Mama's Christmas Coconut Cake

One of my favorite Christmas foods is Christmas Coconut Cake or Grandma Ridlen’s One Egg Cake. My mother (Joy Miller) always made this cake at Christmas. She would almost never make it any other time of year, even with a lot of pleading. 

The recipe came from my mother’s mother, Margaret Ridlen, but I’m not sure of its history beyond that. I imagine that coconut was the extraordinary ingredient that made the cake so special because the rest of the ingredients would have been easily available on the farm. This cake is a favorite of my family and is one of the most special Christmas foods I make every year.

-Mary Bryan
daughter of Hollis and Joy Miller

Mama's One Egg Cake (Margaret Ridlen)

Ingredients: 

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1 egg, beaten

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream sugar and shortening. 

Add egg and beat well. 

Sift flour and baking powder, add dash of salt.

Add flour mixture alternately with the milk to the creamed mixture. 

Add vanilla and pour into three round cake pans (lined with waxed paper). 

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown around the edges. 

After cake has cooled, combine coconut and whipped cream and spread between layers. 

Cover entire cake with whipped cream and sprinkle coconut over the top. 

Decorate with a sprinkling of red sugar crystals. 

Best when served the second day.

Cocoanut Meringue Pie

This is a famous pie in our family, everyone loves to eat it, but it never seems to turn out quite right. My Grandma Joy used to make this pie every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It always tasted really good, it always looked beautiful when it came out of the oven, but you could never count on the meringue to stay fluffy. Inevitably the meringue would fall. 

You could sit and watch it slowly deflate as the pie cooled. I remember my Grandma trying everything to get that silly meringue to work. Sometimes it worked better than others but never like it should. My Mom told me that my Uncle Max and Aunt Shirley even got her a copper bowl to use to make it in. I guess that it is supposed to help but it must not have worked all that well because by the time I came to be the meringues still were an issue. 

I remember my Mom and Grandma discussing the issue but they never figured out the mystery of the falling meringue. It has always been kind of a joke in our family that when the pie comes out of the oven everyone has to look at it quick before it falls.

My first attempt at baking a Cocoanut Meringue Pie ...it deflated.

The year before last was the first year that I made this pie, usually my mom makes it. Despite my efforts, my pie fell to the same fate that all the others before it did. It deflated. I even read up on how to do it on the internet before I made it...room temperature eggs, the right utensils... but to no avail. I then decided that it had to be a flaw in the recipe. If Grandma couldn't get it to work it had to be the  recipe.

In my search for a reliable meringue recipe I did some troubleshooting with one of my foodie friends at work and she gave me her Grandma's meringue recipe. She told me that she has never had it fail and that it turns out beautiful every time. I was excited! 

So this year I tried it out and it turned out awesome! It stayed fluffy, had great flavor, and had a smooth texture. It didn't even form those little dew drops on top, which I used to think was way cool when I was little but I guess its not a good thing. I now know that it means you added too much sugar to the meringue. Who knew!?! I will use this meringue recipe from now on. 

-Jennifer Figgins
daughter of Jesse Figgins and Mary Bryan 

This years attempt, it is cooled and still fluffy! Woo HOO!

Cocoanut Pie

Mama (Margaret Ridlen)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups milk divided
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoanut
4 tsp cornstarch
2 beaten egg whites
1 tsp butter
vanilla extract
pinch salt

Cook 1 1/4 cups milk, sugar, and cocoanut in a sauce pan until it bubbles form around the edge of the pan.

Add the cornstarch to remaining 1/2 cup of milk.

Then add the mixture to the hot mixture.

Continue to cook until it starts to thicken.

Remove from heat.

Continuously beating the egg whites slowly add the hot mixture.

Add vanilla, a pinch of salt, and butter.

Pour into baked pie crust.

Top with a 2-egg meringue.

*Note: This year I also added 1-2 tbsp powdered instant tapioca balls to thicken the filling. It helps a lot and doesn't change the flavor or the texture just absorbs the juice and helps firm up the filling. 

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(this is the recipe my Grandma used - Do not use this one!)

Meringue 

Cappers Weekly

Ingredients:
3 egg whites 
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar

Beat 3 egg whites until light and frothy.

Slowly add baking powder and sugar.

Beat until stiff peaks form.

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New Meringue recipe!

Nicole Russel's Grandma's Meringue

Nicole Russel's handwriting, Grandma Russel's recipe

Ingredients:
3 egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
6 tbsp sugar

Allow egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 min.

In a large bowl combine egg whites, vanilla and cream of tartar.

Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed about 1 minute or until soft peaks form (tips curl).

