Recipe

Katherine Kruckel of Salisbury, N.C., was looking for a recipe that she was given years ago for a faux fruitcake made with gumdrops in place of the traditional candied fruit. Kruckel says that "it was a fruitcake recipe for those who hate fruitcake." Doretha Barnes of Glen Burnie sent in her recipe for Gumdrop Cake, which she thought might be close to what Kruckel wanted. I think it's a nice twist on the old-fashioned favorite - and great for anyone who has an aversion to the real thing.

I knew I was in for an adventure when I tried a dish from The Whole Beast cookbook by Fergus Henderson. Henderson is a London chef who specializes in what he calls "nose to tail" dishes. He cooks the parts of animals that, as he puts it in his book, "are often forgotten and sadly discarded in today's kitchen." Those include pig's head and tails, pigeon and duck hearts. He serves these dishes at St. John, his London restaurant. Cookbooks written by chefs often take what I call a creative approach to recipes.

Alexander A. Chasan of Baltimore has been looking for a recipe for chremslech (fruit fritters) for many years. He said his mother used to make it.Anne Tallarico of Laurel sent in this recipe for a fritter batter for fruit.CHREMSLECH OR FRUIT FRITTERSServes 8-102 cups assorted sliced fruits and whole berriessugar to taste plus 1 tablespoon2 eggs, yolks and whites separated2/3 cup cup milk or liquid from sugared fruit1 tablespoon melted butter1 cup sifted all-purpose flour1/4 teaspoon salt1 quart vegetable oil, for fryingconfectioners' sugar, for dustingSprinkle fruit with sugar to taste and allow to sit 1 hour.

Dorothy Ruth of Baltimore sent out a call for help that has now been answered. "Help!" she wrote, "I need a recipe for rum buns made with yeast dough. My sister is bugging me to make them."Sandra K. Hayslett of Olney responded with a recipe and a message. "In the 1960s and 1970s, my husband and I used to visit the Flagship Restaurant in Washington, D.C., an excellent seafood restaurant. As a specialty, a luscious, warm rum bun drizzled with a warm rum-flavored icing was served alongside the meal.

Marianne Thomas of Bend, Ore., writes that she remembers the Depression years and a spicy cake that was "our favorite." It was a nameless cake that had "chocolate (maybe cocoa) and nuts. The frosting was fluffy and contained coffee as well as chocolate. Can you find such a recipe?"Kathy Dallam of Bel Air sent the response chosen by tester Laura Reiley. Dallam wrote:"My mother-in-law, Louise Ackerman, always made this cake for my husband's birthday when he was growing up. Here's her recipe, unchanged.

Editor Note: Since there will be no A La Carte section on Wednesday, Rob Kasper's eggnog column -- with his much-requested recipe -- appears today. AROUND THIS TIME of year, people often lose track of things -- their credit cards, their good sense, their favorite recipes.For losses suffered in the first two categories -- credit cards and common sense -- I can offer sympathy, not useful advice. I also can report that on a recent holiday shopping excursion, every time I used a credit card I was quickly overcome with panic.

"I have been thinking of a recipe which my Mom used to make oh so many years ago," wrote Cynthia M. Dills of Havre de Grace. "I can't recall the ingredients but it was called Meatzza Pie and was a delicious variation of a pizza using lean ground beef and Parmesan cheese, I think. Hope someone out there has a good memory for the original recipe."Responses included recipes from Barbara P. Barry of Towson, ** Regina Motter of Chestertown, Mira B. Campbell of Watertown, S.D., Patricia L. Frakes of Luverne, Minn.

Rhoda A. Barry of Fayetteville, N.C., requested a recipe for Jewish blintzes made with "farmers' cheese and with all-natural ingredients. It's not low-cal," she wrote.Her answer came from Eileen Creeger of Pikesville, who wrote, "For years my mom has been the 'blintz maven' in the family. Below is her recipe (which may have been my grandmother's) that even a non-maven like me can make."Blintzes With Farmers' CheeseServes 4 as breakfast entreeBATTER:2 eggs1/2 cup flour1 cup waterpinch of salt1/4 teaspoon vanillaFILLING:2 eggs12 to 14 ounces farmers' cheesepinch of salt1/2 teaspoon vanillaTo make the batter, beat the eggs and flour together.

Pikesville shop offers food for memoryMany caterers and gourmet shops in the area prepare traditional holiday foods for those too busy to do their own cooking, but Gourmet Again (3713 Old Court Road, Pikesville) goes them one better. The shop offers a separate "Remember When" section on its holiday menu, dishes that "everybody's bubbe made for them," says co-owner Barbara Collurafici. These are dishes you may not have had in years, such as homemade teglach (rolled dough with honey, above)

Vito A. Favarola of Jarrettsville asked if we could help her find a recipe for sour beef and dumplings.Yes, indeed. Many answers arrived and tester Laura Reiley chose one from Sally J. Breig of Severn, whose recipe "came from a German-Viennese cookbook." Others who responded with similar recipes included Chris Wirchert of Laurel, Jean Nohe of Forest Hill, Lisa Resau of Baltimore, Beth Hunter of Timonium and Deborah Scott of Belcamp.Breig's Sour Beef and DumplingsServes 63 pounds chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes2 medium onions, chopped1 1/2 cups cider vinegar1 1/2 cups water4 bay leaves3 tablespoons sugar4 tablespoons pickling spices, wrapped in cheesecloth and tied1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil12 gingersnaps1 cup waterDUMPLINGS6 medium potatoes, peeled, cooked, mashed and cooled1 egg1 teaspoon salt1/4 cup cornstarch2/3 cup flourPlace meat in a large glass bowl.

