MOMMAW'S PUMPKIN CAKE

4 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
1 15-16 oz can of Libby's pumpkin

Cream sugar and eggs, then add oil and mix well. Stir dry ingredients together and then slowly add to the mixture a bit at a time. Add pumpkin last and mix together thoroughly. Pour into an ungreased tube or bundt pan and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Cool in pan some before putting out on a cake plate. Loosen the sides with a knife and shake pan to make sure bottom is loose. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese frosting

Mammaw's Carrot Cake

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon black walnut flavoring
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped nuts (black walnuts are best, but we use pecans or English walnuts)

Cream eggs and sugar, then add oil and mix well. Add dry ingredients, then carrots, vanilla, black walnut flavoring, and lastly nuts. Mix all ingredients together well and then pour into an ungreased tube/bundt pan. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes at 325 degrees.
Mammaw Smith used to make this often years ago. My mom (Granny) makes it often now. It keeps well and is better the second day. No frosting is necessary for this yummy cake. Some people put cream cheese frosting on their recipe for carrot cake but trust me...you won't want to do that to this cake.

Cucumber Spread

2 medium cucumbers
11 ounces cream cheese, softened (1 8oz pkg. + 1 3oz pkg.)
3 green onions, chopped (green and white parts both)
2 T. chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 t. garlic salt 1 t. dried chives (optional)
1/2 t. seasoned black pepper
1/4 t. hot pepper sauce
Thinly sliced bread and/or party crackers

Peel cucumbers, slice in half lengthwise and remove the seeds with a spoon. Grate by hand or with food processor. Squeeze by hand, then place between layers of paper towels and press hard to get out all moisture. Combine cream cheese with rest of ingredients in a food processor or mixer and mix well. Carefully stir in the cucumbers. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for 7 to 10 days.

The secret to this recipe is to squeeze out all the moisture out of the cucumbers before adding them to the other ingredients. I first fell in love with cucumber sandwiches in South Africa where they were served with tea. There they usually slice the cucumbers very thinly, lay on paper towels to press out the water. Then they spread cream cheese on one side of the thinly sliced bread and then on the other slice of bread they spread butter. They were delicious.
This particular recipe comes from Darlene Warden of "As You Like It Catering" .

Russian Teacakes--Mega Batch

Prepare a bowl of confectioner's sugar to roll cookies in when baked, and waxed paper to cool them on.

4 Cups Butter or Margarine (Softened not melted)
2 Cups Confectioner's Sugar
4 teaspoons vanilla
Cream together.

In another bowl mix together:
9 Cups all Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
3 Cups Finely Chopped Nuts

Work in the flour/salt/nuts. Mixture may be hard to mix...if you don't have a heavy duty mixer you should do this by hand.
Shape into balls. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 400 for 10 to 12 minutes. Cookies will not look brown so watch your time carefully. As soon as you can handle the hot cookies, roll in a bowl of confectioner's sugar. Cookies will be very fragile so be careful. Set the rolled cookies on waxed paper to cool. When cool roll again in confectioner's sugar. Unbaked dough can be frozen in zip loc bags and thawed in refrigerator. Thaw and then continue to roll balls in confectioner's sugar and bake as above.