Good morning, dear readers. Our readers are looking for help in several categories. Can you help them find recipes for a crazy cupcake made without eggs (touted by a media personality in a recent magazine), for anything made with oatmeal and for boiled custard that has no lumps and that also may be made sugar-free?
We begin today with a couple of recipes that have been waiting on the desk, and with gratitude to several other readers. Thank you, Kathy Ledford Gledhill, for sending us your recipe for pretzels topped with chocolate candy, a recipe that appears to be most popular.
Betty Bagley of Athens, Tenn., contributed this mandarin orange cake, one I would say is uniquely suited for an Easter celebration.
Mandarin Orange Cake
1 box yellow cake mix, dry
11-ounce can mandarin oranges
3 eggs
3/4 cup oil
Mix dry cake mix, mandarin oranges, eggs and oil. Bake in a greased 9- by 13-inch pan at 350 F for 30 to 35 minutes. Frost with the recipe that follows. Serve if desired with orange sherbet.
Mandarin Orange Frosting
8 ounces Cool Whip
15-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
1 package dry vanilla pudding mix
Mix together Cool Whip, pineapple and pudding mix. Refrigerate until set.
Lee Keeble of Ooltewah got this recipe from Frances Hodge, her sister, who lives in Maryville, Tenn. It’s a variation on the same mandarin orange theme.
Orange Juice Cake
1 Duncan Hines orange cake mix
1 small package instant vanilla pudding
1 can mandarin oranges (11 ounces)
1/2 cup cooking oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Mix all ingredients except pecans until smooth. Pour the chopped nuts over the bottom of a greased and floured Bundt pan.
Pour batter carefully into pan and bake at 325 F for 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven and pour glaze on top while cake is still hot and in the pan. (You may prick the cake with a long-tined fork so the glaze can seep into it easier.)
Glaze
Prepare glaze just before cake is done.
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1 stick butter, melted
Combine ingredients in a nonstick saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour over cake while hot. Let cake stand for 30 minutes before removing from pan.
Here are some more thoughts on the mandarin orange cake theme. Debbie Gant of Rossville makes hers in 3 (8-inch round) cake pans and uses the Cool Whip frosting. She also added that “cake must be refrigerated and is best if refrigerated for several hours before it is eaten.”
The request for hamantaschen, cookies made for the Jewish celebration of Purim, was answered by Pam Fields, who got her recipe from a book by Beth Moore. She described them as a little bit of trouble to make but worth it. Purim this year was celebrated at the end of February, but the cookies are good in any season.
Hamantaschen Cookies
2 sticks margarine or butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 teaspoons baking powder (or 2 or 3 teaspoons also might work, says Mrs. Fields)
4 cups flour in one of the following proportions: 4 cups wheat flour; mixture of 2 cups all-purpose flour and 2 cups wheat flour; or 4 cups white flour
Filling (apricot preserves, fruit butter, jam, preserves or pie filling)
Cut butter into sugar. Blend thoroughly. Add eggs, and blend thoroughly. Add vanilla, and blend thoroughly.
Mix baking powder with flour. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time, blending thoroughly between each.
Refrigerate the batter a few hours to chill.
Roll out to about 1/4-inch thickness, then cut circles with a cookie cutter or use a drinking glass. Make them at least 3 inches in diameter so you have enough room to fill and fold them over.
Put a tablespoon of filling in the middle of each circle. Fold up the sides to make a triangle, overlapping the sides as much as possible so only a little filling shows through the middle.
Bake at 375 F for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.
And finally, Signal Mountain Rose sent a recipe made with carrots combined with cheese and butter.
Golden Casserole
2 cups mashed or riced carrots, about 1 pound raw
11/2 sticks butter
2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese or cheese of your choice
3 beaten eggs
1/2 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook carrots until well done. Drain, mash thoroughly and add butter. Combine with other ingredients and mix well. Pour into greased 11/2-quart casserole dish. Bake at 325 F about 40 minutes. Serves 6.
On such a colorful note, we’ll end this column, expecting to see you next week.