cakes and family deserts

Apple Raisin Strudel

Posted on February 18, 2021 by jolynnpowers

Apple deserts of any kind are a family favorite at our house and apple strudel is one of the easiest to make. My family is not a fan of the white icing that is usually drizzled on top of a strudel or danishes so I have omitted it. The flavor of this strudel is crip, sweet and spicy so no one complained about missing the icing. The raisins add a fruity sweetness to the tart apples, making a nice balance, that can get lost in apple pie. This was my gift to my husband for our 29th Anniversary.

Homemade Apple Raisin Strudel and carrot cake for our Anniversary Dinner.

This strudel was made with 1 box of store bought puffed pastry that was allowed to thaw in the refrigerator overnight. The dough needs to be cool and not frozen to seal it together. I started my strudel by peeling, coring and slicing up 5 snack size apples. I used gala apples for their tart taste and crisp texture. They hold their shape well when cooked and are not too sweet when mixed with sweet raisins. I sprayed a 13×9 Pyrex pan with cooking spray and placed the puffed pastry up the sides of he pan cutting off any that overhung the edge. I needed a few more inches of pastry at the bottom to cover the whole pan. So, I placed the remaining pastry at the bottom pinching it together at the overlapping seam, cutting away about 3 inches of extra pastry. I let this warm while I cooked 1 1/2 tablespoons butter and 5 apples together in a cup of water in a large skillet. I allowed the apples to stew for several minutes. When the apples appear to be softening I added 1/2 cup of raisins,pinch of salt, cinnamon, and allspice and stirred together well. I allowed that to simmer for 4 minutes until the remaining water evaporated off the apple mixture and added 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Letting the sugar melt and mix in, I cook it down syrup until it is thick and dry.

This is the apple raisin and spice mixture before adding any sugar. It could be used as is but the apples were a little tart.

When the syrup is thick and apples are translucent but not completely soft remove from heat and spoon on to the puffed pastry. I then folded the soft pastry over the apple/raisin filling. Pulling one side over and then the other, pinching together the top as I went. I then folded up the ends and pinched them together also. I placed the strudel in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Until the pastry puffed up and turned golden brown but not dark. The syrup didn’t leak out of this one because I allowed it to get thick before placing in the dough.

When ready the top crust will form air pockets and appear flaky. At this point you can allow the pastry to cool and drizzle with powdered sugar icing made with milk and vanilla or leave plain. This makes 8 servings about two inches wide and keeps well overnight and can be a nice sweet treat to go with coffee in the morning.

Apple Raisin Strudel

5 tart apples (galla) peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 Cup raisins

1 Box of puffed pastry thawed but cool

1 1/2 Tablespoon salted butter

1 Cup water

1/4 to 1/3 Cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

Pinch of salt

Cooking spray

Bake strudel in oven at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes until puffy and golden brown.

This can be served with ice cream like pie, a touch of whipped cream, or like us we eat it warm from the oven plain with a glass of milk.

Categories: Apples, breakfast food, cakes and family deserts, Marriage, puffed pastry, raisins, strudel | Tags: apples, easy desert, family deserts, puffed pastry, raisins | 2 Comments

A Dutch Baby or the Puffy Pancake for Breakfast

Posted on February 14, 2020 by jolynnpowers

A Dutch Baby (Puffy Pancake or the Hootanany) is my son’s favorite kind of pancake for breakfast. He even makes them on his own at 11 now. This custard-based oven pancake is simple to make and looks fantastic coming out of the oven. We often top the pancake with fresh fruit like bananas, strawberries or chocolate syrup with nuts. You can add any topping you like because the pancake has a light flavor and is firm but not crispy even when browned on the edges.

A Fresh Dutch Baby out of the oven ready to top.

This simple yet yummy pastry serves 4 and takes 20 mins in the oven at 450 deg.

3 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup flour

3 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp melted butter

1 heavy spray of cooking spray

Toppings: Berries, chocolate syrup, nuts, powdered sugar, shredded cheese, cooked apples, peanut butter or anything.

