BUCKEYES

These really do look like buckeyes. If you don't know what a buckeye is, go to Ohio Stadium on a Saturday afternoon in the fall. Preferably when there's a home game!

1 3/4 cups peanut butter
l/2 lb margarine
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Mix or knead in bowl. Roll into small balls and put on a tray or cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Put a toothpick in each ball. Chill overnight in refrigerator.

Next day, melt a large package of chocolate bits in the microwave. Take care not to leave them in too long or they cook instead of just melting. Remove the buckeyes from the refrig and holding by the toothpicks dip each in the melted chocolate. Leave the top of the buckeye open for the "eye." Put them back in the refrigerator until the chocolate is set. Yum yum.

STICKY BUNS

I got this recipe in my seventh-grade home economics class back in 1978. It's actually pretty yummy! The nutmeg really gives the buns an interesting flavor.

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 c. Bisquick
2 T. sugar
Dash cinnamon
2/3 c. light cream
1 egg
1 t. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400. In muffin cups, put 2 t. each butter and brown sugar. Place in oven and melt. Mix remaining ingredients, beat vigorously 1/2 minute. Remove muffin cups from oven. Divide batter evenly (cups should be 1/2 full). Bake 15 minutes. Immediately invert pan and gently remove to prevent sticking.

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

Another old moss-covered three-handled family Banfield recipe, that actually came from the Ohio State Grange 1961 Cookbook. Be sure you have a candy thermometer handy.

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup milk
2 T Butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp. vanilla
4 T Peanut Butter

Cook sugar, milk and butter to soft ball stage on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat, add salt, vanilla and peanut butter and beat until thick enough to spread in buttered dish. Cut into squares.

FLAN (CHEESECAKE VERSION)

Yum! Another tropical dessert, sort of like custard, courtesy of our Florida correspondent, Luz. Thanks!

1 can of Condensed Milk
1 can of regular Milk (use the empty can of the condensed milk for
measurement)
4 eggs
Vanilla extract
1 large bar of Cream cheese
salt (a pinch)
Sugar
Loaf pan made of aluminum (can't be a Teflon one)

Put the condensed milk and the regular milk in the blender (blend about 1 minute or so). Add Vanilla extract (to taste, or put almost 1/2 of the large bottles, it's about 6" tall). Now add pinch of salt, and blend it all. Add 2 eggs and blend, then add 2 more eggs and blend. Add 3/4 of the cream cheese bar a little at a time and keep blending as you go along. ** MAKE SURE THAT ALL IS BLENDED WELL**

CARAMEL FOR THE FLAN (do before you do the flan): Take the loaf pan and add 1/2 inch of sugar to fill the pan then put it on top of the burner and the sugar will melt, but its very important that you put on mittens and keep tilting it back and forth till all the sugar melts. Do not let it get dark! The color should be like a light caramel (do this in a high temperature then lower it to a medium once it gets going. The sugar

The sugar will look lumpy and but it will get eventually like liquidy. Once it gets
liquidy take it off the burner and let it settle for a few seconds once you see it turning a little thick, coat the loaf pan all around by tilting the pan back and forth. Make sure that all 4 corners of the pan gets some of the caramel, then let it sit till it gets hard and then put the flan in. Cover the pot with aluminum foil.

Put it in Bay Marie (Putting the pan with the flan into another pan with water, with enough water to cover half of the flan pan. This is done so the flan wont burn) and stick it in the oven at 350 for about 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours depending on your oven. Check it in one 1 1/2 hours and if you see a firm consistency it is done if not put it back in the oven for about 1/2 hour more, you can stick a knife in to see if it sticks to it like when your baking a cake but don't put it all the way down because of the caramel and if it sticks to the knife it?s not done yet.

KC'S CANNOLI RECIPE

"KC" of the Sunshine Band submitted this recipe to a charity cookbook in Florida. They called him "Henry Wayne Casey" which is not his name, it's Harry. Other famous contributors included Madonna, Mandy Moore, Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers.

18 cannoli shells (bakery bought is fine)
2 lbs. ricotta cheese, strained (liquid removed)
2 to 2 1/4 c. confectioners' sugar (depends on how sweet you like it)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. anise extract

Mix all ingredients [not the shells] and chill 1 hour. Fill cannoli shells. You can sprinkle extra confectioners' sugar on top of the cannoli or dip the ends in chocolate sprinkles, mini chocolate chips or melted chocolate. Chill for a couple hours before eating. Put a piece of waxed paper under cannoli. It stops the shells from getting soggy.

KEY LIME PIE

A Florida favorite. It's yellow, not green. This is from a Naples cookbook, from the "Marco Polo" restaurant. I don't think the diners sit in a pool and yell at the blindfolded waiters.

1 graham cracker crust
2 cups heavy cream
10 ounces sweet condensed milk
2/3 cup key lime juice

Whip cream until stiff, slowly add condensed milk and blend in lime juice. Freeze 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.

DURGIN-PARK BLUEBERRY CAKE

Durgin-Park is a very famous, Ye-Olde-Newe-Englande restaurant in the left building of Boston's Faneuil Hall Marketplace. It's known for its rude waitstaff and long, communal tables, but both times I went, my group got its own table. What fun was that?

3 C flour
4 t. baking powder
3/4 t. salt
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 C sugar
2 T. butter, melted
1 1/2 C milk
1 1/4 C blueberries
Extra flour

Preheat oven to 400 F. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Blend eggs with sugar, then combine with butter and dry ingredients. Stir in milk to make thick batter. Dust berried with extra flour and add to the batter, mixing well. Spoon batter into a greased baking dish (9 by 14 by 3 inches is recommended). Bake for about 1/2 hour.