Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers!!

Here in the United States, we are celebrating Thanksgiving, the harvest, our families, delicious food, and life in general. This recipe celebrates all of those, fully and simultaneously.

Again, I’m afraid I have been holding out on you, dear readers. Don’t hold it against me – just know that I still have plenty of special family recipes up my sleeve… This is pretty much my mom’s family’s most prized, most loved, most famous and most delicious recipe. And here we are, over two years into this blogging adventure together, and I am finally handing over the goods!

You will love this recipe. If you don’t, then you are pretty much crazy. Nanny’s apple pie is the BEST. There is one small secret to this recipe. It’s such a simple, innocent secret. It’s not even a secret ingredient – it’s a secret LACK of an ingredient… Nanny’s apple pie has no cinnamon in it – nope, not even a pinch, not a twiddle, not a hint – none! The simple beauty of this secret is that it lets the apples speak for themselves in all their juicy, tangy, sweet glory. It’s amazing how the ingredients we use to enhance flavors can actually end up masking them. Once you try this, you will never go back to the spice rack again.

Nanny’s Apple Pie

Pastry:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces shortening
2 ounces ice water (more or less)

Filling:
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons sugar
6-7 McIntosh apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Sift together the dry ingredients for the pastry in a large bowl. Add the shortening and blend with a pastry blender until the consistency is like small peas. Add the ice water, a little bit at a time, and chop the mixture with a knife. Mix with your hands until the dough forms a ball. Divide in half. Roll one piece in flour, and roll out to about 1/4″ thick. Place this in a 9″ pie dish, making sure you leave a generous edge over the lip of the dish. Roll out the other piece and set aside.

For the filling mix the flour and sugar in a small dish. Sprinkle a little bit of the mixture on the bottom of the prepared pastry shell in the pie dish.

Add the apples into the pie dish. With half way full, sprinkle more of the sugar mixture over the apples.

Sprinkle the rest of the mixture on top of all the apples.

Place the second piece of pastry over the apples. Tuck under and pinch to the bottom pastry all around the edge, decorating the edge if desired. Cut four slits on top.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes at 375 degrees; then turn down to 350 and bake for 30 more minutes.

Allow pie to cool before serving. Top each piece with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

For those of you who haven’t read Anne of Green Gables, the title of this post may look like a mistake. Trust me, dear readers, that this cake does not involve any actual liniment! The Anne of Green Gables books and movies were a staple of my childhood, and I even got The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook when I was little. (You may remember the wonderful lemonade recipe I posted from this book.)

As the story goes, Anne accidentally flavored the cake she was making with anodyne liniment instead of vanilla. Marilla had broken the liniment bottle and poured what was left into an empty vanilla bottle, which Anne then used in the cake. Oops! So this is the cake that Anne meant to make when she mistakenly substituted liniment for the vanilla! Make sure you put the vanilla in yours…

This has been a go-to cake recipe in my family for many years. We have used it for many birthdays. (This one was for my mom’s birthday!) The cake is incredibly versatile, and it always turns out fluffy, buttery, and deliciously moist! My favorite way to serve it is with a melt-in-your-mouth chocolate frosting. I hope you will give it a try!

Liniment Cake
from The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook by Kate Macdonald (1985)

2 cups flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla (not liniment!)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two round cake pans (8″ or 9″ pans will work).

In a large electric mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the milk and the butter, and beat the mixture for at least one minute, until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating the mixture and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat again for at least three minutes.

Pour the batter evenly into the two prepared pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make whatever icing or filling you desire. A nice buttery chocolate icing like the one in this post matches this cake perfectly. Frost the top of the first layer; then top with the second layer, and frost the top and sides. Enjoy!

What better way to ring in the new year, dear readers, than to share one of my very favorite family traditions with you. Every Christmas, Nanny makes her famous tarts! They are really a unique little treat: flaky pastry filled with jam and topped with buttery yellow cake. We usually serve them along side our usual pies for dessert at our big Christmas dinner. But they are also excellent with a cup of coffee for breakfast, or – my personal favorite – in the afternoon with a cup of Earl Grey tea!

Nanny’s Raspberry Tarts

Batter:

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups milk

Pastry:

2 cups flour
1 cup shortening
about 3/4 cup ice water

Filling:

Seedless raspberry jam

Note: This is a VERY old recipe that goes back several generations in my family. In recent years, I have found that the cake recipe does not turn out as well as it did in the past. I have unfortunately seen this happen with several of my truly VINTAGE recipes, likely due to a change in the quality of ingredients available. I suggest using the Liniment Cake recipe for these tarts instead of the one listed here. However, I will leave Nanny’s original recipe here, for the sake of history!