Gradually add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high speed about 4 minutes more or until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks (tips stand straight) and sugar dissolves.

Immediately spread meringue over hot pie filling, carefully sealing to edge of pastry to prevent shrinkage.

Bake as directed in individual recipes, usually 325 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Four Egg White Meringue

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar

Prepare same as above.

Beat about 5 minutes or until stiff glossy peaks form.

Pastry for Double-Crust Pie - Jake and Emily's first pie!

This year I intended to spend the Wednesday before Thanksgiving baking bread and pies. What I didn't know was that I was going to have so many awesome helpers!

Just as I finished mixing up the last of the Swiss bread dough Will, Sara, and all the kids piled in the door. When Jake walked in he got excited when he saw me baking and asked if I was going to make an apple pie. I laughed and told him I hadn't planned on it, but we could if he wanted to help. I really didn't expect him to agree, but without hesitation he said "Cool!" dropped all his stuff at the door, washed his hands, and rolled up his sleeves. I was pretty impressed. 

It wasn't long after Jake came in the door that Emily followed. When she saw Jake in the kitchen she looked at me and said, "I help?" Who can turn that down? Besides that, before I could say anything she got her stool out and pulled it right up beside me.

Miss Emily at the ready!

So while Miss Emily and I made pie crusts...

...Jake peeled and sliced apples.

Jake: "There is now way this is all going to fit!"

We even got Grandma to step in and show us how to make Grandma Joy's design for venting and fluting pies... I remembered Grandma Joy teaching me a different way so now I know Grandma Joy's true pie signature.

Drew even got in on the history lesson.

Yes, Emily is still carefully measuring flour!

We did manage to get Miss Emily to pause measuring flour long enough to help Jake put the final touches on his pie by sprinkling sugar on the top of the pie.

Jake's first pie!

Grandma Joy's signature pie vent.

It was a blast! Emily had flour everywhere and Jake made his first apple pie!

I have to tell you this little side story though, it was so funny...

Emily had dusted enough flour down onto her stool that she slipped off it and plopped onto the floor. She wasn't hurt, it just startled her pretty good, and of course we had to ask her, "are you okay?" She then noticed Grandma, Daddy, Jake, and Aunt Jenny all staring at her and the water works instantly turned on. 

Grandma was the first to the rescue. She scooped her up and snuggled her in. After a few minutes she decided she wanted Daddy so Grandma handed her off to Daddy. The funny part is, after Will peeled Emily off of Grandma, there was a perfect Emily flour print left on the front of Grandma's red sweater and two perfect hand prints on her back! 

After a few minutes with Daddy Emily was good to go... When Will put her down we all looked at him and there was yet another perfect Emily flour print on Will's black shirt! Oh, that girl is hilarious! She was covered in flour head to toe!

Two baths later she came out clean.

In the end we got all the bread and pies baked. Jake's pie turned out awesome and was quite a hit! I think he might be hired. 

-Jennifer Figgins

daughter of Jesse Figgins and Mary Bryan

Pastry for Double-Crust Pie

Ingredients:

1 tsp salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup shortening

6-7 Tbsp cold water

Stir together flour and salt.

Using a pastry blender cut in shortening until pieces are pea-sized.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of water over part of the mixture: gently toss with a fork.

Push moistened dough to side of bowl. Repeat until all the dough is moistened.

Divide in half.

Form each into a ball.

On lightly floured surface, flatten 1 dough ball.

Using a rolling pin, roll from the center of the dough to edges until it forms a 12-inch circle.

To transfer pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin: unroll into a 9-inch pie plate.

...Or you could transfer it like my Grandma Joy taught me... fold it in half and then fold it in half again then pick it up and place it in the pie plate with the tip in the center of the plate. 

Then slowly unfold it.

Ease pastry into pie plate being careful not to stretch pastry.

Transfer filling to pastry-lined pie plate.

Trim pastry even with the rim of pie plate. 

Roll remaining dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter.

Cut slits or a design to allow steam to escape.

Place remaining pastry on filling: trim 1/2 inch beyond edge of plate. 

Fold top pastry under bottom pastry.

Crimp edge as desired.

Bake as directed in individual recipes.

Food processor directions:

Prepare as above.

Place steel blade in processor bowl.

Add flour, shortening and salt.

Cover.

Pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal, but with a few larger pieces.

With processor running, quickly add 1/4 cup cold water through feed tube.

Stop processor when all water is added.

Continue pulsing until mixture starts to form a large ball.

Remove dough from bowl.

Divide in half and shape both into balls.

Pastry for Lattice-Top Pie:

Prepare as above except trim bottom pastry to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate.

