Chocolate Applesauce Cake

Recipe for Chocolate Applesauce Cake:

Sift together:

2 cups all purpose flour - sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves (?)
3 tablespoons cocoa

Add to sifted flour, etc.,

1 cup raisins
1/2 cup nuts

Heat: hot

2 cups applesauce

then add

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar

Add 1/3 at a time flour, etc., to hot applesauce, then bake in over 350° for 45 to 50 minutes or until done.

Found in "Children's Blue Bird" by Madame Maurice Maeterlinck. Published by Dodd, Mead and Co., 1928.

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Orange Cream Cake, updated

Tammy from A Speckle of Dirt was brave enough to try the Orange Cream Cake recipe posted recently.

Looks pretty good, eh? Do yourself a favor and check out the entire post.

Pasta with Artichokes: A Tale of 2 Kitchens Edition

In the last few weeks, Handwritten Recipes has gotten some good press and great traffic, and I've been lucky enough to meet a bunch of adventurous cooks willing to give some of those recipes a go.

Today's recipe tryout comes courtesy of  Hillary and Amy of A Tale of 2 Kitchens. They selected a recipe I posted a while back for pasta with artichokes, found in a copy of "Dune: Messiah." Here's what they came up with:

The recipe came out quite well!  The capers add a salty kick while the sour cream and half and half really round out the sauce - giving it a silky texture.  We used fresh herbs (basil, oregano, and Italian flat leaf parsley) because it's summer and they're abundant!  They also give great, fresh flavor.  I would definately make this recipe again, who doesn't love a good, simple pasta recipe?  I'd probably add even more artichokes then it calls for the second time around... and cheese!

Great, now I'm starving.

Thanks again to Hillary and Amy of A Tale of 2 Kitchens.

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Orange Cream Cake

Recipe for Orange Cream Cake, attributed to "Mystery Chef."

Orange Cream Cake

1/4 c. butter or other
1 1/3 c sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. sifted flour
3 t. baking powder
1/3 t. salt
2/3 c. milk
1 t. orange extract

Cream butter and sugar, beat egg yolks and add, sift flour B.P. and salt, add alternatively with milk, cut and fold in egg whites.

No addtional instructions are given.

Found in "The Two Vanrevels" by Booth Tarkington. Published by McClure and Phillips, 1902.

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Instant Coffee

Recipe for instant coffee, slightly improved:

Bring water to boil

Put in instant coffee in water

Let come to boil again until bubbles come to top

Immediately turn off fire - let coffee stand a minute or two - then pour into cups

The second boiling is the secret

Found in "Betty Crocker's Outdoor Cook Book" published by The Golden Press, 1961.

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Welcome

Imagine my surprise this morning when I woke to find that traffic to the site had gone up 4,897% over the last few days. You have awoken this sleepy little blog! I promise to post some new recipes this week - and thanks for stopping in.