In a mixing bowl combine eggs, flour, milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt. blend until smooth. While mixing batter preheat oven to 450 and prepare a deep-dish pie pan or cast-iron skillet. Spray pie pan with cooking spray and put one teaspoon of butter in the pan. Heat in microwave for 35 seconds until butter is melted. Swirl the butter around the bottom of the pan and then pour in pancake batter. Place the pie pan in a hot oven and bake 20 minutes. Do not open the oven during cooking. Dutch Baby will grow up the sides of the pan and turn a rich golden brown. Let cool slightly before adding toppings or cutting to serve. The texture of the cooked pancake is like a flan or custard, soft, flexible and the edges are foldable even when dark brown. They will fall slightly while cooling due to the air in the eggs. If you want to serve the pancake as a dessert at the table, top with filling and then cut after showing off the beauty of the rolled edges. For a county style breakfast cut and serve then top with fruit and syrup.

I actually learned how to make this pancake in Junior High school home-economics class when school was still teaching life skills and have loved it for over 35 years, just changing what I top it with.

Categories: breakfast food, cakes and family deserts, Chocolate, country cooking, eggs, pancakes, strawberries, Valintines | Tags: breakfast, country cooking, Dutch Baby, eggs, family deserts, Pancake, puffy pancake, Valentines day | 2 Comments

Coconut Cream Cup Cakes with Amaretto Buttercream frosting.

Posted on December 28, 2017 by jolynnpowers

quick coconut cake with Amaretto buttercream icing

It is not often that I have a chance to make something in the kitchen just for the my youngest son. He recently asked me “What does coconut taste like?” I could think of only one thing…. Cake. So I put together what I had in the kitchen and made up a simple white cake made with coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk as the flavoring. Then topped off the cup cakes with my favorite flavoring, Amaretto, in a butter cream icing. I could have made the cake in a traditional two layer style but I really wanted to share the cake so I ended up with 36 white and toasty cupcakes instead. They were a big hit with my husband, my co-workers and my son… he likes the sweet soft coconut not the crunchy topping. I guess you win some and you lose some. Next time we will make it with the regular shredded coconut as topping instead, even if I love the toasty crunch.

So the cake is really simple I used a store-bought white cake mix and to that I added 1 8oz. can unsweetened coconut milk and 1 6oz. can sweetened condensed milk and 3 eggs omitting the oil in the directions.

GE DIGITAL CAMERA

This recipe is one that I will use again when we get closer to Easter and the bake sales for the church and 4-H Clubs start again in the spring

The recipe:

1 box of white cake mix.

1 can unsweetened coconut milk 8oz.

1 can sweetened condensed milk 6oz.

3 eggs

pour one 1/4 cup of batter into muffin tins lined with paper wrappers

The cooking time is slightly longer then what is listed on the box. I think I needed to add about 8 minutes making the cooking time 30 mins. at 350 degrees.

While the cupcakes cooled I toasted one 12 oz. bag of sweetened shredded coconut. placing the coconut on a cooking sheet in a thin lares under the broiler on low heat. Watching constantly, stir every time the flakes on the edge of the sheet begin to brown. This took stirring 5 or 6 time over the 5 minutes.

toasting sweetened Coconut

Frosting:

1 cup real butter at room temperature. This is two sticks.

1 2 pound bag of powered sugar, mixed into the soft butter slowly.

2 teaspoons almond extract, or Amaretto liquor.

1 tablespoon milk

After cupcakes have cooled frost and roll in toasted coconut. Adding half of a Maraschino cherry on top if desired.

the recipe makes 36 to 38 cup cakes.

Coconut cupcakes with Almond buttercream icing and toasted coconut topping.

Coconut cupcakes with almond buttercream icing and toasted coconut toping.

So what would you make if you were asked ” What does Coconut taste like?” I have not cooked with it much other than making cakes or cookies. If you have any other ideas send them my way I would love to try other things too!

