Blue Cook Book

Apricot Bars

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You can use almost any kind of jam or preserves in these cookies.  Jelly melts too much!

Ingredients:

  • 1½ c flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 c brown sugar
  • 1½ c quick cooking oatlmeal
  • 1 c apricot jam
  • ¾ c butter

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven 350°.
  2. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar and oatmeal.
  3. Cut in butter until crumbly.
  4. Pat 2/3 of crust/crumb mixture into a 9 x 13 pan.
  5. Spread with jam.
  6. Cover with remaining crumb mixture.
  7. Bake  for 35 minutes.
  8. Cool and cut into bars.

Serves:  Makes about 3 dozen

Source: Eric found this in the newspaper

Note:  Very fast.

  • Try different jams and preserves (use up multiple leftovers).
  • Use ½ c oil instead of butter.

Ann Brown’s Cheese Dip

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Ingredients:

  • 1½ lb American cheese
  • ½ lb cheddar cheese
  • 1 onion, finely chopped (I use dried chopped onions)
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped.
  • 1 can  tomatoes (#2 size – scant 2 cups)
  • 4 oz can  diced peppers
  • 1 T Worcestershire sauce

Instructions:

  1. Melt cheeses in double boiler.
  2. Drain tomatoes, saving juice, chop fine.
  3. Add tomatoes and other ingredients to cheese.
  4. Slowly add tomato juice until the dip is the correct consistency.
  5. Cook until well blended, about 1 hour.
  6. Serve hot in a chafing dish with corn chips on the side.

Serves: 6 cups

Source:   Ann Brown

Note:  Also good over cooked chicken breast.

Chocolate Amaretto Cheesecake

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An old family favorite.  

Ingredients:

Shell:

  • 1 c graham cracker crumbs
  • ¼ c unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 T sugar
  • ¼ c unsalted butter

Filling:

  • 1 lb cream cheese, softened
  • ½ c superfine granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 c sour cream
  • 8 oz semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1 t almond extract
  • 1/3 c Amaretto

Topping:

  • 2 oz semisweet chocolate
  • 2 T unsalted butter
  • ½ c heavy cream, well chilled
  • 1 T powdered sugar
  • 2 t Amaretto
  • ¼ c sliced almonds, toasted lightly

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 300°.
  2. Make the shell:
    1. Combine graham cracker crumbs, cocoa, sugar and butter.
    2. Press the mixture into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 10 inch creased spring-form pan.
  3. Make filling:
    1. Beat cream cheese with sugar until smooth.
    2. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
    3. Stir in sour cream, chocolate, vanilla, almond extract, and Amaretto.
  4. Turn filling into shell.
  5. Bake for 1 hr.
  6. Turn off oven and let cheesecake cool in the oven for 1 hour.
  7. Let cheesecake cool completly on a rack
  8. Chill it, covered loosely, for at least 12 hours.
  9. Make the topping:  Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler set over barely simmering water..
  10. Spread mixture over cheesecake and chill for 1 hour.
  11. In a chilled bowl beat the cream with the sugar and Amaretto until it holds stiff peaks.
  12. Pipe cream on cheese cake with decorator tip.
  13. Sprinkle with almonds.
Serves:  12-16 (don’t count on leftovers)
Source:  Originally from The Amherst Shore Country Inn via Gourmet.

Notes:

  • This is a “start the previous day” (at least) recipe.
  • I also have used 1 1/2 c chocolate Nilla waffers and 1/4 c butter for the shell.  Or you can or substitute Oreo cookie crumbs, pulsed in the food processor – no need for cocoa or sugar.
  • I don’t worry about unsalted butter or superfine sugar.
  • Sometimes we don’t get the cream whipped or the almonds toasted – oh well.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

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This has been THE Christmas morning coffee cake for years.  It keeps several days and freezes.

Ingredients:

Batter

  • 1 c Butter
  • 1½ c Sugar
  • 2 Eggs
  • ½ pt Sour Cream
  • 2 c Flour
  • ½ t Baking Soda
  • 1½ t Baking Powder
  • 1 t Vanilla

Cinnamon Mixture

  • ¾ c Walnuts, finely chopped
  • 2 t Cinnamon
  • 2 T Sugar

Instructions:

Do not preheat oven!

  1. Butter and flour a 9″ tube pan or bundt pan (even if it is teflon)
  2. Combine butter, sugar, eggs  beating until light and fluffy
  3. Blend in sour cream
  4. Sift flour with baking soda and powder into creamed mixture
  5. Add vanilla, blend well
  6. Mix nuts, cinnamon, sugar
  7. Sprinkle half the nut mixture in the pan
  8. Spoon scant half the batter over nut mixture (dough will be very thick)
  9. Sprinkle remaining nut mixture on batter
  10. Spoon remaining batter into pan
  11. Place in cold oven.  Turn oven to 350°
  12. Bake 55 minutes

Serves: 12-14

Source: Sunset Cook Book – Food with a Gourmet Touch, 1960

Chicken/Turkey Tetrazzini

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The original dish is named after the Italian opera star Luisa Tetrazzini. It is widely believed to have been invented circa 1908–1910 by Ernest Arbogast, the chef at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, where Tetrazzini made her American debut at the Tivoli as Gilda in Rigoletto on January 11, 1905.

