What a fun project that must have been.... I've purchased recipe collections for years when I find them at yard sales and thrift stores - purchased mostly for the boxes and 3-ring book covers that held them. I was going to use the decorative recipe boxes and books for the art on a cover for a cookbook, but the REAL fun was comparing recipes. Watergate Salad sounds so benign until you compare 10 recipes for it. All those "secret" ingredients in Chili are revealed before your very eyes. I often wonder is it inspiration, desperation, or something in between, with some of the more "interesting" recipes, like those Linda shared. Why DID someone add a can of sauerkraut or a 4-oz. bottle of red food coloring to chocolate cake? Were you desperate to use that box of Shredded Wheat your family hated (waste not, want not) when you crushed a biscuit and added it to your meatloaf - or were you out of what you normally use? I checked a cookbook out from the library years ago - "Beyond the Bowl" by Debby Maugans using breakfast cereal in the recipes - it included snacks, appetizers, main courses, breads, desserts and more. What a great idea for people who love cereal. I checked the book out because it had a recipe where you use York Peppermint Patties in Rice Krispie Treats - two of my son-in-laws favorites - and it was something our young granddaughter could make him for his birthday, having just learned the art of making Rice Krispie Treats - which is yet one more example in and of itself. And when you think about it, Sandra Lee - with her semi-homemade recipes - has made a living with short-cuts. There used to be more recipe contests for name-brand foods and free recipe booklets were the result, which helped people incorporate the product in their cooking/baking. Those booklets often include some interesting adaptations... -Grainlady

A little Bundt Pan history... The cast-iron kugelhupf pan is common in Europe and in 1950, a group of Minneapolis women asked Nordic Products owner H. David Dalquist to make an aluminum version of the pan. Ten years later, the new Good Housekeeping Cookbook showed a pound cake baked in one, and suddenly every woman wanted a Bundt Pan. The 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest was won with the "Tunnel of Fudge Cake". If you would like that recipe, I'll be happy to post it. In 1972 the grand prize winner in the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest was a Bundt Streusel Spice Cake and 11 top winners also called for a bundt pan. I'll see if I have that booklet in my collection. So the Bundt cake pan is a newcomer in kitchens with more than forty million pans in existence in America. Generally, cakes that have too much sugar in them to have good structure are used in recipes using a tube or Bundt pan. Which is different from a standard cake. I located a few recipes at King Arthur (see link below). -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Bundt Cake Recipes - King Arthur Flour

The link below will give you what you need. I'd suggest cooling the brownies for an hour (or completely cool) then freezing them for an hour before you remove them from the pan via the foil. The brownies will cut better if they are frozen. If you happen to have a roll of Reynolds Wrap RELEASE Non-Stick Foil, this would be a good time to use it. I've used a similar recipe for Holly-Mint Brownies, and cut and decorated the brownies in the shape of holly at Christmas. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Brownie Footballs

Basic Yellow Pound Cake - Anne Byrn, The Cake Doctor A cross between a Twinkie (sans cream filling) and a Sara Lee Pound Cake but better Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan Flour for dusting the pan 1 package (18.25 ozs) plain yellow cake mix 1 package (3.4 ozs) instant vanilla pudding mix 1 cup whole milk 1 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, safflower, corn, soybean or sunflower 4 large eggs 1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325��F. Lightly mist 1 10-inch tube pan with vegetable oil spray then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside. 2. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven. 3. Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 58 to 60 minutes for a tube pan. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a wire rack, then invert it again onto another rack so that the cake is right side up. Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes or more. Frost. 4. Store this cake, unfrosted, covered in aluminum foil, at room temperature, for up to 4 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.