RECIPE SWAP: BREAD PUDDING AND SOURCES MAKE A SWEET LOVERS' DREAM

If your sweet tooth has not been tugging at you, it will after reading this week's Recipe Swap. Bread pudding with a variety of sauces and desserts using cake mix as the main ingredient are the featured recipes we have to share with you.

Last week we had a request for a Amaretto Sauce recipe for bread pudding. Alma Evettes of Cape Girardeau sent in her favorite recipes that can easily be prepared in the microwave.

Amaretto Sauce

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup half and half

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 tablespoons Amaretto, almond flavored liqueur

In four-cup glass measure combine first four ingredients. Cook on high power in microwave two minutes, stir and continue to cook on high one to three minutes or until boiling. Stir in liqueur. Cook on high for one minute.

Another sauce recipe was sent in by a Cape Girardeau woman, and it sounds delicious. It may take a little more effort, but I'm sure the end result will be well worth the trouble.

Liqueur Cream Sauce

Beat until soft in top of double boiler over-not in- hot water:

1/3 cup butter. Add gradually and beat until creamy: 1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar. Beat in slowly: 3 tablespoons liqueur of choice. Beat in, one at a time, 2 egg yolks and add 1/2 cup cream. Cook until slightly thickened. Serve over your favorite bread pudding.

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Dee Enderlee of Cape Girardeau is an avid Recipe Swap reader and is always willing to share her favorite recipes and get new recipes to try. She has sent in a wonderful bread pudding recipe that is different from most and sauce recipes to serve with it.

Cajun Bread Pudding

2 loaves French bread, broken in pieces

raisins

coconut

butter

2 cups sugar

5 eggs, beaten

1 can Milnot

1 cup water

1 cup milk

1/2 of 1 large bottle vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 9-x-13-inch baking dish put a layer of French bread. Sprinkle with raisins and 1/2 can coconut. Dot with butter. Layer on the second layer of bread. Next layer the remaining coconut, raisins and bread. In large bowl mix 2 cups sugar, 5 beaten eggs and 1/2 bottle of vanilla. Add 1 can Milnot, 1 cup water and 1 cup regular milk. Pour over layers until slightly covered. Bake in 350-degree oven 15 minutes. Slightly poke and fluff with knife, reduce oven temperature and bake 1 hour at 300 degrees. May top with lemon sauce or bourbon sauce if desired.

Lemon Sauce

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup milk

1 egg, well beaten

juice of 2 lemons

dash salt

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

Combine all ingredients and cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly.

Bourbon sauce

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup butter

2 to 4 tablespoons bourbon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

dash salt

1 egg

Combine all ingredients and cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly.

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Last week we had a request for recipes that used packaged cake mixes to help speed up the preparation process. Several were shared by readers, and they sound wonderful as well as easy and quick to fix.

Amy's Lemon Cake

3/4 cup boiling water

1 small box lemon gelatin

1 box lemon cake mix

3/4 cup oil

3 eggs

Topping:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons margarine

Combine and cool the boiling water and gelatin. Add the cake mix, oil and eggs, blending well together.

Bake in ungreased pan 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Prepare topping by combining all topping ingredients together. Using a toothpick or fork, poke holes in hot cake. Pour the topping over the hot cake and bake an additional five minutes.

Chocolate Chip Meringue Bars

1 package fudge cake mix

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons water

1 package fluffy white frosting mix

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the first three ingredients. Stir well. Press into ungreased 13-x-9-inch pan. Prepare the frosting with boiling water. Spread on fudge base, keeping it two inches from the edge. Sprinkle pecans and chocolate chips over the frosting layer.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Yields about three dozen bars.

Apricot Cake

1 package lemon supreme cake mix

3/4 cup oil

1 cup apricot nectar

4 eggs

1 1/4 cup sugar

Mix sugar with cake mix. Add oil and eggs. Mix well. Add nectar. Beat on high speed of mixer until well blended. Bake 70 minutes at 325 degrees in greased and floured tube pan.

Devil's Due Cake

1 package red devils food cake mix

1/2 cup water

3 eggs

1 pint chocolate ice cream

Blend all ingredients together and mix two minutes. Turn into greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes.

To serve, fill center with chocolate ice cream balls and drizzle with marshmallow sauce.

Marshmallow Sauce

1 package white frosting mix

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup miniature marshmallows

Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Heat to boiling. Beat at high speed three to four minutes.