A perennial comfort food. And, by its nature, it begs for tinkering to the ingredients on hand, including seasonings and (even more often than chicken) a post-holiday turkey carcass.

Ingredients:

  • 1½ Chickens (fryers)
  • Water (to cover in the pot)
  • 1 tsp. Onion Salt
  • ½ tsp. Celery Salt
    ——
  • ½ lb. Vermicelli (or similar spaghetti-like pasta)
  • Salt
    ——
  • 6 tbsp. Butter
  • ¾ lb. Mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 tbsp. Lemon Juice
    ——
  • 2 tbsp. Flour
  • ½ tsp. Paprika
  • ½ tsp. Pepper
  • ¼ tsp. Nutmeg
  • 1 c. Milk
    ——
  • 1/3 c. Parmesan Cheese

Instructions:

Chicken:  These steps may already have been done (e.g., having a Thanksgiving turkey already broken down and broth made from the scraps and bones; see Notes below for more on this).

  1. Place chicken, salts, water in large pan. Simmer covered 30 min, until tender.
  2. Remove chicken, save broth.
  3. Cool chicken, remove meat from bones, refrigerate.

Pasta:  Reserve 2½ cups of broth from the previous step if that’s when you made the broth.

  1. Add water to remaining broth to fill the pan (if the both had previously been made, add a cup of the broth to the pot for making the pasta).
  2. Add 2 tbsp. salt.
  3. Bring to boil, add pasta. Don’t fully cook; leave it a bit al dente (the pasta will absorb the sauce in the oven).
  4. Drain, return to pan or a large bowl.

Mushrooms:

  1. In frying pan, heat 3 tbsp. butter.
  2. Add mushrooms, sprinkle with lemon juice, ½ tbsp. salt.
  3. Sauté until soft but not brown.
  4. Put with pasta.

Sauce:

  1. Melt 3 tbsp. butter in pan.
  2. Stir in flour, paprika, 1½ tsp. salt, pepper, nutmeg. Cook 5 minutes.
  3. Slowly stir in reserved broth. Cook until it boils (it will be thin).
  4. Add milk.

Put it all together:

  1. Mix the pasta, meat, and mushrooms into a large bowl (or a pot you already used).
  2. Put the mix into a 9×13 buttered/sprayed baking dish.
  3. Pour the sauce over the the dish, wetting everything. The sauce will fill about half or more of the pan. (The pasta’s going to such that up.)
  4. Mix everything together in a large bowl. Place in a 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese.
  5. Bake covered at 400F for 20 minutes.
  6. Uncover, add more cheese, before baking another 10 minutes.

Serves: 8-10 if half are ladies. On the other hand, a family of four can polish it off without much trouble.

Prep time: 1:30

Notes:

  • This will keep two days refrigerated. Oven heat from the fridge 45 minutes to an hour, until bubbly. Freezes well. As with most casseroles, many folks consider “aging” in the fridge or freezer an improvement over “fresh.”
  • If you are dealing with an existing carcass (chicken or turkey), pick the (presumably cooked) carcass from the bones. Use the (meaty) bones in water with with some celery, onions, maybe garlic salt and pepper, to simmer as described to make the broth. The amount of meat you pick off first will determine proportions on the recipe. You can also substitute chicken tenders or boneless breasts.
  • Yes, it’s spelled “Tetrazzini,” not “Tetrazini.”

Source: Ann Kleerup Coombs, as tweaked on more than one occasion by Margie.

German Pancakes

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A family favorite that is sure to amaze old and young alike. This baked pancake, also called Dutch Babies, puff up in amphitheater or bumpy forms. I like them with melted butter, powdered sugar and lemon juice, Dave goes for the traditional butter and syrup. This recipe does not need any adjustment for altitude or convection baking.

Ingredients:

  • 9 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cup Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 1 1/2 cup Milk
  • 6 tablespoons Butter, melted
  • Butter, melted
  • Powdered Sugar
  • Lemon Wedges
  • Syrup

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 450°.
  2. Using a French whisk or fork, beat eggs until blended.
  3. Sift flour, measure, and sift again with salt.
  4. Add flour and salt to eggs in four additions, beating slightly after each.
  5. Add milk in two additions.
  6. Lightly beat in melted butter.
  7. Generously butter bottom and sides of unheated 9 or 10 inch frying pan.
  8. Pour batter into frying pan and bake in a very hot oven (450°) for 10 minutes.
  9. Reduce oven temperature to 350° and bake 10 minutes more.
  10. Slip onto heated plate; serve immediately.
  11. Serve with melted butter, lemon, and powdered sugar.

Note: VAK uses glass pie plates in place of frying pans.