Categories: Amarretto, cakes and family deserts, coconut, Easter, family memories, Holidays | Tags: Amaretto, buttercream, cake, coconut, Easter, family fun, holiday cooking | 7 Comments

Grandma Powers Southern Style Carrot Cake

Posted on October 24, 2015 by jolynnpowers

Many of you who know me or read this blog regularly know that I like to share my families culture, history and traditions. So to honor the State of Virginia where this cake was first made and to honor my mother in law I want to share her cake receipt with you. In doing this I am hoping to keep one more of our families traditions alive.

Around 50 years ago my husband’s family lived just outside of Winchester Virginia. Where they lived with up to 7 children off and on, some are from a first marriage, ( they added one later to make a nice round 8). Moving often due to the nature of Grandpa Powers work as a bulldozer operator. He spent years building the many interstate and highway systems of the two states. I- 79 running north and south in West Virginia is one of the last he worked on. Grandpa would often fallow the construction for many miles often leaving for months at a time.This meant leaving Grandma with a house full of kids to raise on her own. So as a frugal home maker she often made home-made desserts for her children and neighbors kids. One of the mothers that she met while living in Winchester, shared this wonderful cake with her and told her that it came from a very expensive hotel in the area in the late 1950’s. It has been in the family ever since and is my personal favorite cake of all times. So someone in the 1950 got it right and we have not changed much about the cake in the last 65 years.

So as my birthday is only a few days a way, I though it fitting to make myself this cake. It is a frosting free cake. I am not an icing person and neither is my husband so this cake gets served at our house with just a cold glass of milk. I hope that all of you will try it and love it. It is just one of the many traditions that I am so happy to have gained from one of my favorite people.

Southern Style Carrot Cake

3 cups sifted flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup vegetable oil… ( yes we know that it seems like a lot but it is just perfect)

3 beaten eggs

2 tsp Vanilla

1 20 oz can crushed pineapple ( Use a good brand, generic seems tough in the cake we use Dole)

1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Just use a kitchen spoon for this cake no need to get the mixer out. Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 1/2 to 1 hour and 40 minutes, test with tooth pick to make sure the cake is dry inside.

I start shredding 2 cups carrots this usually means about two large and one small carrot. If you have slightly more than two cups just add it in.

Mix dry ingredients together, flour sugar, soda, salt and spices.

dry ingredients for carrot cake

Stir and then add in wet ingredients, oil, can of pineapple, vanilla and slowly at the end add beaten eggs.

adding wet ingredients to carrot cake.

ready to beat eggs and add to cake

When eggs are incorporated in the batter add shredded carrots and pecans. Pour batter into a large pan like a 13 x 11 deep ( not a Pyrex 11 x 13 glass pan) cake pan or angel food cake pan. The cake can be cut into about 12 to 15 pieces.

two piece angel food cake pan with cooking spray

I use this pan so the cake can be placed on my cake stand and it cools faster with out the outside ring.

Carrot cake out of the oven

This cake is dense and rich but not overly sweet.The cake stores well at room temperature and with out cream cheese icing it does not need refrigeration. It does take about 4 hours for the cake to totally cool and get firm to eat with you fingers. Yummy as a late night snack.

Finished Southern Style Carrot Cake

Thanks for the Birthday cake recipe Grandma it is delicious as always.

Wanda Gay Powers At Christmas 2012

Categories: Birthday, cakes and family deserts, country cooking, grandma | Tags: Birthdays, cakes recipe, Carrot Cake, family deserts, family traditions, grandma | 4 Comments

