Baking Powder Biscuits

2 cups flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup shortening (I usually use butter. It's yummy.)

3/4 cup buttermilk or milk made sour with 1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice

(they also have a powdered buttermilk that I just tried and really like)

Mix together dry ingredients and cut in shortening (or yummy butter). Add buttermilk slowly and stir with a fork until it forms a soft dough. Growing up we rolled them out and cut out circles, but now we make them into drop biscuits. It's easy and we love them. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Oreo Cake

36 Oreos (made into crumbs)

1 stick of butter or margarine (melted)

Combine Oreos and butter and press into 9x13 pan. Freeze for one hour.

Make Fudge and place in refrigerator to cool completely.

Fudge

1 stick margarine or butter

2 cubes unsweetened chocolate

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

3/4 cup evaporated milk

1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter and chocolate in saucepan over medium heat. Add powdered sugar and stir. Add evaporated milk and stir. Bring to a boil. Boil 4 minutes. Put on a hot pad in refrigerator until completely chilled.

Soften a half gallon of vanilla ice cream and spread over crust. Freeze for one hour.

Spread hot fudge over ice cream and freeze one hour.

Spread whipped topping over fudge and keep in freezer until ready to serve. Decorate with any additional cookies (that did not get eaten) as desired.

Andes Mint Cookies

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 Tablespoons water

12 oz chocolate chips

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 boxes Andes mint cookies (or one 8.5 oz bag should be more than enough. It might even be enough for a double batch if you don't have a cuteness kid snatching a mint, or two or three, every time you turn around. I wouldn't know for sure.)

Melt butter, sugar, and water. Add chocolate chips until melted.

Pour into large mixing bowl and let cool 10 minutes. At high speed add eggs. Reduce speed and add combined dry ingredients. Chill dough for 1 hour. Roll into small balls and place on foiled-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes. Place unwrapped Andes mint on top of each cookie as soon as you take it out of the oven. Spread around with a knife after mint has melted completely.

Whole Wheat Bread

The Sponge:

4 ½ tsp active dry yeast (or 2 packets)

¾ cup warm water

1 cup whole wheat flour

Mix ¾ cup warm water and yeast, then add 1 cup whole wheat flour and mix vigorously. Let sit for 45 minutes. It will reach a peak of expansion and then settle down a little. That’s when it’s time to do this:

While mixing add:

The Dough:

2 ½ cups warm water

2 cups whole wheat flour

Stir very well and add

½ cup wheat gluten

2 ½ Tbsp vegetable oil

⅓ cup honey

1 Tbsp salt

Mix very well and add slowly:

3 cups of whole wheat flour (or a bit more until it’s a good bread consistency)

Knead 20 minutes

Place into pans and let rise in a warm place or slightly warm oven for 1 hour

Bake at 325° for 20-30 minutes, depending on loaf size and how your oven works. It should be a very light golden brown, not a dark brown.

Pancakes & Syrup

4 eggs

½ cup vegetable oil

2 cup milk

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

About 4 cups flour

Beat eggs, add oil and milk. Stir. Combine dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to eggs and mix until smooth. Should be thin enough to pour easy, but not runny.

Syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup water 1/4 tsp maple flavoring

bring sugars and water to a boil. Remove immediately. Add maple flavoring. I always fill the sink partially with cold water and set the pan in there, stirring to help cool.

German Pancakes

4 eggs

1 T sugar

½ t salt

2/3 cup sifted flour

2/3 cup milk

2 T softened butter

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Butter well 9” pan. Put eggs in blender, cover and blend until light yellow in color. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour into prepared pan and bake 20 minutes; reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Pudding Casserole

1 box vanilla wafers

2 boxes cook and serve pudding (we used chocolate, it's yummy!)

12 oz whipped topping

Line bottom and sides of 9X13 pan with vanilla wafers. Make pudding according to directions. We never bring it all the way to a boil. We're impatient like that. Once it is deemed thick enough we pour it slowly over the cookies. Top with a few more cookies if you want. We do because we like it that way. Cover with saran wrap, so the saran wrap is sticking to the pudding. This keeps away that nasty film that we don't like so much. Chill for 4 hours. Top with whipped topping. Keep chilled until ready to serve. If you can stay out of it for that long. Good Luck!