Mess of Greens

full bellies | warm welcomes

dessert

Blood Orange Cake, Dark Chocolate Ganache and Candied Oranges

by Leave a Comment

Confession: so, until a few weeks ago I’d never eaten a blood orange. I’d seen them in magazines, and decided they were gorgeous but probably not very yummy since I’ve never really been a fan of oranges anyway. But after tasting them, I’m eating my words these days (AND ALL the blood oranges I can get my hands on). In fact, I celebrated turning 35 by testing out a flavor combination that I was pretty sure would be dynamite… blood oranges and dark chocolate. OH y’all. It’s a grown-up cake for feeling like a real grown up. It takes a few steps but not nearly as many as a Momofuku layer cake and it’s absolutely worth it for a special occasion.

NOTES about this cake: Make sure to make the candied oranges the day before as they take a while to harden

Also, the ganache takes a little while to harden, so plan to put the cake in the fridge after frosting, or wait a few hours.

Lastly, this type of cake dries out quickly.. so if you don’t eat it immediately, make sure to wrap it up tightly and put it in the fridge.


Blood Orange Cake, Dark Chocolate Ganache and Candied Oranges
 
Save Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 1-3 Layer Cake
What You Need
  • CANDIED BLOOD ORANGES
  • 2 blood oranges, scrubbed and sliced into ¼" rounds with the peel on
  • 2 Cups Water
  • 1 Cup sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons Corn syrup
  • 2 tsp Bourbon
  • BLOOD ORANGE CHIFFON CAKE
  • 2 Cups cake flour (leveled)
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1½ Cups sugar
  • ½ Cups coconut oil, melted
  • 6 Large eggs, separated
  • ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • Finely grated zest of 4 Blood Oranges
  • 1 Cup fresh orange juice (from the blood oranges. About 4-6 oranges, depending on size)
  • CHOCOLATE GANACHE
  • ¾ bag to 1 entire bag of dark chocolate chips (or 16 oz of other dark chocolate, rough chopped)
  • 1 16 oz can coconut cream, OR 2 Cans of Full Fat coconut milk, unshaken and unemulsified with the cream skimmed off the top
  • 1 Tablespoon blood orange zest
What to Do
  1. FOR the CANDIED BLOOD ORANGES
  2. Boil the water and add the sugar and corn syrup.
  3. Wisk the sugars in the water until dissolved.
  4. Add in the orange slices, not letting them touch one another.
  5. Let them simmer for one hour, and then remove from the water onto a rack. You can either wait 24 hours for them to cool and dry OR put them in a crock pot on low for 4 hours, then in the refrigerator for 1 hour. I imagine 100 degrees in an oven would do the same thing.
  6. FOR the BLOOD ORANGE CHIFFON CAKE
  7. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and oi/flour 3 8" cakepans or 1 10" cake pan.
  8. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 cup sugar together.
  9. Make a well in center of flour mixture.
  10. Add oil, egg yolks, orange zest and juice, and ¼ cup cold water; whisk batter until smooth.
  11. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.
  12. Gradually add the remaining ½ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
  13. Using a spatula, gently fold half of egg-white mixture into batter. Fold in remaining egg-white mixture just until combined.
  14. Pour equal amounts into each cake pan, and bake at 325 degrees for 35 mins or until the top is brown, the sides slightly pull away from the pan and a toothpick comes out clean.
  15. Let cool slightly.
  16. FOR the CHOCOLATE GANACHE
  17. Heat the coconut cream over medium-low heat until it steams.
  18. Add in the chocolate and zest and stir continuously until it has melted entirely and the combination turns a dark, creamy brown.
  19. Remove from heat.
  20. PUT IT TOGETHER
  21. Using a bread knife (or better yet, an electric knife) cut off the tops of each cake until they are entirely flat (it feels sad to loose this much of the cake, but it's how to make it look even).
  22. Spread a thin layer of ganache over the top of each layer and stack each one on top of the other.
  23. Spread a layer of ganache over the sides and top of the cake, let stand for 30 minutes to slightly harden. This will be your "crumb layer" which will serve to keep all the crumbs from mixing with the ganache.
  24. Once the ganache has hardened on the cake slightly, spread another layer on the top and sides of the cake.
  25. Garnish with the candied orange slices. You may serve warm, OR wait until the ganache hardens entirely.
  26. If you wait to eat it, make sure to wrap the cake tightly and put it in the refrigerator since this type of cake dries out quickly. It can also be wrapped tightly in saran wrap and frozen for over a month.