Roll out remaining pastry and cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips.

Fill pastry-lined pie plate with desired filling. Weave strips over filling for lattice crust. 

Press ends of strips into crust rim.

Fold bottom pastry over strips, seal and crimp edge.

For a quick lattice, roll out top pastry and use a mini-cookie cutter to make cutouts an equal distance apart from pastry center to edge.

Place pastry on filling and seal.

Bake as directed.

Jen's Apple Pie

Pictured with crumble topping.

Apple pie is one of my favorite baking memories with Grandma Joy, and probably one of the first things I was ever allowed to help her bake. :)

I remember when I was itty-bitty Grandma let me peel the apples with her super cool apple peeler. It was one of those that clamps onto the side of a table or counter and it has a handle that you crank to spin the apple round and round. I am guessing that I got this job because it was a little tedious but loads of fun! 

Probably the funniest part of the whole event for Grandma was me trying to eat the peel as fast as I could peel it. I remember Grandma laughing at me and asking me what I was doing... I am sure it was quite the sight! What can I say, I love tart apples and you couldn't let a good thing go to waste! She finally told me that we could save the peels until I was done peeling all the apples and then I could eat as many or as much of them as I wanted. In retrospect I must not have been as fast as I thought I was! LOL

Jen's Apple Pie

Ingredients:
2 lbs apples
Juice of 1 small lemon
6 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp ground cinnamon (I tend to use more)
Unbaked double-crust pastry for pie

Glaze:
1 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp granulated sugar

Optional crumble topping:
cinnamon
granulated sugar
butter

Place baking sheet in oven and preheat to 425 degrees.

Quarter, core and peel apples.

Slice them, toss with lemon juice, then with the sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch.

Put the apples into the lined pan. 

Distribute the slices, heaping them toward the center.

Brush rim of the pastry with a little milk. 

Cover with the remaining piece of pastry. 

Gently press the edge with thumb tips.

Cut off excess, holding the knife at a slight angle.

Flute the edge with your fingertips, then brush the top with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Cut a 1/2 inch steam hole in the top crust.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 30-35 minutes. 

The pastry should be golden and the filling soft when pierced.

Neoma's Cranberry Salad

I must admit when I was a kid I never really liked cranberry salad but it was always something that got put on your plate for you to "try" ... just in case you remembered it wrong from the year before. LOL Got to love being a kid! 

I think that it is a salad that your taste buds have to grow into, because surprisingly I actually like cranberry salad now. I must say that of all the different cranberry salad recipes I have tried this one is still my favorite. Although we have made a slight alteration to it by adding an orange, which is an adaptation from my Grandma Alice's recipe. Now it has just enough citrus zing to offset the tart cranberries. It's like a party in your mouth!

-Jennifer Figgins

daughter of Jesse Figgins and Mary Bryan

Cranberry Salad

Aunt Neoma and Grandma Alice Bryan

Ingredients:

2 packages strawberry jello

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 can crushed pineapple

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped nuts

optional: 1 orange, finely ground.

Use a food processor to chop up the cranberries.

Dissolve jello in boiling water according to directions on packaged.

Add rest of ingredients and refrigerate.

Serves: 15

*Grandma Alice Bryan's recipe: add 1 whole orange, finely ground.

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This is another version of Aunt Neoma's Cranberry Salad that was sent to me by her son Mason. It is slightly different than the one I have of Aunt Neoma's but still sounds yummie! Thanks Mason!

Neoma's Cranberry Salad

Neoma Ridlen's handwriting and recipe.

Ingredients: 

2 cups ground cranberries

2 red apples ground

1 cup sugar

1 pkg jello dissolved 

zest and juice from one orange 

Mix all ingredients into dissolved jello.

Place in refrigerator to cool.

Classic Pecan Pie

One of my favorite pies at Thanksgiving is the pecan pie! ...well besides apple... and coconut meringue .. and ...okay so I like pie! This recipe, however, is one of the funny ones. My mom uses family recipes for just about everything, but one of the exceptions is her pecan pie ...well I guess I can't exactly say that it isn't a family recipe because Grandma made her's using the same recipe. I know it is hard to believe, but for the pecan pie my mom uses the recipe on the back of the package. Now mind you, it is not just any package, it has to be the recipe from the back of the Karo Syrup bottle. 

The brand is very important. You can't just use any old brand. LOL I asked her one time why she used that specific brand and she said that she had tried a bunch of recipes and that particular one always turned out the best, and besides that was the recipe Grandma always used. I guess you can't argue with that logic. So Karo Syrup it is!

