My Mother's Southern Desserts : More Than 180 Treasured Family Recipes for Holiday and Everyday Celebration - Hardcover

Villas, James; Gottlieb, Dennis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688156959 ISBN 13: 9780688156954

Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks, 1998

Synopsis

This charming cookbook, complemented by full-color photographs, offers more than two hundred dessert recipes to suit any occasion, including Trump Toffee Cookies, Caramel Chewies, Coconut Igloos, and Blueberry Flummery.

About this title

Review:

"I know we eat too many sweets in the South, but that's part of our tradition, and if I couldn't find reasons to celebrate with a beautiful cake, mousse or fruit crisp, I'd invent excuses." So says Martha Pearl Villas, whose classic sweets and down-home cooking savvy are the subject of My Mother's Southern Desserts. Written by her son James Villas, cookbook author and food and wine editor of Town & Country magazine, the book presents nearly 200 straightforward recipes for mouthwatering goodies. Cooks on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line will be tempted by this accessible collection, as will aficionados of Southern culinary culture.

Organized by holidays and other typical Southern occasions, such as bridge luncheons and charity socials, the recipes include luscious cakes and pies; muffins, fruit desserts, and ice creams; brownies; and confections. Among these are Satan Chocolate Pound Cake with Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting, Secession Brown Betty, Real McCoy Southern Pecan Pie, Essie's Apple Dumplings and Butter Walnut Turtle Bars, to name only a few of Martha Pearl's original and heirloom "receipts." Accompanied by color photos, tips for success, and James Villas's notes on the special context of every dish, the recipes celebrate a vivid cooking heritage and a feisty but endearing master of its art. --Arthur Boehm

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

MAPLE CHOCOLATE MERINGUE FLUFFS

If ever Mother learned a good way to use up leftover egg whites to delectable advantage, it was when we had dinner at the house of a food obsessed friend, Lowell Judson, and noticed how he'd transformed a bowl of whites into these chewy meringues to be placed in small plastic bags and given to guests to take home, Mother now makes the confections not only for friendship gifts but also, of course, for her cocktail parties. I love the fluffs so much that I freeze extra egg whites till I have enough to make a big batch. They do harden very quickly, so be sure to store them in airtight containers.

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 tablespoon pure maple extract

1/2 cup semisweet choclate chips

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the surgar, egg whites, and cream of tartar and beat with an electric mixer till stiff peaks form. Add the extract and beat till well blended. Fold in the chocolate chips, then drop the meringue by the teaspoon about 1 inch apart onto the prepared baking sheet and bake till just soft and slightly golden, about 45 minutes. Let the fluffs cool, then transfer them with a spartula to a serving plate.

Yield: About 15 fluffs

Sweet Note: I never make any type of meringue on a rainy or cloudy day since they won't firm up prperlu beacuse of the humidity.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0688156959
• ISBN 13: 9780688156954
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272