I made this healthy-ish cake for my birthday. My inlaws were here, so I was nervous about serving them what could have been a cake tasting like sawdust and ground up cardboard, but it was GOOD. I subsituted the small amounts of white flour for oat flour.

serves 10
You might need to buy:
  • Nonstick spray coating
  • flour
  • whole wheat flour
  • baking soda
  • ground cinnamon
  • salt
  • sugar
  • chopped walnuts or pecans
  • applesauce
  • packed brown sugar
  • all-purpose flour
  • whole wheat flour
  • ground cinnamon
  • butter
  • chopped walnuts or pecans

These are very good and rich enough that I can limit myself to one or two without eating the whole batch.

You might need to buy:
  • organic almond butter
  • raw honey
  • organic olive oil
  • organic rolled oats
  • shredded organic coconut
  • carob chips to taste

I can only make these once a week. Otherwise the boys and I sit down and eat the entire batch. Occasionally, I make them with bananas so I won’t eat them.

You might need to buy:
  • organic salted butter
  • raw sugar
  • egg
  • vanilla
  • organic unsweetened apple sauce
  • whole wheat flour
  • rolled oats
  • baking soda
serves 12
You might need to buy:
  • yellow cake mix
  • brown sugar
  • cinnamon
  • sour cream
  • egg
serves 8
You might need to buy:
  • milk
  • peanut butter
  • powdered sugar
  • cream cheese
  • cool whip
  • graham cracker crust
serves 6
You might need to buy:
  • unsweetened chocolate
  • light cream or half and half
  • sugar
  • butter
  • salt
  • vanilla
Belongs to happyendings Pie Crust 

One trick is to keep everything cold—-ice water, a cold rolling pin (mine is marble), and even cold Crisco is best. Once you make it, flatten it into 2 disks before you refrigerate it, so you don’t have to roll it so much. Getting the right thickness just takes practice. I tend to leave the middle too thick. Roll from the middle, and go like you’re on the 12-6-2-8-4-10 hands of the clock to keep it even. It takes some practice to get the circle to come out well. They make a utensil to cut the fat in; otherwise use a fork. Some people put the salt in the water so it’s evenly distributed, but it doesn’t dissolve well in cold water, so I’m not a fan of that method. Then get one of the rings to put around it while it bakes; otherwise the edge tends to get too brown. It also takes practice getting the amount of flour on the board right to keep it from sticking; you don’t want too much or too little. I sprinkle some on the dough disk, and some on the rolling cloth/board. I had a recipe that called for lemon juice, but I’ve read that makes the dough tough, so I don’t use it anymore. Even Julia Child says it’s easy to do in a food processor, but I seem to have trouble with that. The rule is that too much fat makes it weak and leaky, too little makes it cracker-like and tough.

You might need to buy:
  • powdered sugar
  • softened margarine or butter
  • vanilla
  • milk
You might need to buy:
  • butter
  • shortening
  • powdered sugar
  • sugar
  • eggs
  • flour
  • cream of tartar
  • baking soda
  • vanilla
  • almond extract