Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Marian Hillman shares this cake recipe.
"It is a very old recipe from Fordyce PTA Cookbook 1942," Hillman writes. "I have made it many, many times through the years."
Busy Day Cake
Cake:
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1 to 3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
5 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Shredded coconut
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Add sugar and beat until thoroughly mixed.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir flour mixture into egg-sugar mixture.
In a small saucepan, combine the milk and 1 to 3 tablespoons butter; when mixture comes to a boil, remove it from heat and immediately pour it over the flour-sugar-egg mixture. Stir in vanilla. Transfer batter to a greased 9-inch-square baking pan. Bake 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean when inserted near the center.
For the topping: Heat broiler. In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter and cream and bring to a boil. Add the vanilla. Pour over cake. Sprinkle with coconut. Place under broiler just until coconut is browned.
This version of cowboy cookies is from Linda Littleton. It is the recipe Laura Bush used in Family Circle's first lady cookie battle when George W. Bush ran for president in 2000.
"For my diabetic friends, I make them with Splenda brown sugar blend," writes Littleton. And plain yogurt can be substituted for the butter.
Editor's note: A stand mixer works best for this recipe because of the bulk of the dough.
Texas Cowboy Cookies
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs (see note)
3 tablespoons vanilla extract
3 cups chocolate chips
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups sweetened flake coconut
2 cups chopped pecans (Littleton uses raisins or dried cranberries because of nut allergies)
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt until well blended; set aside.
In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth and light. Gradually add the sugar and beat to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the vanilla and stir to combine.
Add the flour mixture, mixing on low, mixing until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans (or raisins).
Drop by 1/4 cup lumps of dough onto prepared cookie sheets, spaced at least 3 inches apart, giving them plenty of room to spread. Bake 7 to 9 minutes, then rotate cookie sheets front to back -- top to bottom -- and bake 7 to 9 minutes more. For smaller cookies, use 2 tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie and bake 13 to 16 minutes total, rotating half way through.
Note: If cutting the recipe in half, use two eggs.
Send recipe contributions, requests and culinary questions to Kelly Brant, Idea Alley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; email:
Please include a daytime phone number.
Food on 09/23/2015