Southern Spoonbread was a practical, and tempting, choice for supper tonight after spending the better part of the day cleaning and organizing the pantry. This simple dish, easily prepared any time with ingredients normally on hand, makes a fine side dish at any meal. Eaten warm, just out of the oven, it is best described as a spoonable cornbread pudding. The center is creamy with a top that browns and thickens enough to give texture. Eaten cold, as a midnight snack, drizzled with maple syrup, the texture had firmed and it tasted a little like bread pudding. With only a teaspoon of sugar, the dish is not overly sweet, but it is rich with eggs and cornmeal.
There are dozens of versions of this classic Southern recipe and today I modified the one I normally use because I didn’t have corn meal other than the self-rising variety and that wouldn’t do for this dish. I used boxed Jiffy Mix as a substitute, and though the souffle was not as dry as when using plain white corn meal, the texture was still satisfying. The top will crack as the souffle bakes and that is fine. The hardest thing about making this is resisting the urge to eat it right out of the pan. I managed to do so only by walking out of the kitchen and occupying myself elsewhere for 15 minutes. This is comfort food at its Southern finest.
Do beat your egg whites separately and until they are stiff and firm and fold them into the batter gently to lighten it. This could easily be baked in a 2-qt. souffle dish also.
Ingredients
5 T. unsalted butter, softened
4 cups milk
1 cup fine-ground white or yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. sugar
4 eggs, separated
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
Directions Preheat the oven to 400. Butter a 1-1/2 quart soufflé dish with 2 T. of the softened butter; set aside. In a large saucepan, heat milk until just below boiling. Slowly whisk in cornmeal; bring to boiling. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat for about five minutes or until the mixture thickens and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat; transfer to a large mixing bowl. Cool 10 minutes. Whisk in the remaining 3 T. butter, salt, and sugar. Beat in egg yolks until well blended.
In a separate large mixing bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with a clean large whisk until they form soft glossy mounds. Stir one-third of the beaten egg whites into the cornmeal mixture to lighten. Gently fold in remaining egg whites. Gently turn into prepared soufflé dish; the batter will nearly fill the dish. Bake 30 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Cool five minutes at least before serving.
Ever since mama and I each noticed and commented on this dish after seeing it in this month’s Southern Living magazine, I wanted to make it. There no crust, only a thick bottom layer consisting of a mixture of cooked grits, sharp cheddar, and an egg, paired with a traditional quiche filling using heavy cream, half-n-half, and eggs. The dish does produce a rockin’ taste and has a real take-away heft to it so it makes a satisfying main dish. I can attest to all the above because I made it twice. In two days. I had to. Yesterday’s effort was not successful. It was good, but it wasn’t the quiche it was supposed to be. Of course there’s a story here and I will try to be brief in the telling of it.
The first thing to mention is that I’ve renamed this quiche three times. It started with its magazine title, Bacon Cheddar & Grits Quiche, then three more names evolved in my mind as I wrestled with creating it. This morning, while making it again, I renamed it The Second Time Around Quiche. Yesterday’s quiche, baked in a spring form pan as directed in the recipe, shrank before my eyes as it baked. When I first set the pan in the oven on a rimless baking sheet, I initially believed some of the filling sloshed out while placing it on the oven rack. But when I shut the oven door and turned away, I noticed a puddly trail of quiche filling marching across the floor. My eyes followed the trail over to the bottom cabinets then up to the counter where at least 3/4 cup of the filling was spreading! The spring form pan had sprung a leak. With no way of saving what was in the oven, I cleaned up the mess everywhere else and let the quiche bake. When I peered in the oven after cleaning up, there was another 3/4 cup of filling running off the baking sheet onto the bottom of the oven where the eggs had baked up hard and the cream was already browned. EPIC FAIL ON THE PAN!
