A Rainy Day, A Full Recipe Box...

So...it's raining today.


Or will be raining soon...My boys are gone for the day (Thank you, Grandma K!!)...

All I have is the kick-ass stereo that I stole from my mom's house

(yes, I'm 38 BUT I can still go to my mom's house and take things)

And my grandma's recipe box...what ho, what's this??


Does that say "Cherry Pudding"? What a co-winkie-dink...Dad just brought me a gallon of cherries from my uncle's trees:


Gorgeous, right? They've already given us a pretty pie



It only seems right that we should try out Grandma's cherry pudding...

She had 3 (count 'em THREE) copies of this recipe in the box. She's like me: it's around here somewhere, but I'll copy it again because I can't put my hands on it right now.


Pretty raggedy, a sure sign of a good one.

Pudding? With Baking Powder? Really? Welp, I guess we don't know until we try, right?

Simple ingredients: 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 (heaping) teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 cup cold water



Mix together dry, add wet...just like noodles:


In another bowl: 1 1/2 cups hot water, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 cup cherries.

You may be asking yourself, "I wonder why that water looks...pink?"

Well, there was about 1/4 cup of juice that came out of the cherries, I just put that in the bottom of the measuring cup then filled it 1 1/2 cups.

Genius, right? Not really, it was suggested on one of the copies of the recipe.

Pour the flour mixture into a greased baking pan. I used a round cake pan.

And then pour the cherry mixture on top. Don't stir.

My cake pan is a wee bit full, I better put this on a baking sheet so I don't have to clean my oven again.

No baking instructions...gee, thanks Grandma. Let's do 350, we'll check it after 20 minutes or so...

Meanwhile, let's see what else is in this recipe box:

A self frosting cake??? WHAAAA???


Ooo, look: A tobacco ad...

I think it wants to say, 'Anyone old enough to vote is old enough to make up his own mind'. I'm sold, gimmee a cig.

Bisquick Party Book??

Whoa...Bisquick Party. Amy's House. Be There. I'll bring the book.

Hey, what's this?

Oh. Emm. Gee. A mystery recipe!

Well...should we make it? Ok, I think so too...

"Hard Ball"...ok, it's a candy of some kind.

1 1/2 cups white sugar, 1 cup B sugar (I'm going to assume that means Brown), 2/3 cup syrup (light corn syrup), 3/4 cup water...There's a little space, I'm going to think ahead and assume you cook this part separate from the remaining ingredients:

Cook to Hard Ball. I prefer Hard Ball to Soft Crack - The most unpleasant term in candy-making. Maybe the most unpleasant term EVER. Well, Hard Crack isn't so great either.


While that's cooking, the rest of the ingredients are 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp vanilla, 4 tbsp butter. I really feel that this really needs nuts, so I'm adding cashews.

After you get to the proper degree of ball, add the remaining ingredients, then pour out onto a sheet to cool:

Beautiful, right? I gotta let it cool...If you want uniform shapes, you should score it while it's still warm...

Yes, Amy...it's gorgeous...And the pudding? How about the cherry pudding Amy?

Oh, crap...I forgot about it. 40 minutes in the oven...And I wanted to eat some really bad so I did. Sorry.



Yeah. It's yummy....
Whipped cream? Sure! Powdered sugar? Oh, yeah. Warm with ice cream? Don't EEEEVen.

Raining outside. Fresh Coffee. Warm Cherry Pudding.

Life is good.