You can see here how the warm ganache seeped into the warm cake… heaven!

Watermelon Mint Sno-Cones

by 1 Comment

  So, it turns out today is National Watermelon Day! I had no idea when my little person and I picked our VERY FIRST homegrown watermelon from the garden yesterday afternoon.

There was just something extra sweet as we bit into the firm, pink flesh, knowing that it had come out of our soil. My plan was to have so many melons that I’d be able to drop them off on friends’ and neighbors’ doorsteps around the county, but most of the best ones were eaten by the bugs or suffered some other misfortune before they were ripe enough to pick. whomp whomp.

Also, ALLLLLL summer long the ONLY two things my uber pregnant self have craved have been ice water and ice cold watermelon. I’m guessing that I bought at least one melon a week for 3 months and nearly ate the whole thing every week BY MYSELF. But now I have MY OWN from MY Garden!

Then I got even greedier… I couldn’t STAND the thought of wasting all that sweet thin layer of fruit and juice that got thrown away with the rind after I’d scooped out everything I could get with a melon-baller. Solution: Homemade New Orleans Style Sno-cones. There’s really nothing that my family likes better in the summertime. We probably go to the sno-cone stand once a week around here.

It’s been that way since high school, when I spent nearly every summer night with a posse of friends standing around outside the local Sno-Biz waiting for the cute guys to finish work there so we could all go out night-swimming or to a late movie. Even now, when I taste a sno-cone I still remember how hot it was and how excited my 16 year old self was when one of those guys would pass me a free sno-cone. (obviously, they had a crush on me as big as the one I had on them, right? ha! unlikely…but 16 year old Biz dreamed.)

Anyway, to do this at home, all it takes is a little mint simple syrup, a lot of leftover watermelon juice, an ice cream  maker and YOWZA. (If I weren’t preggo you can BET YOUR BISCUITS that some tequila or vodka would find its way into one of these babies.)

Watermelon season is winding down, but this super simple recipe is well worth it with the dregs of that one sitting in your fridge right now! The hard part will be NOT eating the entire bowl full. (but it’s homemade and fresh, right, so what’s the harm?)

Watermelon Mint Sno-Cones
 
Save Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 8
What You Need
  • 4 Cups watermelon juice, chilled
  • 1 Cup granulated sugar
  • 1 Cup water
  • Crushed leaves from 8 mint stalks (so, about ¾ Cup mint leaves)
  • 1 Lime, cut into wedges
What to Do
  1. FOR THE WATERMELON JUICE
  2. Take leftover watermelon juice after using a melon baller and the leftover flesh scooped from the rind and puree, then strain, or just puree'/strain watermelon chunks.
  3. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour if not already cold.
  4. FOR THE MINT SIMPLE SYRUP
  5. In a small saucepan, boil the water.
  6. When it is rolling, add in the sugar and turn to simmer until it has thickened slightly (2 minutes or so)
  7. Remove from heat and add the mint leaves to steep for 10 minutes.
  8. Strain the leaves from the syrup and store in a jar.
  9. Refrigerate until cool.
  10. FOR THE SNO-CONE
  11. In an ice cream maker, combine the 4 cups chilled watermelon juice and 1 cup of the simple syrup
  12. Freeze using your ice cream maker's specifications.
  13. It's ready when it is fully frozen but NOT lumpy-frozen. that's almost too hard.
  14. Serve with a large lime wedge squeezed over the top.

 

 

 

Fig & Blueberry Coffee Cake

by 1 Comment

So, this post is late as fig week has been over for awhile, but I can’t resist because this was the kind of cake that was super easy and so good that I kept sneaking back to slice just one more teeeeeeny sliver. But then I had slivered so much cake that there was only one full piece left, so my boys were pretty bent out of shape with me.

It’s also so simple that I after talking about the edits to the recipe that I’d made, I left baking in the hands of my honey and little dude. Brett doesn’t LOVE cooking (and I don’t think I’ve ever known him to bake ANYTHING) but Wagner does love being in the kitchen, so while I ran to the grocery store one weekend, they made this. I came home to a kitchen COVERED in flour and two worn out fellas. But y’all….usually it takes me way more than one try to get a recipe right, (especially baked stuff) but they NAILED it. Maybe I need to turn MoG over to my boys?