-Jennifer Figgins
daughter of Jesse Figgins and Mary Bryan

Pecan Pie

As printed on the back of the Karo Syrup bottle.

Ingredients:

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup sugar

1 cup light or dark corn syrup

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/4 cups pecans

1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust

Place baking sheet in oven on center rack and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the first five ingredients until well blended. 

Stir in pecans. 

Pour into unbaked pie crust. 

Bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. 

Cool for 2 hours on wire rack. 

Store pie in refrigerator.

*Tips: Pie is done when center reaches 200 degrees.

Tap center surface of pie lightly; it should spring back when done.

If pie crust is over-browning, cover edges with foil. 

Makes 8 servings. 

Apple Picking at Grandma Joy's

It is apple season again! I love to pick apples. There is something cathartic about harvesting and preparing food that you have raised. It always seems to taste just that much better.

Will Figgins and Jennifer Figgins - apple trees lining the lane.

When I was little my Grandma had a whole row of apple trees lining the lane to her house. She had a couple more up by the house, a red apple tree in front of the house and a huge green apple tree towards the North end of the house. My favorite to eat, by far, were the green apples. They were so tart that they would make your lips pucker! Okay, so I was an odd child. My favorite to climb, however, was the tree in front of the house. I was not very good at climbing trees and it had really low limbs!

Jennifer Figgins with Joe (the cat) - favorite climbing apple tree (left)

There is one year in particular I will never forget. We had picked all the apples from along the lane and from the tree in the front yard all that was left was the green apple tree. Grandma had a pretty big crew that year. We had picked all the apples that we could reach from the ground with the apple picker and it was decided that more were needed. Instead of finding a ladder to reach higher into the tree someone had the idea to pull my Uncle Maurice's old red and white pickup up under the tree so that we could stand in the bed of the truck and pick apples. Well, it turns out that the bed of the pickup didn't increase the apple picking opportunities like they first thought it would. So My Aunt Marie decided to climb up on top of the cab. This of course was much higher!

At this point my Grandma decided that it was okay for my aunt to climb up there, but we would just step back and supervise. Unfortunately the top of the pickup cab didn't allow them to reach the prime real-estate either... so they changed gears yet again and went to plan C.

The next thing we knew the pickup was pulling out and Uncle Maurice was pulling up to the tree in his tractor with the scoop attached. Now this was something to see! I wish I had a picture of it to share. I never knew my aunt was part Evel Knievel! She hopped up into the scoop with the apple picker in hand and up she went! My Uncle lifted her up in the bucket as high as it would go. I think We got every possible apple off the tree that year! 

Sadly apple picking just doesn't seem the same without a tractor and scoop. It is just not as exciting picking from the ground!

-Jennifer Figgins
daughter of Jesse Figgins and Mary Bryan


Marie Miller's Apple Crisp

Joy Miller's handwriting. Marie Miller's recipe

Ingredients: 

4 cups apples 

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup oatmeal

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp nutmeg

1/3 cup oleo or butter

Spread apples in an even layer in the bottom of the baking dish.

Cover apples with the white sugar.

Mix the brown sugar, flour, oatmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg, and oleo.

Sprinkle the oatmeal crumble mixture over the top of the apples.

Bake at moderate oven temperature.

Burnt Marshmallow Myth

Grandpa Miller always told me (with those wonderful, smiling, -more like laughing!- blue eyes of his), that burnt marshmallows would give me black curly hair. 

I tried and tried to get black curly hair by burning all my marshmallows when we had a picnic...it just didn't work! Dark brown, straight hair is just NOT the same, Grandpa! :-) 

I especially remember a picnic on the south side of Grandma's and Grandpa's house...I was getting up from the table to burn a marshmallow and the table tipped, because other people were sitting on the downhill side! Couldn't have been just me that stood up at the time, because I wasn't very old, and I used to be skinny! It was all those marshmallows and Wacky cakes!

-Donna Joy Hendrickson 
daughter of Maurice and Marie Miller

Salmon Patties

As our garden is now starting to produce peas I was reminded of one of my favorite fish dishes. If you know me you know that I am not extremely fond of fish, but I love this recipe! I remember helping Grandma make this when I was little. She would get all the ingredients out and dump them into a large bowl. I then got the super fun job of mashing it all together with my bare hands! Of course, you had to be kind of careful not to make too much of a mess. 

-Jennifer Figgins
daughter of Jesse Figgins and Mary Bryan

Salmon Patties

Ingredients:
1 sleeve of saltines
1 large egg
1 can of pink or red salmon
vegetable oil

Crush the sleeve of crackers into small pieces.

Drain the can of salmon.

Slightly beat the egg.

In a large bowl incorporate all the ingredients together.

