Marilyn Monroe's turkey stuffing & more recipes from famous figures - MediaFeed (2024)

Food is the one thing that binds us together across generations, no matter the title or social status.Even some of the most famous historical figures had favorite dishes they cherished enough to record.

From Emily Dickinson’s coconut cake to Johnny Cash’s family-style chili, we rounded up 25 recipes from history’s most famous figures.

Disclaimer: Some of the recipes below are word-by-word transcripts of original handwritten letters.

It turns out that when she was not writing mindbogglingnovels, “The Queen of Mystery” was a whizz in the kitchen. There’s no mystery when it comes to Agatha Christie’s fig and orange scones — they are totally delicious.

Agatha Christie’s fig and orange scones withDevonshirecream recipe

• 1 large egg
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
• 1 cup fresh figs, chopped into half-inch pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set it aside. Whisk together egg, buttermilk, and orange zest in a small bowl.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. By using a pastry blender or your fingertips, cut butter into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. Spread chopped figs evenly over the salad and toss lightly. Buttermilk mixture should be added to the flour mixture and stirred until clumps form. Avoid overmixing.
4. Knead the mixture once or twice on a floured countertop. Form a half-inch-thick circle. Using a biscuit cutter, cut the dough into eight slices, like a pie. Place on a lined baking sheet.
5. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
6. Eat warm with an “enormous amount” of cream.

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Al Capone was a known gourmand. The notorious gangster was known to swap the Tommy gun for a saucepan every now and then and cook his secret pasta sauce. According to his descendants, the mobster stashed away secret Italian sauce recipes discovered in the 1920s when the police raided his warehouses in search of bootleg booze.

Al Capone’s Secret Spaghetti Recipe

• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 cupparsley leaves
• ¾ cupwalnut pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 lb.fresh or dried spaghetti
• 2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ¾ cupgrated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• ½ cupchopped or sliced tomato for garnish

1. In a large pot, bring four quartsof water to a boil. Add the salt and vegetable oil. Add the spaghetti slowly, allowing the water to boil continuously. Cook until the noodles are tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Chop and blend the garlic, walnuts, and parsley, then pour all of the olive oil slowly into the mixture. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and ¼ cupof the Parmesan cheese and blend again.
3. Twist a mound of spaghetti on each plate. The sauce should be ladled in the middle of the plate, moist enough to coat the spaghetti when tossed for presentation tableside.
4. Sprinkle each dish with the additional Parmesan cheese, chopped parsley, and diced tomato.

Queen Elizabeth II was a pro at making Scottish pancakes. The monarch sent President Dwight D. Eisenhower her personal recipe for drop scones after he visited Balmoral in 1959. In addition, the Queen sent a note with some additional information, explaining the recipe served 16 people, the pancakes tasted great with syrup, and mixing the batter was a bit challenging.

Queen Elizabeth II’s drop scones recipe

• 4 teacups flour
• 4 tablespoons caster sugar
• 2 teacups milk
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
• 3 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

“Beat eggs, sugar, and about half the milk together, add flour, and mix well together adding remainder of milk as required, also bi-carbonate and cream of tartar, fold in the butter.”

Teacups were akin to ¾ of an American standard cup. From there, the batter would have been dropped onto a skillet, and the scones were browned on both sides.

While it’s difficult to imagine the elegant blond bombshell chopping celery stalks, a handwritten recipe penned by Marilyn Monroe on letterhead from an insurance company suggests that she not only cooked but did so with poise and with flair.

Marilyn Monroe’s Turkey-and-stuffing recipe

For the Stuffing

• Sourdough
• French bread – soak in cold water, wring out, then shred
• For chicken giblets – boil in water 5-10 mins
• Liver – heart then chop
• 1 whole or ½ onion, chop & parsley / four stalk celery, chop together following spices – put in rosemary
• Thyme, bay leaf, oregano, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper,
• Grated Parmesan cheese, 1 handful
• 1/2lb – 1/4lb ground round – put in frying pan – brown (no oil) then mix raisin 1 ½ cups or more
• 1 cup chop nuts (walnuts, chestnuts, peanuts)
• 1 or 2 hard boiled eggs – chopped mix together

To Prep the Bird

• Salt & pepper inside chicken or turkey – outside same and butter
• Sew up clamp birds put chicken or turkey in 350 oven
• Roasting chicken – 3or 4lbs or larger
• Cooks 30 min to 1lbs
• Brown chicken or pheasant (vinegar, oil, onion, spices) – let cook in own juice
• Add little water as you go
• ½ glass vinegar – put in when half done
• Cooks 2 hours
• Put potatoes
• Mushroom – button canned
• Peas – fresh

According toEmily Dickinson Museum“The kitchen appears to be one of the rooms where [Emily] Dickinson felt most comfortable, perhaps most at home.” But the “many drafts of poems written on kitchen papers tell us also that this was a space of creative ferment for her, and that the writing of poetry mixed in her life with the making of delicate treats.” The coconut cake recipe is one of those instances where Dickinson blended her two great skills: baking and poetry.

