This is not the super soft, sweet pretzel that many malls offer. This has a bagel like texture that is much better I think! Salt as much or as little as you like and serve with a favorite mustard or cheese sauce.
Laugenbrezel (German Soft Pretzels)
Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffin
These muffins are a wonderful fall treat. My mom was given this recipe years ago when she spent the day with her cousin Kathy. They made a few muffin recipes and other fun fall treats. This is probably my favorite. Not only do these freeze well, they are also good for a few days after baking and toast nicely.
You can use all purpose flour, but these are also great as a 50/50 mix with AP flour and 50% white whole wheat. We rarely use the full amount of sugar. They are good with or without the steusel. If you chose not to add the streusel, they are even less sweet, which is a nice change sometimes.
If you prefer to make a loaf of bread, pour into a greased and lightly floured pan and bake for about an hour.
Chicken Pot Pie Soup
This is basically the inside of a pot pie. Instead of a crust, either serve with fresh biscuits or, like Audrey recommended, cheese crackers! While this is good the first day, leftovers for lunch was even better.
Chunky Apple Muffins
I am not exactly sure when I was given this recipe, but I know it is from my mom. These muffins are a great when you went apple picking and picked a lot more apples than you thought.
Marble Cookie Squares
Another recipe from Aunt Bonnie’s recipe box. We baked ours in a pie pan which worked very well also. The card did not included time to bake, but we just let our set up like a cookie.
One thing I really like about many of the recipes from Aunt Bonnie is the recipe makes a small amount. There was enough here for us, but no left overs. I am not sure when she copied this recipe, but when I looked it up, it looks like it was popular in the early 1960’s.
Surprise Lemon Bars
I am not sure where I originally found this recipe. I know that we made it a few times in our travels for potlucks so I have had it for all -most?- of the time I have been married. I never tell what the secret ingredient is until people have tried this recipe and say they like it. Most think it is coconut, so why ruin it for them?
The recipe says it makes 2 pies, but we usually bake it in a 9×13 casserole dish and cut it into squares. For a gluten free crust, see notes.
Corn Meal Yeast Bread
This is a good bread to have with chili or soup when you do not want plain cornbread. You can use yellow corn meal if you want, but we prefer to use white. It tastes great toasted and is a good base for BLT’s and other favorite sandwiches.
Enchilada Sauce
Instead of buying enchilada sauce, this is an easy recipe to make your own. Adjust the seasonings to your taste.
Muffins
Carol Ragsdale gave me this favorite muffin recipe in South Africa around 23 years ago. It is a great, basic recipe that can be changed in so many ways. Leave plain, add chocolate chips or blueberries, or reduce the milk slightly and make banana muffins. Experiment and see how many combinations you can come up with, but to get you started, check out the options at the end of the recipe.
Saffron Bread
Saffron bread is one of my favorite holiday breads. I think it is best warm with Thimbleberry jam, but raspberry is a good second choice.
This recipe calls for mixing the dough then letting it rise before kneading. We were not sure why, so we did an experiment. We made both dough “exactly” the same (used weights and did at same time) and we kneaded before rising on the one, and after kneading on the other. There is a difference in taste, but it was minimal. However, most everyone voted that kneading after the dough rose tasted better.
This bread drys out quickly. Be sure to cool it and wrap in an airtight bag or tin foil. It freezes well and tastes great toasted.