Old-fashioned recipes have become favorite Christmas traditions.

Old-fashioned recipes have become favorite Christmas traditions.
By JoANN JONES
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
When Bettie Thompson was a young girl growing up in the south of Mississippi before World War II, her family had a cow and chickens.
Instead of turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas, they would have a "big, fat Rhode Island Red Hen stuffed with cornbread dressing." Her family always used real butter because of having the cow, and their hot chocolate always had whipped cream on top.
"My grandchildren probably have never seen milk with cream on top," Thompson said. "And my mother kept molasses and condensed milk in her cupboard at all times. I never buy them except when I get the old recipes out."
Her "old" recipes include old-fashioned Southern cornbread and the cornbread dressing, as well as chocolate gingerbread men, jam cake, and Grandma's fudge cake.
Thompson's daughter Pat Eaton, who resides in Sebring a few blocks away from her mother, recalled her favorite Christmas tradition of having oyster stew, although her mom said now that "Campbell's canned soup is just as good" as what they used to make years ago. Eaton also has fond memories of making hard-tack candy every year at church.
"I can remember getting the scissors and being allowed to cut the candy into strips," she said.
Family memories
Lisa Metzgar of Lisbon remembers her dad's eggnog.
"Every single year for Christmas on Christmas Eve, my Dad, Harry "Diz" Temple, would make us eggnog from scratch!" Metzgar said. "He never measured anything but did it by sight in the blender. It was the usual -- eggs, Half and Half, nutmeg and vanilla. It was always very frothy and good. Not everyone in my family would drink it, though, but I sure did. My father has been gone for seven years, and I still miss that tradition very much but not half as much as I miss him."
Karen James of Berlin Center carries memories of a rye bread that requires a special touch.
"One of the things my grandmother learned to make for her husband was Swedish rye bread," James explained. "It is made with molasses and is the sweetest bread I have ever tasted. We always had it at Thanksgiving and again on Christmas when we all got together at their house on the South side of Youngstown.
"I tried to make it a couple of times, but I just am not a good kneader. My sister has taken over the 'making of the bread,' and we all enjoy it when she comes to town. Every time we get the opportunity to enjoy it together, just the smell brings back those fond memories of all the cousins eating in the breakfast room while their parents ate in the dining room. If they only knew about the food fights! I learned a lot about what you can do with peas and mashed potatoes."
Favorite treats
One of Cheryl Egli's favorite Christmas treats was the fudge her mom, Dorothy Halk, used to make.
"It was so sugary, it would just melt in my mouth," she said. Egli, of Sebring, got on the phone immediately to get her mother's recipe to share.
Sweets are also a Christmas tradition for Carolyn Hollback of Homeworth.
"My husband's grandmother, who lives in Clearfield, Pa., makes the best cinnamon buns -- better than you can buy anywhere," she said. "If she doesn't make them, everyone is furious."
CORNBREAD
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar (optional)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (softened)
Sift together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into bowl. Add egg, milk and shortening. Beat until smooth, about one minute.
Bake in greased 8-inch square pan in preheated oven at 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. (Thompson uses an iron skillet instead of a pan.)
CORNBREAD DRESSING
1/2 pan or skillet of cornbread
Equal amount of bread (white, French), dry, if possible
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
4 cups of broth (add carefully so as not to get too much)
2 medium onion
1/3 cup celery
Sprinkle of salt and pepper
Cook onions and celery in broth until tender. Mix together all ingredients and then pour broth mixture in. If bread is still dry, add more broth, but don't make it too moist. Stuff bird and cook until bird is finished at 350 degrees. If cooking separately, cook 40 to 50 minutes at 350 degrees until stuffing is light brown.
GRANDMA'S FUDGE CAKE
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter
2 ounces chocolate
2/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup nuts
Beat eggs and add sugar. Melt butter and chocolate together, and add eggs and sugar. Add flour, baking powder, vanilla and nuts. Mix well. Pour in an 8 x 10-inch pan. Bake at 300 degrees until done.
CONDENSED MILK FROSTING(for Grandma's Fudge Cake)
Melt in double boiler 2 ounces chocolate. Add 1 can condensed milk, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Heat until thickened, stirring constantly.
JAM CAKE
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk
21/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon, cloves, and allspice
1 cup jam (choice of flavor)
Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with milk. Add jam. Bake in loaf pan at 350 degrees until toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean (about 35 to 40 minutes). This can be eaten without icing or with a plain white icing.
CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD MEN
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup molasses
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
21/2 cups flour
2/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
Combine shortening, molasses and chocolate; heat over hot water, stirring occasionally. Sift dry ingredients, then add first mixture. Cool. Add milk and mix well. Chill and then roll out. Cut with gingerbread man cookie cutter (41/2 inches tall). Bake at 375 degrees for about 6 minutes. Makes about 24.
HERSHEY'S FUDGE
4 cups sugar
4 tablespoons Hershey's Cocoa
Pinch of salt
1 can condensed milk
1 cup water
1 tablespoon margarine
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon margarine
Nuts (optional)
Mix first six ingredients and cook until thickened (20 to 25 minutes). Add vanilla, 1 tablespoon margarine and nuts. Beat. Pour into 8 x 8 baking dish or platter.
CINNAMON BUNS
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm milk
2 teaspoon salt
41/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup brown sugar
Frosting
1 cup powdered sugar
Enough milk to form thin icing
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar and salt. Then add shortening and 21/2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add remaining flour, and it will form a soft dough. Put on floured board and knead 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl and turn over, greased side up. Let rise in warm place until it doubles in size. Punch dough down and turn onto lightly floured board. Roll it out into a rectangle, less than one inch thick. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on dough. Roll it up, starting with the long side. Cut dough into 1-inch slices and put in 9 x 13 greased pan. Let rise until double in size, then bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.
Stir together powdered sugar and milk to make thin frosting.
When cake is cool, frost.