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.

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.

The Proverbs That Shaped My Life

My grandmother, Vivian Smith, mother to my mother, loved proverbs--those tiny sharp bites of pithy wisdom, and had one for almost any occasion. I thought, when I was a teen, that they were beneath her intellect. She was a bright woman with mostly A grades all through her early schooling and her college and university educations. Surely, she could come up with an original thought.

This from the girl who said: “See you later alligator,” and “After a while, crocodile.” “What’s life? Life is a magazine.”

Now I have adopted many of her succinct sayings: “A stitch in time saves nine.” “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” “A man’s home is his castle.” “Better late than never.” “A stitch in time saves nine.” “Discretion is the better part of valor.” “He/she also serves who only stands and waits.”

There really is a saying for every occasion. “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” was one of my favorites. Another, that covered the same subject was: “A goat dressed in silk is still a goat.” Perhaps there is a nuance of difference but to a little girl they carried the same impact. “A leopard cannot change his spots.”

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

Some of them, as I once pointed out to Grandma, conflict with each other. Such as: “All good things come to he who waits, Vs “All good things must come to an end.” Ask a silly question and you'll get a silly answer, Vs “There is no such thing as a silly question.” “A rolling stone gathers no moss,” Vs “Home is where the heart is.” Or: “A house is not a home.”

“You can’t judge a book by its cover” was one I heard whenever I found fault with someone else. Along with that went: “Birds of a feather flock together.” The last came into play when I was choosing friends who, according to Grandmother’s standards,  were not good for me. “A person is known by the company he keeps.” “Actions speak louder than words.”

“Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.” “Those who sleep with dogs will rise with fleas.”

“A word to the wise is enough.” “Still waters run deep.” “Don't cast your pearls before swine.”  “Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.”

Then there is: “Happy is the bride the sun shines on,” 

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

My father also had fun with proverbs. He had a bunch of ball caps made up for his business. He owned an auto salvage yard and vehicle repair shop (and had a trucking and construction business). The caps read, tongue-in-cheek: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” That one may be more true than was supposed. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

“Patience is a virtue,” was a proverb I heard often. So was: “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” 

Some of them, I think, were just family sayings. One of those was: “Ask your ma for ten cents to see and elephant dance on a fence.” To us, that meant do not follow the crowd and to, no matter what others did, dress appropriately, as the case may be.

One of my sons quotes: “A train leaves no tracks.” He claims it is a conversation-stopper because it doesn’t make sense but those pondering it often try to make it do so. They will nod wisely and wander away.

“A fool and his money are soon parted.” Now that is a saying we could all benefit from in today’s world what with internet scams and crooks trying to take advantage of the clueless. “All that glitters is not gold.” 

“A penny saved is a penny earned.” “Money doesn't grow on trees.” “Money is the root of all evil.” “Money isn't everything.” “Money makes the world go round.” “Money talks.” “You can’t get blood out of a stone.” “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” “Time is money.”

Then there is:  “A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for his client.” “The shoemaker's son always goes barefoot.”

“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” was meant to remind me that the family was counting on me to do my best. “Blood is thicker than water.” “Charity begins at home.”

“A change is as good as a rest.” Now that one may, or may not, be true. I have had some changes in my life that were truly restful and others, such as a 14-day stay in a hospital bed, that nearly drove me mad.

“A picture paints a thousand words.” “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

I was not a very tidy girl and I often heard: “A place for everything and everything in its place.” When I reached adulthood and was responsible for my own things, I learned that was true. “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” “The devil finds work for idle hands to do.”

“As you make your bed, so you must lie upon it.” “As you sow so shall you reap.”

“A prophet is not recognized in his own land.”

“Adversity makes strange bedfellows.” Contrast that with: “Politics makes strange bedfellows.” “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” “Those who sleep with dogs will rise with fleas.” “Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.”

The proverb I needed most? “Brevity is the soul of wit.”

Traveler

Three paths mingled upon the whitened way,

Freshly covered with bright new drifts of snow.

One turned in along path of darkened gray

There just about half-way to mine, I know.

I walked to where my pathway split aside

Next to the other footprints threading yon.

I trudged ahead always stepping beside

Those other prints, then noted they went on

Past my path, imprints beyond my vision

In the moon glow and puddles of streetlight.

I did not care, for my firm decision

Was to snuggle into warmth that cold night.

And yet, I hope a friendly smile was there

To welcome, to greet, the unknown traveler.

By Myrna Trauntvein

Copyright by Myrna Trauntvein.