True Love is always found over Pie: My recipe for True Love Apple Pie

Posted on July 17, 2015 by jolynnpowers

close up a green apples

Every time I make apple pie I remember how just one slice changed everything between Tom and I. It was Thanksgiving day in Baumholder West Germany ( at the time they were still East and West) my first holiday away from home and on an Army Base. A couple of us girls with off Post housing thought we would make dinner for our friends who were either single or home alone while their husbands were out in the field or doing other assignments.The food and company had to be better than dinner at the Mess Hall so the plans were set. We were a loose bunch of friends from the 363rd mechanized unit. Some were Gunners, Recovery Specialist, Mechanics, Tankers, Mortar Men, Radio Controllers, but most of all, we were part of the United States Army family.We were brought together from all over the country. We had friends from small towns and big cities, from the green east to the sunny west from the cold north to the deep south. Our dinner party had a random mixture of accents, stories and colors of skin. We were all from the U.S. and we all wanted to have a traditional American Thanksgiving even if we were thousands of miles away from home..

My friend Angie was the hostess that Thanksgiving, making most of the main course of the dinner, the rest of us girls just helped out. I have always liked to bake and worked in a bakery for several years so I volunteered to make the traditional pies for the dinner two pumpkin and one apple. I made the same recipe that I still fallow today. Around 1 p.m. in the afternoon I walked the fresh home-made pies to Angie’s midsize two bedroom apartment. We lived only about 4 blocks away from each other in white stucco apartments. The crowd arrived and I think we had about 15 for dinner and the house was full. We ate sitting on the floor, on dinning chairs and on sofa arms . The food was great, the music was the 80’s metal bands and smoke-filled the room as dinner was over and deserts got cut. I help to serve pie, ice cream and cake. But what caught my attention that day was Tom. After a few bites of pie he returned to where I stood and asked me where I learned to make the apple pie. I said from my mothers old cookbook and we continued to talk. The talking never really ended.

granny smith apples sliced

That afternoon we spent hours talking about our families and that we both loved home cooked food and Christmas fudge that our families would send over to us from home. He talked about his dog and I talked about my cat. We eat another piece of pie and spent the rest of the evening sitting together in the living room playing Gun and Roses, Ozzy, White Snake, AC/DC on the stereo turn table with Tom as D.J. Our friends moved in and out of groups of conversations and beer bottles hissed and dancing happened. We never moved from that old soft recliner where I sat on the floor watching him change albums. Hours passed, dishes needed cleared and beer bottles clanked in the trash bag as ashes got dumped in from a hundred cigarettes. We were still talking and cleaning and neither of us wanted it to end. Finally around 11 p.m. I had to walk home and Tom offered to walk with me. In the glow of street lamps, on the cobble stones we walked the 4 blocks from Angie’s apartment to mine where we said good night.

apple pie filling is ready to bake

He never kissed or hugged me at that old wooden door. He only said he was happy that I was safe at home and that he loved my pie. He turned and started to walk up the steep cobble stone hill in front of my apartment building. I watched as he reached the crest and he turned and waved good-bye to me on his 2 mile walk back to the barracks. I spent to rest of the night wondering what in the world was so good about that pie and how he would have to get up in just a few hours and go to work. I was happy to see him the following evening after he got off work so we could talk more over a beer or two.

I never did understand why that pie was so good. I never did forget that walk home in the misty night. I am just thankful that I can still make it for him. Today I am preparing for a fruit pie contest at the 4-H fair. I have made other things for the fair but this will be the first time I have made a pie. So I am making a couple of TEST apple pies today and want to share the recipe with you just because this pie is why my husband and I are still in love. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do making them.

Apple pie ready for the oven

My True Love Apple Pie ( deep dish)

1 Double Pie crust… store-bought or home-made.

5 to 6 large Granny Smith Apples ( 2 pounds),peeled, cored and sliced very thin.

1/2 half cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup salted real butter

add lots of love.

Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes until filling is bubbly. Always put pie on cook sheet to prevent juice from running over into oven.Cover edge of pie crust for about the first 20 minutes with tin foil.

True Love Apple Pie

Categories: Apples, cakes and family deserts, family memories, friends, Memories, nostalgic, Pie, Thanksgiving | Tags: apple pie, apples, baking, friendship, Love, Memories, Pie, Thanksgiving, United States Army | 3 Comments

Sweet Potato Garden FAIL that Tastes so Good!

