Category Archives: Church (and other religious organizations) Cook Books & Recipes

South Buffalo Cake (who knew that there was a cake specific to South Buffalo?)

Today in things I had not heard of until today- the South Buffalo Cake. Who knew that there was a cake named after a neighborhood here in the 716. I don’t know what makes this particular cake so special to South Buffalo (to play along with stereotypes there is nothing Irish about it). I was only able to find two other hits with the name of this recipe- one (with a chocolate glaze) was on another recipe website and the other was someone asking about it.

One of the key things to remember when doing baking is to use the correct type of flour for the recipe. Cake flour (which is what is called for in this recipe) has a lower protein content (10%) than all-purpose (King Arthur is 11.7%) and bread flour (King Arthur is 12.7%)

South Buffalo Cake

Cook Time1 hour
Course: after church coffee hour, cake, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cake, dessert
Author: Mrs. E, Grobe Miller

Ingredients

  • 5 eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

  • Separate eggs.
  • Beat whites until stiff and fine grained, then gradually beat in 1 cup sugar.
  • Beat yolks until very light and to yolks add the second cup of sugar and the vanilla.
  • Sift flour, baking powder, and salt, add to yolks alternatively with the water, continue to beat.
  • Fold in egg whites and mix carefully.
  • Pour into ungreased cake pan.
  • Bake in a 350° oven for about 1 hour, then turn heat off and continue to bake for about 15 minutes more.
  • Remove from oven, invert and let hang until nearly cool, then loosen and pull from pan.

Baker Family Lemon Bars

It’s the infamous Lemon Bars & Lemon squares! As seen in who knows how many community cookbooks over the years. This variation came from The Wanderers: Assumption Church Folk Group 1984.

No discussion or posting of a recipe variation can happen without a callout to Just Hood who originally posted on reddit.

Baker Family Lemon Bars

Cook Time1 hour 9 minutes
Course: after church coffee hour, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: le’mon
Author: Baker Family

Ingredients

Cookie

  • ½ lb. butter softened
  • ½ cup confectioner's sugar
  • 2 cup flour
  • ¼ tsp salt

Topping

  • 2 cup sugar
  • 4 Tbsp. flour
  • 4 Tbsp. lemon juice
  • confectioner's sugar

Instructions

Cookie base

  • Blend together and press into 10"x14" pan.
  • Bake at 350° F for 25 minutes.

Topping

  • Mix and pour over baked mixture.
  • Return to oven and bake at 325° F for 25 minutes.
  • Cool, cut into squares and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar

Creamed Cabbage Soup with Kolbasz (Kaposzta Leves Fustolt Kobassza)

I was tempted to write a long story about how when my great-great-grandmother was a girl she smuggled this Creamed Cabbage Soup with Kolbasz (Kaposzta Leves Fustolt Kobassza) recipe out of Hungary by sewing a copy of this in the hem of her skirt.
That didn’t happen. For one thing, my grandmothers were variations of the German/ Polish/ Swiss theme. For another? I got this from a church cookbook which is freely available at Archive.org.

[archiveorg st-emeric-church-hungarian-cookbook-ocrd width=560 height=600 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]

Creamed Cabbage Soup with Kolbasz (Kaposzta Leves Fustolt Kobassza)

Print Recipe
Course Dinner, Lunch, Soup
Cuisine Hungarian
Keyword Cabbage, Kielbasa, Sauerkraut, soup
Author Ida Egyed

Ingredients

  • 1 lb sauerkraut
  • 2 qt water
  • 1 Tbsp lard or shortening
  • 2 Tbsp flour
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp. sour cream
  • ½ lb smoked kolbasz (Hungarian sausage)

Instructions

  • Rinse off sauerkraut.
  • Drain.
  • Cook in 2 quarts of water.
  • Add salt and cut up kolbasz.
  • Cook for 15 minutes.
  • Brown flour in lard.
  • Add diced onion; brown a little longer.
  • Pour into this ½ cup water.
  • Add to cabbage and kolbasz mixture.
  • Cook for 30 minutes and add sour cream.
[archiveorg st-emeric-church-hungarian-cookbook-ocrd width=560 height=384 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]

