Easy, Peasy, Yummy Brownies, by Beverly Hicks Burch

Easy Peasy Yummy Brownie

By Beverly Hicks Burch

When you’re in the middle of a move and you’ve set your weary bones down in front of the telly, it’s funny what the mind can do to you. Like play minds games concerning food…causing you to crave “comfort” food you know good and well you just don’t have on hand and DO NOT have the energy to make. That happened to me over this past weekend when Tall & Handsome and I were working around the house.

Now, just interject your own personal energy draining and exhausting activity and…well, never fear…do I ever have the recipe for you! It’s a brownie recipe that is so yummy and so easy to make it ought to be against the law…

T & H deemed them quite good and scarfed down two warm ones right away. I think they would be extra yummy with a little bit of vanilla ice cream on the side. (My favorite is Byers Light and Creamy Vanilla.)

Hope you enjoy Easy, Peasy, Yummy Brownie!

© 2009 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Easy, Peasy, Yummy Brownies

½ cup unsalted butter, melted (you could use salted, too)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

½ cup self-rising flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla flavoring

½ cup chopped nuts (my go to nuts are pecans and walnuts. I happened to use walnuts the other night.)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare an 8 inch or 9 inch baking pan.

2. In a mixing bowl mix together the sugar and the melted butter. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix well.

3. Combine the dry ingredients together and then stir them into the sugar mixture.

4. Add the vanilla. Stir in the nuts.

5. Spread evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the edges are firm. A toothpick inserted in the middle will come out clean. Cut into squares.

Enjoy!!

© 2009 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Blueberry Delight, by Beverly Hicks Burch

Blueberry Delight

By Beverly Hicks Burch

This recipe comes to us courtesy of my little momma, Juanita Hicks. It is one of her quintessential “Momma” dishes…one she prepares for special occasions, holidays and taking to those aforementioned covered dish events. She’s been making it at least 20 years and she’s forgotten where she inherited the recipe from.

The saving grace of this gloriously ooey, gooey dish is this…blueberries are full of antioxidants . Oh, yeah and nuts are once again good for you. Other than, it’s probably loaded with guilt laden goodness.

Now you know I have confessed to “Bev-izing” recipes and here are a couple changes I would attempt to make on this recipe.

· Use 8 oz of low fat cream cheese for the regular cream cheese

· Use “lite” Cool Whip instead of regular Cool Whip

For now, in its full glory…Blueberry Delight…

Blueberry Delight

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mix together:

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 cup butter, melted

1 cup pecans, finely chopped (use a mini food processor if you have one)

Spread evenly into the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking pan, and bake 25 minutes.

Next:

Cream 1 8 oz. package of cream cheese

Add 1 box of Confectioner’s sugar

Fold in 9 oz. of Cool Whip

Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cooled crust and top with 2 cans of blueberry pie filling.

Enjoy!!

© 2009 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Pretzel Salad, by Beverly Hicks Burch

Pretzel Salad

By Beverly Hicks Burch

I don’t know what it is about Southerners, but nothing says comfort to us like a covered dish. Give us a sick or injured friend or family member, or heaven forbid a funeral, or “dinner on the ground” and someone goes into gear organizing the “Covered Dish Brigade” making sure there will be a spread “laid out” fit for a King…well, at least maybe Elvis. I’ve often wondered if the habit harkens back to the Scots-Irish ancestry so many Southerners share and the habit those ancestors had for celebrating the dearly departed with wakes.

One of the staples of those covered dish meals is the congealed salad. And, believe me there have been creative and inventive souls over the years who have done things with the imagination and gelatin that well, is kind of like the Star Trek tag line…they have gone where no man (or woman) has gone before (and in some cases probably should have gone)…

Several years ago I was at one such covered dish event…the occasion escapes me now…but, one dish stands out in my mind. Yes, it was a congealed dish. I must confess I have a soft spot for some of these little maligned dishes. Don’t know why other than my folks always said I had a thing for the underdog…

Anyway, it came highly praised, but I was very hesitant to give it a try. (I wasn’t quite as adventurous back then.) It was called Pretzel Salad. My younger mind just could not conceive the juxtaposition of pretzels and gelatin/Jell-O. It only took one bite to convince me.

So for the curious of mind…here is Strawberry Pretzel Salad.

© 2009 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

2 cups thin stick pretzels, coarsely crushed

¼ cup butter, melted

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 – 8 oz. package cream cheese

8 oz. container Cool Whip (I use the Lite Cool Whip)

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

2 ½ cups water

1 6 oz. package strawberry Jell-o

2 cups frozen sliced strawberries, thawed and drained

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Evenly spread the pretzels in the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish.