Spiced Bundt Cake

1 package spice cake mix

1 package butterscotch instant pudding

4 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 cup water

1/2 cup currants

1 1/3 cup confectioners sugar

5 tablespoons orange juice

Grease and flour Bundt pan or tube pan. Beat first five ingredients two to three minutes. Stir in currants. Bake at 350 degree oven for 35 minutes. Blend sugar and orange juice together. Turn cake out of pan. Spoon mixture over cake.

Blackberry Bundt Cake

1 package white cake mix

1 (3 ounce) package blackberry gelatin

3 eggs

1/2 cup oil

3/4 cup blackberry wine

Mix cake mix and gelatin together. Add eggs, oil and wine. Blend on low speed until moistened. Continue to beat on medium speed two minutes. Pour into greased and floured pan. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Cool before inverting pan.

Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup blackberry wine

Mix and bring to a boil. Cool until thickened. Pour over cooled cake.

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

1 package yellow cake mix

1 package butterscotch instant pudding

4 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup oil

1 can pumpkin

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

whipping cream, optional

Combine first seven ingredients. Beat on low speed 30 seconds and on medium speed four minutes. Pour into greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes. Cool in pan. Invert cake onto serving platter. Serve topped with whipped cream, if desired.

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We have many more recipes to share with you, and I'm excited about one of them in particular. The pasta and mitzithra cheese dish served at a St. Louis restaurant is so delicious, and I have wanted the recipe for years. Well, great things come to those who wait.

Pasta and Mitzithra Cheese

1 (16 ounce) box pasta

4 teaspoons crushed garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup freshly grated imported Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup grated Mitzithra cheese, plus more to taste

dash salt

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely minced

Boil pasta until just tender. Meanwhile, saute garlic in olive oil five minutes. In a large bowl, stir together garlic mixture, cooked pasta, Parmesan and 1/2 cup Mitzithra, salt, pepper and parsley. Mix together well. Top each serving with more Mitzithra cheese, if desired. Yield four servings.

What is Mitzithra cheese? you ask. It is a soft Greek cheese that can be found at Greek and other ethnic groceries and larger supermarkets.

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Another recipe shared by a Cape Girardeau cook says her Cajun meatloaf is a real winner.

Cajun Meatloaf

1 tablespoon margarine

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped celery

Cook until wilted in skillet over medium heat.

3 slices bread

1/3 cup milk

Soak together the bread and milk and set aside.

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1/2 pound ground pork

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons ketchup

2 cloves garlic

Mix all above ingredients together. Shape into loaf and pan. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until done.

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Cordy Voepel shares some of her favorite recipes with area readers in hopes that you will try them and enjoy them as much as she does.

No Peek Stew

2 pounds beef stew meat

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 green pepper

3 pieces celery

3 carrots

3 potatoes

1 onion

4 tablespoons tapioca

Cut all vegetables into small pieces. Put meat in bottom of roaster, add soup and seasonings. Add vegetables and tapioca. Cover and bake at 250 degrees for five hours and do not peek.

Potato Pancakes

4 cups grated potatoes

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 eggs

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon grated onion

Peel and grate potatoes, drain liquid that collects from potatoes. Add rest of ingredients. Spoon two tablespoons batter into hot oil, cook over medium heat until brown and crisp. Turn carefully and brown on other side. Drain on absorbent paper. Serve hot with applesauce.

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One of the really neat things about Recipe Swap is finding a recipe that you are looking for. We have a couple of requests this week from readers who need help.

One of our area male cooks is looking for a recipe for Barbecued Slaw. He had it when visiting in Montgomery, Ala. He recalls that the dressing had barbecue sauce in it. Does anyone have an Alabama cookbook that we could help him find his recipe?

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Another request comes from a delightful woman who stopped me in the grocery store and shared with me her memories of a wonderful Pecan Cream Pie that the Holiday Inn served here years ago. Maybe someone remembers this pie and possibly has the recipe for it.

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And last, but certainly not least, a request comes from Jackson for homemade dumplings or a recipe for chicken and dumplings. She understands about cooking the chicken and saving to broth, it sounds to me that the dumplings are her biggest challenge. Here we go again, everyone who makes dumplings makes them a little differently. I will certainly be interested in the recipes that we receive for homemade dumplings.

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That does it for another week of Recipe Swap. Happy cooking and I'll see you next week.