Emily Dickinson’s Coconut Cake Recipe

• 1 cup coconut
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup butter
• ½ cup milk
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Dickinson left no instructions for how to prepare the cake, but there is a modern approximation of her recipeon NPR.

Here’s a breakfast for champions. When civil right activist Rosa Parks died in 2005, among the papers she left behind was a bank envelope with ahandwritten recipefor Featherlite pancakes. The recipe calls for a good deal of peanut butter, something Parks loved, according to her niece Deborah Ann Ross.

Rosa Parks’s Featherlite peanut butter pancakes recipe

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2tablespoonbaking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2tablespoonsugar
• 1 egg
• 1¼ cups whole milk
• ⅓ cup peanut butter
• 1 tablespoonshortening, melted, or any neutral oil, like canola

As for the recipe itself, Parks only writes, “Combine with dry ingredients; cook at 275° on griddle.”

There’s no surprise that “Papa” loved his food, as he described it in detail in his novels, and he was just as particular about his chow in real life.Hemingway’s favorite burger recipe was released in 2020 by theHemingway Letters Projectat the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. And it’s something else.

Ernest Hemingway’s favorite burger recipe

• 1 lb. ground lean beef
• 2 cloves, minced garlic
• 2 little green onions, finely chopped
• 1 heaping teaspoon, India relish
• 2 tablespoons, capers
• 1 heaping teaspoon, Spice Islands sage
• ½ teaspoon Spice Islands Beau Monde Seasoning
• ½ teaspoon Spice Islands Mei Yen Powder
• 1 egg, beaten in a cup with a fork
• About ⅓ cup dry red or white wine
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil

1. Break up the meat with a fork and scatter the garlic, onion, and dry seasonings over it, then mix them into the meat with a fork or your fingers.
2. Let the bowl of meat sit out of the icebox for 10or 15minutes while you set the table and make the salad.
3. Add the relish, capers, everything else, including wine, and let the meat sit, quietly marinatingfor another 10 minutes if possible. Now make your fat, juicy patties with your hands.
4. The patties should be an inch thickand soft in texture, but not runny.
5. Have the oil in your frying pan hot but not smoking when you drop in the patties, and then turn the heat down and fry the burgers about four minutes. Take the pan off the burner and turn the heat high again.
6. Flip the burgers over, put the pan back on the hot fire, then after one minute, turn the heat down again and cook another three minutes. Both sides of the burgers should be crispy brown, and the middle pink and juicy.

Small beer was a colonial favorite partly because it was cheap. Washington, ever the practical man, came up with a recipe for small beer that would have been a hit at the first Fourth of July party.

George Washington’s small beer recipe

• 1 large sifter of bran hops
• 3 gallons of molasses
• 1 quart of yeast

1. Take a large sifter full of bran hops to your taste. Boil these threehours. Then strain out 30 gallons into a cooler, put in threegallons molasses while the beer is scalding hot, or rather drain the molasses into the cooler andstrain the beer on it while boiling hot.
2. Let this stand until it is little more than blood warm. Then put in a quart of yeast. If the weather is very cold, cover it over with a blanket andlet it work in the cooler 24 hours.
3. Then put it into the cask [and]leave the bung [hole] open [until] it is almost done working.
4. Bottle it that day [or] week it was brewed.

While sweating the days away in his apartment, the American poet Allen Ginsberg came up with a recipe that was a real refreshment during the hot New York city summers: a cold borscht.

Allen Ginsberg’s Cold Summer Borscht Recipe

• Dozen beets cleaned & chopped to bite size salad-size Strips
• Stems & leaves also chopped like salad lettuce
• All boiled together lightly salted to make a bright red soup,
• with beets now soft – boil an hour or more
• Add Sugar & Lemon Juice to make the red liquid
• sweet & sour like Lemonade

Chill 4 gallon(s) of beet liquid –

• Serve with (1) Sour Cream on table
• (2) Boiled small or halved potato
• on the side
• (i.e. so hot potatoes don’t heat the
• cold soup prematurely)
• (3) Spring salad on table to put into
• cold red liquid
• 1) Onions – sliced (spring onions)
• 2) Tomatoes – sliced bite-sized
• 3) Lettuce – ditto
• 4) Cucumbers – ditto
• 5) a few radishes

In the ’80s, the Reagans brought “California chic and polish” to the White House.Nancy Reagan, the homemaker-in-chief, threw dishes impressive enough to be served at special events at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. One of these recipes was the First Lady’s sophisticated persimmon pudding with brandy whipped cream sauce.