3. Combine the melted butter and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Pour this evenly over the pretzels.

4. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

5. In a bowl beat cream cheese until soften. Add remaining ¾ cup sugar, vanilla and Cool Whip. Beat at medium speed and make sure mixture is creamy and smooth.

6. Pour and spread over pretzels.

7. To the Jell-o add 2 cups boiling water. Stir until Jell-o is dissolved. Add ½ cup cold water and the strawberries. After the Jell-o cools, pour over the cream cheese mixture.

8. Refrigerate overnight. Cut into squares to serve.

Home-made Coconut Cake, by Beverly Hicks Burch

Home-made Coconut Cake

By Beverly Hicks Burch

Several years ago, a late friend would wow friends and family with a home-made coconut cake. It was often in demand and a real treat when she presented you with one. Where she discovered the recipe I’ll never know. Barbara is no longer with us having succumbed to cancer over 10 years ago.

While browsing through my mom’s cookbooks I found one that our former church had published ca the mid 1980s. Towards the back in the dessert section, there was Barb’s yummy Coconut Cake recipe bigger than Dallas.

Sweet memories and a sweet cake…too good to pass up and too good not to share…

Barb’s Coconut Cake

By Beverly Hicks Burch

Filling:

2 – 6 oz. packages frozen coconut

1 – ½ cups sugar

1 carton sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

Mix together and set aside. Place between the split layers of cake once they have cooled.

Cake:

1 box yellow cake mix

1 small box instant vanilla pudding

1 cup water

½ cup oil

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine ingredients and mix for 3 minutes. Pour into 2 nine inch pans and bake for 30 minutes. Let layers cool and then split then in half.

Icing:

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup light Karo syrup

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

2 egg whites

4 tablespoons water

3/4 cup sugar

Add ingredients to a double boiler. Beat to mix. When the water in the bottom of the double boiler begins to boil, remove from heat. Beat the mixture for 3-1/2 to 4 minutes until stiff peaks form. Ice the top and sides of the assembled cake. Garnish with coconut.

© 2009 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Thai Fried Bananas, by Beverly Hicks Burch

Thai Fried Bananas

Adapted on a Recipe by Paula Deen seen on Food Network, June 25, 2007

I’ve made a few changes to this recipe. Tall & Handsome and I think this is the Asian Bananas Foster. We were talking this week end that it might be good with a dash of cinnamon…yum!

3 Tablespoons butter

4 fresh firm, ripe bananas, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces

6 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon black sesame seeds

1 lime, juiced

In a wok or large saucepan heat butter. Once melted, add bananas and toss around a bit. Then add the brown sugar and cook the sugar down a tad.

Next add the black sesame seeds and the lime juice. Stir together and serve.

Enjoy!

**This would be wonderful served over vanilla ice cream. I like Breyers low-fat Vanilla Bean. Yum!

Red Velvet Cake Made Easy, by Beverly Hicks Burch

Red Velvet Cake Made Easy

By Beverly Hicks Burch

There is a cake in the South that is almost mythical. This legendary cake is baked and served on almost all special occasions…especially Christmas, family occasions, holidays, social functions…you name it. If there is an occasion, then it’s good enough a reason to bake a Red Velvet Cake.

The origin of the Red Velvet Cake is enigmatic. No one can put an exact point of ancestry to this perennial favorite.

This cake has been a favorite in my family for years. I can recall making it from scratch as far back as the 1980’s. It is a cake my Aunt LaRue has been known to make at the drop of the hat…and been loved for doing so.

There is no small effort in making a Red Velvet Cake from scratch. The recipe usually includes buttermilk, vinegar, a smidgen of cocoa, red food coloring…and time. How you top it off or ice it is debatable. The recipe I have is for a roux type cooked/boiled type icing. I know…sounds funky, but it’s really creamy and yummy. Many times the icing is a cream cheese icing…with or without nut…your choice.

Now, believe it or not, before Tall and Handsome married me and came back South he had never heard of a Red Velvet Cake. *Gasp* Unthinkable! No true Steel Magnolia could think of passing this life without delighting the taste buds of her beloved with a Southern delight like the Red Velvet Cake. It just had to be…at least once at this Christmas was the right time.

Now this BamaSteelMagnolia™ learned a long time ago there are more ways than one to skin the proverbial rabbit. I had decided to make this delight for Christmas, but given the season and the fact that T & H would be home for some extra time at Christmas and I wanted to spend time with him and not pots and pans. Somewhere socked away in my memory, I recalled a quicker version of the Red Velvet Cake.

You see years ago I purchased a cookbook called The Cake Doctor, by Anne Byrne. If you don’t have this cookbook, grab it up! Within the covers was a recipe of Quick Red Velvet Cake and Ms Byrne’s insight into her quest for the history and origin of the cake.