Posted on October 24, 2014 by jolynnpowers

So it did finally frost about a week ago and we did finally get a chance before my two-week recovery to get out and dig my beautiful, bountiful, overflowing sweet potatoes. This was the first time either my husband or I attempted to grow them in our family garden. The slips were a gift from a friend and we started off with about 10 plants and hoped to get 2 to 3 roots per plant. Well as things always go in a garden this one was about the funniest fails I have ever had.

Sweet Potato slips ready to plant

The plants started off well and we did nothing to stop their spread or growth. Eventually they over ran the row they were growing in and just took over. My pumpkin hills became a sea of sweet potato vines and we lost pumpkins and cucumbers to the tangle of root shoots. Cody my oldest son played hide and seek with pumpkins and cucumbers in between their glossy leaves.

Cody picking Pumpkins in the sweet potato patch

So the excitement was so high when my husband said it was time to trim the plants down and dig, dig, dig. It took us a couple of hours to dig the patch of 10 plants. Slowly and careful to not damage to roots we found that almost the enter garden damaged by VOLES. Check out this link for images and information on the difference between Moles and Voles.

I wanted to laugh and cry all at once, the largest and most beautiful potatoes were the most damaged.The beautiful pink skin left with huge holes and pits. We carried two five gallon buckets up on the porch and I just walked away…… for several days! It was so discouraging I almost tossed all of them out.

Mole damaged sweet potatoes 2014

As I walked past the buckets twice a day for a week my heart just did not have strength to dump the darn things out. “What should I do with them” was my thought every time I looked down at the muddy pink flesh. Finally on a spur of the moment idea I just started cleaning, sorting and tossing out my harvest. Finally it came to me… “What would your grandma do? She would use them any way.” The roots were mostly corked over where the damage had happened, so no rot was found. I was left with 8 to 10 pounds of sweet potatoes that needed saved in some way. So I cleaned, paired and salvaged what I could from the buckets.

trimmed,washed and sorted sweet potatoes ready to parboil

I boiled the potatoes for twenty minutes, drained them and cooled them for several hours. Still sad, I removed the skins by hand under warm running water. Finally, they started to look like the yams that we normally see brightly colored, clean and blemish free. I cut them into large chunks and measured their amount. Discovering that I really did not have enough to make a full canner full of candied sweet potatoes I froze the remaining pieces.

4 Cups frozen Sweet potato chunks

Then as I reached the end of my pile of chucks I finally realized that I had plenty of time to make a Sweet Potato Pie ( canning sweet potatoes is at least a 90 minute process that I did not want to do). So just on chance I took the remaining pile of potatoes and cooked them for another 20 minutes until fork tender and braved the internet for a pie recipe. So to make this story shorter I made 2 wonderful sweet potato pies that I shared with my friends and family.

Maple Pecan Sweet Potato Pie.

At the end of the day I felt satisfied, I had learned a lot about Voles/Moles, Sweet Potatoes and Pie. This gardening FAIL ended up tasting great! Lucky for me every one seemed to like a pie made from what retail stores call trash. I think my Grandmother who raised 6 living kids and farmed for a living would have been proud that I didn’t give up on those chewed up roots.

Categories: cakes and family deserts, canning, gardening, mole/ vole damage, Pie, Preserving, regional food, Sweet Potato | Tags: backyard garden, Canning, freezing, Gardening, Sweet Potato, sweet potato pie, sweet potatoes, voles/moles | 7 Comments

Building Memories, Gingerbread House

Posted on December 8, 2013 by jolynnpowers

One of my favorite things about having kids is doing things together that they will remember when they are old and gray. I try to spend time with my sons doing creative things that we will both like to do too.

Christopher building gingerbread house

This seems to always involve food or building something so we finally found a way to combine the two, gingerbread houses. I am now hooked and will be looking at other houses for ideas. We cheated this year with a kit house and some stale candy from Halloween. I learned tons and am thinking of already making another one from scratch.