Nancy Reagan’s persimmon pudding recipe

• ½ cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour, sifted
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. nutmeg
• 1 cup persimmon pulp (3 to 4 chopped nuts (optional), ripe ones)
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. warm water
• 3 tbsp. brandy
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 cup seedless raisins

1. Stir together the melted butter and sugar. Resift the flour with salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg,thenadd to the butter and sugar mixture. Add the persimmon pulp, solids dissolvein warm water, brandy, and vanilla.
2. Add the eggs, mixing thoroughly but lightly.
3. Add the raisins and nuts.
4. Put this in a buttered, steam-type covered mold and steam two and a half hours.
5. Flame at the table with brandy.

Pablo Picasso was as passionate about his food as he was about his art. In 1964, the Spanish-born painter shared with food columnist Ninette Lyon one of his favorite recipes — omelet tortilla Niçoise. The recipe is now reprinted by Vogue, and you can add it to your culinary bucket list.

Pablo Picasso’s omelet tortilla Niçoise recipe

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 4 peppers, red and green
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons wine vinegar
• 8 eggs
• Salt and pepper

1. In a flat-bottomed frying pan, heat oil gently and add the onions. After five minutes, add the peppers.
2. Mix and cook gently for a few minutes, then slip in the tomatoes.
3. After mixing and seasoning, cover pan and let simmer over a low flame for one hour. Vegetables should not stick. Uncover the pan, pour in the wine vinegar, and let cook until liquid is reduced.
4. Beat the eggs in a bowl. Pour over the vegetables, stir, and let the omelet cook gently without touching it.
5. When set, put a big plate over the pan and flip the omelet onto it, before adding it back into the pan. Cook till golden over a higher flame.
6. Cut the omelet tortilla and serve with garlic aioli.

In 1945, the same year the visionary author George Orwell released “Animal Farm,” he penned a less popular piece on British cuisine called“British Cookery,”where he states, “Cheap restaurants in Britain are almost invariably bad, while in expensive restaurants the cooking is almost always French or imitation French.”

In addition to his analysis of British cuisine, Orwell shared a few of his own recipes, including this version of the classic British Christmas pudding

George Orwell’s Christmas pudding recipe

• 1 lb. each of currants, sultanas, andraisins
• 2 ounces sweet almonds
• 1 ounces sweet almonds
• 1 ounces bitter almonds
• 4 ounces mixed peel
• ½ lb. brown sugar
• ½ lb. flour
• ¼ lb. breadcrumbs
• ½ teaspoonful salt
• ½ teaspoonful grated nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoonful powdered cinnamon
• 6 ounces suet
• The rind and juice of 1 lemon
• 5 eggs
• A little milk
• ⅛ of a pint of brandy, or a little beer

1. Wash the fruit. Chop the suet, then shred and chop the peel. Stone and chop the raisins, and blanch and chop the almonds. Prepare the breadcrumbs. Sift the spices and salt into the flour.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients into a basin. Heat the eggs, mix them with the lemon juice and the other liquids.
3. Add to the dry ingredients and stir well. If the mixture is too stiff, add a little more milk. Allow the mixture to stand for a few hours in a covered basin. Then mix well again and place in well-greased basins of about eightinches diameter.
4. Cover with rounds of greased paper. Then tie the tops of the basins over the floured cloths if the puddings are to be boiled, or with thick greased paper if they are to be steamed. Boil or steam for fiveor sixhours.
5. On the day when the pudding is to be eaten, reheat it by steaming it for threehours. When serving, pour a large spoonful of warm brandy over it and set fire to it.

While Thomas Jefferson did not introduce ice cream to the United States, despite a popular claim, he can be credited with the first known ice cream recipe recorded by an American. Jefferson also popularized the famous dessert when he served it at the President’s House in Washington.

