Tag Archives: Butter

Recipes - Desserts

New Post, Old Pie

Walnuts really are the best nuts for this pie I’ve decided; they add great texture, chopped to 1/4 t. size; flatter pecans wouldn’t add as much texture to this pie as only 1 cup of nuts is used.  I didn’t have my stick of butter softened much at all; just cubed the butter small and creamed it with the liquid from the egg yolks. You wouldn’t want the butter completely soft so this worked fine. Vinegar is the unexpected flavor in the pie and it is just enough to keep it from being overly sweet.   Beat the egg whites frothy and fold in to the batter gently. This results in a top crust that crumbles easily; use a serrated knife to slice this.  A just-right accompaniment tonight was a large dollop of Cool Whip.  Delicious!

If you’re after an easy to prepare dessert (completed in 30 minutes prep time, including rolling out a pie shell) then check out this savory “old timey” cupboard pie.  It’s a snap to make and definitely a real snap-crackely-pop for your palette.

Mrs. Bernie’s Chewy Nut Pie

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 T. vinegar
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 9” unbaked pastry shell

Directions Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vinegar in medium bowl. Add nuts and raisins. In separate bowl, beat egg whites slightly, and fold into first mixture. Stir well to blend all ingredients. Pour in unbaked pastry shell and bake for 45 minutes and allow to cool before cutting.

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Recipes - Desserts

Blackberry Cobbler

My BFF down in Florida was mentioning blackberry cobbler a lot, at least three times last week, so when I spotted fresh blackberries at my local market yesterday, I knew we had to have our own cobbler, up here, and soon!  These were large beautiful blackberries just made for cobbler or blackberry pie and they did not disappoint. The photos above took as long to fuss with as the actual cobbler prep work did.  35 minutes and its in the oven! The larger photo is as served out of mama’s room tonight at Woodland Hills.  I have to say, “the cobbler thing” was a pleasure, from start to finish!

Do cook your blackberries to thicken, then cool the filling off the stove before adding the topping; cook it just long enough for the juices to coat a wooden spoon; 5 minutes.  The sugar, berries, and the whiff of cinnamon take a minute to boil, as the sugar must melt first.   The cornstarch-water mixture thickens the sauce perfectly.  Taste it as it cools because you might want a little more cinnamon.  The biscuity topping is a terrific complement to the berry filling.  I like to drop it willy-nilly over my berries as that  makes for easy serving.  It does taste like abiscuit, browned on top with a  cake-like texture, perfect for soaking up the ample juices from the berries.  Fresh blackberries, are, of course, a given for this recipe.  These berries were from my local market; youknow, the only “real” grocery store in town; they were beautiful to look at, big as large Bing cherries, and they held their shape nicely too, once cooked.

If you have 60 minutes total, and 3 cups of blackberries, you are in business my friend!  Half of that time is the cobbler baking and you cleaning up the kitchen quickly, right? Start to finish, there was nothing more pleasant to be doing with that hour, and the results were amazing!  Ahhh, the many flavors of Spring!  Dig Right In!

Blackberry Cobbler

Ingredients for berries

3 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3 T. cornstarch
1 cup cold water
1 T. butter

Biscuit Topping

1-1/2 cups flour
1 T. sugar
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup milk

Directions In a large saucepan, combine the blackberries, sugar and cinnamon. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into fruit mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Pour into a greased 8-in. square baking dish. Dot with butter.

For topping, in a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in milk just until moistened. Drop by tablespoons onto hot berry mixture.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until filling is bubbly and topping is golden brown. Serve warm with whipped topping or ice cream. Yield: 9 servings.

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Recipes - Breads & Biscuits

Pimento Cheese Biscuits

Geeze Louise, I meant to make and blog about these biscuits yesterday in honor of the Kentucky Derby but my “just do 3 hours of work in the yard” turned in to “it’s 5:30 and I haven’t made biscuits yet!” Determined to make up for the neglect yesterday, I baked these before I went out to the yard this afternoon. You might be tickled to find these tasty little treats on a Kentucky Derby buffet next year, even your own buffet table if you plan on hosting a Derby party (and what could be more fun?).

