melissa

Overnight Refrigerator Rolls

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2 packages dry yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water (110°)
3/4 cup melted shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
8 1/2 to 9 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoon salt

Soften yeast in warm water. Add sugar, shortening, eggs, 4 cups of flour, and salt. Stir to mix and then beat until smooth.
Stir in remaining flour. You may need to use your hands to work in the last 2 cups.
Cover lightly and place in the refrigerator at least overnight or until needed. Pinch off as much as needed and let rise 1-2 hours. Bake at 400° for 15-20 Minutes.

Lemon Pie (Filling)

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From what I can tell from Grandma’s recipe box, she LOVED lemon desserts. You are going to see a LOT of lemon recipes. 🙂

3 heaping tablespoons corn starch
1/2 cup cold water*
2 1/2 boiling water*
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 tablespoon of butter**
juice of 1 lemon
grated rind of 1/2 lemon

Moisten the corn starch in the cold water, then add the sugar and eggs. Slowly pour the mixture into the boiling water, stirring constantly. Add the lemon juice and grated lemon rind. Turn the heat down and allow to thicken, continuing to stir.

*The water amount is a guess based on other lemon pie recipes I found. Good luck.
**As best as I can find, a lump is anywhere from one to four tablespoons. A tablespoon seems to be standard for lemon pie filling recipes.

Melissa’s Comment: I rearranged the directions here. I am pretty sure a lump of cornstarch and sweet, wet scrambled eggs would have been the result of the originally written method. Not that, you know, it’s happened to me or anything.

Thank you to Samantha, Michael, and Patch for recipe corrections.

Syrup For Popcorn Balls

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2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Cook the sugar, syrup, butter, and vinegar until it forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water (soft ball stage on a candy thermometer). Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Add food coloring if desired.

Melissa’s Comments: I think we can guess what color food coloring Grandma liked to use! *grin*
Now I want popcorn balls.

Banana Nut Bread

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Agnes

1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons water
1/2 cup nuts
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 well ripened bananas

Mix together and pour into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake at 350° for 1 hour.

A friend had some better instructions, so I am moving them up from Comments.  Eventually, I will re-write the recipe here, but until then…
Patch
August 25, 2019 at 3:05 pm | Edit | Reply
I think Grandma was leaving out all the instructions she knew to do, like I did when I was copying down 23 different banana bread recipes or whatever it ended up being. 😀
(And when I was developing a new muffin recipe, or an applesauce bread recipe, etc, I just wrote down ingredients and skipped all the instructions. My grandchildren will despair! Hahahah.)
Read the ingredients by rows instead of columns, and then it’s more clear: butter and sugar go together, because they’re creamed together. Then you add the vanilla and the eggs. It works best to combine the dry ingredients (the next 4 things) in a separate bowl so that they’re well distributed when the dry and the wet come together. Not sure why the water and bananas are last, I normally add bananas after eggs. Not sure if it will change texture or consistency, or not.

I may retake this photo at some point.

Refrigerator Pickles

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1 peck cucumbers (may be about 12 pounds)
4 cups sugar
4 cups vinegar
1/2 cup salt
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons celery seed
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard seed

Wash and peel the cucumbers. Slice into 1/4 inch slices. Pack into glass jars. **
Wrap the celery seed and mustard seed in cheesecloth. Mix with the remaining ingredients, stirring until the sugar and salt are dissolved. *** Pour over the sliced cucumbers. Cover and store in the refrigerator. Ready to eat in a few days.

Makes 1 gallon.

**I can’t tell if this is “pack in jars or one large jar” or “pack in jars, but not large jars”. I know that it says no metal or plastic.
***I am guessing you would remove the cheesecloth wrapped spices at this point.

Melissa’s Comments: I note that there is no heat applied in this recipe so I am not sure that the salt and sugar are actually going to dissolve, but then again, I have never made refrigerator pickles!

Sweet Potato Casserole

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(Arley Cookbook)

2 cans sweet potatoes
1/2 cup oleo, softened
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup oleo
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 cup nuts (optional)

Drain sweet potatoes and crush. Add 1/2 cup oleo, milk, and sugar. Place in a greased 1 1/2 quart casserole dish.
Combine the remaining ingredients and top the potato mixture.
Bake at 350° for 50 minutes.

Melissa’s Comments: I thought at first that this was a variation of one of the family favorite holiday recipes, but as I typed it up, I realized we have either been doing it wrong, or this recipe was copied out wrong.
The holiday recipe puts the egg in the sweet potatoes (or yams), not the topping. I think probably the recipe was copied wrong? Beaten egg in the topping seems like it would make kind of a weird quiche texture on top of the mashed sweet potatoes.

Oma’s Cookies

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1 cup oleo
1 cup oil
1 egg
2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup regular oatmeal
1 cup Rice Crispies
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup nuts

Mix oleo, oil, egg, sugar, and vanilla. Add the remaining ingredients. ** Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.

**No instructions about what kind of cookies these are, whether scoop or bar. If anyone attempts these, please let me know in the comments which one you tried, and how it went.