Thomas Jefferson’s ice cream recipe

• 2 bottles of good cream
• 6 yolks of eggs
• ½ lb. sugar

1. Mix the yolks and sugar. Put the cream on a fire in a casserole… When near boiling, take it off andpour it gently into the mixture of eggs andsugar. Stir it well.
2. Put it on the fire, again stirring it thoroughly with a spoon to prevent its sticking to the casserole.
3. When near boiling, take it off and strain it througha towel. Put it in the Sabottiere (an early ice cream maker). Then set it in ice an hour before it is to be served. Put into the ice a handful of salt. Put salt on the cover lid of the Sabottiere andcover the whole thing with ice. Leave it still half a quarter of an hour.
4. Then turn the Sabottiere in the ice 10minutes. Open it to loosen with a spatula the ice from the inner sides of the Sabottiere. Shut it andreplace it in the ice.
5. Open it from time to time to detach the ice from the sides. When well taken, stir it well with the spatula. Put it in molds, justling it well down on the knee. Then put the mold into the same bucket of ice. Leave it there to the moment of serving it.

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Sylvia Plath found great comfort and escape in baking. She was a famous devotee of 1950s “The Joy of Cooking,” and wrote “Lady Lazarus” while baking the cookbook’s lemon pudding cake. Her own recipe is nearly identical to that of Joy of Cooking, but rather than regular milk she uses buttermilk for a little less fat and more tang.

Sylvia Plath’s Lemon pudding cake recipe

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for ramekins
• 1/4 cup flour
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 cup reduced-fat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3 egg yolks
• 4 egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Powdered sugar and fresh berries, for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Set six 6-ounce ramekins in a small roasting pan, butter them lightly, and dust them with granulated sugar.

2. Combine the remaining 2/3 cup granulated sugar, flour, and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Mix buttermilk, lemon juice, and egg yolks together in a large bowl. Whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients until combined.

3. Beat egg whites with salt until soft peaks form in a small bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer. Fold into lemon mixture gently. Divide batter evenly among ramekins and fill roasting pan with hot water until it reaches halfway up ramekins. Tent with foil.

4. Bake 20 minutes. Once the cakes are golden and firm to the touch, remove the foil and continue baking for another 20 minutes. Transfer ramekins to a rack and let cool 15 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edges and invert onto plates. Garnish with powdered sugar and berries.

“The King” loved his food, big and greasy. So, it’s no surprise that this calorie monster was his favorite recipe.

Elvis Presley’s peanut butter sandwich recipe

• 1tablespoonunsalted butter, softened
• 2sliceswhite bread
• 2tablespoonspeanut butter
• 1/2largeripebanana, sliced lengthwise into 4 thin pieces
• 4slicesbacon, cooked
• 2tablespoonshoney

Spread peanut butter on the other side of each slice. Add banana slices. Top with bacon slices and drizzle with honey. Place the remaining slice of bread, buttered side up, on top.

This cheese ring, named after Carter’s birthplace Plains, Georgia, is a great easy treat to toss together at your next gathering. Carter served this dish at the White House on many occasions during his four years in Washington.

Jimmy Carter’s plains special cheese ring recipe

• 1 lb. grated sharp cheese
• 1 cup finely chopped nuts
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 smallfinely grated onion
• Black pepper
• Dash of cayenne

Mix all of the ingredients, then mold with your hands into the desired shape. Place in the refrigerator until chilled.

Unsurprisingly, the creator of “Willy Wonka” and “Charlie and The Chocolate factory,” had a sweet tooth himself. Roald Dahl’s favorite creation was a dessert he deemed “Kit-Kat Pudding.”

The recipe is pretty simple:

You just need to unwrap some Kit-Kats, layer them with whipped cream in between, and freeze them. It’s like an ice cream sandwich made with Kit-Kats.

When she would finish her breakfast at Tiffany’s, the petite diva would go home and cook her favorite spaghetti, al Pomodoro, a recipe she learned while living in Italy. Legend has it Hepburn ate this dish every week.

Audrey Hepburn’s spaghetti al Pomodoro recipe

• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, diced small
• 2 stalks celery, diced small
• 2 large cans (28 oz. each) peeled Italian Roma tomatoes
• 1 large bunch fresh basil, washed
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb. spaghetti pasta
• Salt to taste
• Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Surprisingly enough, the creator of Narnia didn’t have a sweet tooth. C.S Lewis would instead swap the M&Ms and Kit Kats for a “no nonsense bowl of rice.” Here’s his take on a classic rice pudding, jazzed up with bourbon and cinnamon.

C.S. Lewis’ cinnamon bourbon rice pudding recipe

• 6 cups whole milk, divided
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 3/4 cup basmati rice
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon bourbon

1. Heat 5 1/2 cups of milk, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan until just warm and sugar has dissolved. Add vanilla seeds and bean pod to milk. Cover, remove from heat, and let sit for 30 minutes.
2. Turn the stove to medium-high heat and return the saucepan to the heat. Cook rice in milk until it comes to a light boil, stirring constantly, 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Stir occasionally until mixture thickens and rice is soft, about 35 minutes. Add egg and remaining 1/2 cup milk to mixture. Cook an additional 3 minutes.
4. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and bourbon after turning off the heat. Serve warm.