I now couldn’t bake the paltry amount left in the pan as long as the recipe called for and by the time it did come out of the oven, the grits and cheese mixture was great but there was only a thin layer of the filling, somewhat saved by the cooked crumbled bacon and the green onions which rose to the top and baked just fine. This led to its second name, Pizza Quiche, because it looked more like a pizza than anything else in its skinny little state. It actually tasted good and I ate a large piece (not a large wedge because a wedge involves height and we were definitely at pizza level here). I also carried a piece to mama when I went up to visit and she also found it tasty; she cleaned the plate, but, it was obvious: what we ate was truly a ghost of its intended self and that meant baking it again 🙂
Another trip to the store for an 8-oz. block of sharp cheddar, more heavy cream, and a dozen eggs led to the dish now being tagged “Damned Expensive Quiche!” in my mind. A bright spot here is that it was much quicker to prepare today since the steps were familiar. I did lessen two ingredient amounts, and ended up with the recipe below. I used 1-1/2 cups less half-n-half and one less egg in the filling. And today I used my quiche dish; no spring form pan!
Ta-DA! Today: Winner! The result is as tasty as imagined. The grits, cheese and bacon marry well and the filling is rich with half-n-half, cream, and four eggs. I can definitely see, however, how nice this would look using a high-sided spring form pan, and it would be much easier to serve, but I wasn’t willing to risk losing it all to the bottom of the oven again. Knowing myself, I’ll keep tinkering with it (not tomorrow)! BUT, if any of you try it using the spring form pan and the original recipe and it works for you, down the line, please let us in on it by posting a pic!
For now, my spring form pan is back on the shelf reserved for use with cheesecakes and dishes with heavier batters. The bottom layer of this dish is thick enough to allow using a spring form pan which is surely the trick to making this the Southern Living Way IF said pan can be completely sealed. I imagine this looking even more delightful and serving at least 8-10 people. Meanwhile, the recipe below, as re-written, to serve 6-8, still makes a mighty fine supper. It’s ono, y’all.
I almost didn’t share this story because I already told you about a major flub occurring when preparing the Bacon Bundled Beans last week, and was, you know, thinking perhaps you would be thinking, “this lady writes a food blog but she’s had two flub ups in the first week she’s been blogging”, and, well, then, you know, you might just move on to somebody’s blog who knows how to cook and never has a dish turn out less than perfect.
But my next thought was that the story does testify to the fact that when we’re cooking, we all have glitches, and we don’t just give up because we are made of much hardier stock than that! Actually, in Missouri, it’s all part of our “show me” attitude. 🙂
Bacon Cheddar & Grits Quiche
6 slices of thick bacon
2-1/4 cups milk
2 T. butter
1/2 cup uncooked instant grits
2 t. sea salt, divided use
1 tsp. black pepper, divided use
2-1/2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded, divided use
5 large eggs
1-1/2 cups half-n-half
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup green onion, sliced thin
Directions Preheat oven to 350. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon; drain and crumble. Transfer 2 tsp. bacon drippings to a sauce pan.
Bring drippings, milk, and butter to a boil over medium heat. Gradually whisk in grits, 1 t. salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper; cook, whisking constantly 7-8 minutes or until very thick. Remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes. Stir in 1 cup cheese and let stand again 10 minutes. Stir in 1 egg, spread in a 10” quiche dish coated with cooking spray. Spread mixture well to the edges.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until set and browned. Sprinkle remaining 1-1/2 cups cheese over the warm grits, spreading to edges. Let stand 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 325. Combine half-n-half, cream, green onion, and the remaining 4 eggs; whisk well. Add the remaining 1 t. sea salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Whisk again to blend well then pour over grits mixture in dish; sprinkle with crumbled bacon. Place dish on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 325 for one hour and 15 minutes or until lightly browned and just set. Let stand 20 minutes then run a sharp knife around edges of the quiche and cut into wedges for serving.
