Margaret Dineen Prendergrast

Topping:

• 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

Cake:

• 2 C flour
• 1 C sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 package instant vanilla pudding
• 1 package instant butterscotch pudding
• 1 C water
• 3/4 C oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 eggs

Cream eggs and sugar. Add pudding mixes, water, and oil. Sift in dry ingredients. Pour 1/3 of batter into greased 9 x 13 cake pan. Spread with 1/3 of topping. Repeat twice, ending with topping. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Beth Dineen Engel

• 1-1/2 C flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1-1/4 C brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 C oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-1/2 C shredded zucchini, shredded
• Whipped cream topping

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside. Beat together sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Add zucchini. Stir dry ingredients into egg/sugar mixture Pour batter into a greased 10 inch fluted pan. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool. Serve with whipped cream.

Nita Bates Dineen

• 1-20 oz. can pineapple (crushed or sliced)
• 1/2 C butter or margarine
• 1 C sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 C flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 C milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Cream together butter or margarine and sugar. Add eggs. In a separate bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Add dry ingredients alternately to sugar/butter mixture with milk and vanilla.

Melt 2 tbsp butter or margarine in a large frying pan. Spread 1 cup brown sugar over melted butter. Add well drained pineapple.

Pour cake batter over fruit. Bake at 350 about 40-45 minutes. Turn upside down on serving dish.

Judy Dineen Erwin

Crust:

• 2 packages graham crackers
• 1/4 C butter, melted
• 2 tbsp sugar

Crush graham crackers to crumbs. Add butter and sugar. Press mixture into springform pan (that’s a stupid name for a pan, but it works), bringing the mixture up on the sides of the pan. Let crust chill while making the filling.

Filling:

• 3 packages cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 C sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 C unwhipped whipping cream

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well and gently stir in unwhipped cream (this is the key ingredient). It’s OK if the batter is a little lumpy. Pour into prepared crust, but do not overflow to cover crust. Bake at 325 for 55 minutes. You know it is done if there is no movement in the middle of the pan. The edges may get a little brown, but tha’ts OK. You’re going to cover it with the topping. Remove cooked cheesecake from oven and let stand about five minutes.

Topping:

• 1 pint sour cream
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine topping ingredients and spread over cooked cheese�cake. Return to oven for five minutes. Cool cooked cake for at least 20 minutes before refrigerating. Chill for 3 hours before removing from pan.

Note: This makes a deep cheesecake. If you don’t have a deep springform pan, you can revise this and make it in a pie pan.

Use two packages of cream cheese and two eggs and bake at 325 for 30-40 minutes instead.

Margie Scanlon Dineen

• 1 can crushed pineapple
• 1 can Comstock apple slices
• 1 pkg. white or yellow cake mix
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cube margarine, sliced into small pieces

In a 13x9x2 dish, layer ingredients in the above order. Do not mix. On the very top, slice the margarine and “dot” the top of the cake. Bake at 325 for one hour. Serve while still warm with vanilla ice-cream or cool whip.

Tim Dineen

We make a score of these every year – in October – for Christmas gifts. It is by far, the best “fruitcake” I have ever eaten… and the best I have ever made!!

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons apricot brandy
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups flour, sifted twice
• 1 cup dried apricots, chopped
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 1 cup macadamia nuts, lightly chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 275F. Grease and flour a 6 cup Bundt pan and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat yolks in small bowl and add to butter mixture. Mix well.

Combine milk, brandy and vanilla and add alternately with flour in 4 batches, mixing well after each addition. Stir in apricots, raisins and macadamia nuts.

Whip egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue beating until stiff but not dry. Gently fold into batter. Spoon into prepared pan and bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean (about 2 1/4 hours). Cool completely in pan.

Sprinkle a bit of apricot brandy on top and serve. Cakes can also be made in advance, wrapped in apricot brandy-soaked cheesecloth, wrapped in plastic and aged. YUM!!

Victor Martorano

• 1 orange
• 1 1/2 cups cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 top baking soda
• 1 1/4 cup crisco

Mix by hand.