It seems she did a search through many of her Southern cookbooks including her Junior League cookbooks and found nothing until she thumbed through a cookbook called Tennessee Tables. (Could this be more exciting for an East Tennessee born gal like me?!)

This cookbook had been published by the Junior League of Knoxville in 1982 and included a recipe for a Red Velvet Cake on page 204. The recipe was from Regas Restaurant and had been a specialty at the restaurant. It was supposedly served to Liberace when he came to town in 1970.

Thinking she had hit pay dirt, Ms Byrne called Louise Durman, food editor at the Knoxville News-Sentinel at the time. She was hoping she had discovered the point of origin of the cake.

Well, strike one and maybe strike out. All she could be told was that people in East Tennessee loved the cake (big surprise) and had been known to make Green Velvet Cakes at Christmas and Big Orange Cakes to coincide with University of Tennessee football games (go Vols!).

Now, coincidentally, own my own while living a little further South down in Birmingham, I had made a “Green Velvet Cake” more out of necessity than out of purpose. I had run out of red food coloring and all I had on hand was green food coloring. You see, the food coloring has no effect on the taste of the cake whatsoever…just the look. I would give you a little warning here though…green food coloring may affect your…ummm for lack of a better word digestive emissions…

Ms Byrne also had heard the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City might be the creator of the Red Velvet Cake recipe, but when she called the chef there, he informed her the hotel could not take credit for the cake.

My sneaking suspicion is a creative little Steel Magnolia in some sleepy little Southern town needed a cake to take to a function. And, wanting to “wow” and wanting to be a tad of a rebel she decided to pour a whole bottle of red food coloring into her cake batter to set tongues a wagging…instead, she created a tradition.

As usual, I took the recipe in the book and “Bev-ized” it. The adaptations I made to this recipe were to use low fat products to reduce calories and fat. So without further adieu…here is Red Velvet Cake Made Easy:

Red Velvet Cake Made Easy

1 box German Chocolate cake mix with pudding

1 cup low fat sour cream

½ cup water

½ cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)

1 – 1 ounce bottle red food coloring

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans. Be sure to shake out excess flour.

2. Add cake mix, low fat sour cream, water, oil food coloring, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Mix with an electric mixer for one minute on low speed. Increase the speed to medium and beat 2 – 3 more minutes, scrapping down the sides.

3. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans and place in the preheated oven. Bake 28 – 30 minutes or until the cake springs bake when lightly touched (or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean).

4. Cool pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool a further 30 minutes.

5. Ice with Cream Cheese Frosting. Keep in the refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 8 oz. package reduced fat cream cheese, softened

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

3 ¾ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer. Mix at low speed for 30 seconds.

2. Add sugar a little bit at a time, blending well after each addition. After all sugar is added mix for one minute.

3. Add vanilla, increase speed to medium and mix for one minute or until icing is fluffy.

Enjoy!

© 2009 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Nestle’s Oatmeal Scotchie Cookies, by Beverly Hicks Burch

Nestlé’s Oatmeal Scotchie

Cookies

By Beverly Hicks Burch

Everyone seems to have a favorite cookie. Some people are even cookie monsters…they have a weakness for the delectable baked good. When you hear the word cookie what’s the first image that pops into your mind?

I can take or leave cookies…if they are store bought. In general I really don’t care for store bought cookies. I was the rare, odd child who actually enjoyed the Fig Newton. (Of course Wheaties and Raisin Bran were my favorites as a child…go figure…) There is a miniscule list of store bought cookie I will eat on occasion. They usually include the words “Pepperidge Farms” on the package

I do admit a really good home-baked cookie is hard to pass up. Yes, those are my personal preference. My favorites? Well, I love home-baked M & M cookies, a good home-made chocolate chip (milk chocolate chips, please and I have one recipe that uses Rice Krispies for an added crunch) and one I found of the back of the Nestle’s Butterscotch Chip bag.

The cookie is called Oatmeal Scotchies. Oatmeal cookies are not normally a cookie I enjoy, but this one is the exception. As usual I have adjusted the recipe to my liking. If memory serves me, when the original recipe first debuted, I think it might have used orange flavoring. I switched to vanilla (pure vanilla of course…it really does make a difference over imitation vanilla). T & H has learned I have two secret ingredients…pure vanilla in one of them. Also, the recipe calls for ½ teaspoon cinnamon which I totally omit. I prefer a non-spicy oatmeal cookie, but that is up to your discretion.

This is a nice hearty cookie you can sink your teeth into. Very appropriate for our current season…fall. Interestingly, during election year Family Circle magazine polls its readers on which of the potential future First Ladies (or First Spouse) has the best cookie recipe. The recipes this year were from Cindy McCain, Michelle Obama and yes, Bill Clinton. Cindy McCain’s cookie took the title 54% to 44% and 2% respectively. Cindy’s recipe (Oatmeal – Butterscotch Cookies) is very similar to my old, time honored Oatmeal Scotchies.

