Baking

Key limes from Florida make their way up north to our markets only every once in awhile. So we use regular limes. The real key is not to overbake the filling so it stays creamy.

The magic ingredient in this outrageous two-layer dark chocolate cake is Dr Pepper, one of America’s oldest soft drinks. Dr Pepper was first made and sold in 1885 at Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas. Just like the state it comes from, this cake is big and impressive. The soft drink’s carbonation gives the layers exceptional rising power, and its special blend of flavorings makes lickin’ the beaters especially appealing.

Any Southern cookin’ conjures up corn bread. Ours is sweet and mellow and goes great with the tanginess of our bar-b-que.

Who ever heard of baking a dessert in a cast-iron skillet? You have now! The heavy pan ensures that the shortbread cooks evenly to a beautiful pale color top and bottom.

Don’t be surprised at how sticky this dough is as you’re trying to shape it into a log for the first baking! After it comes out of the oven, it’s easy to cut into biscotti slices. Cooking the slices slowly on both sides gives it that nice biscotti crunch.

The original recipe for these cinnamon cookies is written on an index card in my sister Beth’s earliest cursive handwriting, and it is probably the first recipe I remember her making when we were girls. She still makes them every Halloween.

The tradition of making homemade treats for gifts is still alive and well in the South. In the early to mid-1990s, I worked on videos and photo shoots in Nashville with a girl named Maria Smoot. She is responsible for some of the most beautiful hair-styles in country music. I found a tin of these cookies in my mailbox one Christmas with a sweet note from Maria. What was even sweeter was that she included the recipe.

One of our girls doesn’t like chocolate! Hard to believe if you’re a chocolate lover like me, but I’m always looking for a chocolate alternative for dessert around my house. Fortunately, this was Beth’s specialty growing up, and I’ve stolen her recipe for my own.

I started making these cookies in the eighth grade, and they just might be responsible for my love of cooking. It wasn’t just that they are gooey and awesome, which they are; it was also that people complimented me on my cooking skills, and that gave me confidence. It later worked out in the singing thing, too! Exactly how chewy these cookies are depends on how big you make them. I make mine a little bigger than the recipe calls for because I like them soft in the middle. They are best served with a really cold glass of milk … or more cookies!

I love these brownies plain, but Garth likes them frosted, so I usually make some Coconut Frosting (page 172) on the side just for him. The unsweetened baking chocolate keeps the brownies from being too sweet. I know, sweets are supposed to be sweet, but trust me, these are just right!

We should rename this recipe Goldilocks Pudding! My mother’s notes say she made several attempts at my dad’s favorite dessert before coming up with this particular version—not too hard, not too soft. It has become a mainstay in my home, too. Garth prefers the pudding without the meringue, so I usually make two versions, one with and one without. Either way, it’s a homey, satisfying finish to any meal.

You can’t be considered a serious southern cook if you don’t know how to make peach cobbler. Canned or frozen fruit works better in some recipes than fresh, and this is a perfect example. I recommend any brand of canned freestone peaches because they are tender and tasty. This dessert is easy to make and it tastes delicious, especially with a huge dollop of Home-Churned Ice Cream (page 212) on top.

After moving to Oklahoma in 2002, I discovered an abundance of wild blackberries growing on our farm. Channeling my best Martha Stewart, I decided I had to pick these berries myself and prepare the perfect blackberry cobbler for my family. (This is also where I learned about the abundance of chiggers in Oklahoma, something we call red bugs in Georgia. They apparently love to feast on unsuspecting berry pickers.) After talking a couple of my girlfriends into going blackberry picking with me, I had an ample supply of beautiful blackberries. When I called my mom, the goddess of all things culinary, to ask for Grandma Paulk’s blackberry cobbler recipe, I got the familiar reply: “Well, actually there is no real recipe.” Ahhh! My notes from that day go something like this: Berries in water, Sugar, Bring to a boil, Flour, Shortening, Milk. You get the picture. The cobbler actually came out great, and I was proud of my handpicked berries, but truth be told, it was the first and last time I picked the berries wild. Store-bought berries at your local grocery or farmer’s market are usually plumper and sweeter than wild berries. If you use wild berries, you will probably need to add more sugar.

When my brother-in-law John turned fifty, my sister, Beth, wanted to make a really special dessert for him. She remembered his mentioning a favorite butterscotch pie his mother, Blanche, used to make and this recipe came from her. It was a big hit on his birthday.

You can make the homemade pastry recipe if you like, but if you start with a purchased pie crust, this is a really quick and easy dessert. Be sure to use grated fresh or frozen coconut for ease in slicing.

Every Georgia girl has a trusted pecan pie recipe if she knows what’s good for her! This one came from a great family friend in Monticello named Betty Maxwell.

There are some really good ready-to-use piecrusts on the market these days. My favorite is Mrs. Smith’s deep-dish frozen pie shells. Still, if you have time, it’s always better to make your own! This pie shell can be used for recipes that call for baked or unbaked crusts.

Sweet Potato Pie is always served at Thanksgiving at my house. I used to think there wasn’t much of a difference between Sweet Potato Pie and Pumpkin Pie, but this recipe made me change my mind. It’s just sweet enough, and it’s so smooth and creamy. Hmmm … I need to think of more holidays to make this for, so I can eat it more often!

It has become a tradition in my house that I make everyone’s favorite dessert on his or her birthday. Garth’s favorite is German Chocolate Cake, Taylor’s is Banana Pudding, and so on. When it came time for my friend Joe’s birthday, his wife, Kim, let me know that his favorite was cheesecake. “No problem,” I said, as I started thinking about that awesome cheesecake in a box I was going to make (I have to admit that it’s my favorite). “He loves the old-style New York cheesecake,” she explained. Umm … no problem? But I was committed, so I did what I always do: call my family for help. Beth hooked me up with several cheesecake recipes, and this is the one I like best. It made me a big hit on Joe’s birthday.

We seem to place a lot of emphasis on birthday cakes in my family. We like for everyone to have his or her favorite cake, but more than that, we like the variety of awesome sweets we get to eat throughout the year! This cake was once Beth’s birthday cake of choice—or so Mom thought until she learned that Beth actually preferred the chocolate caramel cake I always ask for. At first, I thought she was just trying to copy me (it’s a sister thing!), but then I realized that if it’s her favorite cake, too, that’s twice a year for me!