Anyway, for a (probably) first time baker and his toddler sous chef, this coffee cake was a hit. I LOVED it and thought it made the perfect just-sweet-enough coffee cake for midmorning (or afternoon…or after dinner…or instead of lunch) snack time. 😉 Let me know what you think!

BTW, This cake is based on one from Food & Wine but I replaced raspberries with local blueberries (since raspberries seem to like cooler weather than what we have in south MS) and lime zest/juice with orange. You could also probably sub lemon juice since lemons and blueberries go together like batman & robin.


Blueberry, Fig Coffee Cake
 
Save Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Brunch, Dessert
Serves: 6-8
What You Need
  • ⅛ Cup flour, for dusting pan
  • ¼ Tablespoon butter, for dusting pan
  • 1½ cups granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
  • Finely grated zest of 1large oranges or 3 mini ones
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • Juice of 1 small orange or ¼ large one
  • ½ pint blueberries
  • 4 figs, cut into eighths, or additional ½ pint blueberries
  • Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
What to Do
  1. Preheat the oven to 350.
  2. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and coat with flour to keep the batter from sticking.
  3. In a mixer fitted with the batter attachment, beat the sugar and eggs at high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
  4. Beat in the butter and two-thirds of the zest.
  5. At low speed, alternately beat in the flour and orange juice until almost incorporated, then fold with a spatula until it's smooth.
  6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.
  7. Gently press in the blueberries and figs.
  8. Bake the cake on the bottom third of the oven for 40ish minutes.
  9. Transfer to the upper third of the oven and continue baking for about 35 minutes more, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  10. Run a thin knife around the edge and release the springform and place the cake on a rack to cool.
  11. When you're ready to serve, dust the cake with confectioners' sugar and sprinkle with the remaining zest, then cut into wedges.

 

Blueberry Cobbler with Sweet Cornmeal Crust

by 4 Comments

Well lovelies, things at Mess of Greens HQ has been a bit of a hot mess since we last visited… we moved into a new house, adjusted a toddler to the new house rules (living with us in his grandparents home for a year meant a rude awakening when there weren’t 4 adults around to persuade), found out we were expecting a little bundle of joy in early autumn, and lost my mama to an awful, rare lung disease

The thing is, I’ve got so much to tell you about my mama and how she shaped me and taught me, especially when it comes to warm welcomes and loving other people.

But I can’t bring myself to write about her just yet.

But I did feel a little more like myself and actually wanted to be playing around in my new gorgeous kitchen these past few weeks, finally, because, summer produce. Blueberries, watermelon, peaches… and then the corn! and the tomatoes! Good Lordy why do we even bother to eat food that we don’t know where it comes from? (Not because I’m against big agriculture or think that everyone should–or even can– homestead and garden, but because DAMN! Food that is picked and then eaten immediately and still has a little earth on it just tastes so much better. The Italians know what I’m talking about.

It’s been fun to take my little fella out into the world to the farmers’ markets, into our own garden, and out to neighbor’s houses to see where the food we eat comes from… today we made our second blueberry picking trip out to my aunt’s farm, and it was SO hot but just so wonderful. (a 7 months pregnant lady in 90 degree heat is a sight, let me tell you). Getting your fingers all purpley and letting the juice dribble down your chin while still filling up a bucketful to take home…isn’t that what summer’s supposed to be about?

And then, from some of the blueberries came a cobbler. Sure, I’ve made cobblers, crumbles, and crisps before (the EASIEST summer desserts) but not like this one…  a slightly sweet, wonderfully crunchy textured cornmeal crust really was something special.

Give it a go with whatever berries you can get your hands on (Though corn & blueberries really are a match made in heaven. Google it. I promise.) First, it’s easy. Second, it’s divine. and Third, do we need a third?


