Julie's Carrot Cake

Julie's Carrot Cake

Julie found the original recipe online but then she fiddled around with it until it became her own. I seriously love this cake.

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup cooking oil

3 eggs

Beat sugar, cooking oil and eggs in a large bowl on the low speed of an electric mixer for about 30 seconds or until well-blended.

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Add the dry ingredients to the sugar/oil/eggs mixture and beat on low speed of the mixer for one minute.

1 16-ounce package of frozen sliced carrots (3 cups)

Cook the carrots, according to package directions, until they are soft. Puree the carrots and add the cake dough mixture. Mix until blended.

1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)

Stir in the nuts and pour batter into a prepared greased and lightly floured 13X9X2-inch pan. Bake at 350-degrees for about 45 minutes. If round cake pans are used, bake for 35 minutes.

Frosting

3 sups powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup maple syrup (Julie uses homemade with extract)

Beat together and frost cooled cake.

Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake

This is the cake I used to make quite often on Sundays.

Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake (My Favorite)

1 cup quick oatmeal

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cup boiling water

2 eggs, well beaten

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cloves

Frosting (coconut topping):

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

3 Tbsp milk

3/4 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup chopped nuts

(May add 2 Tbsp cocoa and drop allspice and cloves)

For cake: Combine oats, butter and boiling water. Set aside for 20 minutes. Beat together the eggs, sugars and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients and add, along with the oats, to the sugar mixture. Beat well. Pour into a greased 9X13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 mins, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes. Then combine the frosting ingredients, spread on cake and place under the broiler for one min or until frosting begins to bubble. WATCH so that it does not burn.

Grandma Smith's One, Two, Three, Four White Celebration Cake

Grandma Smith's One, Two, Three, Four White Celebration Cake

A favorite celebration recipe that has been in our family for many years is a delicious from-scratch white cake that's called One, Two, Three, Four Cake. The name comes from the first four ingredients--1 cup, 2 cups, 3 cups, and 4 eggs--easy and beautiful.

Cake:

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

2 cups sugar

3 cups flour

4 eggs

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp lemon extract

1 1/2 cups milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each egg. In another mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture alternately with the milk. (One cup of flour mixture and mix in then add 1/2 cup of milk and beat. Do this each time, beating well between additions.) Add the flavorings. Beat on high speed of the electric mixer for 3 minutes. Pour into two greased and floured 9-inch round pans and bake for 35-minutes or until done. Remove from oven and let cool about 5 minutes before removing cakes from pans. (I also sometimes us one 13-inch by 9-inch pan and bake for 45 minutes.)

Icing:

3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup butter (one stick)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 Tablespoon milk

12-ounces flaked coconut, separated

Cream the butter and sugar together until well mixed. (I like to melt the butter slightly because it mixes in better. I put it in the microwave for about 25 seconds.) Add the flavorings and milk and mix until creamy. Frost the cake. (When I make the layer cake, I double the frosting recipe.) Sprinkle flaked or shredded coconut on top of the cake.

Iceland Christmas Cake

Years ago I taught the Relief Society Cultural Refinement lesson in the Nephi First Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Each month, the lesson leader, would teach about a different country, their culture, arts, and food. I looked for a recipe from Iceland that would be easy to make, tasty and authentic. A friend of mine, Claudia Ostler, had a set of cookbooks filled with home recipes created by real women from actual countries. In one of those books, I found this recipe. It filled the bill nicely and also became something that I liked to make. In addition, the women loved it as did my family. They were my tasters before I made any food for the actual event. The cake part of the recipe is really more of a cookie.

Cake

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
4 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk

Cream butter until soft. Gradually add sugar. Continue mixing until very creamy. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Add alternately with milk to the butter mixture. The dough should be firm but not stiff. It can be chilled for easy handling. Divide dough into seven equal portions. Roll each portion out thinly (about 1/4-inch thick) on upside-down pan. Trim edges. Bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly brown at the edges but done in the middle. Remove from oven and slide cake off bottom of the pan. Cool on a wire rack. Repeat until all seven layers are baked. The layers can be baked on parchment or waxed paper with has been placed on a cookie sheet. Layers will be hard like a butter cookie. Spread a generous amount of filling between layers, stacking them as you do so. If desired, drizzle glaze on tip and let it run over the edges a bit. Yield: 14 servings.

For the filling, use apricot, raspberry or plum jam.

Or, make the following:

2 pounds dried prunes
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cardamom (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cover prunes with water. Cook until tender. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup liquid. Remove pits and put prune fruit through a grinder or cut into fine pieces. Add prune liquid, sugar and cardamom seed to prunes. Cook until filling is as thick as jam. Cool. Add vanilla and salt and mix in well.

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon milk
I teaspoon vanilla

Place powdered sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Melt the butter and pour into sugar. Add other ingredients and mix until smooth. Drizzle over top of the layered cake.

Grandmother Smith's Old Fashioned Pineapple Sugar Cookies

Grandma got this cookie recipe from the Salt Lake Tribune and enjoyed making them. I enjoyed eating them.

