The "Cheese Cake" Mystery

So, here's the mystery. My mother-in-law, after she made pies, would make cheese cakes with the left over pie crust. No one knew why they were called that, because clearly these are not cheesecakes, or cheese cakes. No cheese. No cake. That's just what Ethel called them and they were good, so end of story.

UNTIL, ta dah....we took possession of her cookbooks after she died. I was looking at this little cookbook put out by the Elm Grove Lutheran Church in McCanna, North Dakota and there were several of Bill's relatives that had contributed their recipes. And, there it was CHESS CAKES. So, it was originally entered into this cookbook as a Chess Cake, and even that name is not exactly accurate. Chess Pie is nothing like these, if that's where that name came from What this is is Raisin Pie which she made in cupcake/muffin pans. And it's sort of a southern recipe, but apparently migrated to N. Dakota. This is a simplified version of Raisin Pie, and if you look around on the Internet there are many recipes that are close to what this is.

This cook book is a hoot to read. Women submitted recipes and they just assumed all the other wives would know what to do with it. This recipe reads:

(Minus the recipe for crust)
Filling: 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/2 cup seedless raisins, 1 egg beaten. Fill the pie shells and bake nice and brown. Makes 12 or 15 cakes. **

That's all there is to it. You either knew or you figured out the rest of it. A lot of the recipes are like that.

Bill misses his mom's cooking. He requested these. I made them in the mini-cupcake tin.

I also made Saltine Cookies....which are kind of different. But I added pecans on top, which is an option. They would have come out better if I'd had a jelly roll pan. And I made Ina Garten's rugelach which is so good but a bit time consuming. I've made those before and my son requested them. And that is all I am baking this year.

See ya later.

** If you are curious and want to make these, let me know and I can tell you what I do with this recipe.

PS I HEARD FROM SOMEBODY ELSE WHO SAID THESE ARE LIKE BUTTER TARTS AND I LOOKED THAT UP. THAT IS A CANADIAN DESSERT AND YES, THIS IS VERY MUCH LIKE THAT AND IT WOULD MAKE SENSE THAT A CANADIAN RECIPE SLID INTO NORTH DAKOTAN COOKING. THIS MYSTERY IS GETTING CLOSE TO BEING SOLVED!