Apple Puddeny recipe- an Irish classic perfect for anytime

APPLE PUDDENY

Course: after church coffee hour, Dessert
Keyword: apple, church foods, dessert

Ingredients

  • 4 medium cooking apples
  • ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ cup sugar
  • cup water
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
  • 1 cup quick-cooking oats

Instructions

  • Pare and core apples.
  • Cut into eighths and place in a greased baking dish about 10"x6".
  • Sprinkle with combined spices, sugar, and a little salt.
  • Mix water, lemon juice, and grated rind and pour over apples.
  • Add baking soda and remaining salt to oats; work the butter into this mixture over apples and bake in preheated moderate oven (375° F.) for 40 minutes

Christmas Cream Wafers (Kenmore Presbyterian Cookies via Lisa Zdyb)

The roots of Kenmore Presbyterian Church run deep in the City of Buffalo, the Village of Kenmore, and the Town of Tonawanda. On April 6, 1877, Miss Ada Chalmers began a Sunday School with six in attendance. This Sunday School met in an old log house on Amherst Street near Delaware Avenue. Then, it moved to an unoccupied house on Amherst Street and became a mission of Westminster Presbyterian Church. Next, it met in a P.S. 21 on Hertel Avenue where it remained until Christmas 1887 when it moved into a former tavern on the corner of Hertel and Delaware Avenue.

The Superintendent of the Sunday School, Henry S. Larned expressed hope that the Sunday School would evolve into a chapel. This hope saw its fulfillment in 1890 when Kenmore developer, Louis P.A. Eberhardt donated a site on the northeast corner of Delaware and East Hazeltine Avenues to establish the Kenmore chapel. Westminster Presbyterian Church accepted the offer and the Kenmore Chapel was dedicated in 1891. It served as a mission church until November 22, 1894 when 34 persons requested the Presbytery establish Kenmore Presbyterian Church. The presbytery installed the Reverend George Marsh as the church’s first pastor and the congregation elected three elders.

The church worshipped in the original wood frame church until February 1926 when the current church building was dedicated. In 1948, the church added a second building to provide more educational space, two pastor’s studies, additional offices, and a dining room and kitchen. Also, at this time, the church purchased a new pipe organ by the Schlicker Organ Company.  In 1963, the church expanded again, tearing down the gym to erect an educational building. During this time, the sanctuary underwent a major renovation.

https://www.kenpres.org/history

I’ve already gone ahead and posted this recipe on reddit and there was a concern raised about raw eggs. It looks like the eggs can be optional, so you can decide your own acceptable risk of using raw eggs and it won’t super affect the final product.

I’ve already posted this on reddit- one concern someone raised is that the recipe requires a raw egg yolk in the cream. I have found other versions on the web and it looks like the yolks are optional (in case you are concerned about the minor risk of salmonella)

Christmas Cream Wafers (Kenmore Presbyterian Cookies)

Course: after church coffee hour, Cookie, Dessert
Keyword: christmas, cookie, cookies, potluck, scout fundraisers
Author: Lisa Zdyb

Ingredients

Cookie

  • 1 cup butter
  • cup whipping cream (Heavy Cream- 35%)
  • 2 cups flour
  • granulated sugar

Butter filling

  • ¼ cup soft butter
  • cup 10x powdered sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • food coloring (optional)

Instructions

Cookie

  • Mix butter, cream and flour thouroughly.
  • Chill 1 hour
  • Heat oven to 375°
  • Roll dough to ⅛" thick on lightly floured board.
  • Cut into rounds.
  • Transfer to wax paper that was heavily coated with sugar, turning to coat both sides.
  • Place on ungreased baking sheet.
  • Prick with fork.
  • Bake 7-9 minutes or until slightly puffy.
  • Put two together with filling in the middle.

Butter filling

  • Blend the soft butter, powdered sugar, egg yolk & vanilla.
  • Tint with food coloring if desired.