Garry Cooper, the most authentic cowboy of Old Hollywood cinema, had his own version of breakfast for champions. His recipe for buttermilk griddle cakes, which he learned from his mother, Alice Cooper, appeared in a vintage paperback cookbook, “Favorite Recipes of the Movie Stars.”

Gary Cooper’s buttermilk griddle cakes recipe

• 1 cup buttermilk
• ½ cup sweet cream
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 2 tbsp cornmeal
• 1 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 cups flour
• Butter and maple syrup for topping

Mix ingredients in order given. Drop by spoonfuls on a greased hot griddle. Cook on one side and when puffed, full of bubble and well cooked on edges, turn and cook on other side.

Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Mrs. Eisenhower donated thisrecipeduring her husband’s term in office to a church cookbook of cookie recipes.

Mamie Eisenhower’s sugar cookies recipe

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon cream or milk

1. Cream butter and mix well with sugar.
2. Add beaten egg yolks.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Add this mixture to the above alternating with cream.
5. Add vanilla and chill for one hour.
6. Roll and cut.
7. Sprinkle with sugar before baking in a moderate oven ( 350 to 375 Fahrenheit)for 10-12 minutes.

This was Bob Hope’s favorite lemon pie, and he got the recipe from his mother.

Bob Hope’s lemon pie recipe

• 1 1/3 C. Sugar
• 6 Tbsp. Cornstarch
• Dash of Salt
• 1/14 C. Boiling Water
• 3 Eggs, separated and beat the egg yolk
• 1/3 C. Lemon Juice
• 2 tsp. Lemon Rind
• 2 Tbsp. Butter (or margarine)
• 7 oz. Marshmallow Creme
• 9″ Baked Pie Shell

1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir constantly as you gradually add the water and bring to a boil. Cook for one minute until thickened. Stir a small amount of hot mixture into beaten egg yolks, and return to the hot mixture.
2. Stir constantly for 3 minutes over medium heat. Add lemon juice, butter, and lemon rind.
3. Pour the mixture into the cooled pastry shell.
4. To form soft peaks, beat egg whites with a dash of salt. Gradually add the marshmallow creme. Continue beating until stiff peaks form. Spread over lemon filling, sealing to the edge of the crust.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
6. Cool before serving.

The “Man in Black” chili is hearty, rustic, and big. Cash kept his family-style chili recipe a secret until his mother, who was writing a cookbook, asked him to share it.

Johnny Cash’s “old iron pot” chili recipe

• 1 + 2/3 pound sirloin steak
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 package chili seasoning
• 1 teaspoon chili con carne seasoning
• Chili powder (to taste)
• Cumin (to taste)
• 1 white onion (chopped)
• 1 14 ounce can whole tomatoes
• 1/3 can tomato paste
• 1 4 ounce can chopped chili peppers
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon chopped sage
• 1 teaspoon chopped thyme
• 1 15.5 ounce can kidney beans
• ¾ tablespoon sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large pot, heat the oil.
2. Add steak to pan after it has been chopped into squares. Add chili seasoning, chili con carne seasoning, chili powder, and cumin.
3. Cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add onion, whole tomatoes, tomato paste, chili peppers, garlic powder, onion powder, sage, thyme, kidney beans, sugar, salt and pepper.
5. Cook for 20 minutes on medium heat. Add additional spices to taste and water if the chili gets too thick.
6. Remove from heat and serve with cheese on top.

Just like Katharine Hepburn herself, her recipe for chocolate brownies is a no-fuss classic.

Katharine Hepburn’s brownies recipe

• ½ cup cocoa
• ½ cup butter (1 stick)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 cup chopped or broken-up walnuts or pecans
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Pinch of salt

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a saucepan, melt butter with cocoa and stir until smooth.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a large bowl. Whisk in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla.
4. Add sugar, flour, nuts, and salt to a separate bowl. Add to the cocoa-butter mixture. Stir until just combined.
5. Pour into a greased 8 x 8-inch-square pan.
6. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Do not overbake; the brownies should be gooey.
7. Let cool, then cut into bars.

According to alegend, Sir Francis Drake brewed an unusual beverage to boost the spirits of his crew when they were laid up with scurvy near Havana. The drink was then renamed “El Draque,” eventually becoming the modern mojito.

Sir Francis Drake’s Mojito recipe

• 1 lime
• 2 ounce white rum
• 6 mint leaves
• 2 tsp. sugar

Mix ingredients together in a cup.

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