What Else to do with Walnuts!

When I was writing about walnuts yesterday I remembered a cookbook that my mother made for me in 1987. She gave it to me for Christmas and I think it's the only Christmas present I've ever received that made me cry. It's full of recipes and stories from my childhood and from foods that I loved. It's in her handwriting and contains recipes like Sugar Cookies from the playschool I went to twice a week when I was five.

The reason it came to mind was that I remembered this recipe when I was writing about walnuts.


It's for Applesauce Cake and the red writing beneath the recipe tells this story:
"This was Pop's favorite cake. Mother and I would hull walnuts every fall and our hands would be stained green and our faces spattered green for weeks just from getting the walnuts for this cake."

Here's the recipe.
Mix 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter. Blend until light and creamy. Beat in 1 egg.

Sift (before measuring) 1 3/4 cups cake flour. Sift a little more flour over 1 cup raisins and 1 cup walnut meats. Resift remainder of flour with 1/2 t. salt, 1 t. baking soda, 1/2 t. cinnamon and 1/2 t. cloves.

Stir the sifted ingredients gradually into the butter mixture until the batter is smooth. Add raisins and nutmeats. Heat 1 cup thick applesauce and beat it into the batter.

Bake in a greased and floured 9" tube pan at 350 for 40 minutes.