Welsh Rabbit with Worcestershire Sauce

Contrary to the title, this recipe contains no rabbit. It's basically cheesy bread. See here for a food history & etymology lesson.

And, you'll notice that I have taken the liberty of renaming this recipe. I hope the new title is more helpful (in both spelling & informativeness) and not too astray from what I think Nana B would have called this herself. In fact, this is the first of several different variants of Welsh Rabbit appearing in her cookbooks.

A face full of cheese is not everyone's dream come true.

Brownies

Upside Down Cake

 I'm not entirely sure if this recipe is titled "Upside Down Cake," spelled correctly (as opposed to the previous recipe entry for "Calumet Cup Kakes") or if the title says "Upside Down bake." Either way, it's probably delicious. I love me some upside down cake.

Calumet Cup Kakes

Yes, it says "Kake." Here is an example of Nana's phonetic English, having taught herself how to read and write in English and having had to quit school (in French-speaking Quebec) at a young age. 

Fun Facts from Wikipedia: "Calumet" is a French-derived word for a Native American peace pipe.

Butterscotch Parfait -- This recipe needs your help!

There are MANY blanks to be filled in this one. Please comment with suggestions, links to similar recipes, or tales of your own attempts at duplicating this! It doesn't help that I've also never made a parfait and don't particularly like parfaits. 

Lies. 

Delicious Ginger Bread & Lemon Sponge Pie

Yes, this ginger bread is, in fact, delicious. I know, because I made it today. 

Delicious Ginger bread

2 beaten eggs 

1 cup sugar

½ cup molasses

½ cup shortening

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger
2 cups of flour, sifted

2 level teaspoons baking soda, sifted with the flour

1 cup boiling water

Mix ingredients in the order given. Bake about 20 minutes.

Melasse (Molasses) Cookies

Molasses Cookies

1 cup shortening

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup sugar

½ teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup molasses 

4 (?) teaspoon baking soda (I used 2)

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon ginger

2 cups flour (I used 4 and 2/3 cups)

1 cup sour milk (buttermilk?)

Cream shortening with sugar. Add molasses. Sift 2 cups of the flour with the dry ingredients. Pour the milk over the flour. Form balls. Sprinkle a little sugar on top. Cook for 10 minutes. Makes 5 dozen.

Hanky is my co-author. 

This batter was WAY too watery, as is. In looking at other recipes for molasses cookies, I think nana's proportions of liquids to solids is way off. There's no way you can form her batter into balls. Other recipes seem to call for only 1/4 cup of molasses (this one calls for 1 cup). So, I added an additional 2.66 cups of (unsifted) flour until the batter reached a consistency that could hold its shape. Wet your hands to form balls with the dough. Or just plop a tablespoon of dough on a cookie sheet for each cookie, using a wet finger to get the dough off the spoon. I baked for 12 minutes. 

So many spices!

This is what happened to three "cookies" I tried to spatula off the tray with my first batch, before adding more flour. 

Ice Box Cookies

This recipe for Ice Box Cookies starts in English, switches to French for a few words, and then returns to English! I made these already and cut up and served one of the 2.5 logs of dough to my coworkers. I think tomorrow, I'm going to try baking these cookies after letting the frozen log soften enough to slice. They tasted like eating sugar cookie dough, but with nuts & brown sugar.

Peanut Drop Cookies

More dessert recipes! 

In fact, most of the recipes in Nana's cookbooks are for dessert items. I'm guessing she did this in light of the fact that portions matter a bit more in baking than regular cooking, because science. Recipes below. 

Science happening.

Gâteau Blanc / White Cake

White Cake

(* I am not sure about the accuracy of the text in italics*)

1 cup sugar 

½ cup butter, creamed

1 egg beaten

1 cup whole milk

1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cup flour

Why are you reading this?

My grandmother, Germaine Bossi, was born in May 1913 in/around Saint-Malo, Quebec, Canada. The tall tale that I recall is that she was the oldest daughter of thirteen (or nineteen?) kids and had to leave school at a young age to care for her siblings after her mother passed away during childbirth and her father skedaddled. Somewhere along the line of being the default matriarch, she became an amazing cook and earned money as a private chef for other families. (Dear Other-Bossis, please feel free to correct this blurb of family history, there's a high probability I'm making this all up...)

The red flag marks Saint-Malo. Note that the population as of 2011 is 483.