"Excellent! Fast & Easy!"

"And the frosting tastes like fudge!"

When my kids were little and I was home with them, I baked up a storm.  I'd try out a Yankee Kitchen recipe, write down my notations, and make it again.  I always loved baking for my family and friends.

Tonight, my 18 year-old son Jeremy asked me if I'd make something that he likes: Snap Doodle.  And, of course, I did.  I like it when my kids ask me to make something for them.

Happy Boys in the Berkshires
Summer of 2008

I had the day off work today and I really enjoyed just being home. Other than getting my tax stuff together, I didn't do a darned thing.  I didn't even go out of the house.

I did spend some time looking through cookbooks, though. We're going to our friends Anita and Andre's house for dinner tomorrow night and I wanted to bring a dessert.  Actually, Anita is the same friend that gave me the Snap Doodle recipe. This is a snap doodle to whip up for breakfast!  And the cinnamon wafting through the house in the morning makes it easier for people to get out of bed.

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Snap Doodle

2 eggs

1 c. sugar

1 c. milk

2 c. flour

3 tsp. baking powder

Mix all ingredients together.  Spread in a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Cover thickly with a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon.  Pour about 1/2 cup of melted butter over top.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  (Sometimes I add some chopped apples over the batter before adding the cinnamon sugar and butter.)

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Today, I read this charming little pamphlet cookbook that was published in 1969.  

It was edited by the Culinary Arts Institute and published by Consolidated Book Publishers.

Look at this!

Now that's what I call

a nice presentation!

And now for this sweet introduction.

I love this!

  

I didn't try anything from this cookbook tonight, but decided to make a YK favorite instead: Down East Buttermilk Chocolate Cake, an old standby that I got years ago.  "Excellent! Fast and Easy! And the frosting tastes like fudge!"  I don't remember who originally gave this recipe on the program.

My 16 year-old son Justin and I made the cake together tonight.  

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Downeast Buttermilk Chocolate Cake

Note: Buttermilk substitute: combine 1 TB. vinegar with 1 c. milk.  Let rest 5 minutes.

In saucepan, bring to boil 1 stick margarine, 1/4 c. cocoa, and 1 c. water. Set aside.  

In large bowl, mix together 2 c. flour, 2 c. sugar, 2 eggs, 2 ts. baking soda, 1/2 c. buttermilk, 1 ts. vanilla. Pour in cocoa mixture and mix well. Pour in a greased 13 x 9 pan.  Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.  

While baking, make frosting.  In same saucepan, bring to boil 1 stick margarine, 1/4 c. cocoa, 1/3 buttermilk.  Remove from heat.  Add 1 lb. confectioner's sugar. Beat well.  Add 1-2 c. walnuts.  Frost cake while hot (1-2 minutes after cake is out of the oven).

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You know, I never used to give a second thought to the ingredients that went into these delicious desserts.  Now I feel the need to make this notation:

WARNING!

This cake calls for 2 sticks of margarine!  

Actually, instead of margarine, I used butter.  Land O Lakes butter, to be exact.

Not to put a downer on this fun-with-food thing, but, I just want to say that my father died when I was only 17 months old.  So, while the other girls had memories of good times with their fathers, I only had the stories that my mother told me about him.

She told me that my father had a hand in the kitchen.

He liked to fold the Land O Lakes package.

You know what's coming, don't you?

A happy memory from my childhood!