The Pension Boards - PBUCC

Ruth's Recipes

Ruth Madison serves as Executive Vice President, Benefit Plans & Services. As part of her role at PBUCC, she oversees the Customer Care team, which provides compassionate care to our PBUCC and Ministerial Assistance communities. She resides in New Jersey and enjoys baking, cooking, biking, and spending time with her two children and countless nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.

Lemon Blueberry Cake Recipe

Who doesn’t love fresh blueberries in the summer? Growing up, my aunt had a garden, and we would spend hours picking blueberries together. Now, my children have a garden— with their very own blueberry bushes! It’s a project keeping the birds (and my son’s dog!) from eating them all, but one thing I always make from those blueberries is a lemon blueberry cake. It is incredibly moist and very refreshing!

Ingredients

2 ½ cups flour
¾ cup canola oil
¼ cup cornstarch
1 ⅔ cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ cup of lemon juice and zest from 2 lemons
¾ cup of yogurt
½ tsp baking soda
3 large eggs – room temperature
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp milk – room temperature
6 tbsp butter – room temperature
1 ¾ cup fresh blueberries coated in 2 tbsp flour

Cream Cheese Frosting

8-ounce package cream cheese – room temperature
1 stick butter - room temperature
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
Juice of ½ lemon

Directions

Grease two 8-inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper. Whisk together the first five ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, oil, sugar, and lemon zest, and mix for 3 minutes. Then add eggs one at a time. Add the milk, yogurt, and lemon juice. Mix in the flour mixture by hand and then fold in the blueberries. Put mixture into prepared pans and bake for 35 – 40 minutes. Remove cake from pans after resting for about 20 minutes. While the cake is cooling, mix the ingredients for the cream cheese frosting, then frost the cake. Last, enjoy your lemon blueberry cake!

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

I love bread. And in the fall one of my favorite breads is pumpkin! I found this recipe many years ago and just loved how moist the bread is. It is great alone, or with a little cream cheese spread on top! I hope you love this bread as much as my family and I do. Enjoy! - Ruth

Ingredients

1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups sugar
3 ½ cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cloves
¼ tsp ginger

Directions

Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Pour into (3) greased 7 x 3 loaf pans, or one large loaf pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until the tester comes out clean.

Apple Pie Recipe

There were three women named Ruth in my family, and we all shared a love of baking. One of our favorite go-to fall desserts is apple pie. Go to your local orchard or farm stand and buy some of your favorite apples and mix them up in this pie recipe. We used to pick apples right from my cousin’s apple orchard.

Ingredients

1 basic pie crust recipe or store-bought crust
8 cups of sliced apples
2/3 cup of sugar
3 tbsp flour
1- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg

Mix the above ingredients together and stir into the apples, then set aside.

Toppings

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup flour
¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)

Mix the above ingredients together. Add in a ½ cup of butter and mix until the mixture is crumbly.

Directions

Pour apples into pie shell, put on topping, and bake at 350 degrees for at least 50 minutes until the juices from the apples start to bubble and thicken.

For a healthier version, serve the apple pie with a slice of cheddar cheese instead of ice cream. As my mom would say, “Apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze!”