Marbled Brownies

Everyone needs a chocolate fix every now and then. Some folks need it more often than others. That would be my mother, who doesn't eat many "sweets" but loves chocolate. This recipe is perfect. It also came from her. I don't remember exactly when but probably around the time I left her kitchen for my own. It's easy (always a good thing) and is dressy enough to serve anywhere.

Marbled Brownies

1 package Duncan Hines Family Size Brownie Mix
2 packages (3 oz. each) cream cheese (softened)
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
5 tablespoons butter (softened)
5 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Cream Cheese Mixture: Beat the cream cheese and butter together with your mixer. Add the sugar, two eggs, flour and vanilla. Beat until it's smooth. Set aside.

Brownie Batter: Empty the brownie mix and chocolate flavor packet into a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons water and three eggs. Mix by hand until thoroughly blended.

Pour half the brownie batter into a greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Pour all the cream cheese mixture over the brownie layer. Spoon the remaining brownie batter here and there over the cream cheese batter. Move a knife through the batter in wide curves to create a swirl design.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until done. Cool before you frost it.

Easy Chocolate Frosting

3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Stir in the cocoa until it is blended thoroughly. Add the confectioners sugar, milk and vanilla. Stir until it's smooth. Add more milk, if necessary. until the consistency becomes easy to spread.

Frost brownies. Let them sit until the frosting is firm. Then cut into serving size pieces.

Chocolate Cake

I guess a person knows she's a true Southern cook when she takes stock of what she has on hand and then decides what to cook. That was me recently. I needed to bake a cake. Specifically, I needed to bake a cake that could be considered a birthday cake. Without all the decorations. Though I did consider decorations. Cutting out cake designs is similar to cutting out wood designs, only using a knife instead of a saw. But I didn't. The young man was turning 15 and I didn't think he would be impressed with cutesy.

What I ended up making was a Chocolate Cake. Everyone loves Chocolate Cake, don't they? I used a basic pound cake recipe for the layers. The recipe came from my cousin, who got it from her mother, who got it from her mother-in-law. For those who aren't Southern, this is how many, many good recipes are passed down in this part of the country.

I wasn't sure what type of chocolate frosting to make. But I knew I didn't want to go to the store. When you live outside the city limits, going to the store takes a little longer than five minutes. And it involves make-up and a change of clothes. I didn't want to do that. I didn't have enough semi-sweet chocolate for frosting. I could have used chocolate powder but I didn't really want to. I did, however, have a package of milk chocolate chips. Guess what kind of frosting I made! Yep. Milk Chocolate Frosting.

It all turned out pretty good. None of the cake went to waste, as the saying goes. They ate every slice. That's the best compliment ever.

Chocolate Cake

3 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
5 to 6 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Beat the sugar, butter and cooking oil with a mixer until it is creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Mix the flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour.

Grease and flour four round cake pans. Divide the batter equally between the four pans. I use a large spoon to do this, dipping out equal amounts into each pan until the batter is all gone.

Cook the cake until a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Because I use a rather small oven (or so it seems sometimes), I had to cook two pans at a time. It took about 35 to 45 minutes each time. I just kept checking it. (Which probably explains why I don't remember exactly how long I cooked the layers!) Every oven is different though. I know I say that a lot but it is true.

Let the layers cool thoroughly before icing.

Milk Chocolate Frosting

One 11 1/2 oz. package milk chocolate morsels
6 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the chocolate morsels, butter and salt in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds. Stir. Heat for another 30 seconds. Stir again. The ingredients should be melted. If not, continue until thoroughly melted. Don't overcook.

Pour mixture into a mixing bowl. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and milk, alternately. Beat in the vanilla extract. The frosting should be smooth. If necessary, you can add a little more milk to thin the frosting so that you can easily work with it. Just be sure to beat thoroughly after the addition.

I turn the cake layers upside down to ice them. I don't know why but the underside always looks better to me. Select the best looking layer to be the top one.

Center the bottom layer on a cake plate. Frost the top. Add each layer and frost the top until all the layers are stacked. Then frost the top and sides of the cake. When you put a dollop of frosting on the top, don't backtrack until all the frosting is spread. This will help keep those pesky crumbs from wrecking havoc on your pretty cake.

This cake is wonderful for company or for a family of chocoholics.

Blueberry Muffins

If you haven't figured it out by now, I love blueberries. I use them a great deal in baking. That's especially true this time of year. Sadly, the crop is about to come to its end. But I've got lots in the freezer thanks to my very generous aunt!

I really prefer muffins I make at home from scratch. Some folks like those mixes (my mother is one of those) but they just don't taste the same to me. There's nothing like homemade that says special. You can serve these for breakfast (that would be me), a snack (that would also be me) or dessert (that would be my mother). They're pretty much welcome any time of the day.

Blueberry Muffins

1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup cooking oil
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons sugar

Lightly beat the egg with a fork. Add the milk and cooking oil, beating lightly with the fork. Set it aside.

Stir together the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the pan. Pour the egg mixture in. Stir only until moistened. The batter will be lumpy. Do NOT over mix.

Add the 2 tablespoons sugar to the blueberries. Stir. Fold the blueberry mixture into the batter. Again, only stir enough to thoroughly mix.

Put those little paper baking cups into the muffin pan. You can grease the pan and forgo the little cups. It's just that the little cups make the muffins easier to get out of the pan and make it easier to clean said pan. Also, they just look pretty.

This muffin mixture makes 12 to 18 muffins, depending on how much batter you put in each little cup. I tend to go for smaller muffins. Just spoon the mixture into the cups.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Because I use less batter per paper cup, it only takes my muffins 20 minutes to bake. They'll be lightly brown on top whem they're done.

