Week 14: Cocoa and Cinnamon Rolls

Welcome back friends. Last week I dedicated my recipe to my grandma Tankersley. This week I am dedicating the recipe to my grandma Hogg and my mom Linda. I was searching for a recipe to make this week and just couldn't find that perfect one. A good friend said she had enjoyed the recipes that I shared from childhood because it made her think about that special time in her life too. The first thing that came to my mind was the cocoa and cinnamon rolls my mom use to make when I was little. So I called and ask her if she would share the recipe with me and tell me a little bit about how she came to make it with her mom (my grandma). This is what she wrote:
Hi Angie A long time ago when I was at home we always just made a
biscuit recipe out of plain flour and rolled it out and put either cinnamon or
cocoa and butter and we rolled the dough out like pie crust and cut it so we
had the cinnamon rolls in a long roll kinda like a breakfast burrito. I think
then later i used to make up that yeast biscuit recipe and it worked good. If you make the rolls in this
shape it holds the cocoa in the roll better. I used to make them when we made
cards long ago and Bob Tankersley loved them. When i make cinnamon rolls now i use
the roll recipe that i always make for holidays. But the old one is good
and the way mom always made them when i was a kid. She taught me to make them
when i was about nine years old and Rosey and i always made them and then we
would play either cards, jacks, or dominoes til wee hrs in the morning. We
didn't have t.v. back then. Love Mom
I made them both ways. The yeast biscuit dough can be kept in the refrigerator several days and you can take as much out as you like and either make biscuits or make these yummy sweet rolls. You can also use just about any homemade biscuit dough. Just roll it out like a pie crust, spread a lot of soft butter over the entire thing, sprinkle it with either cocoa or cinnamon and then sugar. Cut it into 3 or 4 inch squares. Roll it up and place in a greased pan and bake them about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. We didn't play the games tonight. Modern technology you know, but I really do believe I am going to try to set aside one night a month to make these and have the family play cards or a board game. Hope you and your family enjoy this recipe. I'm so thankful and blessed to have a mom and two grandmothers that loved to cook. If you have favorite foods your mom or grandmother made try to find the recipe if you don't have it and work on making it. It's good for the soul. Until next week, God Bless!

Week 13: Good Gravy

I think I would serve gravy at a coffee shop for breakfast. Peppered milk gravy with sausage over biscuits is a real treat. I have another interesting gravy that as a child I remember my grandma making. It is also served with biscuits. Chocolate gravy was something I only ever had at my grandma's house and we grand kids were so excited when we would spend the night and wake up the next morning with a plate full of homemade biscuits and a bowl of chocolate gravy. Both are similar in the making. Chocolate gravy has 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 1/2 cups milk, 2 tablespoons flour, and 3 tablespoons Hershey's cocoa. Mix all the dry ingredients in a heavy saucepan with a whisk. Stir in the milk. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly. Remove pot when mixture is thick like pudding. Add the butter. Stir in until completely melted. Serve over hot biscuits with a dollop of butter. I'll share the peppered gravy at the end when I complete them all and put them in my cookbook. Hope you enjoy! Yum Yum!!!

Week 12: Volcano Cake

Hello friends. Well, my daughter is still here on her winter break and so she helped with this week. She made 'Volcano Cake'. It tasted like a huge almond joy candy bar. If you like coconut, cream cheese and chocolate and nuts you will love this recipe. Done in three layers, this starts out with several almond joy candy bars chopped, coconut and chopped pecans followed by a rich chocolate cake batter and then mounds of a mixture made with cream cheese all over the top. Once it bakes it looks like a bunch of craters or volcanic ash. Very moist and it actually wasn't as sweet as I thought it would be. Just right.

Week 11: Happy New Year!

Well, I totally missed the last week of December. I guess I will just have to go an additional week. There was much talk this past week the many things people do or eat on New Years Day to bring them good luck. At my house growing up we had black eyed peas and hog's jowl. I thought that I would just make that. I think it would be neat to serve some good luck dishes that would make people have a little more hope for the new year. I doctor my black eyes peas up a bit. Start out by putting a package of dry beans in a stock pot and add about 7 cups of water. Bring this to a boil, cover and let sit for an hour. Drain off the water. In the pot put a few tablespoons of oil and saute a large onion chopped and some celery chopped. Add the beans and a few pinches of salt and some coarse ground pepper. Sometimes I add a little oregano and a few dashes of hot sauce. Cover the beans with water and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low and simmer until done, about one hour. We like to serve this in a bowl with about 1/4 cup of rice. To fix the hog's jowl cut off the hard part and then slice as you would bacon. I use around a 10 inch skillet. Lay the pieces down and lay a cast iron press on top so they won't curl up and you have even cooking. Drain on paper towels. This is a great meal even if it doesn't bring you good luck but isn't it worth trying just in case? Happy New Year to all of you. I'm looking forward to sharing some great recipes with you this year.

Week 10: Christmas Goodies

It's December and we are getting closer and closer to Christmas. Growing up my grandma and my mom would usually start baking the 2nd week of December. At grandma's house she would always have fudge, divinity and peanut brittle. She has children and grandchildren scattered throughout the United States and that was her gift to them. She would fill the shoe boxes with candies and wrap them in pretty paper and then in a brown paper bag. She also loved the cut out sugar cookies. My daughter came home on December 10th from college. We spent hours in the kitchen the whole week baking all sorts of things. Here is a list of them: chocolate fudge, peppermint fudge, peanut butter fudge, cream cheese cookies, peanut brittle, coconut snowball cookies, cranberry almond biscotti, and raspberry gumdrops. All were amazingly good. Just spending time with my daughter was such a blessing. My son contributed some, mostly taste testing. Hey, it is an important job. Hope you are enjoying time in the kitchen this holiday season, maybe with someone you love. Memories like that are to be cherished a lifetime.

Week 9: Cranberry Eggnog Cornbread Scones

I almost made it through this week without baking. So much baking for Thanksgiving, I didn't even know what sounded good and I have plans for lots of Christmas goodies the next few weeks. I wanted something that was right for the season yet not so sweet and great with coffee or tea. Scones were perfect. I searched many recipes until I found this one. Eggnog and craisons, and a hint of nutmeg to bring out the eggnog flavor. Great with tea or coffee. This is a great recipe and very easy. Smells great baking. You need to serve this one warm or at room temperature. You could put a glaze on after it cools a bit or sprinkle some crystallized sugar before it bakes. Substitute eggnog for the milk in the glaze recipe. It really compliments the eggnog in the scones. Hope you enjoy this one. I know my family did. I might even make some for gifts. Enjoy!

Week 8: White Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake

Happy Holidays my friends! I love this season. So many memories about food during this time of year. I think I already told you how wonderful my grandmothers were in the kitchen. I miss them so much. I decided after my one grandmother died, we would make everything she always made and also try out a new recipe or two. Well, Katlyn learned how to make my grandmother's famous chicken n dumplings. They were amazing. Everyone loved them and I know grandma was smiling down from heaven. I let her make the recipe this week since she was home. She chose White Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake. It was so good. The crust was made with crushed ginger snap cookies and the filling was made with pumpkin, spices, sugar, and some yummy white chocolate. This has to be one of my favorites so far. I'm so proud of my daughter for her love for cooking. She is a real joy in my life. I know this will be one a many great cooking experiences for the two of us. Wow, it's already week 9 and I am only now writing week 8. Guess I better get busy.