I made this dish when Susie was visiting in November and served it with Chicken Cacciatore, but made it again today because the photo from November was terrible (it’s all about “the learning curve” here with photographing food). Today I halved the recipe since there was no company here to help enjoy it. This simple dish bakes up moist with cottage cheese, eggs, and Jiffy Mix, and it actually tastes more like dressing than anything else. The broccoli and eggs produce a satisfying side dish with many purposes; it is especially delicious accompanying meatloaf or a pot of ham-n-beans. This old recipe of mama’s is always a good choice for a pot luck or when there are enough people around the table to enjoy it in one sitting; if not, it does microwave well the second day.
Directions Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl, mix eggs, cottage cheese, broccoli, margarine and onion. Stir to mix well. Add the cornbread mix, one box at a time and mix well, folding all ingredients. Scrape into a greased 9×13 glass baking dish. Bake 45-50 minutes until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool slightly then cut into squares for serving.
Yay! Don’t you love chancing across a new recipe that you know you are going to use again and again? I can think of no good reason this cake has never crossed my radar before, but am completely happy about meeting this charmer at a recent Christmas dinner party. Away from the table when dessert arrived, I returned to a table grown silent, my dinner companions quietly chewing and making that promising “mmmhmm” sound. You know that sound. Someone spoke at last saying, “Just try it,” and when I did, I began making the “mmmhmm” sound too.
Despite the pudding tag in its title, this is definitely a cake. A dessert tradition from the British Isles, this dish is as hard to describe as it is identifying the ingredients while eating it. It is sweet, but not overly so. The texture is best described as toothsome and chewable in the very best sense. Without a speck of chocolate in it, the flavor eludes it, along with winter and warmth, each essence sourced to the coffee-soaked dates pureed then added to the batter. The dates are responsible for the dense texture and at first bite, gingerbread comes to mind, but this cake isn’t at all spiced so the gingerbread association is all about the texture of this dish.
If this concoction isn’t already the signature dessert of a famous eatery somewhere in the civilized world, it definitely deserves the honor. The recipe below I adapted after reading the history of the cake followed by looking through a dozen recipes for it online. I used hot coffee for soaking the dates, and used light brown sugar though next time I will try dark. Having all but two ingredients in my pantry meant only a quick trip to the market for dates and heavy cream, then preparing and enjoying it with mama at our traditional New Year’s Eve supper. Mama insisted she could only eat a very small piece so I served her a nice medium piece and she ate every bite of it without one word of further protest.
I checked the cake after 30 minutes as I used a different sized baking dish than in the recipe; I wanted something smaller than a 9×13 pan so the cake would be taller, so used an 8×11″ dish. If baked in a 9×13″ dish, the baking time will be much shorter so just watch it and don’t let the edges begin to brown. I took it out of the oven when a toothpick inserted came out streaked but not gooey, about 36 minutes on my timer. The sauce is delightful; serve it sparingly, drizzled over each serving. And do go whip the cream for this and sprinkle it with just a pinch of sea salt before serving as the salt is a great contrast to the whipped cream. You’ve already figured this out surely, but the cake keeps well, covered tightly, sitting on the counter. Hello, added bonus! The bottom photo here is of the cake on Day 2, with lunch, in better light.
Sticky Toffee Pudding
Cake Ingredients
2-1/4 cups dried dates, coarsely chopped
2-1/4 cups scalding hot coffee
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 T. dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
Toffee Sauce Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup plus 2 T. dark brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions Pit and roughly chop dates and place them in a heavy bowl; pour hot coffee over them and stir in the baking soda. Cover the bowl and set it aside for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 350, and butter a 9×13-inch baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper, if desired. I didn’t, and the cake turned out of the pan with no sticking at all.
Blend the date-coffee mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth. In a large bowl, combine the melted butter and sugars. Whisk in eggs, then salt. Stir in the flour, fold well, then add the prepared date puree and fold well again. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30. Cool on wire rack. If you used parchment paper, invert the cake onto a serving platter and remove parchment paper from bottom of cake; finish cooling on wire rack.
