1 and Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon baking powder

Mix this up for each egg that is called for in a baking recipe.

Hannah"s Note: This subst.i.tute is fine for cookies, but it doesn"t work that well with cakes, especially the type of cake that is light and fluffy.

Subst.i.tute for Store-Bought Powdered (Confectioner"s) Sugar 1 cup white, granulated sugar for each cup of powdered

sugar you need

2 Tablespoons cornstarch for each cup of powdered sugar

you need

Hannah"s 1st Note: You"ll need a blender to make this. A mixer won"t do.

Combine the white sugar and cornstarch in a blender.

Turn on the blender and blend until the resulting mixture is of powdery consistency.

Pour the mixture out of the blender and store it in an airtight container on the counter (I use a Tupperware-type plastic container) .

Hannah"s 2nd Note: Someday I"d really like to know why I have more bowls than covers for my plastic storage containers. I think it"s another mystery like the one that happens almost every washday in my laundry room. Seven pairs of socks go into the washer, and 13 socks come out of the dryer!

Let the mixture sit on your counter for 15 to 30 minutes and then it"s ready to use.

Hannah"s 3rd Note: Don"t fill your blender too much when you"re making powdered sugar. It needs s.p.a.ce to blend.

Lisa"s Note: Sometimes, down at The Cookie Jar, I add some colored decorating sugar to the blender so that I end up with pretty pastel powdered sugar that I use to make frostings.

Subst.i.tute for Store-Bought Self-Rising Flour Hannah"s 1st Note: I occasionally come across a recipe that calls for self-rising flour. Florence doesn"t stock it at the Lake Eden Red Owl, but I found out how to make my own.

1 cup all-purpose flour

teaspoon baking soda

teaspoon salt

Sift together into a bowl for every cup of flour that"s called for in the recipe. Work with whole cups only, and then measure out what you need. (If your recipe calls for 1 and cups of self-rising flour, you"ll make 2 cups but use only 1 and cups of the mixture.) Hannah"s 2nd Note: You can store your subst.i.tute for store-bought self-rising flour in a covered container for up to 3 months.

"Why don"t you ever use unsalted b.u.t.ter?" Alice Vogel asked Hannah. "I"ve seen a lot of recipes that say you should use it."

Hannah gave a little shrug. "Nothing I bake really needs it. Take a good look at some of those recipes with unsalted or sweet b.u.t.ter. They usually list salt as one of the other ingredients. It seemed silly to me to use unsalted b.u.t.ter when you"re just going to add salt to the recipe anyway."

Edna looked up. "How about eggs? You don"t specify the size."

"They"re not exactly standard, especially if you"re living in a farm community. Two medium-sized eggs are supposed to equal half of a cup. But who"s going to crack them into a cup and measure? If you"re worried about it, you can just a.s.sume that my recipes call for eggs the size of the large eggs you can buy at a grocery store."

"How about flour?" Carrie asked her. "Is it always all-purpose flour?"

"Yes. If a recipe needs cake flour I write it out on the list of ingredients. And I don"t use recipes that call for wheat flour, or rye flour, or soy flour. They"re just too specialized. Some of the special flours may work in my recipes, but you"d have to try them yourself to see."

"This section on subst.i.tutions is really helpful," Bertie said, paging through it again. "The last time I bought cake flour for a recipe, the rest of the box sat on my shelf forever. And then it got little bugs in it and I had to throw it away."

"You should have put the box in a freezer bag, and frozen it," Florence told her. "If you do that, you won"t get flour weevils."

Hannah nodded and left it at that. What Florence said was accurate enough for their purposes. The eggs were still there in the box of cake flour. There was no way to avoid that. But they wouldn"t hatch if the flour was frozen.

"One question," Edna announced, giving Hannah a smile. "You just gave us all those subst.i.tutes. Is there anything that doesn"t have a subst.i.tute?"

"Just one thing. It"s something that"s in a cla.s.s all by itself, and you either love it, or you hate it. As far as I know, there is no known subst.i.tute for rhubarb!"

Bertie laughed. "And that"s the truth! What would we do without rhubarb? Everybody I know has at least a hundred recipes for rhubarb cakes, and pies. . ."

"...and sauces, and cookies," Lisa continued the list when Bertie hesitated.

"And Jell-O," Andrea added. "I"ve got a really good recipe for rhubarb Jell-O. Bill even likes it and he hates rhubarb."

"You"ve got a rhubarb cake in here, but no cookies," Bertie pointed out to Hannah. "I think you should work on that. After all, rhubarb is practically Minnesota"s state fruit... or vegetable... or whatever it is."

"It"s like a weed," Florence said with such distain, everyone knew she was one of the people who hated it. "Once it grows in your back yard, you can"t get rid of it. I tried."

Alice laughed. "I"ve got six cherry rhubarb plants in my back yard, and I wish I had more."

"You can have mine if you come over and dig them up," Florence offered, and then she turned to Hannah. "Where"s the Minnesota Peach Cobbler? And the Lemon Cream Torte? Those are my absolute favorites!"

"Here," Hannah told her, flipping to another section in Florence"s binder. "Some of my recipes didn"t really fit anywhere, so I put them under Other Sweet Treats. If there"s something you can"t find, it"s probably there."

Other Sweet Treats

APRICOT BREAD PUDDING.

DO NOT preheat oven - the bread pudding must settle for 30 minutes before baking.

8 slices of white bread (either homemade or "store bought")

1 cup b.u.t.ter (2 sticks, 8 ounces, pound)

cup white (granulated) sugar

cup chopped dried apricots (not too fine, you want some

chunks)

3 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a gla.s.s with a fork)

2 and cups top milk66 (you can use light cream or half

and half)

Heavy cream, sweetened whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream for a topping Generously b.u.t.ter a 2-quart ca.s.serole. (You can also spray the inside of the ca.s.serole dish with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.) Remove the crusts from the bread and cut each slice into 4 triangles. (Just make an "X" with your knife.) Melt the b.u.t.ter in a large bowl and put in the bread triangles, tossing them lightly with a spoon until they"re coated with b.u.t.ter.

Arrange approximately a third of the triangles in the bottom of the ca.s.serole. Sprinkle on a third of the sugar and half of the chopped apricots.

Put down half of the remaining bread triangles, sprinkle on half of the remaining sugar, and add ALL of the remaining apricots.

Cover with the rest of the bread triangles. Sc.r.a.pe the bowl to get out any b.u.t.ter that remains in the bottom of the bowl and put that on top. Sprinkle with the last of the sugar and set aside.

Place the beaten eggs in the b.u.t.ter bowl and whisk in the light cream. Pour this over the top of the ca.s.serole and let it stand at room temperature for thirty minutes. (This gives the bread time to absorb the egg-and-cream mixture.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

When the oven has come up to temperature, bake the bread pudding uncovered, for 45 to 55 minutes, or until the pudding is set and the top is golden brown.

Let the Apricot Bread Pudding cool slightly (10 to 15 minutes or so) and then spoon it out into dessert dishes. Top it with heavy cream, sweetened whipped cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

You can make this with any dried fruit, including currants or raisins. Andrea likes apricots, Mother prefers dates, and Mich.e.l.le thought it was "yummy" with dried pears. We didn"t try it with prunes. Carrie Rhodes is the only person I know who likes prunes. (And I"m not going to comment about that!) Yield: Serves 6 unless you invite the Swensens to dinner.

FRUIT POCKET FRENCH TOAST.