First, make the batter. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and the flour and the baking powder.

Next, add the flour and the milk alternately to the creamed mixture, starting and ending with the flour. It usually takes about 2-3 additions of each. Beat the batter until very light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Set the batter aside, and make the pastry.

Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the shortening, and cut it into the flour using a pastry blender until the mixture resembles course crumbs.

Next, add the ice water. Sprinkle it all over the mixture and use your hands to work it in until it all comes together in a ball. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll the crust out very thin, to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut the dough into about 3-inch rounds, and fit the dough into your tin the same way you would fit a pie crust into a pie dish!

These are Nanny’s tart tins. They came from her mother (my great-grandmother) in England.  They really resemble sort of a slightly deeper-than-usual mini muffin tin. Nanny has always used this old tea cup to cut the crust, as it is the perfect size to fit her tart tins!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

To assemble the tarts, place about a tablespoon of raspberry jam into the bottom of each crust. Then top the jam with a spoonful of cake batter, sealing to the crust around the top.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the tops turn golden brown. Enjoy!!!

The Queen of Hearts she made some tarts all on a summer’s day;
The Knave of Hearts he stole the tarts and took them clean away.
The King of Hearts called for the tarts and beat the Knave full sore
The Knave of Hearts brought back the tarts and vowed he’d steal no more.

-Lewis Carroll

As much as I love gingerbread cookies, I have to admit that I like actual gingerbread even more. I used to use a wonderful old recipe from Nathalie Dupree to make pans of gingerbread in the fall. Based on that recipe, I developed a perfect muffin that features all the richness and flavor of a classic old-fashioned gingerbread.

Gingerbread Muffins
adapted from Nathalie Dupree’s recipe for Old-Fashioned Gingerbread

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup coca cola, apple cider or apple juice
1 teaspoon brandy flavoring or vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease well a muffin tin, and set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the molasses and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, mix together the buttermilk, the coke or juice, and the brandy or vanilla flavoring. Add these two mixtures to the molasses mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the dry mixture. Beat until the batter is smooth.

Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes, or until the muffins spring back when lightly touched with a finger. Yield about 18 muffins.

To turn this muffin into a luscious dessert, top with creamy Peach Sauce . . .

Peach Sauce
based on Nathalie Dupree‘s recipe

4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup peach juice, peach brandy, or peach schnapps
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
1 teaspoon almond extract

In a heavy saucepan, combine the egg yolks and sugar.

In a separate, smaller saucepan, heat the peach juice/brandy/schnapps. (You can also do this in the microwave if you prefer).

Pour the hot peach juice gradually into the egg-yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Turn on low heat, and continue whisking until mixture thickens. This could take up to 15 minutes (trust me, it’s worth it). Remove from heat and cool for about 10 minutes, then fold in the whipped cream and vanilla. You may wish to make this ahead of time – if so, chill the sauce until you are ready to serve.

I couldn’t have said it better than my mom did: It’s fall!! It’s time for Pumpkin Bread!

Here is what she wrote to me in an email when I asked her about the history behind her delicious pumpkin bread.

Yes it is definitely time for pumpkin bread! This is the recipe from the mother (Rose) of a very good friend of Nanny’s. Nanny would make this and send it to me when I was in college back in the sixties. I think it is the only pumpkin bread recipe I’ve ever seen that does not include cinnamon. Although cinnamon makes for a great pumpkin experience, leaving it out seems to allow the pumpkin to shine.

Rose’s Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg (fresh grated nutmeg is best!)
2/3 cup water
2 cups pumpkin (1 15-ounce can pumpkin will work)
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease 2 large loaf pans (9″ by 5″) and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients together and beat for 2 minutes with electric mixer until smooth. Divide into the loaf pans. Each pan will be about 2/3 full.

Bake for 50-60 minutes. Make sure center is done – a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

Note: This bread freezes very well.

Note: For muffins, bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Note: We have added chocolate chips to this recipe, and it was delicious!

Dear readers, this past weekend was my very first farmers market selling bread on our town square. It was so much fun! The whole experience was an all-around success. I made new friends, got to know some local farmers, and even traded a few loaves for some fresh produce for next week’s baked goods!

In preparing for this fun adventure, I went to some of my tried-and-true go-to recipes. Here is my very best banana nut bread. I’ve been making it for 10 years or so, and it’s evolved with tweaks here and there. These little babies sold like hotcakes on Saturday morning!

My Best Banana Nut Bread
originally based on a recipe from Allrecipes.com

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
A pinch of nutmeg
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup mashed banana
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter, eggs, banana, and vanilla, mixing just until combined. Stir in the nuts, if desired.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Enjoy!

