PawPaw's Sweet Potatoes

When it comes to making sweet potatoes (candied yams) PawPaw runs the kitchen.  Now Granny knows all of his secrets, but it's just not the same when we KNOW she did it instead of him.  Recently, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time (that place being Granny & Paw's house and that time being when PawPaw was just getting started making his sweet potatoes).
I borrowed my mom's camera and stepped in the kitchen to take a few notes. 

PawPaw adds in one of his secret ingredients.  Know what it is?

 After baking the 2-3 medium sized yams for an hour and letting them cool off just a bit PawPaw makes syrupy concoction consisting of maple syrup, sugar, butter, and lemon & orange juices.  He simmers the mixture over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.  After slicing up the yams, pour the syrup mixture over them.  Bake the yams in 350° oven for about 30 minutes.

2-3 medium yams (baked)

1 ½ c. sugar

1/4 c. maple syrup
2T butter
2 T orange juice
1 T lemon juice

Team these up with Granny's Fried Chicken and Mac & Cheese and you've got yourself one fine meal.  Or if you're like one of PawPaw's regulars the sweet potatoes are all you'll need.

Enjoy and leave a comment below!
-Camille

Nothing bundt ICE

Usually when I get the snow day phone call from my school district I'm giddy with excitement.  That was the case this past Sunday...and Monday...and Tuesday and then the greatest phone call of them all came! The pre-recorded voice informed me that schools would be closed for the rest of the week! WOOHOO!!!!
Soooo, since I've been iced in for 5 days now my entertainment has been looking out the window as my neighbors try [and fail] to get up our nothing-but-ice- hill, finding pinteresting recipes with Granny (on the phone) and cooking up a few treats. 
Today after watching 3 neighbors try to spin their way up the nothing-but-ice-hill, I decided to try Mix and Match Mama's Bundt Cake #79, also know as Sticky Toffee Bundt Cake.  Head over to her site for the recipe.

Obviously I decided to go with "nothing bundt cake" style of icing instead of the glaze Mix & Match Mama uses on her cake.  I'm definitely going to need a few more tutorials on that icing.Yikes!

This cake isn't going to be on any of my favorite lists, but I'm sure it's going to make a great breakfast, lunch and dinner over the next couple of days until I can finally get over the nothing-but-melted-ice-hill!

PawPaw's Hershey's Cake

My goal for 2015 is to blog approximately 12 times more than I did in 2014.  I've been a terrible blogger this year.

But a little visit from Santa and perhaps a little chocolate motivation from my PawPaw may have provided the inspiration I needed to get back in my Granny's kitchen. ... and my own for that matter.
This time I'm sharing one of PawPaw's signature dishes, Hershey Cake.

 Only he makes it and he knows we look forward to it every Christmas.  He makes this famous (at least it's famous in our family) Hershey Cake only once a year, twice if we're lucky.  So when I sat down at the table to play with my new Canon toy and this cake happened to be sitting right in front of me. I knew it was time to blog again. I might even dare to say it was fate. 

I've learned that PawPaw has been making Hershey Cake for over 50 years. My mom recently shared with me that each year on Christmas Eve when she and her siblings were eager to get to bed so Santa could come, PawPaw would always need to stay up to make his Hershey Cake.


Hershey Bar Cake
8 -1.55oz Hershey bars

5½ oz Hershey's Syrup
2 c sugar

2 sticks butter
4 eggs
2½ c cake flour, sifted
1 c buttermilk

½ tsp. baking soda
1 c pecans, chopped (optional)

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350° . Grease and flour  a bundt or tube pan (Pawpaw uses a tube pan). Melt chocolate bars with Hershey's Syrup in a double broiler and set aside to cool. Cream sugar and butter adding eggs 1 at a time.  Combine milk and soda. Alternately add milk and flour. When combined add chocolate, nuts and vanilla. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.