A few weeks ago, I stopped in to look around in a resale shop around the corner from my house. I always check out the cookbook section, just to see if there is anything I can’t live without. I know… I really don’t need another cookbook added to my collection. It’s an illness, I believe (at least my husband thinks so). LOL Anyways, I found a cookbook called The Bush Family Cookbook and I immediately thought, “I wonder is this is the same Bush family as our past presidents?” After all, they were from Texas and President H.W. Bush and Barbara live in Houston, so it could be! I immediately decided to buy the book, although I had only flipped through it quickly. Once I got home, I found that there was a contributor by the name of “Logan, Laura Bush (Mrs. George)”. I thought “Wow, could it be one in the same!”, but then I got to thinking that the maiden name of “Logan” didn’t sound right. So a quick internet search found that Laura Bush’s maiden name is actually Welch. So, I guess this cookbook by the Bush family might not be the same Bush family as our former presidents, but I still found it to be a neat book, full of wonderful recipes. This cookbook was printed in 1976 and has some writing in the inside cover that says “Margaret, Hope you can use and enjoy some of our favorite family recipes, Josh and Maurine, Sept. 15, 1976”. After carefully looking through the book, I decided to pick a recipe submitted by Laura Logan Bush, called “Fruit Cocktail Torte”. It is really easy to put together and it reminds me a little of a peach cobbler recipe that my Maw Maw used to make when I was a kid. I didn’t make any changes to the recipe, but I would use less brown sugar next time around, as I found it to be too sweet.
Fruit Cocktail Torte
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 (16 oz) can fruit cocktail, drained
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
Sift together sugar, flour, salt and baking soda. Mix in egg. Add drained fruit cocktail and mix. Place mixture in a greased 7X11-inch glass baking pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar and pecans. Bake for 1 hour at 300F. Serve warm or at room temperature with Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream.
