Beer Cake

2/3 cup butter or oleo
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 sq. bitter choc.
2 1/4 cup flour
2 tsps. soda
1 cup beer
3/4 cup buttermilk
8 oz bottle maraschino cherries
1/4 cup cherry juice
1/2 cup chopped nutmeats

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and melted chocolate and mix well. Sift flour and soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with beer and buttermilk. Add cherries, cherry juice and nutmeats. Mix well. Pour in 9 x 13" pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 mins.

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 tsps. vanilla

Blend softened cream cheese, softened butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Spread on cake.

Submitted by Dona Jahn, Tripoli, WI

Bloggers Note: I used "Point, Special Lager" beer from the Stevens Point Brewery.

It was only after starting to mix the ingredients did I realize that all of our 9 x 13" pans were in use with left over casseroles. So, I had to use three, eight inch round cake pans. As I learned, this cake is not meant to be a layer cake! It's very moist, and therefore very hard to stack. Keep that in mind as you gander at the pictures. It really does taste much better than it looks!

I was really happy with how the cake tastes and am excited to make it again in a 9 x 13" pan. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted.

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of maraschino cherries, but I did not mind them in the cake. I also used almonds for the "nutmeats".

When I make it again I will place the cherries in the pan once the batter has been poured in. They had a tendency to clump together so parts of the cake have lots of cherries, and other parts have none.

This definitely will be making a few appearances this summer and parties and cookouts... maybe paired with the Cherry Bounce!

No-Bake Chocolate Cookies

No-Bake Chocolate Cookies

4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup milk
2 oz. butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups oatmeal

Mix sugar, cocoa, milk and butter together in a large saucepan. Boil 1 minute, no longer. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Drop on wax paper from teaspoons. Store in airtight containers.

Submitted by Mrs. William Bates of Blaine, MN

Blogger's Note: I used Nestle Toll House cocoa and Quaker Oats (Not Quick Oats) and they were great.


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Culinarily we've come a long way since the No-Bake cookie first burst on to the scene. NowPaula Deen tells you that recipes need lots of butter to taste good, and Martha Stewart tells us that it has to be fancy and tied up with a bow. in 1977 there was none of this. We had Julia (Childs) and Betty Crocker. Both were nice ladies. I preferred Betty at the time, and still think she has a lot to offer. This is all to say that I LOVE, I mean <3>

When I was in 3rd grade (1979) our teacher, Miss Lapetina took us through an entire project on nutrition. Among the things we learned were healthy eating, look here for Mulligan Stew in the future, and healthy snacking. No-Bake cookies were one of those recipes.

I resisted the urge, with this batch, to make them nicer. You can get much better cocoa these days than you could back then. I did, however, use Skippy Natural Creamy Peanut Butter. I may wan't to relive the 70s, but I'd really prefer to do it with my arteries intact. Normally my peanut butter of choice is completely natural, i.e. peanuts and salt, but Skippy Natural has the texture of 1970s/80s peanut butter, and I was concerned something without thickeners might not work.

The total prep time for these was about 20 minutes and the actual "making" of the cookies was very simple. Drop them on wax paper. Not having wax paper in the house, I sprayed tinfoil with Baking Spray and things turned out fine. These are a great snack and a lot lower in fat than a lot of desserts. Sugar content is still quite high, so diabetics beware!!!

Swedish Pancakes

Swedish Pancakes

3 well beaten eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups milk

2 cups flour

3 Tbsp melted butter

In blender or mixer, add sugar, salt, milk and flour (added gradually) to the beaten eggs. Beat on low speed and add melted butter until smooth.

The pancakes are thin and disappear so fast we've not yet caught up enough to count them! Often we have to make two batches for our family -- then, if there are a few left, we cool them, put ice cream on each, roll them up and wrap individually in foil. Put in freezer.

Submitted by William D. Gibbs of Schofield, WI

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I don't know that I should be trusted to make breakfast. I used 3 cups of flour instead of the 2 the recipe called for. I did catch the mistake early and added some extra milk, but in the end the ratios were all off.

The pancakes were good, although I know they weren't what they should have been. I think I'll try again on Thursday and see how things go.

The Swedes usually serve their pancakes with fruit. After all, only America and Canada seem to have a massive fascination with maple syrup. Lingonberry preserves are very popular, but just about any berry can be found on a menu. Check it out if you get the chance.