So without further adieu, here’s the Nestle Oatmeal Scotchie recipe…

Enjoy!

© 2008 Beverly Hicks Burch

Nestlé’s Oatmeal Scotchie

Cookies

Adapted from an original recipe

1 – ¼ cup flour, unsifted

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter (you can reduce this to ¾ cup like Cindy McCain did and I have on occasion)

¾ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

3 cups rolled oats (remember oats are a healthy grain and help reduce cholesterol)

1 11 oz. package or about 2 cups butterscotch chips

*1/2 teaspoon cinnamon is an optional addition…with or without is your choice

Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine dry ingredients and set side.

Cream butter and then beat in sugars, eggs and vanilla.

Gradually add flour mixture.

Stir in oats and butterscotch chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoons unto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 7 – 8 minutes for a chewy cookie or 9 – 10 minutes for a crisper cookie. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes and remove to wire rack.

*You can make this a bar cookie by cooking the cookie dough in a 15 x 10 inch jelly roll pan for 18 – 22 minutes. Allow pan with baked dough to cool on wire rack.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Enjoy!

As American as…Well, Apple Pie, by Beverly Hicks Burch

As American as…Well, Apple Pie

By Beverly Hicks Burch

What is your favorite pie? Mine? Well, maybe Pecan Pie…or Pumpkin…or maybe Key Lime…maybe coconut…well, darn…maybe I don’t have a favorite. I know what I don’t like…Mincemeat Pie. Even the name sounds disgusting to me.

As Americans we’ve heard the expression “As American as Apple Pie”. Why? Well, the history of pies is rather colorful. Some feel the ancient Greeks were the first to develop pie for the reason of holding in the juices of cooked meat. Centuries later, during the Middle Ages the English called pies “coffins”. A term later adapted by morticians and the funeral industry. Are we mortified yet about the history of this treat? Sorry I could resist the pun

During those days there was no refrigeration and very little sanitary considerations taken with the preparation and storage of food. Pies resembled what we think of as turnovers or in the South what we call “fried pies”. This wasn’t done for a lofty artistic purpose…it was solely a for functional purposes… These little pies were designed for storage and ease. To keep all of the ingredients in one place and be able to hold with one hand. Fast food Middle Ages style…

The phrase “As American as Apple Pie” actually is a truncated version of another saying “As American as motherhood and apple pie…” Hmmm…I don’t believe babies are found in the cabbage patch every where but the good ol’ USA. Probably the true American “apple pie” is the Mock Apple Pie made using Ritz Crackers. I’ve seen the recipe on the box, but never tried it and don’t know anyone who has.

We know that apples are not indigenous to America, so they were brought to America…along with recipes for apple pie…or as the English called them…tarts. As a matter of fact there still is in existence a copy of a recipe for apple pie (tart) that dates back to 1381 AD. (It’s written in Old English…very old English!) We know that recipes for apple pie can be found in cookbooks that date to colonial America. There is even a copy of Martha Washington’s apple pie. So, what appears to have happened is we took a pie and developed in into something decidedly American over time. (Ever heard of cheddar cheese with apple pie?)

I would have to say apple pie is not a favorite with me…spare one. It is the Sour Cream Apple Pie Momma began making when I was in junior (middle) high school or in high school. That would have been the late 1960’s or 1970’s. She passed the recipe along to me when I married the ex years ago. (Wish I could have gotten the recipe and passed on the ex…but, that’s a different story.) Unfortunately, I don’t know the origin of the recipe…but, they must have been a pie genius.

I’ve made this pie off and on over the years…and it’s never failed me yet. With fall here I’ve been thinking of some of my old recipes and while browsing through them I reacquainted myself with this recipe. I’ve yet to make it for Tall and Handsome, but after reading the recipe to him, he’s placed it on his “Want” list. Guess I’ll be cooking up some pie in the near future…

Sour Cream Apple Pie

From the kitchen of Beverly Hicks Burch

Of course, I’ve added my touches to the recipe:

1 9 in. deep dish pie crust

For the filling sift together:

2 tablespoon all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

¾ cup of sugar

Add and beat until batter is thin:

1 unbeaten egg

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Blend in 2 cups sliced apples (not apple pie filling!) and pour into the crust. (I used canned sliced apples…the kind your momma used to make “fried apples”. Remember DO NOT use apple pie filling.)

Bake 15 minutes at 400° then,

Bake 30 minutes at 350°

Remove from the oven and added prepared topping:

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup all purpose flour

¼ cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Brown 10 minutes at 400°.

Enjoy!

© 2008 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.