Don't expect leftovers with these. It's difficult to eat only one, especially when they're just-from-the-oven warm.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay. Let's get a count of how many people love Chocolate Chip Cookies. Those who love them raise your hand. Now, those don't can raise your hand. That's what I thought. Everyone loves Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I've tried numerous recipes over the years. These include those on the chocolate chip packages and in special chocolate cookbooks. You probably have a few of those cookbooks devoted to everything chocolate.

Still, the best recipe ever in this one I'm about to share. Shhh...don't tell anyone.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 12-oz. package semisweet chocolate chips

Let the margarine or butter stand until room temperature. I use Blue Bonnet margarine. I also take the foil paper off, put it in a bowl and heat it in the microwave to soften it up. It takes less time that way.

Mix the margarine, shortening, brown sugar and granulated sugar together with your mixer. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating well.

In a separate bowl, stir the flour, baking soda and salt together. Remember to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off with the back side of a knife. Never scoop it into the measuring cup.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the creamy mixture. Blend well.

Stir the chocolate chips into that mixture.

Use a teaspoon to drop small amounts of the mixture on to an ungreased cookie sheet. Obviously, the amount you drop will determine the size of your cookies.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly brown on the bottom. The cookies won't be too brown on the top. Of course, you could cook them a little longer if you want. That makes a harder cookie. I like my chocolate chip cookies soft.

Remove the cookies from the cookie sheet and place them on a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy. Then hide the rest. Cookie monsters are everywhere.

Fried Okra

Fried okra is a staple around our house this time of year. Whenever any other crop fails, the okra seems to keep on going. One year the plants were taller than me (literally!) when they're usually only about two to three feet high. It made all summer and into the fall. We figured the first frost would be the end of the okra. Nope. We finally threatened my father to not bring any more okra in. We ate okra two meals a day for way too many months. Of course, our taste buds were primed and ready the next year when the okra crop started coming in.

I know some folks boil okra. Some use it in soups. In my world, which is Deep South, it is fried. You were surprised, right? You'll find it easy to do.

Fried Okra

okra
salt
all-purpose flour
cooking oil

Wash the okra. Cut off the ends. Then chop the okra pods into 1/4 inch-thick pieces.

Lightly salt the okra. Mix with just enough flour to coat the okra.

Heat a small amount of grease in a skillet. Of course, we use a cast iron skillet but I suppose any skillet will do. Use a medium to medium-high heat.

Place okra in the skillet, stir, then cover. Stir often. Cooking time varies depending on how much okra you have. Okra should be light brown and green, not burnt! If you're not sure what done okra looks like, just spoon out a little, let it cool and taste it. Then you'll know.

Place a paper towel on a platter. When the okra is done, spoon it onto the paper towel. That helps soak up some of the grease. The remainder of the grease goes into your mouth and directly onto your thighs. Just kidding!

See. That wasn't so hard. I guess it means you're now a Southern cook!

Cinnamon Bread

Once upon a time I cooked a lot. The kitchen belonged to me. I didn't have to share. I didn't need to work around anyone else's schedule. When I felt like cooking, I cooked.

One thing I loved to do was bake bread. I've spent many afternoons waiting for my dough to rise and pounding out my attitude on a poor piece of dough. But sometimes I did things the easy way. Cinnamon Bread is one of those easy recipes. You don't have to wait for dough to rise. It doesn't take hour upon hour to taste the finished results. It does, however, make your house smell wonderful. Cinnamon always does that.

Cinnamon Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice added
1/3 cup corn oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs

Combine all ingredients with an electric mixer. I always combine my dry ingredients and stir together before adding to everything else. When measuring the flour, be sure to lightly spoon it into a measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. So many people don't realize this and they use the scoop method. ie. They use the measuring cup to scoop the flour from it's container. That packs the flour in and causes you to use too much. Then the bread or cake or whatever is too dry and you can't figure out why. Now you know.

Beat all the ingredients together until fully mixed. You can substitute one cup of buttermilk for the milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice if you'd like. I just never have buttermilk in the house so I'm accustomed to using the substitute.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Streusel

2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons margarine or butter, melted

Stir all ingredients together. Pour over batter top. Take a small knife and gently swirl the streusel into the batter.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes, remembering that oven temperatures vary. In my oven it takes about 50 minutes. You'll know it's done when a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the bread from the pan as soon as you take it from the oven. Let it cool before slicing. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. I always reheat leftovers in the microwave because I like it just a little warm.

This bread is wonderful to freeze. I simply wrap it in plastic wrap and then put tin foil on top of that. Thaw in the refrigerator.

Baked Beans

It's almost the Fourth of July. Time for barbecues and lots of outdoor fun. That's what the ads say anyway. I'm fairly certain those folks don't live in the Deep South with temperatures near or exceeding 100 every day and lots and lots of humidity. Air conditioning is a wonderful thing.

Still, I couldn't wait to share this Baked Bean recipe with you. My mother uses it to dress up a can of beans. Better make extra!

Baked Beans

1 can baked beans
3 tablespoons brown sugar
onion, finely chopped
sweet pickles, finely chopped
3 tablespoons syrup

Mix all ingredients together. Don't forget this is the South so we all cook according to our individual tastes. Mother really likes onions so she adds a little more than I do. Suit your own taste. Sweet pickles around here are homemade but you can buy them already chopped and in a jar at the supermarket. The syrup is just basic pancake syrup. Nothing fancy.

Place in a rectangle pyrex dish (or something similar) and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Serve.