Blueberry Cobbler with Sweet Cornmeal Crust
 
Save Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Cuisine: Dessert
Serves: 12
What You Need
  • FOR THE FILLING:
  • 5 cups fresh (or frozen, thawed) blueberries. Imperfect berries are just fine!
  • ⅔ cup sugar
  • Grated zest from 1 lemon
  • Fresh juice from 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • FOR THE CRUST:
  • 1 Cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 Cup cornmeal mix
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 10 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, diced into small cubes
  • Optional: ¼ cup fresh corn kernels
What to Do
  1. FOR THE FILLING:
  2. Toss the blueberries, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, cornstarch, and salt into a mixing bowl and let sit for up to 2 hours. The longer the fruit sits the more juice will be released. Reserve it all and pour it into 1 large shall aking dish (2 quarts) or 2 smaller ones.
  3. FOR THE CRUST:
  4. Preheat oven to 360°.
  5. Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl.
  6. Using your hands, add the butter and work into the dry ingredients until all of the dry ingredients have mixed together and are wet (nothing should be dry at the bottom of the bowl). You'll have little peas or balls of dough.
  7. The mixture should stick together when you smush it.
  8. If using, add corn and toss to evenly distribute.
  9. Taking some of the dough your hands, flatten the little balls and drop it over the top of the berry filling.
  10. Continue to do this until all the dough has been used or all/the majority of the filling has been covered.
  11. You will likely have extra dough... I prefer that to less so use as much or as little as you like.
  12. Bake crisp until topping is golden brown and the berries are bubbly and thickening, about 40-55 minutes.
  13. Let cook slightly (the berries will thicken more as it cools), and serve with vanilla ice cream.

 

 

 

 

‘Simmon Pudding with Bourbon Whipped Cream

by 3 Comments

img_4561

Oh bring us some ‘simmon puddin’

Oh bring us some ‘simmon puddin’

Oh bring us some ‘simmon puddin’

and bring it right now!

Now that I’ve discovered the incredible flavor that is wild persimmons,

That’s how I imagine that this Christmas carol would go if it had been written in the south. img_4562

My mama and I made some plum (figgy) pudding a couple of years ago and it was such a fun, nostagic project that had plans to make it every Christmas from then on, but honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan of how it tasted. But this, y’all. Oh this. It turns out that European American settlers made this pudding all winter with the tiny squishy persimmons that grew wild (and that Native Americans had been gathering and eating all along) and, in my opinion, it’s SO MUCH more divine than the one they make across the pond. I tampered a teeny bit with a Saveur recipe and added some bourbon whipped cream, and well… I’d say it’s a holiday dessert MUST MAKE. Plus, although it takes a little time to cook, it is EEEEAAASSSY.

Note: If you don’t relish the job of foraging and then scooping out 2 cups worth of wild persimmon pulp, you can cheat and use store bought persimmons. I won’t tell.

Oh bring us some 'simmon pudding
 
Save Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 1 9"x13" pan
What You Need
  • FOR THE PUDDING:
  • Pulp from enough ripe persimmons to make 2 cups (about 5 hachiyas or Fuyu, OR about 3 pounds of wild very smushy ripe persimmons)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 1⁄2 cups buttermilk
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 1⁄2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1⁄2 tsp. cinnamon
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • Pinch salt
  • 1⁄4 cup heavy cream
  • 4 tbsp. butter, melted
  • FOR THE BOURBON WHIPPED CREAM
  • 1 Cup whipping cream
  • 3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon bourbon
What to Do
  1. Preheat your oven to 350°. Place a large roasting pan filled with water ½ way or other way to create a water bath into the oven to warm. (Using a water bath will keep the center of the pudding moist. You can also use a traditional plum pudding mold that is then steamed...google that if you want to know more!)
  2. After you've gotten the fleshy pulp from the persimmons (if you're using wild, you'll need to skin them and also strain the pulp for the large seeds) add it and sugar into a large bowl.
  3. Beat in the eggs.
  4. Add in the buttermilk and baking soda into a separate medium bowl, and stir. Add to pulp, and mix well.
  5. Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into the medium bowl (i like to reuse bowls when I can). Slowly add the flour mixture to the pulp, stirring until it's totally and thoroughly combined.
  6. Add heavy cream, and mix.
  7. Grease a 9'' X 13'' baking dish with a small amount of the melted butter
  8. Stir remaining butter into batter.
  9. Pour batter into dish.
  10. Place the baking dish into the water bath that's been warming in the oven, bake until dark brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour, 20 minutes. OR bake according to your traditional plum pudding mold directions.
  11. Set aside to cool. Serve with bourbon whipped cream. (recipe below)
  12. FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM:
  13. In a COLD bowl and with a COLD whisk implement on your mixer (or your hand held emulsion blender) mix the cream, extract, bourbon, and sugar until frothy and until it has peaks. If you over mix it will turn into butter.

img_4565

A chef, cookies, and comfort

by Leave a Comment

screen-shot-2016-11-16-at-6-35-25-pmJosh Casper is a chef at The Depot in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I’d dined there tons of times before I learned that the person making the delicious things I was eating  loved the intersection of food, connection, and hospitality, just like me.

