Chocolate Cobbler

Missy Tippens

I went hunting for this recipe the other day and couldn't find it. I can't believe I haven't posted it here before! This post is overdue.

First, I need to thank Shirley Tidwell who made this dessert for our Bible study luncheons at our previous church. She graciously sent me the recipe. I just love how she wrote it (including all the places to DO NOT STIR!), so I'm going to copy and paste. :)

Chocolate Cobbler (From Shirley Tidwell)

8” dish

1 stick butter, melted

¾ cup sugar

1 ½ Tbsp. Cocoa

1 cup self rising flour

½ cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar, cocoa, flour, milk and vanilla. Pour over melted margarine.  

DO NOT STIR!!!

1 cup sugar

¼ cup cocoa

Mix and sprinkle dry over batter.  DO NOT STIR!!!

Pour 1 ½ cups boiling water over all.  DO NOT STIR!!!

Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

See how simple! I actually doubled the recipe when I made it last. So the pan pictured here is a regular sized cake pan. I'll quickly show all the steps...

A quick note here. When I was searching for Shirley's recipe, I ran into a similar one that mentioned adding chocolate chips. So if you'd like to do that, I would sprinkle them here on top of the batter. Then sprinkle on the dry topping.

Here it is with the boiling water added...

I took the dish to some friends' house that night, and as we rushed out the door with the cobbler straight out of the oven, I forgot to take a photo. Here's a closeup of a bit that was leftover. :)

It's almost like a lava cake. It has a pudding-like layer. Very chocolatey and yummy!

www.missytippens.com

Garlic and Cheese Grits Casserole from The Belle

Missy Tippens

I've got a good southern recipe for you today! For those of you who've said in the past that you can't even buy grits at your grocery store (and I'm sad about that!)...well, you need to order some online! You need to try this. I served it for Easter lunch.

I based my recipe on one from Trisha Yearwood. Click here for the original, which is a video of her making Garlic Grits Casserole. I watched it and jotted all the ingredients. :) Then I modified it because I wanted to double the recipe--and while I was making my decision about how much cheese to buy, someone grabbed the last two packages!! (I think it was a woman I had just been talking to who probably overheard me tell my husband that the cheese was buy one get one free!) If she hadn't already disappeared, I might have begged. LOL Instead, I came up with Plan B.

This is the doubled recipe, so it's enough to feed a crowd (probably 15-20).

9 cups salted water
2 cups Quick Grits
2 5-ounce packages of garlic herb cheese (I used Boursin)
8-ounce package extra-sharp cheddar, grated
1 stick butter + 2 TBS butter
4 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups cornflakes cereal, crushed

Boil the water. Stir in the grits and cook until thickened. Here's the garlic herb cheese I used.

Once the grits are thickening, crumble in the cheese. Next add in the 1 stick of butter (reserve the 2 TBS for the topping).

Then add in the grated cheddar. (Trisha's recipe only called for the garlic cheese, but the casserole I grew up eating also had extra-sharp cheddar, so I chose that for doubling my recipe.)

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.

Scoop out a ladle full of the hot grits and mix with the eggs/milk to temper it. I actually tempered with 3 or 4 ladles full. Then I stirred this tempered mixture into the pot of cheese grits.

Next, pour this into a large casserole dish. Mine nearly overflowed, so I ended up pouring this into a large, greased cake pan.

Crush the cornflakes (my daughter did it in a ziplock bag). Melt the 2 TBS butter and mix into the cereal. Sprinkle this topping onto the casserole.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or so, until bubbly throughout.

Enjoy a bit of southern tradition!

www.missytippens.com

Natchitoches Meat Pies

Helloooo, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a fun recipe that probably a lot of you have tried before, but is NOWHERE to be found up here in the Pacific Northwest.

                                                 (Edward was quite the helper chef. He makes a mean chicken turnover!)

 So, a friend of mine had a baby (he's ADORABLE but although I got to cuddle him for a while, I completely forgot to sneak a picture of his tiny, adorable self) and we wanted to bring her dinner.  My girls said they wanted to make chicken turnovers (which  Jan has done a version of ) but I wondered if the cream cheese wouldn't be such a hit with the littler kids. I thought we should also make Natchitoches meat pies, which play a role in my book, The Pepper in the Gumbo which is set in (you guessed it!) Natchitoches, Louisiana.
                                         

(We went on a trip recently and my son was completely fascinated with... the pay phone. 

He could get enough of this rare artifact. It was SO BIG.)

Now, I know this recipe has about a gazillion steps but it’s worth the time and effort! It’s a long list of ingredients, but they’re ones you probably already have and you need every one, so don’t skip any. (Except maybe the jalapeño. People argue about that one. I included it here because more people say it should be in there, than it should be out. I personally don’t care for jalapeños, so I leave them out. If you need it a little hotter, adjust the Louisiana hot sauce to maybe 2 tsp instead of just the one.) 

