Sunday, January 25, 2009

Confession and a Shout Out

O k, I confess I have not kept my promise to add the pictures of my own homemade king cake. I am burnt out on the "kakes" cause they are flooding the supermarkets everywhere around here...
May I shout out to "All Recipes" for the popover recipe post!!! They were so good, and I melted butter to be brushed lightly over the hot pop-over followed by a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar as suggested by the reviewers!!! Mine didn't rise real high, I only have a muffin tin to bake them in. But the recipe definatly works...yum!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Home Made is Best ~~King Cake




The traditional King Cake is baked this time of year has history attached...read about it here at MARDI GRAS DIGEST. It may shock you!
Just like our other holidays with pagan roots, which the Catholic Church repurposed to pull people away from the darkness of pagan practices and toward the light of Christ. This one is for the Magi and the feast of Epiphany.

Anyway, this is a yummy coffee cake...It is in all the grocery stores right now because it's Mardi Gras season. I am making one today, and will post pictures in the next post.

King Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
This is actually a yeast bread coffee cake recipe, It's makes the best King Cake recipe I have found!
1 c. sour cream
2 packages yeast
½ c. sugar
½ c. warm water
½ c. butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. Salt
4 c. flour
In a saucepan, combine sour cream, sugar, butter & salt. Cook over med-low heat, stirring for 5-10 mins, or well blended. Cool to room temp. In a mixer bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the sour cream mixture and eggs; mix well. Gradually stir in flour. Knead until smooth. Adding a spoonful or two of flour if too sticky. When smooth and elastic place dough into a large oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and allow dough to rise until double in size.
When risen, punch dough down, and dump out onto a well floured surface. Roll dough out into a long rectangle appx. 8 inches in width. Spoon filling down the center length of the rectangle.
Place oval on parchment lined & greased baking sheet, allow to rise till double, covered with plastic wrap so as not to dry out. When doubled in size, Brush top evenly with egg wash. Bake in a preheated 370° oven for appx. 30 mins. Will be golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Cover with the vanilla glaze, in three colors! Green, Purple, and Yellow.
*Hide a tiny plastic baby or dry kidney bean, inside from bottom. (Tradition)

Cream Cheese Filling:
2- 8oz. Packs cream cheese, softened
¾ c. sugar
1 egg
Pinch salt
Beat these together well.
Vanilla Glaze:
2 ½ c. powdered sugar
¼ c heavy cream or half & half
1 tsp. Vanilla
Green, purple and yellow food coloring. Traditional colors.
Mix ingredients together, and divide into 3 bowls adding drops of coloring to desired intensity. Spread over cooled King Cake in patches of color.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Cornbread Love!

Facts and Feasting on Cornbread!
Texans like it (so do I) with fresh corn kernels, jalapeno peppers and cheese baked in. Northerners like it made with half flour, half cornmeal, sweet and tender and cut into squares. In the upper Southern states, I found Corn Spoon Bread, which uses canned cream corn and sour cream for a creamy, pudding bread side dish. Deep South, with the addition of buttermilk, I find the popular salty, sweet, chewy corn muffins. Corn sticks...(my favorite) pour the batter into a greased hot cast iron molded baking pan. My molded pan is actually shapes of different vegetables, not little corn cobs.

Stoneground Cornmeal is best, more nutritional, because the corn germ is still included in the flour, and therefore must be kept in freezer to prevent rancidity.
Don't forget to check out the Corn Bread Festival Site!

Black Skillet Corn Bread
I like my cornbread slightly sweet, if you do not, just decrease sugar.
Of course, this may be baked in a square baking pan, as well.
* First thing to do is brush oil onto sides and bottom of a black cast iron skillet. Place skillet in the oven to get it hot before pouring the batter into pan. This will make the nice crisp crust. If you want to use a cast iron cornbread mold you should use the same preheat procedure, though with the molds you will be removing the baked cornbread, oiling, heating the pan prior to refilling and baking in 2 or more batches.
1 c. flour
1 c. cornmeal
2 or 3T. Sugar
½ t. salt
2 t. baking soda
1 egg
1 c. buttermilk or regular milk
3 T. oil
Mix all ingredients together. Remove the hot oiled skillet and pour the mixture into it. (Or by spoonfulls into greased, hot molds filled to 3/4 full) Carefully, place back into oven and in appx. 20 minutes it should be done. Carefully, dump loaf from skillet onto a plate.


Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Bread
The guys really love this one!
¾ lb. Sharp cheddar cheese, grated
4 eggs
1 can creamed corn
Sour cream (16 oz container)
1 4-oz can diced, Jalapeno peppers
½ c. oil
1 c. flour
1 c. corn meal
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
In large bowl, beat eggs, then add the can of corn, sour cream and oil. Stir well. Next fold in the peppers and grated cheese. Last add the dry ingredients. Stir well and pour into a greased and flour dusted baking dish. Bake for appx 45 mins at 350 degrees. Place foil on top, it is browning on the top too quickly.

Easy Corn Spoon Bread
Here it is...my favorite spoon bread recipe using creamed corn and sourcream!
1 can cream corn
1 can whold kernel corn, drained
3 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cu sour cream
1 -8 ounce package corn muffin mix
In a large bowl mix all ingredients together and pour the mixture into a buttered pyrex baking bowl. Place into preheated 350 degree oven and bake for approx. 30 to 40 minutes. Remove and serve up warm scoops of corn bread with delight!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

New Year Day 1 menu

Happy New Year!
I know that everyone has awesome New Year Day meal traditions out there. I am cooking traditional Southern, on this day.
Blackeye Peas with ham hocks
Cabbage with potatoes, carrots and hamhocks
Pork Roast
Corn Bread
I may not cook the blackeye peas this way again, all year, I have a favorite pea recipe (Greek)which I make more frequently. Therefore, we enjoy the, cooked from dried peas, which I make on January 1st, all the more. Have a great day!