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, separated
4 cups flour, sifted
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 can (8 3/4 ounce) crushed pineapple
Cream butter, sugar and egg yolks in a large bowl with a mixer until light and fluffy. Sift together flour, salt and soda. Add lemon juice to evaporated milk. Add dry and liquid ingredients alternately to creamed mixture. Beat in vanilla. Stir in nuts and pineapple. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold into batter. Drop by rounded tablespoons three-inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle each with a little sugar lightly spiced with cinnamon or nutmeg. Bake at 375-degrees for 10 minutes or until slightly brown rimmed. Lift from cookie sheet with a spatula and cool on a cake rack. Store tightly covered. Makes about four dozen cookies.

Pudding Chip Cookies

These cookies are a favorite in the Philip and Gwen Jones family. It's a good thing that Jim, their son, married our daughter, Julie, so we Trauntveins could get the recipe and enjoy the cookies ourselves.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 C. flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 C. margarine

1 C. firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 C. granulated sugar

1 pkg. (6 serving size) Jell-O vanilla instant pudding (3/4 Cup)

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

3 cups chocolate chips (1 pkg.)

Instructions:

Mix butter, sugars, pudding and vanilla in a bowl.  Add flour and baking powder and then chocolate chips.  Lightly grease cookie sheet.  Bake on cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Coconut Classics

When I first started working as a stringer for the Provo Daily Herald, Marilyn Keyte, was working for the Deseret News as a stringer. She had worked for the Herald until the better-paying position became available. She became my great friend. I learned to love her. First of all, she was a very smart newspaper woman who was willing to help me learn what it meant to be an outstanding stringer. Second, she had a heart of gold. There was nothing which could be taught that was not taught.

Sometimes when we would go out to do stories together, on assignment (for example to the Little Sahara Sand Dunes at Easter time) from two different newspapers, we would take a lunch. One of the things she liked to do was wrap a cheese sandwich in tinfoil and put it on the dash. Usually, by the time lunch hour rolled around, the cheese was melted and the bread was warm.

Marilyn was also a good cook. These cookies are an example of the many good things she baked.

1 pound (2 cups) butter
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
4 cups of flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flaked coconut
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and mix. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add one-half the coconut (reserve one-half to tint pink and roll dough in before slicing)> Form dough into a long roll. Cill well before slicing and baking. Bake at 350-degrees for 10-minutes or until done. You may roll the cookies in chopped nuts and chocolate sprinkles before baking instead of in coconut.

School Lunch Peanut Butter Nougats

This is another of those school lunch recipes that Grandmother Smith and I enjoyed. It was a good thing that she amassed a goodly number of cookies recipes over the years because that was my favorite after school snack--cookies and milk. This is more of a candy than a cookie but I still liked them with milk. The cookies were stored in our cookie jar and were always there for hungry grandchildren to eat. I must admit that it was easier for grandma to keep her grandchildren happy since she had only four. I have, to date, 33. Keeping a full cookie jar on my counter is not easy.

1 cup peanut butter
I cup white Karo corn syrup
1 1/4 cup dry milk
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Combine the peanut butter and Karo syrup. Gradually stir in nonfat dry milk powder.  Mix well. Turn onto waxed paper and knead until well-blended. Shape into desired shape. For a firmer candy, chill in the refrigerator for one hour prior to serving.

Grandma Smith's School Lunch Cookies

My grandmother, Vivian Christene Pritchett Smith, taught school for more than 40 years.

Her father, John Thompson Pritchett, was the first, and only, pharmacist in Huntington, Utah. He moved there after Grandmother was married and Grandma and her husband, Grandfather Raymond James Smith, moved there later. Grandpa Smith owned and operated a meat market in the community. He later went to school and learned to be a bookkeeper. He then became ill with cancer and died, still young man, leaving my grandmother, mother and aunt. My grandmother had graduated from BYU with a normal certificate, meaning she was a certificated teacher. She began teaching again in the Emery County School District.

After her girls were married, she took a teacher/principal position in the Carbon County School District because the pay was better. These cookies were a favorite of the Southside (later the Reeves) elementary school children there. Grandma asked for the recipe and was given it. These were a favorite of ours.

1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
 3/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour (sometimes a bit more)
Cream the sugar and butter together. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well each time. Next add vanilla and milk. Then add salt. Add flour until dough is stiff enough to roll. Roll on floured board, cut into three-inch circles and bake at 375-degrees for 7 to 10 minutes.

Pie Crust Cookies

One of my favorite cookies was the ones made from leftover uncooked pie crust. There was always a bit of pie crust left after the pies were made for family celebrations. Grandma made them and now I do. I guess it runs in the family. The only difference is that now, at times, I will make the pie crust dough just to make the cookies.

1 recipe for pie crust which has been made and is ready to roll
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sugar
Stir together the cinnamon and sugar and place in a shaker.
Gather together the scraps of pie crust dough which has been left over or use the freshly made pie crust dough. Cut into oddball shapes with a knife or use a round cookie cutter to cut the cookies before baking. Place on and ungreased cookie sheet. (You may apply a small amount of melted butter to the tops of the cookies. I don't.) Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake eight to 10 minutes at 350- to 375-degrees alongside your pie while it is baking or by themselves, depending on the number. Remove from oven when lightly browned and eat while warm.