The recipe comes from a blog I enjoy reading, “Syrup & Biscuits” and though I followed the recipe exactly, I did not have 12 biscuits to bake after I was finished, only 7 biscuits.  Next time I will add more flour as I work the dough.  Today I also used a fresh jalapeno pepper, not a pickled one, and that was fine. I haven’t tasted these yet but they will be greatly enjoyed with my supper I know.  If you get 12 biscuits they will make a great appetizer for your Derby party or as a special side dish with a simple supper as I have planned.

The dough is very sticky so you will need to add enough flour for it to become smooth and elastic as you work with it.  I can imagine adding at least 1/2 cup additional flour as you roll it out.  I love the look of these with the cheese topping and the jalapeño slices.  The jalapeño gives just enough warmth to these pretty puffs and the pimento cheese is a great surprise when you bite into them.  Go on, put on your Derby hat, think about a cool mint julep, and have a Run for the Roses yourself!!

Ingredients

¾ cup soft winter wheat all-purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup plain cornmeal
¼ cup unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
½ cup buttermilk
½ to ¾ cups pimento cheese
15 pickled jalapeño pepper slices

Directions: Place flour, baking powder, kosher salt and cornmeal in a bowl and stir lightly. Rub or cut in butter until flour resembles coarse meal.  Pour in buttermilk and stir until dough is wet and sticky. Turn out onto a well-floured surface. Sprinkle flour on top. Gently work in the flour, adding more as needed, until the dough is no longer sticky and holds its shape.  Roll out to ½ inch thick. Cut with a 2 inch biscuit cutter dipped in flour. With the back of your hand, flatten out the cut out biscuit as much as possible.

Spray a mini-muffin pan with non-stick spray. Place about a teaspoon of pimento cheese in the center of the biscuit cut out. Press the edges of the cut out toward the center to form a flower shape. Place the biscuit in a mini-muffin cup and top with a pickled jalapeño slice. Repeat with each biscuit cut out.  Place in a 450 degree oven for 12 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly brown and the biscuit is done.  Remove from oven and transfer each biscuit to a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Best served warm.

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Recipes - Desserts

Apricot Nectar Cake


Because I was indulging my wild-child hippie flower power tendencies (i.e. doing a ton of cleaning out of flower beds and digging-in-the-dirt planting) for the past four days, I have neglected to blog. Truth of the matter is, you can’t blog if you’re not cooking and can’t cook if you’re outside dirt digging all day long until twilight falls! I am so happy to be back at it today and even happier to introduce you to this delicious, easy-breezy, apricot nectar cake!

The recipe came to me from BFF Susan who received it from her sister-in-law, Vikki. You can also bake this using mango nectar and I make sure to keep several cans of both nectars on my pantry shelves so that I can bake this cake in a jiffy when I need something quick but delicious. I find the nectar at Walmart in the canned juices aisle.

You will have this batter mixed and breathing in the bowl in under 10 minutes. I do beat the eggs separately because the one time I didn’t, the cake wasn’t nearly as light in texture. Some recipes call for using a yellow cake mix for this one, but I love the hint of lemon that the Duncan Hines Supreme Cake Mix offers in this recipe. You also might want to zest up a teaspoon of lemon peel and add that to either the batter or the glaze. The lemon flavor adds a great zing to the apricot or mango flavors. The cake is beautiful baked in a Bundt pan sprinkled with finely-sifted powdered sugar. Today I baked this exactly as found in my “Missouri to Maui” cookbook.

You just can’t get too fruity for spring time! Offer those around your table a taste of robust apricots or tropical mangoes then just sit back and accept your compliments!  Guaranteed you will have many!

