Last year, when Joyce Haines’s son, Reed, 19, decided he didn’t want the usual cake and punch at his high school graduation party, Haines got busy preparing a dessert bar.

“We had New York cheesecake, a chocolate truffle cheesecake and turtle cheesecake. We had cookies – sugar, chocolate chip – and three different pies, fresh peach, fresh apple and cream pie. I also had chocolate-dipped strawberries, striped pretzel rods and fresh fruit,” she says.

Haines and her husband, Todd, also have a daughter, Katie, 15, and live in southwest Allen County. She is an accountant, dividing her time between home and spending 30 percent of her time at clients’ homes.

In addition to her pies, Haines, 50, is known for her cookies. She took her husband’s family cookie recipe and tweaked it to make her zebra cookie.

“That’s one of my mother-in-law’s favorite cookies,” she says, adding: “Let me tell you, I make a lot of cookie trays at Christmas. When I make up my (cookie) dough, like chocolate chip and oatmeal, I use a cookie scoop.”

To save time, Haines will make cookies in advance and freeze them.

After making a particular cookie recipe, she’ll use her cookie scoop and place each unbaked cookie on a tray. She won’t flatten the dough but leaves it as a ball on the tray. Then she’ll cover the tray and place it in the freezer until the dough is frozen. The cookie dough balls are removed and placed in a plastic freezer bag to use later. When she’s ready to bake, she removes the number of cookies she wants from the freezer bag and places them on baking sheet and bakes according to the recipe.

“It saves times, and it’s ‘quantity’ control,” she says.

Q. What do you do to keep meals healthy?

A. I try to pick leaner cuts of meat. Maybe use chicken more than pork or beef. I try to choose healthier oil like olive. I try to have more fruits and vegetables at every meal. Sometimes I don’t use reduced-fat products like cream cheese in a cheesecake. I want it to taste real creamy, like it should. If you’re watching cholesterol or calories, you should either take a smaller piece or none.

Q. What do you do with leftovers?

A. Of what? If I have leftovers, I usually eat them for lunch or share those with an elderly friend.

Q. What vegetable do you eat most often?

A. Depends on the time of the year. I love tomatoes; Indiana tomatoes are the best. I love corn in late July or early August. I love peas or green beans. I love all kinds of vegetables. I hate to limit myself to just one.

Q. If you were stuck on a deserted island, what’s one food you would have to have?

A. Only one thing to eat? Probably potatoes – because you can do so much with them. On an island I could have fresh seafood. I’m assuming you could have fresh fruits and greens and my starch.

Q. Who’s your cooking idol?

A. I don’t watch a lot of TV chefs. My mom, Phyllis Browning, of New Castle, we used to watch her when we were little. We learned from her. I come from a family of great cooks. I have five sisters. And I married into a family of great cooks.

Q. Who would you like to take to buy groceries?

A. Whoever’s going to pay for it! (laughs)

Q. What one word describes your cooking style?

A. Homemade because if I’m going to make it, I will make it from scratch.

Fresh Peach Pie

8-inch:

Pastry for 8-inch two-crust pie, recipe to follow

4 cups sliced fresh peaches (about 7 medium)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon margarine or butter

9-inch:

Pastry for 9-inch two-crust pie, recipe to follow

5 cups sliced fresh peaches (about 9 medium)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons margarine or butter

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry. Mix peaches and lemon juice. Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon; stir into peaches. Turn into pastry-lined pie plate; dot with margarine. Moisten edge of crust with fingers dipped in water. Cover with top crust; cut slits in it; seal and flute. Cover edge with 2- to 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking. Bake until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust, 35 to 45 minutes. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Pie Crust

One-Crust 9-inch Pie

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon Crisco

2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

Two-Crust 9-inch Pie

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons Crisco

4 to 5 tablespoons cold water

Mix flour and salt together well. Cut shortening into flour/salt mixture until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons water can be added if necessary). Roll pastry 2 inches larger than inverted pie plate with floured rolling pin. Place in plate and ease to fit, pressing firmly against bottom and side. For One Crust Pie: Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1 inch from rim of plate. Fold and roll pastry under, with pastry edge standing 1/2 inch above plate edge; flute. Fill and bake as directed in recipe. For baked pie shell: Prick bottom and side thoroughly with fork. Bake in 475 oven until light brown, 8 to 10 minutes; cool. For Two-Crust Pie: Turn desired filling into pastry-lined pie plate. Roll other half of pastry. Dip fingers in water and wet the edge of the pastry in the plate. Place top pastry over filling and gently press fingers along top edge of plate to seal. Trim to 1/2 inch of edge. Fold and roll top edge; flute. Cut slits in top so steam can escape. Brush top with milk to aid browning. Bake as directed in recipe. If edges brown too quickly, cover edges with foil ring.

New York Cheesecake

15 graham crackers, crushed

2 to 3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons sugar

4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup milk

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch spring form pan. In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Press onto the bottom of the spring form pan. Set the entire pan on 2 layers of aluminum foil and bring the foil up around the pan no higher than the side of the pan. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Stir in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. You do not want a lot of air worked into the mix or you will have air pockets in the final product. You may want to use a mixer only for mixing the cream cheese and sugar portion and manually stir in the remainder. Pour filling into prepared crust. Place the foil wrapped spring form pan in a water bath in the oven, filled with 1/2 to 1 inch of very hot water. (Haines uses a jellyroll pan). Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off. Open the door long enough to run a hot or greased knife around the edge. Shut the door and let cool several hours, 5 to 6 hours or until oven has cooled; this prevents cracking. Chill in refrigerator until serving. Top as desired. Makes 12 servings.

Sugar Cookies

2 cups Crisco

2 cups sugar

6 eggs

3 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

6 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Cream Crisco and sugar. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add flour, salt and baking powder. Chill several hours or overnight. Roll on floured board, rather thick (about 3/8 inch) and cut into desired shapes. (using 2- to 2 1/2 -inch cookie cutters) Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Watch closely, cookies should still be white when taken out of oven. They should be just done. Cool and ice with butter cream icing. Makes 5 dozen.