Herself's Recipes

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 jar fruits and peels or 3 small cans assorted
1 cup white seedless raisins
3/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup orange juice

Mix fruits, raisins and chopped nuts
add 1/2 cup flour and mix well

sift together the remaining quantity of flour with baking powder and salt

beat eqqs until light

cream the butter

add sugar gradually to butter and cream well
add eqqs and beat well
add dry ingredients alternately with liquid
stir in the floured fruits and nuts

bake at 250 degrees about 2 hours
makes 3 1/2 pounds

** one cup dates and 1 cup currants may be added if desired

Bake at least a day ahead of when it is to be used, and wrap tightly in tin foil to store.

This is an old handwritten recipe of my Grandmother’s I found. The Irish and Scottish have many fruitcake recipes from the White Fruit Cake here to a Black Scottish Fruit Cake.

Simple Cheesecake with white chocolate and raspberries

I’m still searching for the ‘perfect’ cheesecake recipe. This is the closest I’ve found so far. There are records of cheesecake being made 2,000 years ago, but it is believed to have been made as long as 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. It was served to Olympic athletes in Greece in 776bce. Today cheese cakes are usually made with cream cheese which was invented in 1872. Later in 1912, Kraft learned how to pasteurize cheese making cheese cake available to the masses.

Cheese filling

2 -8 oz packages cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Mix well

One chocolate, vanilla if you prefer, graham cracker crust
pour cheese mixture into crust

Fruit filling

1/4 cup raspberries
1/4 cup raspberry jam
1/2 cup white chocolate, melted (optional)

Mix well and then gently spoon onto cheese mixture and fold in gently with a spoon

Bake one and a half hours at 325′ until set in the middle

Tips:

Take the ingredients out of the refrigerator and sit them on the counter for a half hour so they warm up to room temperature.

Do not over mix the cheese mixture. Beat just until mixed.

Cool the cake slowly on the counter, not in the refrigerator or it will get cracks.