Sour Cream

Stephanie Forbes from Gwynn Oak recalled that when she was a child growing up in Berkeley, Calif., her mother used to make a wonderful poundcake every week. She does not remember the specific ingredients, but she is sure it had sour cream as well as orange, lemon and vanilla extracts. She said her mom was a devoted reader of women's magazines and that perhaps the recipe came from one of those publications. Kitty Lee Devilbiss from Union Bridge sent in a recipe for a sour-cream poundcake that she said was printed in a special insert of Better Homes and Gardens magazine sometime in the early 1970s.

Steve Frazer from Reisterstown was looking for the recipe for the chocolate chip cake that used to be sold at Miller's Delicatessen in Northwest Baltimore in the 1970s. He remembers that it was a very dense cake and most likely made with sour cream with an abundance of tiny chocolate chips and a sugary crunchy topping. I received an email from Leslie Miller-Scherr of Baltimore in response to Frazer's query. She said that her family was the original owner of Miller's deli and that she remembers the cake well.

Charlotte Whitenight of Baltimore was looking for the recipe that she lost for sour-cream waffles that came in the recipe booklet with her Vitantonio waffle maker. Fortunately, several readers still had their original recipe and instruction books for the waffle maker. Carol Hendricks from Santa Rosa, Calif., bought her Vitantonio waffle maker 22 years ago and now is making these delectable waffles for her grandchildren. Although good frozen waffles are now readily available, there is something special about making a batch of these homemade goodies.

Marlene Millard from Longview, Wash., said that back in the 1960s she had a recipe for making a delicious sour cream cake that used a boxed white cake mix as the base. She said it was one of those cravings she had during pregnancy that she thought she would never get back, so she threw away the recipe. Now she finds herself craving the cake some 50 years later and would like to be able to recreate the taste. Perhaps back in the '60s doctoring cake mixes was something new. These days, entire books exist with nothing but doctored cake mix recipes.

Q: Are sour cream and cream cheese freezeable? Mine always seem to separate when thawed.A: No, sour cream and cream cheese do not freeze well because of their high water content. The ice crystals that form during freezing cause them to separate as they thaw, leaving them caked and watery. They do, however, have quite a long refrigerator life -- two weeks for cream cheese and two to three weeks for sour cream as long as the container is currently dated.Q: Is there any way that I can whip cream a few hours before I serve it?

Get out the spaghetti pot, the pasta and the cookie sheet and you'll be all set for these recipes.M. G. McLaughlin of Baltimore asked for a sour cream cookie recipe and Rosemarie Felton of Columbia responded.Felton's Sour Cream Sugar CookiesMakes about 8 dozen cookies1/2 cup butter or margarine1 1/2 cups sugar2 eggs1 teaspoon vanilla3 cups sifted flour1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon soda1 cup sour creamCream butter, or margarine, to consistency of mayonnaise. Gradually add sugar and continue creaming adding one egg at a time.

Gail Herbig of Pasadena lucked out when she requested a sour cream apricot-almond coffee cake that was a first-place winner at the Maryland State Fair in 1996. "I had a recipe and tried the cake three times, but it crashed each time. Even so it is such a delicious cake; there were never any leftovers. I would appreciate a correct recipe."Her answer came from the winner herself, Judy Underwood of Annapolis, who wrote: "Here is the recipe I entered in the Maryland State Fair in 1996, and it won first place in the Land O'Lakes sour cream quick-bread contest."

In the early days of dips, every party had the requisite pairing of potato chips and Lipton's Onion Soup mix in sour cream. Now, with so many dip and dipper options, the chips/soup-mix combo is the exception.Dips come hot, cold, sweet, savory, low-fat or unspeakably fattening, and they're paired with everything from apples to zucchini.To help with your spring entertaining, we've rounded up a slew of dips ranging from light and herby to rich and desserty. We even threw in a couple of baked casserole dips.

