I took a Southern Cooking class a few weeks back and we made a bunch of different southern treats.  The class allows you to participate in preparation, cooking, baking, clean up and eating. It's sort of a soup to nuts deal. A few hours with great friends and awesome food.  During the class we made Fried Chicken, Biscuits, Collard Greens, Cornbread, Pineapple Upside Cake, Ribs and Fried Pickles.  The fried pickles hit the spot as we put together our meal. This recipe comes together pretty quick and the frying takes just a few minutes.  These taste best served warm but I did keep some aside and put them in the fridge then rewarmed them the next day and they tasted just as delish. Don't forget the ranch dressing. It's a must!


Fried Pickles
Recipe Adapted from the BCAE class Southern Cooking for a Northern Home


Dry Mix
2 C. Flour
1/3 C. Cornmeal
1 1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Black Pepper
2 Tbsp. Baking Powder


1 24oz. Jar of Dill Pickles (Spears or Chips)
1 Tsp. Garlic Powder
1 Tsp. Onion Powder
1/2 C. Louisiana Hot Sauce
1/2 C. Buttermilk


Oil
Ranch Dressing for Dipping
Smoked Paprika (Optional)


Drain the juice from the pickle jar and refill the jar with the garlic and onion powders, hot sauce and buttermilk.  Seal up the jar, shake around and marinate for at least 30 min in the refrigerator.


In a deep frying pan over medium, heat the oil to 350 degrees.  


In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, pepper and baking powder


Remove the pickles from the buttermilk/hotsauce.  Add the pickles into the dry mix, toss and coat thoroughly. Shake off the excess mix by tossing lightly in a strainer.  Drop the pickles into the heated oil and cook in batches between 3-5 minutes or until golden brown on each side. 


When the pickles are golden brown remove from the oil and with a slotted spoon or kitchen tongs place on a paper towel or on a cookie rack to drain excess oil.


Serve while warm with a bowl of ranch dressing for dipping. Want a little smoky flavor? Add a sprinkle of smoked paprika to the ranch dressing and dig in!

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Let's celebrate with some Baileys and some brownies. How about both?


This recipe is quick and easy. Grab a box of brownies from the supermarket, whip up some simple Baileys Buttercream and top it all off with some more chocolate.


These were yummy. I tried one, for quality control of course, then gave out the rest to friends and family. I couldn't keep them in the house I would have eaten them all!


For consumption by age appropriate leprechauns of course!


Baileys Butter cream Brownies


1 Box of Fudge Brownies 


Baileys Buttercream
2 1/2 C. Confectionery Sugar
4 Tbsp. Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 Stick of Butter, softened


8 oz. Milk Chocolate (melting discs)
6 oz. Butter


Preheat oven to 350. Prepare Brownies according to box directions, cook and let cool. For easy removal from the 9X9 pan I used  some parchment paper to lift the brownies directly from the pan.


While the brownies are cooling, whip up some buttercream.  Add confectionery sugar, softened butter, Baileys & vanilla.  Mix until all the butter and sugar is incorporated.


When the brownies are cooled, spread the butter cream in a thick layer over the brownies.  Pop in the fridge so the buttercream can firm up. 


While the brownies are in fridge, place 8 oz of chocolate melting discs and 6 oz of butter in a microwave safe bowl.  Heat in 30 second increments until the chocolate and butter are well mixed.


Remove the brownies from the fridge and pour over the butter cream in a thin layer. Feel free to cover the edges as well. The chocolate will harden pretty quickly. 


When you are ready to cut I like to run my knife under some hot water to heat the blade. Dry the blade and cut into 16 brownies or 4 huge brownies.  It all depends on how hungry you are.


These taste best when served at room temp.  You want the buttercream to be smooth and the chocolate layer to be soft enough to bite!


Enjoy!

I am my mother's daughter so I am always looking for the perfect blueberry muffin too.  How did I stumble across this fantastic recipe? 


I typed THE MOST DELICIOUS BLUEBERRY MUFFINS (a trick I learned from my sister)* into the Google search bar and then hit the images. After just a few minutes I found a winner. It helped that the title of the muffin recipe was Awesome Blueberry Muffins. I knew immediately that I had to give this recipe a try.


*Quick story. Whenever my sister is looking for a recipe online, instead of searching 100's of websites, she cuts to the chase and types THE MOST DELICIOUS ...prior to whatever it is she's looking for.  I would tease her about this but so far it works for her every time and it worked for me too so I guess she's in the clear.


Not only do these muffins taste delish but they bake up with high peaks and we all know the muffin top is the best thing about the muffin. While the stump of the muffin is pretty good the muffin top is just amazing. They dedicated a whole Seinfeld episode to the muffin top and if it's good enough for Seinfeld, it's good enough for the rest of us. 


Let's get going!


Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from The Fresh Loaf
Makes 12 Muffins


3 C. Flour
1  1/2 C. White Sugar
1 Tsp. salt
4 Tsp. baking powder
2/3 C. Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
2 Tsp. Vanilla
2/3 C. Milk
2 C. Blueberries, rinsed (Fresh or Frozen)*
1/3 C. Sugar Crystals
1 Tsp. flavored extract**, (Your favorite flavor, make sure it's complimentary to the fruit of course) **Optional


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin cups with non-stick spray or line with muffin papers.


Combine Flour, Sugar, Salt and Baking Powder in a mixing bowl.  Pour Vegetable Oil into a 2 Cup measuring cup; add the eggs and enough milk to fill to the 2C. line.  Add in the vanilla and extract (if any).  Combine liquid with the flour mix and stir, don't over mix. Fold in the blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with sugar crystals.


Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in a preheated oven, or until done.


*I've made these a few different times and tried them with different fruits.  Here are a few options.


Mixed Berries
Bananas & Walnuts
Apples & Cinnamon
Cranberry & Orange Zest

9 Ingredients away from fantastic muffins!

Measure out the liquids. 

Add all the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl.

Mix wet and dry ingredients and stir until combined. 

Measure and rinse the blueberries.  You can use fresh or frozen berries.

Fold the blueberries into muffin batter.

Course sugar crystals to sprinkle on top of the muffins.  The sugar crystals should be about the size of sea salt crystals.

Fill the muffin tins and sprinkle on the sugar. Pop in the oven for 20-25 min.

Are these gorgeous muffins or what? That's a great muffin top!

Enjoy with a cold glass of milk. Yum!!!