Another recipe....but a great one!

1983 - Jacques and Suzanne: Memories (and a recipe!) from the legendary Little Rock restaurant.
http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/1983-jacques-and-suzanne/Content?oid=964945
Here's another great recipe from a grand old restaurant.  I've made this so many times and it is without a doubt the BEST Pound Cake I've ever tasted! 

Lemon Pound Cake
1/2 cup finely crumbled sugar cookies
3 cups all purpose flour
2 t baking powder1/2 t salt
1/2 pound REAL butter
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 cup whole milk
2 T fresh lemon zest
few drops lemon extract
GLAZE
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Butter a 9 inch tube pan and coat with cookie crumbs.
Sift dry ingredients together.  Beat buttter and sugar until creamy.
Add eggs - one at a time, beating after each addition.
Mix in dry ingredients alternately with milk.  Stir in lemon zest and extract.
Turn batter in to prepared pan.  Smooth top.

Bake 1 hour 15 minutes or until cake tests done.  Cool 5 minutes in pan, loosen sides and invert on a cake rack to remove.  Turn cake so the top of the cake is on top!
Immediately glaze cake by bringing lemon juice and sugar to a boil.

Tres Leches Cake

It has been months since I have updated my Blog.  So much has changed with Blogger that I'm not even sure what I'm doing anymore!  I wanted to post a new receipe that is just amazing!  My sons LOVE this cake and so do I.  If you have ever tried it in a Mexican restaurant...you'll know why.  This is the best recipe EVER for Tres Leches!  Go ahead and put on those stretchy waist pants.....

Three Milk Cake (Pastel de Tres Leches)
Adapted from an old recipe in the Houston Chronicle.           Martha Helton

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour                                           ½ cup whole milk                            

2 teaspoons baking powder                                        Three-Milk Topping (recipe follows)

4 eggs – separated                                                        Whipped Cream Topping (recipe follows)

1 ½ cups sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 13 X9X2 inch baking pan.  Sift flour with baking powder.  In large bowl with clean beaters, beat egg whites until fluffy.  Add sugar gradually, beating to form stiff peaks.  Add yolks, one at a time.  Fold in flour mixture and milk; mix well, but don’t beat.

Pour batter in to prepared pan and bake until edges are golden brown, about 30 – 35 minutes.  Remove from oven; let cool on rack.  Prepare Three-Milk Topping.  Pour Topping over cake and let sit until all mixture is absorbed, 20 to 30 minutes.

Prepare Whipped Cream Topping and refrigerate.  Before serving, cover top and sides of cake with Whipped Cream Topping.  Cut cake into squares and serve, or spread Whipped Cream Topping over squares of cake…Garnish with fresh berries.

Three- Milk Topping

1 12 oz. can evaporated milk                                      1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sweetened condensed milk                              1 tablespoon light rum

1 cup whipping cream

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk until well mixed.   Keep in refrigerator until cake is baked and then pour over top of cooled cake.

Whipped Cream Topping

2 cups whipping cream

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon almond extract

Chill cream, bowl and beaters thoroughly.  Beat cream until it begins to thicken.  Gradually add sugar and extract and beat until stiff peaks form.

Apricot Fried Pies

Fried pies is a Southern tradition that is one of my favorite!  That flaky crust - the not too sweet filling - cooked perfectly...so not too greasy is an art.  I've combined recipes/methods from my Grandmother, my Mother and my Mother-in-Law to come up with a good one.  Hope you will try it and enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt
1 cup Crisco shortening
1 cup milk (whole or 2%)
14 oz.dried apricots
3/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

peanut oil for frying

Directions:
Filling:  Cook apricots and sugar in a medium saucepan.  They wil expand when cooked!  Add enough water to cover the fruit and cook over low heat until the fruit is tender and falling apart.  When done, add cinnamon and mash fruit with a fork. Continue to cook until thick and all water is absorbed.
At this point you may chill the fruit and finish the pies another day.  It actually cooks better when the fruit is cool.
Crust:  In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt.  Cut in shortening with a pastry knife until it is crumbly and resembles coarse meal.  Mix in the milk and stir (I use my hands) until dough forms a ball.  Divide dough into two equal parts, then four, then six.....on until you have 16 balls of dough.  Roll each ball into a 6 inch circle...I use a 6 inch saucer to "cut" the circle.  Go ahead and cut all the circles before you start the cooking process. 

Preparing:  Place less than 1/4 cup of filling in the center of each pie.  Fold over and seal edges with a fork that you dip in water.  Only prepare two at a time!  You don't want them  to sit with the filling in them before they are cooked...the pastry will get wet.

Cooking: Using a 9 inch skillet, add 1/2 to 3/4 inch of oil and heat on medium-high.....just until oil is hot, but not smoking!  Place pies - two at a time in the hot oil.  You may need to turn the heat down to medium.  Fry until brown on one side, then flip.   It doesn't take long,   Remove and place on paper towels to absorb the oil.  Stack pies and continue until all is cooked.  I always completely change the oil after cooking 6 pies and wipe out the skillet with paper towels to prevent burned oil.

Camping in Texas!



The entrance to Possum Kingdom...lots of fire damage everwhere

Will wanted us all to go on a camping trip in Texas...so off we went to Possum Kingdom Lake State Park.  Bernadette had tried to find a lake with cabins that would hold all 8 of us, but nothing was available in the entire state of Texas!  She found this and we all agreed to give it a try.  Yes, we were well aware that just a month before our visit, there had been four wildfires around and south of Possum Kingdom Reservoir that had burned about 150,000 acres and destroyed at least 149 homes.  The Park assured us that the toilets were now working and the cabins were fine.....you may smell a little smoke, but everything is OK....oh...and you have to bring all the water you will use...the water there is non potable! 
We loaded up and headed west...Michael and Sarah joined us on Sunday evening for an overnight and day visit.  What a great time of reconnecting we had!  It was HOT, the cabin was.....well...not the Ritz, but we could not have been happier!
As you can see by our pictures - we played, we ate, we boated, we ate smores, we all bunked in together, and we had a great time. 
This may just become an annual HeltonTexas event!



 

Sweet Jimmy....he was HOT!

So many beautiful homes on the Lake!  Several were burned.

Jimmy the fish

tired little boy

Will being Will!  He rode the tube the longest!

Jimmy passed out!

Nap time for Will after the morning on the boat

Popcicles

Boo Boo......Jimmy fell out of his chair onto the gravel  :(

Jaxon and Jimmy loved watching this crane catch fish!

My Guys!

Bern chilaxin!

Jimmy (not even 2 at the time) leaps off the boat into the lake.....many, many times....fearless!  AKA  Jimmy the Fish!