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Some tasty homemade treats at the 2025 International Lego Day sparked interest in a LUG cookbook. Post your recipes here!
Bonus brownie points if you bring a dish to a share at a quarterly meeting!
My grandmother Elsie Dalton Schumacher reportedly developed this recipe for spice bars. I guess my mom didn’t like them or wasn’t on recipe-sharing terms with her mother, because I never heard of them until I was on a road trip with my aunt Jean, who had a box of these spice bars. I thought they were great so she gave me the recipe. I thought for the LUG cookbook it might be more usable to have it as an attachment rather than write it in the chat – thoughts on that?
One note – the recipe specifies shortening – which I have always thought was kind of gross. So I tried making these with butter instead but they just didn’t turn out the right texture. So I have been buying little three-packs of Crisco shortening instead of the giant can of shortening. One of the little packs is the right amount for this recipe.
On second thought I think it might be worth listing the ingredients in the chat, so maybe it would be easier to search. I don’t know whether a search of the threads would hit on words in the attachments but I think it’s unlikely. So here are the ingredients for Elsie’s Spice Bars:
SPICE BARS – 350 ° F – Makes about 60 2”x ½” bars
1 cup shortening, 2 cups brown sugar, 2 eggs
3 cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
4 Tablespoons liquid (can be molasses, coffee, fruit juice, sour cream, milk, etc.)
Dried fruit – about 1-2 cups
Chopped nuts – about 1-2 cupsI never measured the dried fruit or nuts so those are estimates. Aunt Jean didn’t specify an amount. I just throw them in there until it looks good.
JELLO POKE CAKE
1 package white cake mix
1 package (3oz) strawberry Jello
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water
1 tub (8oz) cool whip
9″ x 13″ pan
Toothpick(s)Bake the cake as directed on the package. Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes. Use toothpicks to make small holes in the top of the cake approximately halfway through. Mix the boiling and cold water then add Jello. Pour the Jello mixture over the top of the cake. Refrigerate for three hours. Frost with cool whip and refrigerate for another hour.
Im sure Alexis would love to contribute something. Let me ask her and ill post whatever she comes up with
Fresh Cranberry Cookies – from https://www.justalittlebitofbacon.com/fresh-cranberry-cookies/
For the Cookies:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
1 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
14 tbsp (7 oz, 1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter cool room temperature
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped fresh cranberriesFor the Lemon Glaze
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tbsp cream cheese
red sanding sugar optionalInstructions
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, table salt, and cornstarch. Set aside.
In a large bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer), rub the sugar and lemon zest together until the sugar has become lemon scented. Add the butter and beat the sugar and butter together on medium high until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture and mix on low until just blended. Pour the cranberries into the bowl and fold them in with a silicone spatula. Put the cookie dough in the refrigerator and chill for 30-45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. Gently flatten the tops of the cookies with the bottom of a measuring cup or glass. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes, or until cooked through and lightly browned. Transfer the cookies to cooling racks and cool to room temperature.
Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, 2 tbsp lemon juice, lemon zest, and cream cheese until smooth, adding more lemon juice if needed so that the glaze drizzles from the end of a spoon.
Using your spoon, scoop up the glaze and drizzle it over the cookies until all the cookies have some glaze on them. Sprinkle the glazed cookies with red sanding sugar.
Southern Cinnamon Toast
Sliced white or whole wheat bread loaf
Butter
Cinnamon powder – use in teaspoon increments.
Half cup white granular sugar (Quarter cup for just a couple of slices.)Preheat oven to 325(F).
Mix sugar in bowl with a spoonful or two of cinnamon, add and adjust more spoonfuls to taste. Mixture should look tan or light brown.
Lay desired number of bread slices on baking sheet.
Use butterknife to butter the topside of the bread slice, to personal taste.
(Don’t use the entire stick of butter.)
Sprinkle sugar cinnamon mixture on toast until reasonably coated. Store unused portion in fridge.
Place in oven to toast for about seven minutes or until butter and sugar melt and seep into bread.
Warning: Do not burn toast. Underside of toast should be well toasted, not burned.Enjoy warm cinnamon toast as part of a balanced meal.
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