            
Ingredients:

          1 tablespoon  vegetable oil

         1 pound ground beef

           1 tablespoon salt

          1 teaspoon paprika

          1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

         1/2 teaspoon chili powder

         1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

           1/2 teaspoon black pepper

           4 small tomatoes, diced

          1 bell pepper, finely chopped

         1 medium jalapeño pepper, finely chopped     (I didn't add it to the batch because I knew they had little kids who might not appreciate the kick!)

          1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

           5 bay leaves

           1 teaspoon thyme

           1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

          1 teaspoon Louisiana hot sauce or similar

          2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

           2 tablespoons water

          ½ cup sliced green onions (I left those out this time because... I didn't have any!)

          Pie dough, chilled 

                                
                                                         

    Combine the meat, salt, paprika, cayenne, chili powder, cumin, and black pepper in a large skillet (even better if it’s cast iron!). Cook the meat over medium-high heat until it is lightly browned and all the ingredients are combined.

  Throw in the chopped tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, jalapeños (or not). Stir well. Add in the bay leaves, thyme, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook for an additional 10 minutes or so, until the liquid starts to evaporate. 

                      

 Take out the bay leaves and throw them away. Sprinkle the flour over the meat and add the water. Stir it all together. Adding the flour keeps the mix from getting too runny while it cooks in the pie dough. Add in the green onions and hot sauce, mix well.

                                                            
(Random photo of a book I found in our local library. Isn't that hilarious? Nobody knows what crawfish are here. It would be like asking if they liked pickled quail eggs. But somehow this book ended up in our library, and the little crawfish sings little Cajun French songs and I was IN LOVE.)

     

Roll out the dough to about 1/8 of an inch thick. Then, using a 4-inch biscuit cutter, cut the dough into circles.  Place  about 2 1/2 tablespoons of filling into the center. Fold the circle over the filling to make a half circle. Press the edges closed with a fork and place onto a baking sheet.

 Natchitoches meat pies are traditionally fried but I have this thing about hot oil, so we baked ours an they were DELICIOUS. 

Ignore the radish. I thought it was going to be so good but it was HOT. I felt like I'd taken a bite of horseradish, instead of radish. YOW.

 One more random photo. Our library has been undergoing huge, awesome changes, including a renovated children's section. Instead of a straight chair in the corner, it now has a teepee, a train table, a puppet theater area, lego tables, and LOTS of books. I'm just THRILLED that it's so welcoming to kids now. And here are my youngest two, looking like a pair of puppets on display. I don't know how they got up there, but it made me laugh.
Happy weekend to everyone and I hope you get time for some good books, good food, and family!

Serendipitous Saturday Brings You Brown Sugar Pound Cake with Quick Caramel Glaze

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back for the weekend (I know you missed me!!) and I'm not deterred in the slightest after that pie fail. I have another book I bought as a giveaway and decided I needed one, too. 

I let Ana choose which cake she wanted to make and she chose Brown Sugar Pound Cake with glaze. Hm. Not what I would have picked, but I was game! Preheat the oven at 325F and mix together in a bowl and set aside:

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

(I like this picture. It wasn't raining, can you tell? My little prism is casting rainbows!)

You'll need:
3 sticks butter
2 3/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (eek, I'm almost out!)
1 cup milk

Oh, look! Rainbow bright! Ok, not quite, but I thought it was cute. His expression says, "Mama, you're killing me softly with this whole rainbows and butterflies stuff."

Yes, mothers are annoyingly bright and cheerful. We should be more down to earth, logical, cut and dried. He was right... Except, when I wasn't watching, I caught him talking to Thor.

And then a kiss for good measure! I mean, really! I hardly get kisses and THOR gets a smooch?

Anyway, beat butter in the mixer until fluffy. (For some reason, I only have one picture of Thor in action. Perhaps jealousy...)
When the butter is fluffy, add the brown sugar 1/3 at a time, then all of the white sugar. When that's mixed, add the flour, but only half. When it's incorporated, add half the milk. This is like the dump cake recipe that needed to be alternated. When the flour and milk are in, pour into a greased bunt pan, or two greased loaf pans.
After about an hour and ten minutes, check to see if the top is spongy when touched, and a toothpick comes out clean.
Set it on a wire rack for 30 minutes, and then carefully invert.

OK, I have to include this picture. Makes me laugh! He was inhaling deeply over the warm pound cake. I must look exactly like this, eyes rolling back into my head and all.

This is his "I'm ready for cake" face.

But we still had to make the glaze. So the cake was left to cool on a platter while we whipped up the glaze.

Melt one stick of butter and one cup light brown sugar on low heat until combined. Stir for five minutes, until it's smooth, not gritty. Add a 1/2 cup evaporated milk and bring to a boil. Take it from the heat and add 4 cups of confectioner's sugar and 1 tsp vanilla.
(I have to say, this made A LOT of frosting/ glaze. Even my kids, who love frosting, barely made a dent in this. I may have to make cinnamon rolls on Sunday to use up some of this. So, maybe half the recipe? I think it would still be more than enough.)
  Anyway, after the powdered sugar is added, stir or whip (I used an egg beater) to blend it until it lost some of its sheen and turned thick.

