Tell Your Story Recipe: Sugar-Coated Pecans

from Melissa Hollingshaus

“After living near the center of Casa Grande, Arizona for most of their married life, my grandparents bought a farm and moved to the country in 1965. The first thing that my granddaddy planted was Pecan Trees—25 of them. Knowing that it would take years before they produced a crop, he cared for them and tended to them. My grandparents understood the value of patience and securing a strong foundation. 

The Pecan Trees provided more than shade…they provided life lessons (as well as a delicious nut). My grandmother, over her lifetime, shelled thousands of pounds of pecans. She shared her crop with neighbors, friends, and of course family! We love pecans! This recipe is a celebration of my beautiful grandmother! It reminds me of home and of the strength of amazing women in my life!”

Sugar Coated Pecans

Ingredients:

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

1 pound pecan halves

1 cup white sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).

Grease one baking sheet. 

In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg white and water until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

Add pecans to egg whites, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the sugar mixture until coated. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake at 250 degrees F (120 degrees C) for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Tell Your Story: Crumb Cake

from Sister Claudia Bushman

“The details of our past lives are precious.  Often, those details include food. Here’s one of mine. My grown children, on entering our front door need only the first whiff to say “Oh, good!  Crumb cake!” The recipe came from our stake president’s wife Ann Barton when I was a little girl in San Francisco. Our family members have served it often for more than seventy years. It is fast and easy as well as very moist and tasty.”

Crumb Cake

7/8 cup of oil

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 egg

1 cup milk soured by a tablespoon of vinegar

A handful of broken walnuts

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together oil, brown sugar, white sugar, flour, and salt.  Take out a very generous 3 tablespoons for topping.  Add to the remainder of the batter the baking soda, nutmeg, egg, and soured milk.  Mix well and pour into a 13”  9” pan.  To the remaining crumbs, add the nuts and cinnamon.  Mix well and sprinkle crumbs on top of the batter.  Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or so.  Sometimes I use whole-wheat flour, which is also very good.

Tell Your Story Recipe: Swedish Cream

from Suzi Olson

 “One of our family’s favorite desserts is Swedish Cream. I remember as a child loving Christmas dinner because my mom always made Swedish Cream. It was saved for special occasions and we children always went back for seconds because we knew when it was gone it would be a long time until we had it again.

Then when I was in junior high, my parents decided that each Christmas they would have an open house and invite all the people we loved to celebrate the holidays with us. My mom wanted her friends to enjoy a night off so she did all the cooking. I enjoyed helping her bake and loved my time spent beside her. The menu changed from year to year, but the Swedish Cream was always on the menu.  Every year she had to make more because it became a favorite for everyone who attended. My mom still makes it every year.  My children love it and now we make it for special occasions.” 

Swedish Cream

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1 pint sour cream

1 Tablespoon Knox unflavored gelatin

1 cup sugar

Instructions:

Combine whipping cream, gelatin and sugar in top of double boiler. Put over medium heat, stir occasionally. Heat until all is dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool. Add sour cream and pour into buttered mold. Chill until firm. Serve with thawed frozen berries (I prefer raspberries), can thicken with 2 tablespoons corn starch. Add a little lemon juice to enhance the flavor. Unmold, drizzle sauce over and garnish with a sprig of holly for a beautiful Christmas dessert.

Tell Your Story Recipe: Millie's Mint Brownies

From Allison Hansen

Just like Fern in "Charlotte's Web," my childhood summers revolved around the local fair—with its smelly barns and sketchy midway and funky fried food carts. And also like Fern, I brought my pig to show. And my goats. And my horses. And...my brownies.  

Because I loved to bake, my mother encouraged me to enter an original recipe in the youth Home Arts exhibit. Hoping for a creative advantage, I embellished a classic cakey chocolate brownie recipe with mint. 

On about the third day of sleeping over at the fair, between shifts watching and watering the animals, I snuck away to the exhibit buildings. Scanning row after row of floral arrangements and quilts, I found my brownies between heirloom recipe cookies and canned goods—with a blue ribbon!  

Last summer vacation, as our family created a to-do list, we added an ambitious "Enter the State Fair." Memories flooded as I coached my 7 year-old Millie through the old winning recipe, then days later weaved through the livestock auction and lemonade stands to the Home Arts exhibit hall. I stepped back and watched Millie hunt down her brownies, between cookies and canned goods, to victoriously find her own ribbon! I've decided to name these after her...

MILLIE'S MINT BROWNIES

(note:  these are a dense, cakey brownie, best served with a dollop of ice cream on top!)

             3c cake flour (or 2 2/3 c all-purpose flour with 1/3 c corn starch)

             1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

             1 1/2 teaspoons salt

             1 1/2 c butter, softened

             3 c sugar

             6 eggs, room temperature (rec: large or extra large)

             1 tablespoon vanilla extract

             1/2 teaspoon mint extract

             9 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted

1/2 to 1 bag mint chocolate chips, to taste (note: we prefer Hershey's, however, they are seasonal and difficult to find. Andes is a more readily available option)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a standard 12x18 inch jelly roll pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside for later.  

In another large bowl, cream butter and sugar into a dreamy fluff -- 3-4 minutes. Beat the eggs and combine with the creamed mixture. Add vanilla and mint extracts.  est part -- add the melted chocolate to the creamed mixture and mix until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients and pour batter into prepared pan. Watch the edges; this recipe makes a little more batter than fits safely in the jelly roll pan. 

(Baker's note: this batter is so heavenly, I do allow one clean-spooned snitch from the staff.)  

