Date Cheese Bread

Date bread sounds good. Cheese bread sounds good. Who would think to combine them? Wisconsin of course. This interesting bit comes from the 1964 pamphlet Favorite Recipes from America's Dairyland, Wisconsin's World Fair Edition, published by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture.

 I couldn't get a genuine Wisconsin egg or Wisconsin milk but I did have some delicious Wisconsin cheese.

 Mix the dry. Mix the wet. and...

 Combine!

 It actually doesn't look bad.

 Okay, it looks worse in the pan.

 I think my bread pan was a bit too small and it looks like the tempurature was too low as well.

 The dates looked great through the bread but I lost cheese somewhere in there.

 Had to add some butter!

The bread was just okay by itself. It almost tasted like wheat bread. But when I added the butter...Wow! The dates add a nice touch of sweetness and then you get a bite of sharp cheddar. Yum.

My Rating: Good but not great.

Friends and Family Rating:"Surprisingly good!" "You would not think that these 2 things go together but it is great!"

Gandy Cocktail

I filled my house with wine and cider in preparation for Hurricane Florence and then it decided to not travel all the way up to Virginia. Not that I'm complaining! But I was so ready for a storm or, at least, heavy rain. Instead we got extreme humidity and a breeze. Okay. It gave me time to wander through recipes. This interesting cocktail from Here's How! by Stouffer's seems to have a little bit of lots of things. I prefer simple cocktails but somehow had all the ingredients for this.

 This is very different from the Gandy Dancer Cocktail!

Lots of a little bit...

 Why does everything I make come out green or bright pink?!

It was a bright, interesting drink. It doesn't make a lot so I would probably either double the recipe or serve it in a smaller glass. All in all a nice light citrusy drink.

My Rating: Not bad. I would make again if I had everything on hand.

Tomato Soup Cake

Sometimes you just need to grab something weird and go with it. This oddity comes from the 1960 Better Cooking and Baking pamphlet put out by Robertshaw-Fulton Company.

There isn't a lot of tomato soup in this recipe so I am not exactly certain of its purpose. Other than to scare people...which is a perfectly good reason.

 Looks normal, except for the soup. It really stands out in the group. I am guessing this is going to taste like a spice cake of some sort.

 The batter turned out rather thin and very sticky before adding the raisins and walnuts.

 I love a batter that has more nuts (and other stuff) than actual batter!

 I'm not a fan of layer cakes but I am following the recipe this time. I didn't have 8 inch cake pans so I had to settle for 9 inch. It shouldn't be a problem.

 My oven tends to be a bit wonky with the temperature. I went for the longer time, as usual, and the look great! And smell great...like autumn.

 Just following the recommended icing.

I was going for a 'rustic' icing look. Turned out great!

Despite the less-than-perfect icing job, this was a delicious cake! The cake turned out a little dry but I will take responsibility for that since I went straight to the longer baking time. Dumb oven. This was a surprisingly good and tasted just like a spice cake, as predicted. I still don't know the point of the soup. It didn't add any flavor. The icing was light and just a bit crisp. I just needed a little more to cover the entire cake. Oh well. All in all a good recipe!

My Rating: Delicious but dry. Need to try baking it again to make sure it wasn't me.

Friends and Family Rating: "Interesting." "Surprisingly good!"

Fallen Angel Cocktail

Sometimes I need a little help baking. Pulling out The Savoy, I found this interesting gem. I'm not a big fan of mint drinks but this has gin so I was willing to give it a try.

I love the note at the end of the recipe.

Everything gathered! I can't remember why I originally bought creme de menthe...It's not something I normally keep at my bar.

 Looks minty green!

Well...not my favorite. I tried it with lemon juice but it may taste a bit better with lime. It was a little too minty for me and felt like it needed something more, like a double chocolate cake.

My Rating: Just okay. Might try again with lime next year.