Peppermint bark, please

I would like to have a recipe for peppermint bark. It has dark chocolate on the bottom, then a layer of white chocolate, maybe with peppermint mixed in with it, and topped with crushed peppermint candies.

Can someone help?

– Rio Terlinde, Sacramento

Black pepper vinaigrette?

I'm looking for the black pepper vinaigrette recipe served at the now-closed Celestin's restaurant in Sacramento. I have tried many times to re-create it, but without success. Can anyone help? Thanks.

– Sheryl Schierenberg, Elk Grove

Old-fashioned tea cakes

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Makes about 2 dozen, depending on size of cutter

Martha Johnson-Young of Antelope was looking for an old-fashioned tea cake recipe like her grandmother used to make many years ago. They were not like Russian tea cakes but soft like a biscuit and a little flatter. They had the consistency of a cake or cookie and were sweet, containing flour, sugar and cinnamon. Her grandmother used a drinking glass to cut out the dough.

This recipe comes from Jeanine Counselman of Orangevale who says it comes from a 1980s-era cookbook titled "Calling All Cooks."

INGREDIENTS

2 cups sugar

1 cup shortening (half butter and half Crisco)

2 eggs

3 to 5 cups flour

Nutmeg or cinnamon, to taste

3 level teaspoons baking powder

Pinch salt

1/2 cup milk

INSTRUCTIONS

Cream sugar and shortening in a bowl. Add eggs and mix well.

In another bowl, sift together 3 cups of the flour, nutmeg or cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture, alternating with milk. Add enough extra flour until dough is stiff enough to roll. Roll dough on a floured board.

Cut out and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Per tea cake: 222 cal.; 3 g pro.; 33 g carb.; 8 g fat (4 sat., 3 monounsat., 1 polyunsat.); 26 mg chol.; 90 mg sod.; 1 g fiber; 35 percent calories from fat.

Hawaiian delight pie

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Serves 8

Carol Owens of Guinda enjoyed a Hawaiian-style macadamia nut pie served at the now-closed Auction Yard Cafe in Willows. She was hoping for a recipe.

This recipe comes from Jan Mahlman of Folsom who says she found it in Luby's Cafeteria Cookbook. The recipe doesn't call for macadamia nuts, but Mahlman suggests adding them to the filling in place of part of the coconut.

Note: Thoroughly drain the pineapple in a wire strainer before measuring.

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 extra-large eggs

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons cornmeal

1 1/4 cups drained canned crushed pineapple

1 1/4 cups flaked coconut, or 1 cup flaked coconut and 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, beat together butter or margarine, sugar, eggs, flour and cornmeal until well-blended. Add pineapple, coconut, macadamia nuts (if using) and vanilla extract. Mix well. Pour into pie shell.

Bake for 45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Filling will be very moist.

Per serving: 462 cal.; 4 g pro.; 67 g carb.; 20 g fat (12 sat., 6 monounsat., 2 polyunsat.); 90 mg chol.; 184 mg sod.; 2 g fiber; 39 percent calories from fat.

HOW TO CONTACT THE MAILBOX

If you have recipes in reply to Mailbox reader requests, or questions or comments, write to: Mailbox, c/o Taste, The Sacramento Bee, P.O. Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852. You also can email twatson@sacbee.com or fax (916) 556-5625. Please include your full name, your city and phone number.

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