The two houses my friends Jacquelyn has written about her Blog http://quiltofmissingmemories.wordpress.com/2013/12/07/one-sweet-forecast/ made a real impression on me and I hope to get an idea as nice as her “Dance Studio” house for the kids to build in the future. I am sure that I would end up dragging Tom into it also… He could draw out the plans on butcher paper and I would cook the cookies and make the icing.

My older son suggested that we make a barn and I am thinking that would be great if I can maybe make it with animal crackers we decorate or find some cookie cutters in animal shapes… the ideas go on and on.

But in the end it was all about making memories with my son and having fun on his Thanksgiving break and spending family time together.

small ginger bread house

Then after all the fun is over mom still gets to clean up the mess.

mess left after decorating ginger bread house

Sharing this with at Katherine’s Corner.com

Categories: cakes and family deserts, candy, Christopher, cooking, gingerbread, Holidays | Tags: candy, family fun, ginger bread house, holiday cooking | 6 Comments

Memories of Grandpaw P. and Mock Mince Meat Pie

Posted on November 29, 2013 by jolynnpowers

As I finish up making my Thanksgiving Turkey I want to share with all of you some thing that I love…. it is the tradition of MEAT FREE, Mock Mince Meat at our Thanksgiving table. Toms Dad made the filling from his garden every few years. Home made pie and filling was one of his many specialties. The recipe came from his mother who made it before “Grandpa Powers” birth in 1918. Making this pie over 100 years old. I miss him at this time of year more than any other. My own father passing away when I was five made my relationship with him very sentimental. He only lived a few years after Tom and I married but his importance to my family lingers around the holidays.

mock mincemeat, pumpkin pie and chocolet cake

mock mincemeat, pumpkin pie and chocolate cake

He is the one who inspired all the canning and gardening that Tom and I do. His gardens were huge in comparison to anything that I have ever tried and he was able to keep a family of 9 or more at times, well feed and well stocked on fresh vegetables and fruit from his trees. He knew his way around the kitchen and shared my love of food and having family all around. I only wish that I had more time to pick his brain. He had so much knowledge in his head that I could still use today.

So when I make and fill my pies today I think of him and all the years his hands worked so hard to take care of all of us.The bushels of apples and green tomatoes that he had to be picked to fill just one jar of spicy goodness. The hours of time it takes to make the filling stirring every few minutes to make sure it does not scorch and the money spent on the spices and pounds of sugar. The steam from the canner as the quart jars rise out to cool on the kitchen table. It is him that I see and hear when I open the jar of my frist batch of that Mock Mince Meat… he stands beside me as I roll out a crust and pour in the filling. He whispers to me that I should have cooked down the filling just a little bit more, but the flavor is right. He reminds me to check the oven and not burn the pie and reappears when we slice each piece.

He is here with us for Thanksgiving because we fallow a tradition that means nothing to anyone but us. The pie will be with us until I can no longer make the filling from our garden and trees. It will then pass to my sons who already have the recipe and are learning about the huge amount of time and love all went into one very simple pie.

thanks giving table with food 2013

The following is the actual recipe that we fallow to make our MEAT FREE MOCK MINCE MEAT pie filling.

Mock Mincemeat

15 lb green Tomatoes
15 lb Apples
3 lb Raisins
1 cup Cider Vinegar
12 cups Granulated Sugar
2 Table spoon Cinnamon
2 Table spoon Allspice
2 Table spoon Cloves
4 Table spoon Salt
1/2 pound beef fat from butcher

Wash, core and chop unpeeled green tomatoes… grind or finally chop in food processor. Drain through colander lined with cheese cloth into shallow pan. Measure juice after draining and discard. Place tomatoes in large stainless steel kettle with 2 tablespoons salt adding small amount of water to keep from scorching. Bring to boil, strain hot tomatoes again and remove excess juice.Again add 2 tablespoons salt and water boil again strain and remove excess juice.Wash, peel, core and chop apples, chop up beef tallow into tiny chucks, add apples raisins, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cloves. Cook together until thick. (1 to 2 hours) stirring frequently, mixture will be thick and sticky. Ladle into hot sterilized quart jars leaving 1″ head space. Process 20 minutes..in boilng water bath.

