photo by Beth Liebetrau
Friends! We hinted at it last week with our baby food jar bud vases but the big new is that wrote an article about hosting a Sip & See party for PaulaDeen.com! We are just thrilled to be talking Southern traditions on the same site as the Queen of Southern cooking. Check the story here and please leave us a comments (so Paula knows you stopped by).
Have you been to a Sip & See? Have you ever hosted one? We want all the details.
xo,
Lydia & Sarah
It started with the biscuits. I got to thinking about Paula Deen yesterday and possibly eating biscuits with her down in Savannah and realized I’ve never made her biscuits. They take all of 12 minutes, including mixing time, and are luscious straight from the pan. Better with butter although they are sweet enough to not need honey.
And they are incredible with fresh lobster meat and peach salsa.
Which is how I ate them yesterday. Not exactly the lobster roll of my youth. My mom and I had something similar at a restaurant the first week I lived in New York. The restaurant is gone and the name escapes me but the meal had me dreaming of throwing a backyard dinner party and serving all my friends lobsters rolls on biscuits with fresh fruit salsa and grilled corn on the cob. In fact, I said I wanted to do that for my wedding. That and get away with the tomato-red lipstick the pretty hostess wore that night. This was a decade before Jenna Lyons took over J. Crew and brought back the casual red lip and I was starstruck by this golden girl.
An inspiring night.
Fresh Peach Salsa
Makes 3 cups
Ingredients
4 ripe peaches, peeled and chopped into small dice
2 jalepenos, seeded and chopped into small dice
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, cut into halves or quarters
1/4 cup chopped red onion
juice of 1 lemon
1 small handful cilantro, chopped
1 small handful fresh mint, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
Combine all ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let macerate at least ten minutes and up to an hour before enjoying with fish, chicken or biscuits and fresh lobster meat.
xoxo sl
Forsyth Park, Savannah GA
We’re going to assume you’d love the chance to visit Savannah. We’re going to also assume you’d love to meet Paula Deen. (Have you seen her Chefography? Because that warm-eyed woman is made entirely of steel, charm and a little sweet cream).
Which leaves us with one question. Do you love ham? Smithfield Country Ham in particular? Because professing your love for Smithfield Ham in 25 words or less might win you a trip for two to romantic Savannah where you’ll break biscuits with the beautiful Butter Queen herself, Ms. Paula Deen.
Luckily, Smithfield ham is incredibly delicious. The only problem might be limiting yourself to 25 words.
Here’s the prize package:
A trip for winner and one guest to Savannah, GA in October 2011 (dates TBD with Paula Deen); including round-trip coach class air transportation, two night hotel stay, Paula Deen Tour of Savannah, Lunch at The Lady Sons, Dinner at Uncle Bubba’s Restaurant and transportation, additional meals for two days.
In short, you’ll escape to a romantic southern city in October, dine at the most popular restaurants there, possibly peek at those handsome Deen sons and brunch with the Lady herself.
We thought you should know about this one.
Can’t you just hear her lady roar of laughter? It’ll be like meeting a fairy godmother: you’ll feel wittier and prettier in her presence even as she blows you away with all she’s done. That’s how I picture it.
If you need any more persuading, just read Grace’s City Guide. Savannah is her favorite city in the world.
The giveaway ends Friday, so starting thinking about country ham today. We love it the traditional way – with biscuits – as Lydia featured here.
Enter to win HERE.
xoxosl
I grew up thinking sugar cookies were the poor man’s version of molasses cookies. Both sparkle with baked-in sugar, but sugar cookies pale, literally, in comparison to the gingery brown sugar and molasses bite of my grandmother’s holiday cookie.
When my grandmother passed away thirteen years ago, we discovered that she had not one but upwards of 8 different recipes for our favorite cookies in her recipe box, all titled “molasses cookie”.
True, they had been puffy and soft at times and crisp and chewy at others, but they had always been fantastically spicy and warm so it never occurred to us that there wasn’t one definitive recipe.
I had copied down one version last time I was home and discovered that it was missing the teaspoon amount for ground ginger. Comparing it to similar recipes online, I discovered that Paula Deen had the exact same recipe (with the specified 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger).
I was stumped.
The Food Network didn’t exist during my grandmother’s time.
Really, it was a lovely discovery. Clearly this recipe has withstood time and tasting enough to make its way into the permanent collections of one woman baking in Cleveland, Ohio and another baking 20 years later in Savannah, Georgia. Part of me would love to know its source—was it a woman’s magazine, a classic cookbook, a bake-sale favorite?— but I’m not putting too much effort into it.
It’s a family recipe.
One with a delicate crunch and velvety brown-spiced middles.
xoxosl
P.S. Don’t forget to enter our giveway! Comment close at midnight Friday.
Molasses Crinkles
Ingredients
Granulated sugar, for rolling the cookies
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup molasses (unsulfured)
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup chopped crystallized ginger
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 sheet trays with parchment paper. Pour about 1 cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl for rolling the cookies before baking.
2. Sift the next 7 ingredients (flour through salt) together in a large bowl. Stir until the spices are evenly distributed throughout the flour.
3. In another large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the brown sugar, oil and molasses until well combined, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and continue mixing on low speed until combined, about 1 minute more. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed with a rubber spatuala. Continue mixing and slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing until completely combined. Mix in the crystallized ginger. The dough will still be very sticky.
4. Using a mini ice cream scoop, add dough to the bowl of granulated sugar one scoop at a time. Use your fingers to roll the ball in the sugar until covered then place on the prepared baking sheet, pressing lightly on the top of the ball with two fingers to flatten the cookie. Repeat with remaining dough, adding more granulated sugar to the bowl as needed.
5. Bake until the crinkles are just hard and crinkly on the outside but still soft and cakey on the inside, almost not done enough, 7 minutes only. They will harden considerably as they cool. Let cool for a few minutes in the pan then transfer to a cooling rack until completely cool to the touch. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Yield: about 36 cookies