DESSERTS ALWAYS ARE IN DEMAND

 Good Morning Loves.....
I was doing a bit of reminiscing the other day..
I think when you reach a certain age,
 that happens  often....

I was remembering Norma who owned her own cafe

It was a hot spot for business lunches, a morning stop for coffee
and a slice of her poppy seed bread, which was
a popular request among her customers.
The poppy seed bread is still in demand.....
Her food was in such demand, she opened two
more locations successfully!

Now my personal favorite was her chicken salad followed
with a serving of her bread pudding!!
If you are a bread pudding connoisseur 
then I will tell you that Norma's was
the best ever....not to mention her custard sauce....

The holidays featured her
Apple Bread Pudding with Brown Sauce..laced with Apple Brandy

Fiesta Bread Pudding with Orange Sauce...
this recipe uses Cuban Bread and Fruit Cocktail

and
Lemon Poppy Seed Bread  pudding with Lemon Sauce

I have these original recipes, so if you are interested in one of her
bread pudding recipes, leave a comment and I will gladly publish.

When I think of Norma's I remember the good times
and dab away a few happy tears....
Norma also was in the catering business
and had her helpers dress in Civil War costumes
for one of the city's historic events...she was fun like that..
No one could master the art of looking like Scarlett,
Mammy or Prissy.....



Norma's was a family affair...
her daughters often helped her prepare the foods,
her Daddy kept the financials straight and
they held a strong bond for family...

MEME'S APPLE CAKE

Good Morning Loves...
today, I am sharing MeMe's fresh apple cake
which is simply delicious and so, so easy!
It calls for only TWO Granny Smith apples which
is exactly what I had on hand, so how
perfect to try a new recipe for the upcoming fall season!
I am a big fan of MeMe who shares her recipes on
You Tube from South Carolina....
she has a delightful southern accent and loves
to prepare delicious foods for her grown children and grandchildren!
 

Here are the ingredients for MeMe's fresh apple cake...
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Mix well with a mixer until well combined.

Blend in 2 1/2 cups SELF-RISING flour
2 chopped and peeled Granny Smith Apples
1 cup coconut
1 t. cinnamon

Bake in a well greased Bundt pan at 350 degrees for 1 hour




Allow cake to cool completely.



The Caramel Glaze

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup milk

Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes....stirring often.
Allow to cool before pouring over cake.
Sauce will thicken as it cools.

We loved this MeMe...thank you as always..
and, boy did the house smell heavenly as it baked......

APPLE TARTE TATIN

It sounds elegant, don't you think? 

A Tarte Tatin is basically an upside down cake normally made with apples, 

which are "caramelized" in butter and sugar before the tart is baked. 

This recipe is from our beloved Ina Garten featured on her

Barefoot Contessa episode of

"Housewarming Party."

Her entire menu was just scrumptious and so comforting.

If you are entertaining this weekend,

here is an elegant, yet simplistic dessert to

impress your guests. 

I think this would be marvelous made with peaches or plums also. 

APPLE TARTE TATIN

~Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature,

 plus extra for greasing the dish

1 1/4 Granny Smith apple, peeled and sliced into 12 pieces

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, divided

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1/3 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Confectioners' sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Generously butter a 9-inch glass pie dish and arrange the apples in the dish, cut side down.

Combine 1 cup of the granulated sugar and 1/3 cup water in a small saucepan and cook over high heat until it turns a warm amber color, . Swirl the pan but don't stir. Pour evenly over the apple slices.

Meanwhile, cream the 6 tablespoons of butter and the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy. Lower the speed and beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Add the sour cream, zest, and vanilla and mix until combined. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and, with the mixer on low speed, add it to the butter mixture. Mix only until combined.

Pour the cake batter evenly over the apple slices and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto a flat plate. If an apple slice sticks, ease it out and replace it in the design on top of the cake. Serve warm or at room temperature, dusted with confectioners' sugar.

It's Foodie Friday!!

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

Our Family Table...Featuring Nick's Southern Banana Pudding

Our Family Table

Happy Thanksgiving

As we gather together with family again for Thanksgiving dinner, Darling and I are so grateful for so much more than the fabulous meal that gets turned out every year.

We are aware that today's love and laughter will become the memories of the children and grandhchildren. Those comforting thoughts will carry them through their lives. They are beginning  to create new memories as they celebrate with their own families. My hope is that they will be inspired by their holidays past, just as we keep those lively Thanksgiving dinner memories from our Mississippi childhood deep within our hearts.

Nick's Southern Banana Pudding

2 cups of granulated sugar

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

2 cans evaporated milk

4 large eggs

3 tablespoons of flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 pounds bananas - ripe but firm

2 box vanilla wafers

Separate your eggs into two separate bowls. You willuse the yokes in the pudding and put the whites in
a meringue. In a medium sauce pan mix your sugar and flour. It'seasier to mix dry ingredients. Next stir in your milk. Lightly beat your egg yokes. Stir the beaten egg yokes into your sugar/flour/milk mixture. Heat this mixture over very low heat, stirring frequently. The mixture will gradually thicken. Stir in the vanilla extract. Allow mixture to cool.