Serves: 4

Source: Sunset

Yorkshire Pudding

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Another family favorite for the holidays. Traditionally served with roast beef, it is wonderful with any beef dish.

Ingredients:
7/8 cup Flour
½ teaspoon Salt
½ cup Milk
2 Eggs
½ cup Water
Beef fat or butter

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400°.
  2. Combine flour and salt. Add milk. Beat in eggs and water until large bubbles rise to the surface. You may permit it to stand for an hour then beat again.
  3. Have ready a 10X10 inch pan or hot muffin tins containing ¼ inch of hot beef drippings or melted butter. Pour in batter (about 5/8 inch thick).
  4. Bake in 400° oven for about 15 minutes.
  5. Reduce the heat to 350° and bake for 10-15 minutes longer.

Note: Two times for 18 muffins or four times for three 9X13 pans.

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 0:45

Source: Joy of Cooking

Supreme Sauce

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Classic sauce for seafood or salad dressing. This recipe is from my grandmother from when she lived at the Hotel del Coronado during WWII.
Ingredients:

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup catsup
  • 1/2 pint buttermilk (Fresh, not frozen, makes it too thin) or sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
  • 2 lemons — Juiced (2 – 3 Tablespoons)
  • salt and pepper
  • orange juice

Directions:

  1. Mix  mayo and catsup.
  2. Add buttermilk/sour cream, Worcestershire Sauce, lemon and orange juice.
  3. Mix well.
  4. Salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Thin with orange juice if needed.

Note: VAK (Mom) uses Miracle Whip, buttermilk and the juice of one lemon and one orange. That is how I make it also.
Serves: Make 3 cups.
Source: Marjorie Austin from a chef at the Hotel del Coronado.
Comments: Use as dip for cooked shrimp (30-32 size) with tails removed.  Also really good on avocado and shrimp/scallops/lobster  as an appetizer or salad.

Long Island Ice Tea

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The Long Island Iced Tea is a popular mixed drink that, despite its name, contains no tea. It is one of those mixed drinks that tastes good going down but can quickly sneak up on you. It’s best to take it easy with this one.  The ingredient list is long, but the recipe is very easy to remember: five white distilled spirits (including orange liqueur), a shot of sour mix, topped with cola and served over ice  Essentially, the majority of the bar’s well goes into the drink and some drinkers love it while others despise it. The problem with the Long Island is that it is often made too strong. Many bartenders (professional and amateur alike) will over-pour the liquors. This not only makes the drink stronger, it also knocks the taste out of balance and reaches that point of too much booze (yes, there is such a thing).  On the other hand, if this drink is treated with respect and the person pouring keeps in mind that taste is more important than potency, the Long Island Iced Tea is a good drink.

Ingredients:
½ oz Vodka
½ oz Rum
½ oz Tequila
½ oz Gin
½ oz Triple Sec
4 oz Sour Mix
2 oz Coke
Proportions of 5:8:4

Instructions: Mix ingredients in a large glass filled with cracked ice.

Note that the Coke is essentially to color the combination to a “tea” color. Note also that the first five ingredients can be mixed and stored together in an empty booze bottle.

Variations:

 

  • Long Beach Tea – Everything in the Long Island, but the ​Cola is replaced with cranberry juice.
  • Miami Iced Tea – Peach schnapps is added to the Long Beach, the tequila is dropped, and lemon-lime soda adds a bit of sparkle.
  • Hawaiian Iced Tea – Using the Long Island recipe, top this drink with pineapple juice and skip the cola.
  • Electric Cowboy Iced Tea – Blue curacao replaces the triple sec and the soda is switched out to lemon-lime soda. It’s a brilliant blue drink.
  • Texas Tea – Simply add bourbon to the Long Island for an even more potent mix.
  • Western Sunset –  Whidby Island Loganberry Liquor replaces Triple Sec and Cranberry Juice replaces Coke .
  • Golden Spike – The Rum becomes Spiced Rum and Coke is replaced by  Pineapple Juice; float coconut rum on top.
  • Tokyo Iced Tea  – Add 7-up instead of dark cola, and Midori (kiwi liqueur) instead of triple sec.
  • California Ice Tea – The cola is replaced with orange juice.
  • Beverly Hills Ice Tea – Add sparkling white wine to the glass in place of the cola.

Source: “Kins” (Andy March), The Spruce Eats and lots of fun research.

Janine’s Oatmeal Cookies

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Ingredients
¾ c – Vegetable shortening
1 c – Brown Sugar
½ c – Sugar
1 – Egg
¼ c – Water
1 t – Vanilla
1 t – Cinnamon
1 c – Flour
1 t – Salt
½ t – Baking Soda
1½ c – Oats
Directions

  • Beat together shortening, sugars, egg, water, and vanilla until creamy.
  • Combine remaining ingredients, then add to above; mix well.
  • Drop by rounded teaspoonsful onto greased cookie sheet.
  • Bake at 350° for 12-15 min.

Makes: ??
Source: Janine’s World Famous Resource Kitchen