My Grandmother's Recipe Box

This is the barbecue sauce that we had at many family picnics on Corliss Ave.    I have a distinct memory of this sauce. but I don't know if it is a mish mash of several memories or if it is memory of one specific time.     The charcoal grill was set up in the driveway of 190 Corliss and the chicken pieces that had been marinating in the sauce were ready to go on the grill.    When the coals began to glow,  Papa (in a pair of cutoff jean shorts), put the pieces on the grill and they sizzled and smoked.     He then cooked, turned and mopped the pieces with more sauce until they were just the right amount of char and still juicy.   And I am thinking he did this with a beer in one hand.   I made this sauce and cooked some chicken a few weeks ago, but something was just missing.     

It has been a little hot for baking lately so there has been a little hiatus in trying recipes from the box.     I got some great honey from the farmers market a couple of weeks ago and had been wondering what I was going to use it in.    Then I saw this recipe in the box for Honey Drops.      I don't recall having these before, but the recipe looks well used so  they must have been made a time or two.          The recipe makes a nice dough that is easy to roll into balls for baking. Though I was not sure that this was the prescribed method since this like many of the recipes listed only ingredients and no directions.    But they baked up just right.  You have to make the balls on the smaller side since you are putting them together in sandwich fashion.   I suppose you could make a giant sandwich cookie, but I prefer the smaller size.   Sin...

 I am not really sure what was going on with this recipe, but that is a whole lot of potatoes and cheese.  I believe that the cheese quantity is for 9 pounds grated.     Who doesn't like potatoes and cheese ?     

This recipe I do remember having on Corliss Ave.  The refrigerator dough allows for fresh cookies for a few days if you just bake a dozen or so at a time       The recipe makes two logs which ends up making about 48 cookies.   However, I think only about 1/2 of the cookies made it to the oven....   since we used to slice them off from the fridge and eat the raw cookie dough before they could be cooked.    I don't remember if we were allowed to do this or if we just snuck a slice of the raw dough.  I am not recommending eating the raw dough since it has eggs in it, but if you are so inclined. The finished product is a chewy yet crisp oatmeal cookie.   I added a touch of cinnamon, vanilla and salt to the recipe. 

I am absolutely positive that these will not taste exactly the same even though I am using the recipe written out in my grandmother's hand.          They will not taste the same because my Papa did not get the little sizzler steaks from the Publix butcher where he worked after my grandparent's retired to Florida.  They will not taste the same because I am not making them on my grandparent's little gas grill.   They will not taste the same because I never found out what "lemon juice (?)" means. They will not taste the same because my grandmother did not make them and my grandfather did not grill them.  They will not taste the same because I can only hear in my mind, my grandmother saying "Well, these turned out pretty good".     And mostly they will not taste the same because I am not eating them at the table with my "Mom and Papa".     But I will have the memories. ...

Here is the 2nd recipe from my grandmother's recipe box.   Some of these must be lost recipes because no one in the family remembered Aunt Grace's Orange Cake.   I also don't recognize the handwriting on this recipe so I wonder who wrote it, but it was in the recipe box. Maraschino cherries in this recipe seems like an interesting choice but the cherries give the batter a nice pink color. This recipe also calls for the icing to be put on the hot cake - seems to be a trend.     This cake/cookie bar definitely has a taste that seems nostalgic. Happy Mother's Day Mom, Grandma, Grandma Dawn, Mom Marinich.      

Here is my 1st installment from My Grandmother's Recipe Box.      I took a few liberties with the recipe based on what I had on hand, but I am pretty sure that my grandmother would have approved. I substituted cranberries for raisins and only had about 1/3 of a cup instead of 1 full cup.   I don't care for raisins and I like the orange and cranberry flavors together.  The smaller amount of cranberries worked just fine. Here is the mixture after all of the ingredients have been added, I used all purpose flour rather than cake flour, but I think that is probably authentic to how my grandmother made it because I do not recall her cooking with cake flour which was probably more expensive The cake before and after the oven.  The glaze that is put on the hot cake seems like it might add to much sweetness with one cup of sugar, but it does not.   Also - the mixture pools on top when you first put in on the cake, but no worries, it...