Bake 25-30 minutes. When you test with a toothpick, aim for a few moist crumbs.

Tell Your Story Recipe: Banana Cake

from Maegan Orchard

“Banana cake has been our family's "go-to" birthday cake since my mother was a little girl. Every year, my mom and all three of her siblings had this as their cake of choice for their birthday parties. Initially, my grandma chose this cake from others because she believed it was somewhat healthy because of the bananas. She laughed as she told me that...Oh a mother's reasoning!

My mom has passed down this cake to her own family and my three siblings and I love it just as much. Every year, for as long as I can remember, this has been the highlight of my birthday party. Even my close friends have come to love and look forward to this cake. It is moist perfection and the buttercream frosting is the ultimate compliment to our family favorite cake. “

Banana Birthday Cake

2 1/3 cups flour

1 2/3 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 medium bananas)

2/3 cup oil

2/3 cup buttermilk, divided

3 eggs

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Buttercream Frosting:

1 cube (1/2 cup) butter

¼ cup milk

1-2 teaspoons vanilla

1 lb. powdered sugar (until desired consistency)

Instructions for cake:

Grease and flour two 9” layer pans. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add oil, 1/3 cup buttermilk and mashed bananas. Beat for 2 minutes then add 3 eggs and another 1/3 cup buttermilk. Pour into prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, or until cake tests done. Cool.

Instructions for frosting:

Beat the butter with part of the powdered sugar. Add the milk and vanilla and the remaining powdered sugar until it is the consistency you like. We sometimes have to add more milk to thin it out. Turn the mixer to high and whip the frosting for 3 minutes.

Tell Your Story Recipe: Swig Sugar Cookies

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from Kacey Jenson

“A few summers ago I took a bunch of friends down to Lake Powell. Among them was my dear friend Jeff Sorenson and in his hands were the most delicious sugar cookies I've ever had. His mom, Sharee, made them. At the time, Swig was something only a few people had heard of and sugar cookies had not made their debut on the hottest trends list yet. However, sugar cookies have always been the #1 treat in my family's book, and I could not believe how delicious these particular cookies were! 

When we got home from that trip my mom called Sharee and asked if she would share her recipe with us. She was kind enough to do so, and we've never looked back. I don't know if Sharee realizes how far the Schneiders have taken that Swig sugar cookie recipe (which is, in our opinion, much better than the actual Swig cookies). 

It has become the staple treat I'm required to bring on trips to Bear Lake with my in-laws, and it is the treat my mom makes for most parties, housewarming gifts, and road trips. That cookie has never been turned down. It has 100% success rate. My family is forever indebted to Sharee Sorenson for introducing us to the best sugar cookies this world has ever seen!”

from Kacey Jenson

Swig Sugar Cookies 

1 cup butter (room temperature)

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons water

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

5 1/2 cups flour

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter (room temperature)

3/4 cup sour cream

1 2-lb package powdered sugar (little less)

1/4 cup milk

red food coloring

Cookie Instructions:

Cream together butter, oil, sugar, water, and eggs. Combine dry ingredients and slowly add butter mixture. Mix until everything is combined. Your dough should be a little crumbly and not sticky at all. Roll a golf ball sized ball of dough and place it on your cookie sheet. Put 1/4 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt in a dish. Stick the bottom of a glass in it. (cookie press) Firmly press it into the center of your dough ball. You want your dough to spill out over the sides of the glass. If there is a lip, it’s even better. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes (barely brown on the bottom, time may vary slightly). Move cookies to cooling rack. Once they are cool put them in the fridge. 

Frosting:

Cream together butter and sour cream. Slowly add sugar. When thick add a splash of milk. Alternate the process until desired consistency. Add 1 drop of red food coloring and whip on high for 1 minute. Keep cookies in a sealed container until ready to serve. Frost right before serving (have frosting at room temperature). Best if served cold.

Tell Your Story Recipe: Grand "D's" Caramels

Heather Barth

As long as I can remember, making caramels has been a thing in my family.  I believe it started with my mother's mother and I recall them being wrapped in waxed paper with a twist on each end. She and my grandfather lived on Berkeley Street when I was in elementary school at Rosslyn Heights. What a treat it was to walk home from school and take a detour to her house before going home. As soon as I got there she splashed me with Jean Nate ("my goodness you smell like school"), gave me a big hug, and spoiled my dinner with a caramel she had made(or a peppermint taffy if the caramels were gone)!

After my grandmother passed away, my father started making the caramels...and boy did he take it to a new level! The freshest ingredients, the best candy thermometer money could buy, cut by hand meticulously with a ruler (now he uses a mold), packed carefully in paper candy cups, and refrigerated so the corners would stay perfectly square! For many years the most coveted Christmas gift in the Parleys 1st Ward was a box of OD Hall's caramels!  

I don't have my dad's envied patience or penchant for perfection, so I don't even try to make these caramels any more (although my sister Alicia Richardson does and hers are fantastic), but the memory of them is pure love!  And trust me they are delicious!

You perfectionists out there...give it a try!

Grand "D's" Caramels

4 cups sugar

Few grains salt

4 cups corn syrup

1 cup butter

2 pints whipping cream

2 tsp. vanilla

Boil sugar, salt and corn syrup to 240 degrees.  Add butter.  Put on lid and boil up the sides.  Remove lid.  Add whipping cream gradually, taking 20 minutes.  Cook until 236 degrees, firm ball.  Remove from heat.  Add vanilla.  Pour into buttered molds or a buttered jellyroll pan.  Sit room temperature until cooled.  Enjoy!