Since alcohol just puts me to sleep, I blame the Shrimp and Grits. Shrimp cooked in a “gravy” flavored with bacon, onion, bell pepper and scallions and then spooned onto a mound of peppery cheese grits. It’s like a party on a plate. And, even though it’s a traditional Southern dish, it was exotic to a landlocked Tennessean like me. To find Southerners with enough shrimp to eat them for breakfast, you have to move along the coast, especially to South Carolina, where fishermen first started bringing surplus shrimp home to eat with their grits.

When Mom asked me about the trip, I neglected to mention the cocktails, the boa or bullying Oliver Stone. But I spread the gospel of those Shrimp and Grits. Now, we don’t have a family holiday meal without them. I wish I could say the same about the boas.  Read More…

OK, I have two incredibly important questions for you tonight:

1. How do you pronounce granola? Do you say gruh-NO-luh or GRAY-NO-luh?

2. And, what would you add to this Peanut Butter Granola recipe? It has oats, wheat germ, coconut, honey, vanilla, crunchy peanut butter and raisins. It’s loaded with good stuff. But it seems like something’s missing. Brown sugar? Chocolate? Krispy Kremes? Help a woman out.

Read More…

After delivering the last two wedding cakes, I started flirting with the idea of an all-raw diet. Or meat-only. Anything that didn’t involve butter, flour, eggs or sugar. But then I remembered that my friend Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table was hosting this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie baking challenge.  So, I decided to crank up the oven just long enough to bake a half-batch of her pick, Dorie’s Allspice Crumb Muffins.

Oh, I should have made the full dozen.

These muffins smell like Christmas morning. They’re light and cakey, with a crunchy topping that’s all sugar and spice. They are … scrumptious. In fact, you’ve probably got the ingredients right now, so bookmark the recipe here on Kayte’s site. Or pick up a copy of Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours.”

OK, I took a short break from the kitchen, because I’d made a few massive wedding cakes, and being that focused for that long always makes me feel like I’ve been underground. Like, why is every TV station showing a Patrick Swayze movie? And where’d all the rotary phones go? It was time to warrsh the dishes, mop the floor and do something completely different for a while.

So I broke out the crockpot (oh, yes) and let it do the work while I roamed the city, read the latest issue of Oxford American, nuzzled the newborn niece, listened to tons of free podcasts on EVERYTHING, walked outside, napped while it rained, finally watched “Fight Club” (and a mini-marathon of “Ruby”), checked out Halloween costumes and decorations, cleaned, organized, listened to new music and hung out with Jeff. It was good.

And then it happened. Read More…

So, when I married Jeff, I vowed to make his favorite cinnamon rolls on a semi-regular basis, but that isn’t always practical. There are times when, strangely enough, he doesn’t want to wait several hours for the dough to rise … and the rolls to rise … and the baking. Like when we’re having a lazy Sunday breakfast or a late-night craving strikes during a marathon of “The Wire.”(Oh. In. Deed.) That’s when I break out The Great Compromise: these Quick Cinnamon Biscuits.

Sweet goodness. There’s no bringing ingredients to room temperature or even melting a little butter. You mix the dough by hand in one bowl, pat it into a rectangle, and roll the filling inside. Then slice the dough into rounds, place them in a baking dish, and bake them. Since the biscuits are packed in tight, they stay soft and gooey inside, just like a cinnamon roll. Ice, eat, repeat.

As vows go, promising to stick around in sickness and in health is one thing. But promising to stick around in sickness and in health with a lifetime of cinnamon rolls (and cinnamon roll-type treats) is way more fun. In fact, you probably have the ingredients for these right now … Read More…

Every time I bake a batch of Peppery Bacon and Cheddar Scones – these magical clusters of  heat, tang and smoke – Jeff and I have the same conversation: what makes them scones instead of biscuits?

Typically, I’d think of a scone as being slightly sweet and made with cream. A European scone might be served with a little clotted cream and jam. A big, fat American scone would probably be loaded with fruit and maybe nuts. Or peanut butter and M&Ms. But bacon, cheddar, green onions and a smack of pepper? So not the choice of the pinkies-up crowd. However, after a little research, I discovered scones and biscuits are more similar than I’d thought. Both can be sweet or savory, triangular or round. Both can contain cream or buttermilk or the same fats, including lard. Both are crusty with soft interiors. Even the mixing methods are the same.

So, what is the real difference? Read More…

Peaches are the Lolitas of the fruit world. They look ripe-and-ready long before they actually are. You can check an apple for bruises, tap a watermelon or pinch a grape to make sure it’s firm, but when it comes to peaches, it pays to ignore everything but the smell. I don’t mean the smell it has when you hold it to your nose and take a deep breath. I mean, keep walking until the air around them intoxicates you with the smell of sweet, summery peaches and thoughts of cobbler, pies and crips.

Saucers of peaches and cream.

Sticky grilled peaches topped with mascarpone and drizzles of orange blossom honey.

The scent of a truly ripe peach is so full of possibilities. Read More…

A soft cake flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon zest and vanilla. A crumb topping loaded with brown sugar and chopped walnuts. Why was I ever on the fence about making this Blueberry Crumb Cake?

Oh, yes. Because I can’t eat blueberries. I know, they’re juicy and sweet and delicious. You’re preaching to the converted. But they put the fear of God into my intestines. I was going to substitute another fruit, but then I learned something new about Jeff: he loves blueberries. He was all about this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie pick being a Blueberry Crumb Cake. So, we negotiated: I baked with blueberries; he’ll be trying goat cheese later this week.

Regardless of my blueberry affliction, I completely recommend this cake. It smells fantastic as it bakes, it stays moist, and the crumb topping strikes just the right balance of sweet, buttery and crunchy. It’s so tasty, I might be able to talk Jeff into trying goat cheese and a radish. I’m just saying.

For the recipe, visit Sihan at Befuddlement, or pick up a copy of Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours.”