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Welcome to my Blog 'In The Kitchen With Don'! Thank you for your visit and come back soon!


Monday, September 5, 2011

Swedish Tea Log

This is something my mom used to make at holiday time and everyone loved it.   It is kinda like a danish pastry ring, but easier to make as you don't have all the folding and re-folding, with chilling between times.    It is very tender and buttery and utterly delicious.   Be sure to use real butter when making this, as margarine just won't cut it.   I have no idea where Mama got this recipe, I'm just happy that she did!

1 pkg. dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 1/4 cups flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold butter, sliced
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 egg

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside.   Combine the flour, sugar and salt, then cut in the slices of butter.   You want there to be pea sized chunks.   Add the milk, egg and yeast.   Mix well, then cover and chill for 2 hours.   Divide the dough into three parts.   Roll out each part on a floured board into an rectangle about a foot long.   Spread a mixture of 1/2 cup softened butter and 1/2 sugar, then sprinkle heavily with chopped almonds.   Roll up tightly and place the roll on a buttered cookie sheet.   Repeat with other two pieces of dough.   Allow to rise about 45 minutes, then bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.   Remove from cookie sheet to rack to cool.   While still slightly warm, make a glaze with:
2 tbsp. browned butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
milk as needed
Beat the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla together, adding milk until you have a slightly pourable glaze.  Drizzle over the warm logs.   Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Enjoy!!!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Applesauce Pie

I have been on an applesauce kick lately.   It started when I went through a bout of diverticulitis and didn't much like eating anything too substantial.   So I ate applesauce and more applesauce.   The more I ate of it, the better it tasted.   So when I got to feeling better I made applesauce cakes.   The folks at work loved them.   But this weekend I wanted to try something different and thought about making an applesauce pie.   I did several searches and came up with tons of recipes....some sounded good, others not so good.   I combined some of the features I liked best from several different places and came up with one of my own that was very simple and very tasty.   Here is what I ended up with:

1 1/2 cups applesauce
3 tbsp. flour
1/4 cup melted butter, for a richer flavor you could slightly brown the butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 tsp. cinnamon (or apple pie spice)
1 9-inch unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Beat together all of the ingredients until smooth and pour into the pie shell.   Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the pie is set and knife inserted into the center comes out clean.   Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.   Store pie in fridge.   Enjoy!

You could vary the spices according to what you happen to like best.   For something like this, however, my personal preference is keeping it the simpler the better.

Southern Style Green Beans

As I've said before, I come from a long line of country folks.   My family has been in southeast Missouri since the early 1800's.   My Grandma Casey was an awesome cook.   She did all kinds of those good ole southern foods...fried chicken, fried peach pies, chicken and dumplings, cornbread and biscuits.   Everything she did was good.  Vegetables were generally simmered for a long time and flavored with bacon fat or lots of butter.   One thing that was especially good were her green beans and new potatoes.  She would simmer fresh green beans for an hour or so, flavoring them with some bacon and onion, then adding halved and peeled new potatoes.   When done the potatoes would be very tender and the the green beans would be very wilted, soft and melt in your mouth.   They are very delicious too.   Now I rarely cook green beans like this, usually just steaming them until barely tender, but every so often I get a craving for Grandma's green beans.    This is how I make them.


a couple pounds of green beans, either fresh or frozen.   if fresh, stem and tail them, then break into pieces and wash well

2-3 slices of bacon, chopped (optional)
or 1 tbsp. bacon fat or olive oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced
6-8 medium sized new potatoes, peeled or well scrubbed, then halved or quartered

Heat a dutch oven over medium heat and add the chopped bacon if using.   Fry until crispy, then remove.   In the bacon fat or olive oil fry the onion until it is soft and beginning to brown.   Add the green beans and potatoes with enough water to barely come to the top of the vegetables.   Simmer over low heat about an hour or until the potatoes are tender and the green beans are limp and starting to fall apart.   Allow to nearly cook dry, but take care that they don't burn.   You may need to add small amounts of water.    Make a big pan of corn bread and enjoy!