Readers offer Chess Pie, Chocolate Potato Cakes

DEAR MELBA • Here's a recipe for Pineapple Chess Pie from Diana's Kitchen. It's fabulous.

1 pie shell (9 inches), unbaked

1 can (14 ounces) chunk pineapple

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

½ cup butter

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 teaspoons vanilla

¼ teaspoon salt

3 eggs

½ cup sour cream

Whipped cream

•Prebake pie shell in preheated 425-degree oven 5 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 degrees. Drain pineapple; sprinkle with flour. Cream butter, sugars, vanilla and salt until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until mixture is smooth.

•Stir in sour cream and pineapple. Spread in pie shell, mounding in center. Bake 50-60 minutes until set and browned. Remove and cool thoroughly. Garnish with whipped cream.

Marv and Sue

DEAR MELBA • Someone wanted the ranch burger recipe. I believe this is what she wants. My granddaughter makes them, and they are great. She mixes ranch salad dressing and ground beef and makes into thick patties. Finish as you would any hamburger. Sometimes she even makes cheeseburgers.

Barbara Wilkinson, City

DEAR MELBA • Carolyn Compton requested a recipe for Chocolate Potato Cake. This is my Grandmother Garrison's recipe. She made it for every holiday meal.

She wrote the recipe on the back of a blank check and did not give any instructions, so I've had to experiment over the past 40 years.

½ cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup cooked mashed potatoes

¾ cup hot milk

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ cup cocoa

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup raisins

1 cup chopped pecans

•Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray Bundt pan with nonstick spray. In large bowl of electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar; add the eggs one at a time, mixing well.

•Mix together the mashed potatoes and hot milk and add alternately with the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Add vanilla. Fold in the raisins and pecans.

•Spread in prepared pan and bake about an hour, being careful not to overcook. Check for doneness with a toothpick or use a thermometer; it should register 190 degrees.

I serve this with prepared whipped topping.

Lorraine Crabb, Stillwater

DEAR MELBA • Here is the cake my grandmother, Minnie McAnulty of Atoka, used to make. She died over 30 years ago, and she was an excellent cook.

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, beaten separately

1 cup grated raw potatoes

Grated rind of 1 lemon

2¼ cups cake flour

½ teaspoon each: allspice, ground cloves and cinnamon

2¼ teaspoons baking powder

½ cup chopped almonds

½ cup milk

1 bar German sweet chocolate, melted

•Cream butter; add sugar gradually, then add

beaten egg yolks, potato and lemon rind.

•Sift together flour and other dry ingredients. Use part of flour to dust almonds. Mix flour mixture and add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Add melted chocolate.

•Beat egg whites and fold into mixture with almonds. Bake in greased tube or Bundt pan in preheated 325-degree oven for 1 hour. Frost with your favorite icing.

Nona Sue Sheerer, Chickasha

Others sharing included Geneva Murray, Edmond; Leslie Cornish, Norman;