Apple Crisp: Recipe From the Strait Family Vaults 2

A Recipe from the Strait Family Vaults

Apple Crisp

There are many recipes to make Apple Crisp.  This is the one my mother used.  It puts the emphasis on crisp over apples.  To me, this is as God intended.  As cake is a frosting delivery system, so is this desert to crisp.

I don’t think we’ve ever prepared this for a church luncheon.  This probably claims to make a dozen or more serving, but the way we eat it, it is about six.  So, if we were to make it for church, we would probably have to quadruple the recipe.

It tastes best when served warm with vanilla ice cream.

I guess I better start with the recipe.

Ingredients:

4 cups sliced apples

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup water

3/4 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter

Place sliced apples onto buttered 10x6x2 baking dish (I think other sizes are okay – use your own judgment), sprinkling in the cinnamon, salt & water.  In a separate bowl, rub (? – that’s my mom’s word – just mix/blend/maybe knead) flour, sugar & butter – then drop this mixture over the apples.  Make noises like an airplane dropping bombs (okay, maybe that’s just me).

Bake at 350 degrees for forty minutes.

Feel free to adjust ingredients to personal taste.  Add more apples or more cinnamon or salt.  I wouldn’t add more sugar – this is already way past the diabetic threshold. Throw nuts in there, although I don’t know why people want to do that.  Walnuts seem to be a favorite addition for some, but I don’t digest walnuts well, and Benjamin is allergic.  So, at least for this recipe, we are a no nuts family.

Texas Sheet Cake: Recipe from the Strait Vaults 1

A Recipe from the Strait Family Vaults

Texas Sheet Cake

My mother was born in Texas.  This is the only thing about Texas I know about my mother.  She left when she was three.  Her father was a welder on the Eastern Panhandle pipeline, and they moved farther north every few years as the pipeline was built.

We have prepared this a few times for church luncheons.  It does not last long.  The most recent time it was made was by Benjamin, who made it for Mother’s Day.

I guess I better start with the recipe.

Bring to boil:

2  sticks butter or margarine

1 cup water

4 tbls cocoa

Add to the above the following:

2 cups sugar

½ tsp salt

2 cups flour

Mix well  -  then add:

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp soda

Beat well and pour into well-greased pan (9x13) and bake at 375 degrees.

While cake is baking  (oh, joy! Multitasking), make frosting.

Frosting:

½ cup butter or margarine

4 tbls cocoa

6 tbls milk

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Optional – 1 cup chopped nuts

Heat on stove until butter is melted – bring to a hard boil -  remove from heat and add powdered sugar and vanilla.

Pour onto warm cake and sprinkle with chopped nuts (we use pecans).

Benjamin is allergic to nuts, so we do not put pecans on about half the cake or more.  Honestly. I prefer it without the pecans.  But what do I know?  Feel free to add your own toppings.  Heck, try it with sprinkles if you want.