1 9×5 inch loaf pan or 2 7×4 inch loaf pans (grease and flour)

Cut orange into eighths, discard seeds. Work rind and flesh through blender. Put ground orange into measuring cup and add enough boiling water to make 1 cup.

Sift dry ingredients together in large bowl; In a small bowl beat egg, add to sugar and mix in cranberries. Let stand.

Add crisco to sifted flour mixture and cut until it resembles cornmeal. Pour in cranberry-orange mixture and stir just until ingredients are mixed. It s important not to over-mix! Fold in 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts. Spoon into pans. Let sit for 20 min. Bake at 350 deg. about 55 min. for 9×5 or 40 min. for 7×4.

Tim Dineen

Blum’s was an institution in San Francisco – it was where mothers brought their daughters – dressed in their Mary Janes and gloves – and where blue-haired matrons held court over tea, and sumptuous desserts. I worked at the downtown Blums in 1966-1967 – and it holds the distinction of being the very first job I was ever fired from… I got this recipe from Helen Kane who volunteered with me at Project Open Hand, April 1995.

Cake:

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup egg yolks – about 7 or 8
• 1/4 cup water, cold
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup egg whites
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Coffee Crackle:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup coffee, strong
• 1/4 cup Karo light corn syrup
• 3 teaspoons baking soda, sifted
• 1 1/2 Cups whipping cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cake:

Angel food cake pan, oven at 350.

Combine sugar & flour. Make well. Add egg yolks, cold water, vanilla. Blend. In large bowl, mix egg whites, salt cream of tartar. Gradually add sugar. Beat until eggs peak. Pour batter slowly over egg whites, folding until blended. Bake 50-55 minutes. Invert pan and hang until cold.

Coffee Crackle:

5 inch deep sauce pan. Stir sugar, coffee and Karo syrup to combine. Put on heat, bring to a boil to hard crack stage. Remove from heat -right away add 3 tsp baking soda free from lumps, Stir fast until thick. Pour into a 9×9 ungreased metal pan. Let stand until cool. Rock out of pan and crush between waxed paper with rolling pin.

Split cake into 3 layers. Frost with whipped cream, cover with coffee crunch.

Tim Dineen

• 2 wide mouth canning jars
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, or margarine
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Sterilize, two 1 pint straight-sided wide-mouth canning jars lids and rings by boiling for 10 minutes (keep the lids and rings in the hot water until ready to use) and set aside. In a small bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking soda and cinnamon. Set aside. In a medium saucepan combine butter or margarine, water and cocoa powder; heat and stir until butter or margarine is melted and mixture is well blended. Remove from heat; stir in flour mixture. Add buttermilk, egg and vanilla; beat by hand until smooth. Stir in nuts. Pour mixture into the prepared canning jars; place jars onto a cookie sheet.

Preheat oven to 325-dcgrees. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a pick inserted deep into each cake comes out clean. Remove cakes from the oven, one at a time. Place a lid then a ring onto the jars and screw down tightly. Place jars onto counter to cool. You’ll hear a “plinking” sound. If you miss the sound, wait until the cakes are cool and press on the lids, they shouldn’t move at all, that means they’ve sealed. They should last up to a year–l don’t know, they’ve never lasted that long around here!

If you’d like to decorate them, place a wad of cotton in the center of each lid, then place a piece of decorative cloth, about 3-inches larger in circumference than the lid, (cut with pinking shears) on top of the cotton. Screw the ring back on (by this time the rings can be removed as the lids should be sealed). Use your imagination when decorating — a hot glue gun works wonders (dried flowers, ribbon, etc). These make WONDERFUL Christmas gifts!

Colleen Gentleman Minturn

• 1 stick oleo or butter
• 3 heaping tbsp cocoa
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 scant cup flour
• ½ cup nuts (or raisins or chocolate chips)

(I always double the recipe and bake in a 9×13 pan.)

Melt oleo in saucepan – stir in cocoa, then sugar, vanilla & eggs. Add flour and nuts and put in greased 8×8 pan and bake at 350°F about 15 minutes or so. Don’t overbake. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or ice with chocolate frosting.

Frosting:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa
• 2 tbsp oleo
• brewed coffee to moisten