Joan Shaw from Fayetteville, N.C., was trying to find a recipe for making cucumber salad dressing. She was particularly fond of one served at the Baldino's restaurant chain. I was not able to locate the Baldino's recipe, but I did receive a recipe for a creamy cucumber dressing from Jennifer Simms of Santa Rosa, Calif. Simms says she can't recall where she originally got this recipe but that she has been making it for several years and everyone seems to enjoy it. She says it works equally well as a salad dressing or dip and that it is wonderful with raw vegetables.

Steve Frazer from Reisterstown was looking for the recipe for the chocolate chip cake that used to be sold at Miller's Delicatessen in Northwest Baltimore in the 1970s. He remembers that it was a very dense cake and most likely made with sour cream with an abundance of tiny chocolate chips and a sugary crunchy topping. I received an email from Leslie Miller-Scherr of Baltimore in response to Frazer's query. She said that her family was the original owner of Miller's deli and that she remembers the cake well.

This is one big game. That's going to mean one big tailgate party, too. Celebrate the Ravens' playoff game with a recipe from the folks who feed the team. Chef Jonathan Lindenauer at Classic Catering People — the exclusive caterers of the Ravens' training facility in Owings Mills, the 200,000 square-foot facility known affectionately as The Castle — developed this burger recipe with a decidedly Ravens bent. It's a burger, yes, but the Black and Purple Burger is dressed with a bright (in color and flavor)

Miriam Trotter from Baltimore was looking for a recipe for what she called sugar cakes. She said her husband's grandmother used to make these soft, thick cookies that were not overly sweet, and that they were a favorite of her daughter and husband. She said that the ingredients were flour, sugar, butter, sour cream and baking soda, but her husband's grandmother passed away before she wrote down the actual recipe. Trish Koza from Iowa City, Iowa, thought she just might have the recipe that Trotter was searching for. She said that her mother-in-law made soft sugar cookies for years and that many of her relatives claimed that she had given them her special recipe.

It's cookout season, which means plenty of temptations to indulge. But eatingwell.com s ays that there are ways to make picnic and cookout foods healthier. This weeks healthy recipe, broccoli salad, comes from their list. Eatingwell.com said it is creamy without all the fat. If you have examples of healthy recipes please send them to andrea.walker@baltsun.com and I will include on this blog.   Broccoli Salad INGREDIENTS 1 clove garlic, minced 1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream 2 teaspoons cider vinegar 1 teaspoon sugar 4 cups finely chopped broccoli crowns 1 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, rinsed and chopped 3 slices cooked bacon, crumbled 3 tablespoons dried cranberries Freshly ground pepper , to taste PREPARATION Whisk garlic, mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar and sugar in a large bowl.

Our latest healthy recipe comes from WebMD . It's for those of you trying to improve your diet, but that can't curb that sweet tooth. WebMD says you can serve this cake with raspberries and a dollop of Cool Whip. If you have a healthy recipe you'd like to share send it to: andrea.walker@baltsun.com . Ingredients:   3/4 cup less-sugar raspberry preserves 1 cup whole-wheat flour 1 cup unbleached white flour 1 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup Splenda 3/4 cup baking cocoa 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup less-fat margarine (with 8 grams of fat per tablespoon)

Each week a nutritionist from the University of Maryland Medical Center provides a guest post to The Baltimore Sun's health blog Picture of Health (baltimoresun.com/pictureofhealth), which is reprinted here. This week, Faith Hicks weighs in on Super Bowl food. Imagine a typical Super Bowl party spread: fried chicken wings, meatballs, sour cream and cream cheese dips. This translates into a feast of meat and lots of fat, particularly saturated fat. It will probably be your dinner on gameday, but hardly a "Strive for Five" or "My Plate" meal.

Leslie Jarzombek and her mother from Santa Rosa, Calif., were looking for a recipe for a sour-cream-raisin pie like the one they had at a small restaurant in southwest Idaho. The sour-cream part was rich and creamy with dark raisins throughout the filling. They thought that the pie was not baked. Ann Alien of Columbus, Miss., sent in a recipe for a no-bake raisin-sour cream pie. In Alien's recipe the filling is prepared in a double boiler and poured into a prebaked pie shell, then chilled and topped with sour cream, graham-cracker crumbs and lemon rind.