roselvr, do you make the Company Cheesecake from the BH&G cookbook? That's our "old reliable"... back when my dad was teaching he and I would bake twenty or so of them every Christmas for the other teachers and a very few other very lucky people. I much prefer their shortbready crust to the more common crumb crusts. I need a new copy of the OLD big book - the red plaid binder - mine's gone walkabout and they messed around with the recipes in the new version. (Did the same thing to Joy of Cooking. Irritating.) I broke the spine on the paperback in about six places ages back, it's held together with packing tape! Pie for breakfast was a staple at Grammie's when I was a little kid. No half and half though. Slab of apple pie with a hunk of "rat cheese" (very sharp cheddar) on the side - Gramp liked apple best for breakfast, other kinds were for dessert - with "Navy coffee" you could just about stand your spoon up in. (I once had a version where they tried to bake the cheese into the pie. It was vile.) She made terrible crust though. You could hurt someone with the "bone", the bit around the rim. Then she decided to go all "healthy" and the delicious breakfast pie disappeared in favor of a bowl of Wheaties. *mourn* golddust, I do so hate to disagree with you, but I've had enough people insist "oh, I just can't stand that store-bought pie crust", mumbling it around a mouthful of pie... made with that very product. *chuckle* About the third time it happened I decided not to waste precious energy on making piecrust anymore (when you have 4-6 usable hours in a day, you take your shortcuts as you can)... My mom makes kick-@$$ pie crust - perfect texture etc. - but she also smokes heavily so all her baked goods have a strong overtone of "ashtray" to the flavor. We usually give them away to friends who smoke who won't notice it. Oh! I forgot Oatmeal Pie. It's an old Amish/Mennonite recipe, IIRC. It makes a chewy-crisp top sort of like an oatmeal cookie and underneath that is a layer like the gooey part of a pecan pie. As I said above, many of our friends are allergic to nuts, so this is what I bring to a lot of wintertime potlucks as a "replacement" for pecan pie. 25 or so people will wipe out 2 or 3 10" pies and leave other desserts untouched. LOL I used to love making fancy desserts, but they are usually too time consuming for my limited time budget and our friends don't really appreciate them anyway. They'd rather have the simpler, homier stuff.

I'm thinking some kind of warm apples in a crockpot to spoon over cake and/or ice cream - I don't have a recipe but I'm sure someone would. Just a couple of other ideas - I haven't made the pumpkin trifle but I enjoyed it when my neighbor made it. Spiced Chocolate Budino Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis 3 boxes store bought chocolate pudding mix 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 small orange, zested 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes Candied Orange Peel, for garnish, recipe follows Make the pudding according to the package instructions. Add the cinnamon, orange zest, and red pepper flakes before chilling in a large trifle dish. Before serving, sprinkle the top with chopped Candied Orange Peel. Candied Orange Peel: 1 large navel orange 3/4 cup sugar Using a vegetable peeler, cut the orange part of the peel from the stem end of the orange down to the navel end, forming long 3/4 to 1-inch-wide strips. Bring a heavy small saucepan of water to a boil. Add the peels and cook for 1 minute. Drain and then rinse the peels under cold water. Repeat cooking the peels in the saucepan with fresh boiling water and rinsing under cold water 2 more times. Stir the sugar and 1/2 cup of fresh water in a heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil. Add the orange peels and simmer over medium-low heat until tender, about 15 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the peels to a sheet of parchment paper to dry slightly, about 1 hour. Yield: about 10 candied peels Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle (Recipe Courtesy Paula Deen) ===================================================== 2 (14-ounce) package gingerbread mix 1 (5.1-ounce) package cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix 1 (30-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping (or whipped cream - whipped cream is better!) 1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional . Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool. Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding. Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping. Sprinkle of the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. Refrigerate overnight. Trifle can be layered in a punch bowl. serves 15-20 My notes: 1. Cut ingred by half, this makes a large amt. (2004 to fit into my trifle bowl)

Sounds yummy! Mom's in charge of the Pumpkin Cheesecake though! I may save to make later and use butternut squash and my hommade pumpkin butter. Deanna

Where to begin? Cookies: Any of my late mother's cookie recipes. My favorites are the Swedish Cut-out cookies and Wolferman's Four O'Clocks. I also adore the Joy of Cooking Butterscotch Brownies. Pies: All time favorite is Wolferman's Rum Cream pie. Also adore Pumpkin pie (nothing on it), Buttermilk pie, Pecan pie, Apple pie, and the Coconut Cream pie the Woman's Exchange used to make. Cakes: Angel food (must be homemade using my grandmother's recipe), yellow cake with boiled caramel frosting. I adore my mother's recipe for Fruit Cake as well. Candy: Oh let me count the ways! Anything that is dark chocolate. I love Karl Bissinger's candy in St Louis, and La Maison du Chocolat. Ice Cream: Jeni's Salted Caramel, Graeter's Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip, Graeter's Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chip, B&R Pralines 'n Cream, B&R Peanut Butter and Chocolate. LOVED B&R's Chocolate Raspberry Truffle and a really old one Cream de Camamel - haven't seen that one in over 30 years! Cheesecake: Mrs Porter's recipe, either with cherry pie filling on top, or sour cream. She made the very best cheese cake on earth and was generous to share her recipe. I love a good fruit clafoutis. A dessert souffle is sublime. Chocolate mousse. Eton Mess, Hot raspberry souffle - TDF! Raspberries with sugar and cream. Yes, I do like my sweets! Tonight, it was sliced fresh Pennsylvania peaches (I think they are far better than any southern peach) with some dark brown sugar on them.