Categories: cakes and family deserts, cooking, family memories, gardening, Pie | Tags: family, green tomatoes, Mince Meat, Mock, Mock mince Meat recipe, Pie, Thanksgiving | 5 Comments

Fresh Southern Ginger Peach Cobbler

Posted on August 26, 2013 by jolynnpowers

Fresh peaches in bowl

This has been a great fresh fruit year. I headed into to town on Tuesday and found peaches the size of softballs for 99 cents a pound. So what did I do after canning 60 lbs of apples, I bought 25 lbs of peaches of course. I actually got these at the local feed store and made a deal with the owner for a discount and free bushel baskets because these guys were over ripe and some were already bruising and soft. These I would not have tried to can, they were just to soft to really handle. I did on the other hand cook and freeze all of them.

I made 2, 13×9 old fashion southern ginger peach cobblers, two 8 inch peach pies, froze 2 gallons of peach slices without sweetener and made 6 half pints of ginger peach butter all in two days.The peach butter I let cook over night in a slow cooker before canning.

After informing my husband that I was going to make cobbler, he asked if I would make one for his work. I know there are ten on his crew and I had a birthday party that I was bringing a cobbler to, so I needed at least 16 servings between both places and extra for home. I ended my day with 24 servings total. After our busy day only one serving of cobbler made it back home… All of us eat too much, but nothing says summer better than fresh peaches.

For a single 9X13 cobbler I used 5 cups of fresh sliced peaches = 6 or 7 slightly over ripe peaches do the very best. The flavor of peaches actually improves with age and at times the bruised ones are the most flavorful.

The time-consuming part of any fresh peach receipt is scalding and pealing the peaches.

scalding peachs

The process involves boiling a pot of water and adding the peaches for about 1 1/2 minutes then removing them. I have a hand strainer I use to drain the excess water. I then plunge them into a cold water bath to release the skins. In my case, many of the skins started to pull away before I even pulled them from the cold water bath.

Once pealed, pitted and sliced, I measured my amount of peaches into a stock pot to weep the peaches with a 1 cup sugar and heat. This allows me to remove a little of the peach nectar to stop boil overs in the oven.

cooking peaches

The cobbler is made from either canned peaches or fresh at this point.

Southern ginger peach cobbler

5 cups fresh or canned peach slices
1 1/2 cups sugar… 1/2 cup for crust and 1 cup for light canned peaches or fresh,simmered as directed above.
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk.
1 stick of real butter.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To a 13X9 pan add one stick salted butter. Let melt and brown in oven while cooking peaches on stove top.

bubbly brown in pan

If using home canned peaches a quart of slices will work well , drain off 1/3 of juice in jar or if using fresh drain off about 1/3 cup juice from peaches add the remaining cup of sugar and ginger, cinnamon and corn starch. Simmer on stove a couple of minutes and remove from heat to cool slightly.Peach mixture will thicken a little while simmering.

Next mix the batter for crust. This crust goes under the peaches and will rise to the top of cobbler and brown on its own. In a med bowl mix sugar, flour,baking powder, baking soda together and slowly add milk. Do not leave batter lumpy. Pour over warm melted butter.

flour mixture

Add the warm peach mixture. DO NOT MIX …. peaches should be on top.

Bake in already warm 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. I always place pan on cookie sheet to prevent juice running over the side.Check that the cobbler is done with toothpick and set to cool on rack. This size makes about 12 servings.

brown top of cobbler

Our family eats cobbler with whole milk instead of ice cream or whipped cream.So here is what we all got at the end of a long day. It was yummy.