Ta-dah! A bucket of Caramel Glaze! We'll never do without again!

So, hubby was putting up trim in the living room and I invited him into the kitchen for a cake date.
Isn't that sweet?
Mmm-hmmmm, we nibbled our cake and drank our coffee with pinkies outstretched while kids bumped into our knees and toddlers pulled at the table cloth. If we ignored the towering pile of dishes (strangely, he was really good at that) and the steaming stove, it was almost romantic!

Ahhhh, nothing says togetherness like cake.

The glaze set up almost immediately so it didn't run all over the plate, but I was watching!

Come on over, Serendipitous Saturday folks and grab a piece! There is a lot left over! Not as much as the glaze, but you can take some of that home with you when you go. Like Amish friendship bread, but sweeter and you don't even have to bake it.

And this is a gratuitous shot I took of the moon tonight. Isn't it lovely? I always ehard about the man in the moon, but my husband says in his country they say 'el conejo', which is the rabbit. See? He's sort of standing up right, with his two ears to the right? Yeah, me either...

Banana Cream Pie.... or maybe not.

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I've got a delicious recipe for banana cream pie I got from a fun book. Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies has all the old favorites, along with quite a few I've never heard of, including a recipe for "weepless" meringue. (You know, it gets those little droplets of sugar water and it doesn't look as pretty. Apparently, you can fix that!)

I thought this book would be a fun giveaway on my blog but as soon as it showed up, Thor took it over. 

I could hear him mumbling to himself as the pages flipped by...

So, first of all, we need a banana. Ooooo, lookey here!

 It was sort of sunny... but sort of not. I was trying to get a good picture, and it started to rain. I'm not sure whether I like the before rain sun, or...

 ...if the sunny-while-raining picture is better. So, here they both are and you can choose.

 (You can see the reflection on the wall where the water was running down the window. I should have gone out to look for a rainbow, but I was determined to have PIE!)

 One banana, 3 cups whole milk, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 3 egg yolks, one cup sugar.

 Also, 1 TBS unsalted butter, 2 tsp vanilla. For the meringue four egg whites, 4 TBS sugar, and 1/4 tsp cream of tartar.

 Mix three egg yolks, corn starch, and one cup sugar.

This is my vintage pie tin and she's quite the chatterbox. When she and Edna get going, you wouldn't believe the stories she tells: being forgotten in the oven until she thought she'd melt, overflowing with bubbling berry juice and filling the house with smoke, left on the windowsill and being snatched away by thieves, sitting in the cool shelter of a pie safe.

 So, I filled Miss Pie Pantry (her nickname is "peaches" but I just can't call her that, she deserves more respect) with pie crust. Preheat the oven to 350F.

 I sliced the banana and lay it inside. Miss Pie kept trying to say something, but it was so muffled under all that dough. I was in a hurry, so I gave her a little pat and  just kept on...

 Now, bring the milk to a boil, and then add in the egg/corn starch/sugar mixture, cook 4 minutes. (I have to say it looked a little lumpy. Edna said I added everything when the milk was too hot. I made another batch since the little guys loved this custard so much, and it was much smoother the second time).

 After 4 minutes, remove from the heat and add the TB of butter ad the 2 tsp of vanilla. YUMMY. The kitchen smells so good!

 Pour into the crust like so. Miss Pie Pantry was still talking. She sounded sort of insistent. I resolved to get her out of the cupboard more often. She must be very lonely.

Whip the four egg whites with the 1/4 tsp cream of tartar, When soft peaks form, add the sugar one TB at a time. I think I could have whipped this a little longer.

Enlist small boy to spoon the meringue onto the pudding.

 Gentle, gently.

 Miss Pie Pantry was still making noises, but soon she was completely muffled under all that crust, banana, pudding, and meringue.

 (This is the second batch of vanilla pudding I made. I had to share this shot because, int he upper left hand corner, there is an EYE. Creepy, eh? This is what happens when you cook pudding in a house with six kids. Random photo-bombing will happen.) Anyway, of course Edna was right and this was MUCH smoother.

 Thirty minutes in the oven and the pie is done! Perfect!!!

Happy boy! He can't wait to eat the pie! But it has to cool in the fridge for 3-4 hours, so I tell him that tomorrow morning, we'll cut into it...

Except, that night, right around midnight... I cut into the pie. Just to check, you know. It was HORRIBLE!! How did this happen??? 

Once I'd cleared a space, Miss Pie Pantry informed me that I needed to BAKE THE CRUST FIRST. Oh.... that's what all the muffled yelling was about. Edna's bowls were rattling with laughter and even Thor let out a few low chuckles. 

Hm. I think it's the cookbook's fault. They should have highlighted that bit. And a bigger font.  I mean "prebaked" is such a small word and no wonder I missed it.

So, until nxt time my friends. I wish you success in the kitchen and remember to BAKE THE CRUST if you make this recipe.