Applesauce Cake, Brer Rabbit Gingerbread, Pineapple Upside Down Cake and more!

Applesauce Cake     Deni Finch-Frederick
Mom's note: I always serve this cake plain or with a little 10x sugar sprinkles on top.
Deni's note: I'm not sure if this is a Millville-specific recipe, but it was a standard in our house as we grew up in the 1950s-60s.
1/2 c shortening
2 eggs
2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 c applesauce
2/3 c raisins
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c molasses
1 tsp baking soda
Cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs one at a time beating after each. Add molasses. Sift together flour, soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add alternately with applesauce to the mixture. Add raisins and mix well. Grease pan. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack.

Brer Rabbit Gingerbread       Deni Finch-Frederick
Mom's note: I use a package of "Lem" for the lemon sauce for the topping on gingerbread.
Deni's note: This might have been my forever favorite cake and is certainly the source of my everlasting preference for lemon over chocolate.
1/2 c shortening
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
2 1/2 c sifted flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 c Brer Rabbit molasses
1 c hot water
Cream together shortening and sugar. Add egg and beat well. Sift together next 6 dry ingredients. Combine molasses and water and add alternately with flour mixture to creamed mixture. Line 8x8x2 greased pan with greased wax paper and pour in batter. Bake in moderate over (350) for 50-60 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Rice Pudding     Nanny Konschak
1 quart milk
1/3 c rice
1/3 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Add a small can of cream and 1 beaten egg last.
Simmer on stove for 1 1/2 hours.

Rice Pudding     Minnie Garton
4 TB rice
1/2 c sugar
Pinch of salt
1 can of cream added to enough milk to make 1 quart, plus 1 quate of extra milk. Bake in 2 quate casserole at 350 until it turns brown.

Banana Cake
1 1/2 c cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c shortening
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c milk
1 c mashed banana
Stft flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cream shortening and add sugar gradually. Add unbeaten eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Add dry mixture alternately with milk and banana to shortening mixture, stirring only enough to blend thoroughly. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 inch pans. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

5 Cup Salad     Dot Breslin
1 small can mandarin orange slices drained
1 c coconut
1 c or small container of sour cream
1 c miniature marshmallows
1 small can pineapple tidbits or chunks drained
Mix together well and chill.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake     Mary Hampton
1/3 c shortening
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 c flour
1/2 c pineapple juice
Mix all above ingredients. Grease pan and put 3/4 c brown sugar and pineapple rings and halved cherries in pan. Dot with butter. Pour cake mixture over pineapple rings. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before inverting on to dish.

Bread Pudding, Wacky Cake, Hot Milk Sponge Cake, Chocolate Chip Squares, Coconut Lemon Bars, Blueberry Pie

Bread Pudding         Jim (DoDad) Steelman - (my grandfather)
DoDad made this for my mother and her three siblings as a special treat - usually using up stale bread and rolls. (nothing wasted!) I now make it once a week for my 93 year old mother and she says it tastes like home.
4 eggs
1/2 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
milk
4 slices of bread
2-3 TB butter
Whisk first 4 ingredients together and add enough milk to make 4 cups total. Generously butter 4 slices of bread and break into pieces and put in bottom of a 2 quart casserole. Pour egg mixture over bread and sprinkle with cinnamon. Place casserole in a pan of water deep enough to cover half way up the sides of the casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Wacky Cake         Madeline Goldstine (Donna Pio's mother)
1 1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
3 TB cocoa
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
5 TB oil
1 c cold water
Put dry ingredients into ungreased 9x9 baking pan. Make three holes. In first hole put oil or melted shortening. In 2nd put vinegar and in 3rd put vanilla. Pour cold water over all and mix well. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Double the recipe for a 13x9 or 2 9" cake pans. Good with chocolate frosting recipe from the cocoa box and add a big gob of peanut butter.

Hot Milk Sponge    Deni Finch-Frederick
Hot milk sponge was a "fancy" cake and a highly desired one, at least in our family's group. I remember that certain people had the "touch" for it and other's couldn't make it turn out for the life of them. Not sure why. It was never called Hot Milk Sponge Cake - only Hot Milk Sponge. 

4 eggs
2 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 c flour
Pinch salt
1 c scalded milk
Butter size of walnut
1 tsp vanilla
Beat eggs very lightly. Add sugar just to mix. Add next three ingredients. Stir until mixed. Add scalded milk in which the butter has been melted and the vanilla has been added. Beat until foamy. Pour into turk's head pan that has been lightly greased. Bake at 350 about 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Hot Milk Sponge
*This recipe came with no mention of cake pan size. With only 2 cups of flour, it can't be that big. Maybe 9x9 or 9x13. Hope someone tries it and lets me know.
4 eggs
2 c sugar
2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 c warm or hot milk - not boiling
1 TB butter
Beat eggs well. Add sugar a little at a time, then flour a little at a time, then butter melted in milk a little at a time and then the baking powder. Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour.

Chocolate Chip Squares  Frances Buzby (Marilyn Merritt's mother)
2 c (24) packed fine graham cracker crumbs
1 6oz bag semi sweet chocolate morsels
1/2 c chopped nuts
1 can condensed milk
Grease 8x8 or 9x9 pan. Line with waxed paper or foil and grease again. Blend dry ingredients. Stir in milk, Turn into pan. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Remove from pan - peel paper and cool on wire rack. Cover with 10x sugar and cut into squares.

Coconut Lemon Bars           Marilyn Salmon
2 c flour 
1/2 c margarine
1/4 c brown sugar
3 eggs
2 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 c coconut
1/2 c raisins
1/2 c chopped walnuts
2 tsp lemon juice
Mix first three ingredients together. Press into 13x9 pan and bake for 10 minutes at 350. Mix egg, sugar and salt together and then stir in the rest. Spread over the bottom crust and return to the oven for 25 minutes.

Blueberry Pie          Vickie - neighbor on 12th Street in the 1970s.
This is the best Blueberry Pie I've ever had!

4 c blueberries
2/3 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 TB flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c heavy cream
Wash and drain blueberries. Mix sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon. Add berries and toss. Put mixture into unbaked pie crust. Pour heavy cream over berries. Bake at 400 for 35-45 minutes.

From Deni Finch-Frederick

The next few are from Deni Finch-Frederick.  Her note says that the following recipe came to her from her former mother-in-law whose husband was very actice in the GBBA for years.  Allegedly it is originally from the Union Hall on Sharp Street, across from Millville Manufacturing.  She remembers going there with her dad and the family in the 50's for supper once in a while and says that this tastes like what she remembers.

Union Hall Bar-B-Q
Cook 4-5 lbs. lean beef, covered with water, about 6 hours until it falls apart. Fry two onions in butter, then add 2 cups of meat stock.

Add 2 TB sugar, 1 bottle catsup, 1 bottle chili sauce, 1 bottle bar-b-q sauce, 3 TB Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp hot sauce, 2 TB vinegar, and 1 tsp salt and pepper. Stir in meat.

Raisin Sauce
Use with ham steak:
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 cup water
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup vinegar

Put raisins and water in pan. Heat slowly about 10 minutes to plump raisins. Add sugar and vinegar. Boil slowly about 15 minutes until thickened.

Yum Yum Cake
From Deni's mom's childhood - in the mid 1930s.
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup crisco
1/2 box raisins
1 cup cold water
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves

Mix together, creaming crisco and sugar together first. Sift together:
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Add to first mixture. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.