Slice your bananas. Put down a layer vanilla wafers across the bottom of a glass baking dish. Also line the sides with vanilla wafers. Put down a layer of pudding, then bananas. Continue alternating layers until all of your mixture is used up. Make sure mixture is cooled before topping with meringue. You will have some vanila wafers left over.

Mix your egg whites on high until they start to thicken. Continue mixing while stirring in your confectioners sugar. When you can lift your mixer from the mixture and the meringue forms a little peak it is whipped enough. Spread meringue across the top of your banana pudding. Place in over preheated to 350 degrees and bake until golden brown about 20 - 25 minutes.

The banana pudding will be soft/more liquid if you eat it hot, but gets firmer as it cools. Some people let the pudding sit for 24 hours so that the flavors blend more - I never could wait, besides I liked it hot.

Company's Coming....Giving Thanks for Pumpkin Pie

ESTELLE'S  FAVORITE PUMPKIN PIE

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Whipped cream

Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the lower third. Place a baking sheet on the rack while the oven is heating.
Place all of the ingredients except the whipped cream in a large bowl and whisk until smooth and combined. Pour into the chilled pie crust.
Place the pie on the hot baking sheet and bake until the top starts to brown and the filling is set but still jiggles slightly in the center, about 50 to 70 minutes. Remove from the oven to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving. Top slices of the pie with whipped cream!

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cupcakes

It's almost Halloween....a perfect time for those spooky cupcakes!

This is a delightful chocolate cake recipe. I often make this into cupcakes and it originally came from an old "soul-food" little cookbook I bought when living in Dothan, Alabama. I found it to be one of the best chocolate cake recipes ever!

OLD-FASHIONED CHOCOLATE CAKE

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups hot brewed coffee

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9" x 13"  baking pan or into a muffin tin which has been prepared with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add hot coffee, oil, eggs and vanilla, mix until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan or muffin tin. Bake for 30- 45 minutes or into the muffin tins, 3/4 full. Frost with Buttercream Frosting.

Butter Cream Frosting

4-6 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 sticks of butter

2 t. vanilla

Allow butter to come to room temperature. Blend in the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and beat until creamy. Always with buttercream frostings, it tends to hold it's consistency better when kept cool.

When witches go riding, and black cats are seen,

the moon laughs and whispers,'tis near Halloween.

~ Unknown

Subject: Remember

Wednesday October 29, 2008

We had some kind of fun as kids, don't you think? So many wonderful memories. Heaven help us, I hope we make it to Heaven and everyone we love, including our pets, are there. It was so to terrific to have all those things to look back on.

Here is that Apple Dumpling recipe we made...remember?

1 Granny Smith Apple, cut into eights
1 can Crescent rolls
Wrap apple slices into rolls

Blend:
1 cup orange juice
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 stick melted butter

Pour over the dumplings
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

I'll call you....

Apple Picking TIme!

"There is no season when such pleasant

and sunny spots may be lighted on, and

produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October."

~- Nathaniel Hawthorne

APPLE HARVEST BAKE

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 slightly beaten eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups peeled and chopped tart cooking apples

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Grease a 9-inch pie plate. In mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Add eggs and vanilla; stir till well mixed. Add apples and nuts; stir till well combined. Spoon into pie plate.
Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or till browned and top feels firm. Serve warm with Cinnamon Butter on top. Cinnamon Butter

Cinnamon Butter

1/4 cup butter

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

In small mixing bowl, beat butter with electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add powdered sugar, cinnamon, milk and vanilla. Beat till combined. Cover; chill till firm. Makes 1/2 cup.

An Autumn Day Calls for Pumpkin Spice Cake

She Sang a Song, A Song of Home,

A Song That Reached My Heart

Home, Home, Sweet, Sweet Home

She Sang the Song of "Home Sweet Home,"

The Song that Reached my Heart!

~Julian Jordan

Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil, plus more as needed

4 large eggs

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée

 Salted Caramel Sauce

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 6 pieces

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Coat a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil and flour and tap out any excess flour.

Place the measured flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and whisk to aerate and break up any lumps; set aside.

Place the sugar and measured oil in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until the sugar is incorporated, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle with a rubber spatula.

Return the mixer to medium speed and add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, about 1 1/2 minutes total mixing time. Reduce the speed to medium low, add the pumpkin, and beat until just combined, about 30 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle with a rubber spatula.

Turn the mixer to low speed, slowly add the flour mixture, and beat until almost completely incorporated, about 1 minute. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in any unincorporated flour at the edges with a rubber spatula, making sure to scrape to the bottom of the bowl.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Remove the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Turn the cake out onto the wire rack and cool completely.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Melt the butter in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sugar, cream, and corn syrup; stir until the mixture is smooth; and bring to a boil. Continue to boil, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes more. Remove from the heat, stir in the salt, and set aside to cool slightly.