Kyle Minor

DARN GOOD CHOCOLATE CAKE

This is one of my favorites from that classic, The Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn. Top it with a chocolate glaze or a nice white butter cream if you make it a layer cake, but do yourself a favor and sift the cake mix. It really helps.

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain devil's food or dark chocolate-fudge cake mix
1 package (3.9 ounces) chocolate instant pudding mix
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
½ cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
1½ to 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350º F. Generously grease a 12-cup Bundt pan.

Place the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, water, and oil in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 to 3 minutes more, scraping down again if needed. The batter should look thick and well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, making sure they are well distributed throughout the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula.

Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 45 to 50 minutes. (The toothpick test doesn't work with this cake.) Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Invert it onto the rack to cool completely, 20 minutes or more. (If the cake doesn't readily release from the pan, run a knife lightly around the edge of the cake.

COTTAGE PIE

This main dish recipe is the one that I first used to wow people with once I finished college, though now I haven’t made it in years. It’s from a cookbook sold in the campus bookstore put together by a sorority. This one is from Lynne Watson Dore, Alpha Gamma Delta class of 1977. It’s called “Shepherd’s Pie” in the cookbook, but since it uses ground beef instead of lamb, I think it’s more correctly termed "Cottage Pie." Feel free to try ground lamb, though. That sounds like a great idea.

2 lbs. potatoes, cut into chunks and mostly peeled
1 1b. ground beef
8 oz. Italian sausage (I use the hottest I can find)
1 16 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms (any variety)
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons vinegar (white is fine)
1 cup frozen peas
½ teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
freshly ground pepper to taste
¾ cups milk
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 Tablespoons butter at room temperature

Peel and cut potatoes into chunks (some peel left on is OK) and put in a pot of water with potatoes covered to boil.

Meanwhile, Put beef and sausage in a skillet. Cook, breaking up beef, over medium-high heat until the meat loses some of it’s pink color and releases juices.

Add tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and vinegar. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally and breaking up tomatoes a bit, about 10 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 350º F.

Stir in peas, basil, ½ t salt, oregano, and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes more, and remove from heat.

The potatoes are probably done by now, so drain them and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Mix in milk, cheese, butter, the other ½ t salt and pepper to taste. Beat until smooth.

Spoon meat mixture into a shallow 2 quart casserole dish. Spoon potato mixture on top and spread evenly to the edge. Bake until golden on top and bubbling, 45 to 50 minutes. Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

ESCALLOPED TOMATOES

Here is a reaaaaaally old recipe. It’s from The Williamsburg Art of Cookery, or Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion: Being a Collection of upwards of Five Hundred of the most Ancient & Approv’d Recipes in Virginia Cookery. I got this book in (guess where?) Colonial Williamsburg back in the day, and have managed to adapt one or two of the recipes despite all those cool long S’s that look like F’s and the arcane language.

Cooking out-of-season tomatoes is a way of enjoying them even when they're not right off the vine in your granny's garden, so this recipe works all year 'round. I have used many kinds of bread, but a couple of think slices of whole grain brown bread seem to work best. I always add chopped rosemary to the tomatoes in this dish. Serving it with fresh sprigs is usually a pleaser, too. I interpret the phrase 'slow oven' to mean 325º F. This dish doubles, travels, and re-heats well, so it's great for a Thanksgiving potluck, and folks love hearing about it's Colonial roots. How very American!

Mix two and one half Cups of Tomatoes, two Slices of Bread broken in Pieces, one half cup of finely chopped Celery, one Tablespoon of finely minced Onion, one Teaspoon of Salt, one fourth Teaspoon of black Pepper and three Tablespoons of Sugar. Pour into buttered deep Baking dish and cover well with small Pieces of Butter. Bake in a slow oven at least an Hour, stirring occasionally at first.

CHRISTMAS CUT-OUT COOKIES

This is the recipe that I use to make my Christmas Cookies every year… I have tried others and THESE ARE THE BEST. Even the recipe my Mom uses isn’t as good. It’s true! It’s from Thelma’s Country Clatter Cookbook by Thelma Pifer Gibson, who had a regular cooking column in a small town newspaper near where I used to live. All this is a little ironic, as my Mom's name is also Thelma. Eek.

Where she tells you to use a greased cookie sheet, I usually just use parchment paper. Also, the icing recipe I use is from another of Thelma’s recipes with a smaller count of cookies, so I have increased the amounts for you by 2.5 times like I always do. That will give you plenty of icing to play with.

1 cup vegetable shortening (not butter flavor)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
4 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 cups All Purpose flour, plus some for dusting
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place shortening, sugars and eggs in a large bowl and beat until creamy.

Add water, salt soda, flour, and vanilla and mix well.

Chill the dough for at least 1 hour or let it set overnight, wrapped well in plastic.

Pre-heat oven to 350º F. Pull off a good handful of dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface. Cut into desired shapes. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for about 10 minutes each, less if you roll them thinly. Chill sections dough in fridge when you are not rolling them out.

Bake cookies for 6-8 minutes per batch and cool first on the cookie sheet, then on a cooling rack. Makes 7 - 8 dozen cookies.

ICING FOR CHRISTMAS COOKIES

I use the gel-type food coloring because it doesn't thin the icing out too much.

5 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
½ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter, softened
5-6 tablespoons milk (whole milk is best)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
food coloring

Combine all ingredients in a big bowl and beat until fluffy. Separate into smaller dishes and add food coloring. Use to decorate cool Christmas cookies. The icing will dry nicely in an hour or so.