Barbara Caine of Forest Hill was looking for a recipe for a ribbon cookie. She got the original recipe from a local television show some years ago. It is called a ribbon cookie because it is made by combining three colors of dough and then slicing it to look like a piece of ribbon. Sylvia Foster of Baltimore sent in her recipe. It really is nothing more than a simple butter cookie enhanced with some oatmeal. What makes this cookie truly special is the way it looks. It can be tinted any three colors you like.

Dorothy Fisher of Morrisville, Pa., was looking for a pie recipe like the one she remembers her mother-in-law making many years ago. It was made using pieces of crookneck squash as the filling. She said her mother-in-law was a good cook but never wrote anything down. Marcella Sawin of Lyons, Kan., sent in a recipe that was one of her father's favorites for squash pie. He moved to Kansas from Pennsylvania in 1901 and brought this recipe with him. She says that in the part of Pennsylvania her father came from, residents were known to eat pies like this one for breakfast.

Mary Earl of Baltimore was looking for a recipe for apple butter that is made in the oven. Betty Smith of Bend, Ore., sent in her recipe for the butter that she adapted over the years. Her recipe is very simple and allows for personal variation. Almost any type of apples will work, and she also says you can use any type of sweetener as well - just aim for a cup's worth. Her recipe is not meant to be preserved. This butter is ideal for this time of year, when apples are so varied and plentiful.

Shirley Gladden-Jones of Baltimore was looking for a recipe for something called "Better Than Sex Cake." It was made using a box of yellow-cake mix and a can of crushed pineapples. Based upon the volume of responses her request generated, this must be a very good cake. Either that or people just get a kick out of the name. The recipe seems to have been around for a long time. Marion Sue Fortner of Pasadena sent in a recipe from a magazine for the cake by Paula Deen. It was reprinted from the book Food Network Favorites: Recipes From Our All-Star Chefs.

Juanita McNeill of Marston, N.C., was looking for a recipe for an old-fashioned egg custard like the one her grandmother used to make. Trudy Garthe of Bellaire, Mich., saw McNeill's request in her local paper, the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Coincidentally, she had just made an egg custard for her father. Garthe sent in a copy of the recipe she used, which she found in one of her mother's old cookbooks, The New Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook, revised in 1951. She says that it was "quite easy and very tasty."

Elaine Kwedder of Shenandoah, Pa., was looking for a recipe for a homemade veggie burger. Amanda Milewski of Eldersburg sent in a recipe she cut out from a parenting magazine some years ago and makes on a regular basis. She says that her family finds that the burgers are a more flavorful alternative to the store-bought frozen veggie burgers they have tried. Milewski says that sometimes she preps all the ingredients earlier in the day or even the night before and stores them in ziplock bags in the fridge.

One of the pleasures of writing about food and drink is the reaction it evokes. You take a stand in favor of molasses and readers respond, calling and sending e-mails. In some instances, they communicate using that almost extinct form of correspondence, a letter. I got one of those recently. Not only was it a personal letter, it was typed. The typewriter, I learned later, is an Underwood No. 3 and is 95 years old. The typist, M.V. Runkles III, is 69 years old and is still practicing the skills he picked up in a typing class in the mid-1950s at Mount Airy High School.

Betty Mathias of New Windsor was looking for a recipe for an onion casserole that was originally published in the 2006 Old Farmer's Almanac. She said she discarded the old almanac and "out with the old year went a darn good recipe." Fortunately, Linda Lupro of Baltimore held on to her copy of the 2006 almanac and kindly faxed in a copy of the recipe that Mathias was looking for. This recipe involves a lot of chopping. However, if you are careful and don't over-process, you could do most of the prep in the food processor, which would certainly be less laborious.

Katherine Kruckel of Salisbury, N.C., was looking for a recipe that she was given years ago for a faux fruitcake made with gumdrops in place of the traditional candied fruit. Kruckel says that "it was a fruitcake recipe for those who hate fruitcake." Doretha Barnes of Glen Burnie sent in her recipe for Gumdrop Cake, which she thought might be close to what Kruckel wanted. I think it's a nice twist on the old-fashioned favorite - and great for anyone who has an aversion to the real thing.

Miriam Nicholas of Glen Burnie was looking for a lost recipe for what she called "No Peep Chicken." She said the chicken dish was made with chicken pieces, long-grain-and-wild-rice mix, mushroom soup and onion-soup mix. Maureen Flanagan of Reisterstown sent in a recipe she had for "No Peek Chicken" which she says sounds exactly like what Nicholas is describing. This is a super-easy chicken dish that takes practically no time to prepare. I suspect that it got its name because once you put it together, you cover it with foil and put it in the oven to bake undisturbed for two-plus hours.