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Chipped Beef Gravy over Cornbread

December 6, 2008 by Tiffany King 27 Comments

This is one of those recipes that is so humble it’s a bit embarrassing to post it. But since I found the recipe in an old Frugal Gourmet cookbook, I’ll go ahead. Plus, it is the warmest, creamiest comfort food. Perfect for a cold winter day.

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5 from 2 votes

Chipped Beef Gravy over Cornbread

Servings: -4 servings

Ingredients

3 Tbs. butter
3 Tbs. chopped onion
3 Tbs. flour
2 cups hot milk
1 jar of beef you know the kind from the canned meat section that you use for cheese balls
1/4 tsp paprika
pepper and salt to taste

Instructions

Rinse the meat under running water to remove a bit of the salt and then chop it up.
In a sauce pan melt the butter and saute the onion until it’s clear.
Stir in the flour with a whisk and then add the hot milk, stirring until the mixture thickens.
Add the remaining ingredients.
Serve over Cornbread, Biscuits or toast.

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

December 3, 2008 by Tiffany King 14 Comments

This cake is perfectly Christmasy. It smells wonderful while it bakes and it tastes yummy too.

I found the recipe on a message board I frequent. The woman who posted it said it originally came from Fine Cooking Magazine. It’s easy to make.

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5 from 1 vote

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

Prep Time15

Cook Time55

Total Time1 10

Servings:

Ingredients

½ lb. butter very soft
1 cup brown sugar
¼ tsp. cinnamon
2 cups cranberries fresh or frozen - at room temp. (if frozen, thaw, rinse, drain and dry them)
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk at room temp.
2 large eggs at room temp.
⅔ cup sour cream at room temp.
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. salt
1¾ cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda

Instructions

Make sure the ingredients are at room temperature. I used White Lily flour the first time I made the cake (NOT the self-rising kind) and I thought it came out a bit less dense than the cake flour version, but both were good.
Position the rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 350°
Lightly butter the sides and bottom of a 9" cake pan. (I don't have a 9" cake pan so I used a 10½" iron skillet. My friend used a springform pan.) You want the sides of the pan to be at least 2½" high.
Put 1½ sticks of butter in a bowl.
With a wooden spoon cream together the butter, sugar and one egg yolk.
Switch to a whisk and mix in the additional eggs one at a time. Whisk until the sugar begins to dissolve and the batter is smooth.
Whisk in the vanilla, sour cream and salt.
Sift in the cake flour, baking powder and baking soda directly into the wet ingredients. I don't have a sifter so I just ran a fork through the flour mixture before adding it. Stir until all the ingredients are combined and the batter becomes satiny.
Put the remaining 4 Tbs. of butter into the pan and set it in the oven to melt.
Then mix the brown sugar and cinnamon into the butter. Spread this out as evenly as you can and put the rinsed and drained cranberries over the top.
Spread the batter over the top of the cranberries and pop it into the oven.
Bake for 50-60 minutes. Cool for 5-10 minutes and then dump it out on a plate.

Don’t forget to lick the sticky yummy stuff from the pan!

Pie Crust

December 1, 2008 by Tiffany King 10 Comments

Making this crust is as easy as pie 😉 Sorry, I couldn’t resist that. I made two cherry pies on Thanksgiving Day to take to my in-laws the next day. They were very yummy!

Here’s what you’ll need for one crust:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup (less) solid crisco or butter
1 tsp. salt
2Tbs. + 1 tsp. water

I always use butter in my crusts and I soften it a bit. Notice that you’ll use a bit less than 1/2 cup. I use about 1 Tbs. less. If you’re making a two crust pie, don’t forget to double the recipe.

The basic directions are to cut the butter into the flour and salt. Add the water and stir with a fork until it forms a ball. Roll it out and put it in the pie pan.

Here are some pictures to go with the instructions.

Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour. The above picture looks like feta cheese crumbles to me, but it’s not.

It will form a ball like this after you add the water, just keep stirring with the fork.

Roll the crust out thin on a floured surface. I use the pie plate to measure if the crust is big enough, like this:

Like the pie plate? It’s Bybee Pottery. It’s available in several shops in Kentucky, but you can buy it here. The pie plates are wonderful, as are their other products. Okay, back to our crust.

As you can see, I didn’t get the crust in there straight and was a little short on one side. No problem. I pinched off an extra piece and patched it in. Just like working with play dough!

If you’re making a single crust pie, at this point you would pinch around the edges and finish it off. Since I was making a two crust pie, that step came after I added the filling and the top crust.

The cherries were a gift from a friend. She has some awesome cherry trees in her backyard.

The filling was really hot and was making the pie crust soft. I should have cooled the filling first.

There it is before I baked it. Here it is after.

And with the left over crust scraps you can make these yummy cinnamon snacks. Roll out the scraps, spread with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, roll, cut and bake.

My husband thinks these are the reason to make a pie in the first place.

Biscuits

October 30, 2008 by Tiffany King 10 Comments

These are the real deal. This recipe has been passed down through my mom’s family in Kentucky.

Preheat the oven to 450°. In a large mixing bowl stir together [Read more…] about Biscuits

Pumpkin Muffins

October 27, 2008 by Tiffany King 16 Comments

Last week, when we were out of bread and cereal and anything else for breakfast, I whipped up a batch of these muffins. I mixed them up after dinner and we warmed them in the microwave the next morning. Even my pickiest child loved them. Of course, I didn’t tell him they were pumpkin or he would have refused to even try them. He didn’t find out they had pumpkin in them until he was on his third muffin. I love pullin’ one over on my kids!

The recipe is adapted from Country Living Country Mornings cookbook.

Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, 6 TBS sugar, 1 TBS baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg together in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, melt 1/2 stick of butter in the microwave. Stir in 1 cup pumpkin puree, 1/2 cup milk, 1 egg.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just moistened. You can also add raisins, but my kids would revolt, so ours are plain. Divide the batter into greased muffin pans and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Slather with butter and wash down with hot coffee, tea or milk. Savor fall!

Pumpkin Muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
6 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup raisins (or golden raisins) optional
1/2 stick butter
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Melt the butter and mix with the remaining ingredients just until blended. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Makes 1 dozen.