Form mixture into skinny patties.

Use enough oil to coat the bottom of a skillet.

Add patties once the skillet is hot.

Fry on both sides until a golden brown crust forms.

Serve hot.


Makes about 4-5 hamburger-sized patties

*Note: Peas are a great side to go with the patties.

Homemade Ice Cream at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2011 in Arizona Max Miller, Jon Jelen, and Steve Jelen

I thought you might like this picture of my dad (Max Miller), Tammy’s husband (Jon Jelen), and Tammy’s son (Steve Jelen) working on homemade ice cream at Thanksgiving. It reminded me of the picture you posted of Grandpa making ice cream.

- Marcia Chadly

daughter of Max and Shirley Miller

Mulberry and Rhubarb Pie

Last night I waited up to meet my egg fairy, well everyone else might know him as my cousin Mike! He and his wife, Chris, raise free-range laying hens and there is nothing like farm fresh eggs! The best part is he delivers right to your refrigerator! LOL As we are in the middle of Mulberry season I was processing mulberries when he arrived. We then got to talking, as Millers often do, about picking mulberries. I told him how I picked them the hard way the first round... you know the painstaking way of one ripe berry at a time. 

I had to laugh because a couple of days later I went to my brother's and picked more with Sara. She taught me how to use old sheets and shake the tree. We lined the ground under the tree with old sheets and then grabbed the branches above them and shook them until the ripe mulberries stopped raining down on us! In a matter of minutes you are left with sheets covered with ripe mulberries and then all you have to do is grab the corners of the sheets and pour them into your buckets. So simple and fast! 

The truly funny part of that is that it was my mom who told her how to do it that way. I guess she remembered Auntie and Grandma Spratt picking them that way, but somehow she neglected to tell me about it. :) Mike then laughed and said that he could remember picking mulberries when he was younger with his parents. He told me that they used rope or something like that to loop around the tree so that you could shake the living daylights out of it. LOL He said that he even remembered his dad using the tractor to shake the tree! I guess it worked great and there wasn't a ripe berry left on the tree when they were done! LOL Kind of makes me think of the old cowboy motto only modernized by replacing the horse with a tractor... if you can't do it from the seat of your tractor then it's not worth doing!

-Jennifer Figgins
daughter of Jesse Figgins and Mary Bryan

Mulberry and Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients:
2 cups mulberries with green stems removed
1 cup chopped rhubarb
2 tsp lemon zest
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
unbaked double-crust pastry for pie

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Combine mulberries and rhubarb with salt, sugar, flour and lemon zest.

Pour the filling into the lined pan.

Distribute the filling, heaping them toward the center.

Brush rim of the pastry with a little milk. 

Cover with the remaining piece of pastry. 

Gently press the edge with thumb tips. 

Cut off excess, holding the knife at a slight angle. 

Flute the edge with your fingertips, then brush the top with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Cut a 1/2 inch steam hole or design in the top crust. 

Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly.

Grandma Joy's Homemade Ice Cream

I have been searching for Grandma Joy's homemade ice cream recipe for a long time now.  It took a lot of searching by several family members and I am excited to announce that I think we have finally located it!! 

The following is some of the relaying that lead up to the discovery... 

To Max:
From: Marie Miller
I found this hand written recipe (in one of the girls' handwriting)   I believe it is the one Mom used to use.  Let me know if this is the right one.

To Marie:
From: Max Miller
Thanks, Marie.  It sounds likely, but I don’t know how we would know for sure.  I will send it on to Mary too, so she won’t need to keep looking for pasteurized eggs.  

The email was then forwarded by Max to Mary Bryan.

To: Jennifer
From: Mom (Mary Bryan)
Here is Mom’s Ice Cream recipe or close enough.

...You have to love the game of telephone!! Thank you to all who have searched for this recipe. It is definitely loved by many and will be cherished for years to come!

- Jennifer Figgins

Daughter of Jesse Figgins and Mary Bryan

Homemade Ice Cream

Ingredients:
6 eggs

2 cups Sugar

1 tsp salt

1 qt cream

1 tbsp vanilla
milk
rock salt
ice

Beat 6 eggs well.

Add 2 cups of sugar incorporating one cup at a time into the mixture.

Next stir in salt, cream and vanilla.

Mix Well.

Pour the mixture into the ice cream-maker container.

Add milk to the container filling it up to the middle of 2nd loop from top.

Next place container into ice cream-maker.

Pack ice around container using 1 part rock salt to 4 parts ice.

Be careful not to over fill ice and salt. The ice should not go over the lip of the container. This could contaminate the ice cream mixture inside.

Serve immediately!