firmly into the pan. Bake the crust for 25 minutes.
While the crust is baking, with an electric mixer, combine the eggs, lemon juice, and zest until smooth. Add the granulated sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt, and beat until smooth. Pour the mixture over the baked crust. Bake for 25 minutes more. Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool completely. Sprinkle the top with confectioners’ sugar. Cut into squares and serve.
bess london’s pecan tassies
Bess London is a friend of mine. Garth and I have known her son Emmett for years, and when I moved to Oklahoma, she was one of the first people I met. She’s in her nineties and still as active and lively as ever. She is a true inspiration and the kind of woman I want to be. She raised three boys in rural Mississippi and has so many great stories about them. Even though they are grown men now, Bess can still embarrass them with a good story from childhood. She is also an amazing cook, and believes, like me, that one way you can show people you love them is to cook for them. The first treats Miss Bess ever made for me were these Pecan Tassies. I have to say that, even following her recipe to the letter, I find that hers are lighter and tastier than mine. It must be all of that love!
MAKES 24 TASSIES
½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature, plus 1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 3-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
½ cup pecans, finely chopped
With an electric mixer, beat the ½ cup butter and the cream cheese until smooth. Add the flour and beat until fully combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray a mini-muffin pan with cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Set aside.
Shape the chilled dough into 24 balls, about 1 inch in diameter. Press each ball into a cup of the muffin pan, then spoon 1 teaspoon of the pecans into each muffin cup. Fill each cup with the egg mixture until evenly distributed. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the filling is set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from the muffin pan.
Garth and Miss Bess at our wedding, December 10, 2005.
betty’s apple ambrosia
In my family, ambrosia is usually made with oranges, coconut, and sugar. My friendBetty Maxwell used to make this for my daddy all the time. He loved ambrosia. You don’t have to wait until oranges are in the peak season to enjoy this—just use a lot more sugar for sweetness.
MAKES 6 CUPS
1 cup orange juice with lots of pulp, or more as needed
3 ripe Delicious apples
1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple
¼ cup sugar
½ cup frozen grated coconut, thawed
Pour the orange juice into a medium bowl. Peel and core the apples, then grate them into the orange juice using the large-hole side of the grater. Add the pineapple, sugar, and coconut. Mix well, adding more orange juice if the mixture is not juicy enough. The apples will continue to absorb juice, and orange juice can be added as needed to keep it as juicy as you like. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Choose a sweet apple that you like.
My favorite is Golden Delicious.
crockpot chocolate candy
My cousinDonna Paulk is a great cook. She’s kindly given us several great recipes for this collection, including chicken soup, macaroni and cheese, beignets, and this candy. I love this kind of recipe: the candies look so pretty and appear really hard to make. People will think you’re a genius cook, which is almost embarrassing considering how easy they are to make. Just layer everything in the cooker and wait!
MAKES 30 TO 40 PIECES
2 pounds (36 ounces) salted dry-roasted peanuts
4 ounces (4 squares) German’s sweet chocolate
1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips (about 2 cups)
2½ pounds white almond bark
Put the
Charlaine Harris
Eliza DeGaulle
Paige Cuccaro
Jamie Lake
Brenda Hiatt
Melinda Leigh
Susan Howatch
Highland Spirits
Burt Neuborne
Charles Todd