Hope you enjoy our friends and family sure did,Jolynn

Categories: cakes and family deserts, country cooking, peaches, Preserving | Tags: family deserts, over ripe fruit, peach cobbler, peaches, ripe peaches | 5 Comments

Comfort Food Sunday… Ending with Apple Pie

Posted on August 5, 2013 by jolynnpowers

Sunday family dinner is a tradition at our house as long as everyone is feeling well. I make dinner for my kids, grandkids, sometimes family friends and the In-laws. This week felt different the food was more comforting and everyone was so excited to eat. I made old-fashioned food from the garden and from the neighbors apple tree. I had a simple menu of meatloaf, fried potatoes, ramps ( I have another post about these wild onions and greens,check it out.) cucumber onion salad, sweet tea and home-made apple pie à la mode. It wasn’t much work and I had everything except a pie crust on hand. It was as if my family was rejoicing in the food and company. It was a celebration of our garden and being blessed with 60 pounds of fresh free apples from our neighbors tree that made the night so wonderful.

60 lbs of apples ready to use

My husband and oldest son love Grandma Powers’ meat loaf and she has instructed me on how to make a tender and juicy one. I haven’t made this for about two years and just thought OK it’s time. Also,the flow of cucumbers has been steady from the gardens so I needed to use them up. I had two bags of frozen ramps that needed eaten to make more room in the freezer for fall and the apples you see in the photo were also sitting on my back porch and were ready to eat. I think this meal planed its’self or maybe the bounty of the earth planed it for me. It took about an hour of time to put the whole thing together.

I sat on the back porch and peeled the apples while Christopher and my granddaughter Paige played in the yard. I was laughing and talking to Cody and my daughter-in -law Jamie the whole time I peeled the apples. It was so nice to just sit and visit with them. Then off to the kitchen I went, I needed to get a few things started. About hour later, Bill my husbands best friend arrived, and we were finally ready to eat.

Everyone went on and on about how nice it was to have MEATLOAF???? for dinner??? Really??? They all oohed and awwwed about the apple pie. It was the topic of conversation for several minuets. Their complements took me off guard. I didn’t expect the reaction I was getting. In my mind it was just another dinner that I cook 5 nights a week, it was just part of my day. Then something else ran through my mind…. This was simple food, nothing fancy or expensive. Heck, I got a great deal on the burger so the whole dinner for 5 adults and two picky kids cost me 10 dollars. Much of the food was free… foraged ramps, garden cucumbers and onions and free apples. I bought beef, potatoes and a pie crust and ice cream. I sat back contented that I had made everyone happy and everyone had a great time.

Cody and Tucker in the recliner

If you were to attend one of my family dinners you would realise that it is totally craziness for the 5 hours my family and friends are together. With all of us together on the porch or dinning room, my sons new puppy underfoot , the two little ones laughing and crying and the cell phones wringing, it is a little hectic.

Sunday is the only day of my week that my home over flows with voices and laughter. Back doors slam open and closed, footsteps run back and forth across the porch.The kids are free to run from room to room screaming as the pup chases them. The yard is usually full of cars, a parking lot forms. Christopher drives his Gader around in huge circles greeting everyone as they come up to the house. Sometimes Cody even brings the mini bike and we all go for rides. It is truly Grandmas house and I am proud of it.

Christopher and the Gader

Christopher and Paige sitting on Cody’s mini bike

Our life style is from a generation that has already passed. It is family dinners and loud kids and puppies barking. It flashes back to a grandma pealing apples on a porch and a meatloaf in the oven from the 50’s. I don’t understand how I got here, but I love it and all the crazy work that it means. It’s so traditional my life could be confused for Norman Rockwell painting. As I cut and serve a home-made apple pie and Tom starts to scoop ice cream to two whiny kids that don’t like pie just ice cream. I think of my grandmas house and her cooking and wonder if she is smiling at me with all these people in my house just like hers 40 years before.

At times I can hardly believe that this is my life. I well up with tears when I remember my childhood that was so similar,full of love, joy and family. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with this life. I know it was just a dinner with meatloaf and pie but some how it felt like so much more.