One of my very first cookbooks when I was a little girl was the Care Bears Party Cook Book. It had lots of kid-friendly recipes for fun and festive treats. To this day, I still make a dessert that is based on a recipe from this cookbook. It’s called Cloud Cake. I have included the original recipe and my simplified version below.

I usually make this light and easy dessert with just strawberries, but for the Fourth of July? Red White and Blue Cloud Cake just seemed right!

Cloud Cake
from the Care Bears Party Cook Book

1 pound cake
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup raspberry jam or fresh berries with their juice
Frozen whipped topping or fresh whipped cream

Slice your pound cake loaf horizontally and remove the top half. Pour half of the orange juice over the bottom half of the cake. Then spread with raspberry jam or fresh berries and juice. Replace the top of the cake to make a sandwich. Pour the remaining juice over the cake. Top with whipped cream and more berries if desired.

Red, White, and Blue Cloud Cake

2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups blueberries
1 loaf-sized pound cake
Frozen whipped topping or fresh whipped cream

Combine the strawberries and the sugar in a bowl. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Stir the strawberries again – they should be nice and juicy. Set aside.

Cut slices of pound cake. Top with the strawberries and juice. Top with some blueberries. Add some whipped topping, and then decorate with extra fruit on the top. Serve immediately – enjoy!!!

What do you call it when you put cole slaw on a hot dog in Georgia? Well, a Slaw Dawg of course!!!

Okay, so maybe this isn’t a real “recipe” but come on – the pictures alone justify this post! Plus, I wanted to be sure to share with you my favorite way to cook hot dogs in time for the Fourth of July next weekend. So here are my Slaw Dawgs!

Slaw Dawgs

4 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 all-beef hot dogs
4 hot dog buns
2 cups of prepared cole slaw
Ketchup and mustard

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the hot dogs and allow them to cook, turning occasionally until they are brown and crispy on all sides.

Remove the dogs from the pan and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. When it has melted, place your hot dog buns in the pan. Allow the buns to brown, turning so that each side is crispy.

Put your hot dogs in the prepared buns, and top with slaw, ketchup, and mustard. Doesn’t get much more summery than this, folks!!!

This dish was inspired by what I had on hand in my refrigerator and from a few different recipes I browsed recently online. We have so much squash these days from our own garden and from our CSA baskets, as well. But no one in our house is complaining – you’ve never tasted squash unless you’ve eaten it fresh from your garden – so sweet and fresh!

Hominy with Squash and Mushrooms

4 slices of thick-cut bacon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup diced onion
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 can hominy, drained and rinsed
2 small yellow squash, sliced into 1/4″ thick half-moons
2 small zucchini squash, sliced into 1/4″ thick half-moons
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh chopped parsley

In a large pan, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until golden brown and slightly crispy on both sides. Remove the bacon to drain on paper towel.

Add the onion to the pan with the bacon drippings and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender. Add the mushrooms, hominy, squash, lemon zest, lemon juice and chicken broth. Continue to cook over medium-high heat for 5-6 more minutes, until all the veggies are tender.

Break the bacon into bite-sized pieces and return them to the pan. Season the veggies with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot and garnish with the fresh chopped parsley.

Yes, dear readers, I know I just posted a recipe for peach cobbler a mere three days ago, but are you seriously complaining?? Peach cobbler is the best!! And this one is different – you’ll see . . .

So this recipe comes from our across-the-street neighbor when I was growing up – my mom’s friend Mary. It used to be that people thought I was crazy when I would make this recipe, but nowadays, I think there are a few similar versions floating around the internet.

Basically, you melt a stick of butter in a pan. (This is the way any good southern recipe starts, right?!?) Then you pour your batter into the melted butter and pour your peaches over the top of the batter. The best part is that you aren’t supposed to stir! How easy can this get?

And the final product? Crispy butter-fried dough puffs up and bakes all around the juicy-sweet peach slices. Again, the hint of cinnamon (barely a whiff) really brings out the depth of that golden peach flavor.

Georgia Peach Cobbler
From my mom’s friend Mary

4 cups fresh Georgia peaches, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
A dash of salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the sliced peaches and the 1/2 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate for several hours, until the juices start to run.

Place the butter in a 9×13″ baking dish. Put it in the oven for 3-4 minutes, until the butter is completely melted.

Meanwhile, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the milk and stir just until combined.

Remove the dish with the butter from the oven. Pour the prepared batter over the butter. Do not stir!

Next, pour the peaches over the batter and butter. Do not stir!

Finally, sprinkle the cinnamon evenly over the top. Return the dish to the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, until the batter sets and turns a golden brown on top. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.