family recipes
nut rolls

from Margaret Relic & Diane Bremer

This is an old slovak recipe passed down through the women in my family.  My mother would make nut rolls for Christmas and other special occasions.

Ingredients:
For dough:
2 tablespoons yeast (or 2 packages)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups flour 2 cups milk, scalded
3 sticks butter
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs beaten
2 tsp. salt
For filling:
1 pound nuts, ground or finely chopped
1 pound brown sugar
1 cup carnation milk
Directions: Dissolve yeast and one teaspoon sugar in warm water. Scald milk in saucepan and pour over butter - let it melt. Let cool down (so not to kill yeast) and then add flour, eggs, sugar, salt and yeast mixture to the milk/butter. Continue to add flour and mix until it looks like bread dough. Break dough into 2-4 round lumps of dough and refrigerate for about an hour (until chilled and you have made filling). For filling: mix together filling ingredients and spread on dough (optional: may add maple or vanilla flavoring to nut mixture). Roll up dough and bake in 350° oven for 30-40 minutes (? until brown), turning up to 375° the last 10 minutes. Cooking time depends on size of nut rolls - you can do 4 small or 2 large.
Clothes Pin Pastry

from Julia Dugan & Anna Sokol

This actually uses old wooden clothespins.  I love that!

Pastry Ingredients:
For pastry shell:
•4 cups flour
•2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 pound oleo (4 sticks)
• 1 1/4 cup of cold water
For filling:
• 1 cup Crisco
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
Mix flour and one stick of oleo, sugar, water, and egg yolk - knead like for noodles. Let stand one hour in the refrigerator. Take out and roll like for pie dough and spread with one stick of the softened oleo. Fold in squares. Refrigerate for one more hour. Take out and spread one more stick. Fold and refrigerate one more hour and spread last stick of oleo and fold then refrigerate over night. Roll out on aluminum foil and cut in strips. (Wrap strips around round clothespins. Keep clothespin in for baking.) Bake 8-10 minutes @ 400°.
For filling: Make paste - cook one-cup milk and 5 tablespoons cake flour. Boil and let get thick. (In separate bowl), mix one-cup sugar and one cup Crisco until fluffy. Add to paste mix, then add two cups powdered sugar and mix well.
mom's bread

from Diane Bremer

You will need:
2 tbsp dried yeast packets (2 packets)
1 tsp sugar
1 cup hot water (not boiling)
Put yeast in bowl. Add sugar and hot water. Stir. Let sit for 10 minutes (should expand). After 10 minutes, stir the yeast mixture down.
Then in a separate bowl, add 6 cups of flour. Add yeast mixture and stir. Then, combine the following ingredients:
1 egg
1 tbsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
2 cups water
Stir. Knead until the dough is the right consistency. Then, grease a bowl and dough with canola oil and let raise for 1 hour. Then punch the dough down and let rise for one more hour. Then bake at 3500 – 350 0 for 20 minutes maximum.
banana nut bread

from Margaret Relic

Ingredients:
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 3 + 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tbs. Lemon salt
• 2 cups mashed bananas (4-6)
• 3/4 cup soft butter/margarine
• 1 - 1 ½ cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts)
Directions:
(Makes 2 large or 3 small loaf pans). Heat oven to 350°. Grease pans with unsalted shortening. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. (In separate bowl), stir lemon juice into mashed bananas. (In another separate bowl), mix butter and sugar together until blended. Add eggs one at a time, mix well after each addition. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture alternately with milk. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat well. Add banana and walnuts. Bake at 350°. .
fudge

from Margaret Relic

Ingredients
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 can milk
• 1/2 pound butter
Boil above ingredients together to soft ball stage (when a drop of mixture is placed in cold water, it should solidify into a soft ball at the bottom of the bowl). Take off heat and add:
• 1 package semi-sweet morsels
• 4 squares bitter chocolate
• 1 pint marshmallow cream • 1 cup nuts (optional)
Pour into 13x9 pan and let sit until solidified.
lemon bars deluxe

from Katherine Kane Bremer (Grandma Bremer)

Ingredients:
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 1/2 cup sifted confectioner sugar
• 1 cup butter or oleo
• 4 beaten eggs
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh)
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions:
Sift together 2 cups flour and the confectioner’s sugar. Cut in butter or oleo until mixture clings together. Press in 13x9x2 baking pan. Bake in 350° oven 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Beat together eggs, granulated sugar, and lemon juice. Sift together ¼ cup flour and the baking powder. Stir into egg mixture. Pour over baked crust. Bake in 350° oven for 25 minutes longer. Sprinkle with additional confectioners sugar. Cool. Cut into bars.
monkey bread

My mother made this for us as kids and we loved it!!!

Ingredients:
• 4 Pillsbury Biscuit (12) tubes
• Cinnamon and Sugar mixture
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick margarine
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
Directions:
Cut each biscuit into 2 and dip in sugar and cinnamon mix. Put in tube pan. Mix 1 cup sugar, 1 stick of margarine and ½ tsp. cinnamon. Heat and melt over stovetop. Pour over mixture in pan. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.