well.

Welcome

Welcome to Recipes from Grandma's Kitchen. This is where I am recording all the recipes that have been passed down to us from our Grandma's - both mine and my husband's. There is nothing like taste and smell to bring back cherished memories and I believe it is important to preserve these family recipes for future generations.

My interest in family recipes began in 2004 when I compiled a little booklet of recipes from my maternal Grandmother, Doris (Dorcas). She had passed away in 2003 and memories were still fresh. I asked for feedback from her four daughters and then compiled that into a booklet form. It took until 2008 for me to make another booklet. This time it was all about recipes from my husband Todd's paternal Grandmother, Mildred (Millie), who was still living at the time. Todd's aunt and mother were able to provide a lot of information and photos for this project. Then, later in the same year, I compiled another recipe book. This one on recipes from Todd's maternal Grandmother, Pauline, who was no longer living. My MIL and Todd's Aunt had lots of memories and recipes to pass along to this project as well. I haven't been able to come up with enough recipes for a booklet on my paternal Grandmother, Hilda, as she and my father both passed away when I was young. Before I knew enough to ask such questions. Sadly, there may be little content on Hilda's recipes here.

If you are thinking about gathering together a booklet on recipes from your grandmothers, please start now! If not for your sake, do it for your children's sake. Memories fade and little pieces of paper scribbled with a favourite family recipe have a way of going missing. Come by later for a more detailed post on how to do your own booklet of Recipes from Grandma's Kitchen.