Apricot Nectar Cake

Ingredients

1 box Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup apricot nectar (found at Walmart in the canned juices section)
3/4 cup cooking oil
4 eggs, beaten separately

Directions Preheat oven to 325. In large bowl, mix first four ingredients with electric mixer on medium for approximately two minutes. Scrape batter from sides of bowl with spatula as you mix. In separate small bowl, beat the eggs with mixer then gently fold into the batter. Pour batter into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean and dry. Poke holes in cake with the tines of a fork and pour hot glaze over cake.
Glaze

2/3 cup powdered sugar
Remainder of the can of nectar
1 T. butter

Directions In medium saucepan, combine ingredients and bring to a slow boil. Cook just until smooth and the powdered sugar is dissolved. Take cake out of oven and poke holes in hot cake with a fork then pour glaze into a measuring cup and slowly pour over cake. Make glaze a few minutes before cake is out of oven. Let cake cool then invert onto your serving platter and dust lightly with powdered sugar.

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Recipes - Breads & Biscuits

The BEST Raspberry Bread

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I wanted “something raspberry” with the small pack of berries I bought Thursday, and a quick late night Google search brought this recipe up immediately. I used it exactly as I found it on Averiecooks.com blog page except using less raspberries than called for and adding chopped pecans to the batter. Moist and dense, this sweet bread is just Plain ‘Ole Raspberry Perfection! Right here! Make it early in the day and let it mellow before slicing if you can wait. It’s only going to taste even better!

I used fresh berries as recommended; they are available now in my local market and frozen berries do produce extra juice, not needed here. It’s always so exciting spotting those first shelves of fresh berries in the produce aisle, and if I had 12-oz of berries I would definitely use them. Omit the nuts if you wish; I like them for the texture they bring and they make up for using less fruit. The batter is rich with buttermilk, oil, and melted butter; don’t over stir it; it is lumpy and shouldn’t be smooth. The fats added lightness to the batter and it slid right from the bowl under its own steam into the loaf pan. Those fats also guarantee a dense moist bread, bursting with flavorful tang of buttermilk and melted butter. The brown sugar casts a lovely golden color and adds sweetness.

I did bake the bread for 55 minutes today as it was still wet at 45 minutes. I turned the oven off then and let the bread sit in the oven 5 more minutes. It browned nicely and dropped easily from the pan after it cooling 20 minutes. A small knife run around the sides of the pan will loosen the bread perfectly and it drops right from the pan. Cool completely on wire rack with bread wrapped in lightly in foil. A dollop of Cool Whip on each slice will be extra good tonight!

I followed the directions as given but rewrote them using my words and my results today. I couldn’t agree more with Averie that this is the BEST raspberry bread around! At my house, today, at least! It won’t last until tomorrow because it was made for sharing, but if there are leftovers, wrap slices in foil and store in an airtight bag. This will be even better the next day, guaranteed! I have no idea what’s for supper but, with a glass of cold milk, following half a day of water sloshing all-out cleaning on the front porch, i found that two slices of this raspberry bread made a wonderful late lunch. Hey, now, it’s Spring! Get Raspberries! Be Delighted!

The BEST Raspberry Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 to 12 ounces raspberries, about 2 cups (today, 6 oz.)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. grease and flour a 9×5″ loaf pan; set aside.

In a large bowl, add the flour, the brown and white sugars, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine; set aside.

Melt the butter. Allow butter to cool slightly then add the egg, buttermilk, oil, vanilla. Whisk well.

Pour wet ingredients over the dry and stir until just combined; don’t over mix. Batter will be somewhat lumpy; don’t try to stir the lumps smooth or bread will be tough; set aside.

In a medium bowl, add raspberries and 2 tablespoons flour; toss lightly to combine. Add the floured raspberries to the batter nad fold in, along with the pecans, if using, very lightly to combine. Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula and distributing batter well in pan.

NOTE: Recipe recommends if using frozen berries, bake for 1 hr 17 minutes. Tent foil over the pan after 30 minutes. Today, using fresh berries, I baked it for 55 minutes, with foil tented over it at 30 minutes) then turned the oven off and let it sit for five more minutes. Test the batter after 45 minutes and adjust. Bread is done when the top springs back and a tooth pick inserted has no batter on it. Allow bread to cool in pan for 20 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.

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