Mother's Walnut Fudge Brownies

½ cup butter (1 stick)
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ tsp vanilla
¾ cup flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup broken walnuts
Fudge Frosting

Melt butter and chocolate over low heat; cool slightly. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Bake in 8" x 8" greased pan at 375º, 25-30 minutes. Cool and frost.

Fudge Frosting: 3 cups powdered sugar, 1/8 tsp salt, 4½ tbls each of cocoa, very soft butter, and warm, strong coffee. Mix well. Spread over brownies and top with ¼ cup chopped walnuts.

Note: I double the brownie recipe and use one batch of frosting to frost both pans of brownies. There's plenty 'nough, and the brownies then aren't quite so gucky.

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Almond Puff

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup flour
2 tbls water
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½ cup butter
1 cup water
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup flour
3 eggs
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glaze & sliced almonds, partly crushed

Cut ½ cup butter into 1 cup flour. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons water over mixture; mix with fork. Divide in half and use your hands to form cylindrical shapes with each half. On ungreased baking sheet, press and pat each half into a strip, 12" x 3". Strips should be about 3" apart on the baking sheet.

Heat oven to 350º.

In a medium saucepan, heat ½ cup butter and 1 cup water to rolling boil. Remove from heat and quickly stir in almond extract and 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Beat in eggs, all at one time, until smooth. Divide in half; spread each half evenly over strips, covering completely.

Bake about 60 minutes or until topping is crisp and brown. Cool. Frost with glaze and sprinkle generously with part sliced and part crushed almonds. To serve, cut 1" slices and arrange on serving dish.

Glaze: Stir togeher 1½ cups powdered sugar, 2 tbls butter, softened, 1 to 1½ tsps almond extract, and 1 to 2 tbls warm water until smooth.

This presents well and is simpler to prepare than the directions might lead one to believe.

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Apple Dumplings

2 cups water
1½ cups sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
8 drops red food coloring
¼ cup (half stick) butter
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2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt
¾ cup shortening
½ cup milk
6 small apples, peeled and cored

For syrup, mix first 5 ingredients; cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat; add butter.

Sift together dry ingredients; cut in shortening till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk all at once; stir just till flour is moistened. On lightly floured surface, roll to 18" x 12" rectangle.

Cut into six squares. Place apple on each square. Sprinkle each apple generously with additional sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg; dot each apple with butter. Moisten the edges of the pastry. Bring corners to the center and pinch edges together, sealing each apple within its pastry wrap. Place 1" apart in ungreased 13" x 9" baking pan. Pour syrup over dumplings. Bake at 375º for 35 to 40 minutes, when pastry is nicely browned and speckled as biscuits would be. Serve warm with cream. Serves 6.

Alternate Assembly: While the above assembly makes a lovely and impressive presentation, our family more often prefers a different method. I roll the pastry to the designated size and spread with a thin layer of butter. Chop the apples (6 small or 4 not-so-small) and distribute atop the buttered pastry. Sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Hereafter, work quickly, as the sugar begins immediately to draw moisture from the apples. Roll as one would cinnamon roll dough and cut into 12 equal pieces. This method is forgiving, so don't worry about holes or escaped apples. Just poke it back together any old way. Lay cut side up in pan like one would cinnamon rolls (4 rows of 3 rolls) and pour syrup over. Bake as directed.

This is actually easier than trying to fit the pastry squares around the six apples, unless the apples are particularly small. And we like the very even distribution of apples throughout the pastry. Serves 12.

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Pumpkin Bars

2 cups pumpkin
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tsps cinnamon
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(frosting)
8 ozs cream cheese, softened
4 tbls butter
1 tsp vanilla
1½ cups powdered sugar
½ cup chopped walnuts

Mix pumpkin, sugar, oil, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and mix well. Spread in greased and floured jelly roll pan (12" x 18"). Bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes. Frost when cool.

Frosting: Thoroughly mix cream cheese, 4 tbls butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Spread and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
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