When your cake is ready for serving, make the sauce: you need a large sauce pot with a heavy bottom, at least 2-1/2 quart size because the mixture increases in volume as it cooks. Melt the butter in the pan, add cream, sugar and vanilla and bring mixture to a good simmer over medium heat. Whisk continually for 10 minutes until mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat and allow to begin cooling. To serve, cut cake into squares and drizzle with toffee sauce, top with 2 tablespoons of unsweetened whipped cream with a pinch of sea salt added to the top of the cream. Serve when the cake is still slightly warm.
I should be shot for posting this particular rum cake photo, but it is one of the 51 cakes I baked for the holidays, and it is completely right that I post the rum cake as the first recipe shared on these pages. You may think of me as “the rum cake lady”, having engaged in rum cake baking for the past 31 days of December, six cakes a day and then some. The recipe is the one I have most laid my metaphorical hands on of late (though the recipe just lives in my brain so no literal laying on of hands required). I have baked these cakes for the past 45 years and can honestly, always honestly, testify that this is a much-tried and well-trusted recipe.
A good rum cake is a beauty to behold, and, added bonus (!) if you are gifting the cake, just standing over it, wrapping the heavily foiled bundle with a glitzy bow, the cake still a few hours warm from the oven, is heavenly. I might venture as far to say that inhaling the aroma, for those few perfect minutes, is a form of meditation if you’re into that kind of thing. It smells that good (okay, fifty of them smell that good, cumulatively, for many days in a row), but experiencing even one of these beauties this way draws you back to baking another one.
Our family’s rum cake is quick and easy to prepare, with the baker’s success rate directly proportional to the number of cakes baked. The recipe, claims laid over who “saw it first” between mama and Aunt Lou, came from the Bacardi people over 50 years ago, and, to my knowledge, the recipe hasn’t changed since I baked my first one. The recipe produces a dense moist cake with a glazed top and sides; your family and friends will enjoy them any time of year, but there’s just something about a Christmas rum cake that has a way of shining up an already bright and beautiful season. Some friends slice them immediately and freeze them, two pieces in a Ziplock, to be quickly thawed when needed, other friends prefer eating their slices still half-frozen. With coffee. For breakfast. I like mine best left on the counter three days, the easier for picking up a slice while walking through the kitchen. No plate required. Shaun says using pistachio pudding mix turns the cake into a first cousin of Maui’s Takamiya Tiramisu. No shoes required for that version! Start a new tradition for enjoying this cake and make it your own.
Greer Family Rum Cake
Ingredients
1/2 cup pecans, chopped small
1 box Duncan Hines Supreme Butter Recipe Golden cake mix
1-(3 oz.) box vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Bacardi Light Rum
1/2 cup Wesson oil
5 eggs
Directions Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour a 12” Bundt pan and sprinkle the pecans around the bottom. In large bowl, stir the cake mix and the dry pudding mix, add the water, oil, and rum. Crack the eggs into your bowl last and mix with electric mixer until batter is glossy, about 2″ on medium speed. Allow batter to breathe in bowl 5-7 minutes then scrape batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake exactly one hour.
GLAZE Ingredients and Directions Prepare 10 minutes before cake is finished baking. In medium saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup rum, and 1/4 cup water. Bring to a boil then add 1 stick butter. Reduce heat and boil low for 5-7 minutes. When the cake is just out of the oven, poke deep holes all over it with the tines of a fork. Pour the hot glaze into a large glass measuring cup and slowly pour the glaze over cake. Use a spatula to gently pull the cake away from the sides of the pan and pour some of the glaze around the sides so it coats the sides, flowing to bottom of the pan and adding gloss to the top of the cake. Let the glaze sink in slowly then keep pouring until glaze is good and gone. Let cake cool in the pan for 50 minutes then invert onto your serving plate. Cover it tightly with a generous piece of heavy-duty foil tucking foil under edges of platter. You can also make this well ahead and freeze, tightly covered with the foil. On the day you want to serve it, take it out of the freezer and allow to thaw slowly. Never microwave this cake or you will end up with nothing but a puddle of rum and butter. Also do not refrigerate once it has been cut; just keep covered tightly with heavy foil on counter top or well- hidden from your hungry spouse and other family members.
