Sugar Pie and Jelly Roll

Summary

Raised on a farm in North Carolina, Robbin Gourley started baking as a child the day she got her first toy oven. She's been producing beautiful paintings for almost as long. Her newest cookbook is a perfect combination of all of Gourley's talents, bringing together over sixty of her classic Southern dessert recipes (ranging from Chocolate Chess Pie to Syllabub), and over seventy-five of her delicate watercolors. Taking us back through reminiscences of her youth, Gourley shares how sweets wound their way through her childhood and family: the Raspberry Summer Pudding that her mother made with their freshly picked berries, the Pumpkin Chiffon Pie her uncle couldn't resist, and the Sugar-Crust Pound Cake that became her father's favorite. Divided into sections, the cookbook features easy-to-follow recipes for Pies, Crisps, and Crumbles; Puddings and Custards; Candy, Cookies and Bars; Favorite Cakes;Chilled and Spirited Desserts; Embellishments and Sauces. Just the thing to round out the meal, Sugar Pie and Jelly Roll makes creating desserts as much fun as helping them disappear.

Author Biography

Robbin Gourley is the author of Cakewalk, a collection of cake recipes. Her illustrations have appeared in the New York Times, Victoria magazine, and in numerous books. Born in North Carolina, where her grandmother taught her to bake, she lives with her husband and children in New York

Baking Tips

vii

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Pies, Crisps & Crumbles

(28)

Puddings & Custards

(18)

Candy

(18)

Cookies & Bars

(14)

Favorite Cakes

(22)

Chilled & Spirited Desserts

101

(14)

Embellishments

115

(6)

Index

121

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

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The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Excerpts

Introduction

Southerners have made sugar their business since Colonial times. But that only partially explains why my relatives consider themselves experts when it comes to dessert. Our ancestors had big farm kitchens, stations for more than one cook or baker, and many hungry mouths to feed. Dessert had always been an essential part of every meal; a pleasurable awakening for the palate after a heartening repast. Dessert satisfied the soul after bolstering the body and helped to supply the needed calories to carry on the hard work in the fields. It even made the afternoon's work look brighter.

In the land of Dixie, personalities can be downright sugary. The favorite nickname in my family is "sug," but others include "honey," "sweet pea," "toots" (pronounced tuutz), and "cookie." I like to think that words are drawled just because they sound sweeter. And in my family, a person's attachment to a certain sweet is a part of them like the way they wear their hat or overuse their favorite expression. My grandfather always had a hankering for cherry pudding; my mother adores all things chocolate. My sister Pam prefers lemon anything, while for my father, it's maple pecan. Uncle L.A., the beekeeper, loves persimmon pudding, and Aunt Sue always has a batch of nut candy on hand.

Where I come from, dessert is not only served after dinner. It can be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I remember at one opulent family feast Aunt Bett pronouncing, "Tonight, I'm having dessert first."

And on a long-ago snowy December morning, after rising at daybreak and trudging through the woods to find the perfect Christmas tree and carrying it back home, my Dad and I helped ourselves to a very large slice of homemade Christmas Orange Cake for breakfast. We were happy all day.

I have seen desserts similar to my Southern favorites in the cases of fancy bakeries in New York. These smart marketers know that a good idea never grows old, it just needs repackaging. Their presentations are lavish: a round chocolate torte embellished with a fleur-de-lis of confectioners' sugar looks just like my warm chocolate cake dusted with sugar through a child's handmade snowflake pattern. The tea cakes wrapped in transparent paper and tied with hemp in Monsieur Bouley's patisserie are the same as my Lemon Kisses wrapped and tied with a handsome ribbon snipped from my kitchen drawer. I challenge even Mr. DeLuca to compare Muzz's Lemon Chess Pie to his Tarte Citron!

These tried and improved-upon recipes are from the honorable tradition of Southern baking, which borrows liberally from African, English, and French cookery. My hope is that these desserts will make happy memories in some other lives as well. A thoughtfully prepared and beautifully presented dessert brings a group together like bees to honey.

*****

Chocolate Chess Pie

Redolent of winter gatherings. When more than one kind of dessert is offered, this pie pleases the chocolate lovers.

8 servings

* ½ cup butter

* Two 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate

* 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

* ½ cup sugar

* 2 eggs, slightly beaten

* 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour

* 1 tablespoon milk

* 1 teaspoon vanilla

* One 9-inch unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Melt butter and chocolate in small saucepan over low heat. In a medium bowl, combine sugars, eggs, flour, milk, and vanilla, stirring well. Gradually add chocolate mixture, stirring constantly. Pour into pie shell and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool slightly before eating, or serve warm with whipped cream or Aunt Leec

Excerpt

At age five, I received a diminutive tin refrigerator, a tiny electric stove that really baked, and miniature baking sheets and muffin tins from Santa Claus. Packaged mixes that needed only water and a stir were arranged beside my small kitchen. My obsession with desserts began that Southern Christmas day, and I had not a particle of doubt about it.