God bless Instagram.

I can’t seem to get my words around anything this past week… My husband wrote something that made me cry, and then I read something Josh wrote and felt a “yes! that’s it! yes!” so I asked him to share something with Mess of Greens. Not only did he share a beautiful reflection on living and loving people during hard times in a kitchen, but also the most beautiful chocolate chip cookie recipe. Talk about food for comfort.

I’m pretty sure you’re going to love what he’s written and his thoughtful voice. So, once you read it, head over to his instagram account for more, and then, the next time you’re in Hattiesburg eat some of his food… because, as Brian Andreas says “There are things you do because they feel right & they may make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other & to eat each others cooking & say it was good.”

– Biz

…

Read More »

To Mr. & Mrs. Smith!

by 5 Comments

Oh y’all,

We had the most wonderful weekend and I can FINALLY tell y’all about it since it’s no longer a secret! Our friends Ruffin and Jill decided last week to elope and asked us to come up to the Delta officiate and witness the ceremony. IMG_3645

We drove up Saturday afternoon, Brett did a sweet short ceremony in their sunny, breezy Mississippi Delta garden. Afterward, we  toasted their love and ate cake at their house, and then went to have a celebratory supper at Doe’s Eat Place. (Which, by the way, was the most delicious wedding reception food I’ve ever eaten. Hands down.)

Ruffin and Jill met several years ago at the Alluvian Hotel bar in Greenwood. Though Jill lived in Monroe, Louisiana, and Ruffin was a farmer and mayor of Louise, Mississippi, they immediately began a long-distance relationship….

Read More »

Personal Sized Bourbon Peaches & Cream Trifle

by Leave a Comment

IMG_3686We’re the kind of people who order one big dessert and get 4 spoons. The folks who say “taste this! It’s AMAZING!” and let everyone sip the cocktail we ordered. Ones who drive everybody crazy because we want to dip our fork into your plate because what you got just looks so darn delicious. And then we pass you our plate whether you wanted it or not. Sharing food is our thing. (Unless you’re my dad. He wants the food on HIS plate and don’t you dare take a bite unless he gives it to you. But then, if you ask for a taste he’ll always give you the best bite anyway because he’s just kind like that. Must be the PRINCIPLE of the thing, huh?)

Anyway, this dessert is great for our kind of people because you can A) make one and pass it around so you can share it or B) make 4 and everyone gets their own damn delicious dessert.

…

Read More »

Peach Granola Sundaes (and a kitchen fail)

by Leave a Comment

IMG_3361

Failure is part of life. I’ve learned that failing is one of the best ways to learn something new, and the best way to get better at something. People often think of failure as a bad thing, but for me, it’s important, and necessary and a sign that I’m taking the right risks.

And thank goodness, because I fail in the kitchen A LOT.

…

Read More »

Wild berry Cobbler.

by 4 Comments

So, I’d been in kind of a cooking rut lately… I’ve been spending so much time thinking about our home that we’re renovating/building out at our family farm that I just hadn’t had much creative energy to expend in the kitchen… There was a lot of “Oh! Wagner! You’re going to have chicken tenders AGAIN tonight! Won’t those be delicious??” and “I think I just want watermelon and coffee for lunch today.” Ugh. Cooking’s not as much fun when there aren’t fun things to cook, you know?IMG_2881

But then, last week, that all changed.  Our new, wonderful forager friend brought me two quarts of mulberries and a quart of dewberries and I basically died and went to berry heaven. I had SO many ideas for using these tart, sweet, perfect little treasures and not enough time to make them. You’ve hopefully already seen (and tried!) the mulberry scones recipe, and then that very same night, my daddy requested a cobbler. That seemed the PERFECT way to use the berries but not overwhelm their natural perfection… so he got his wish. Each of us had a personal sized one piping hot after supper, with OF COURSE, homemade vanilla ice cream.

Don’t have your own forager friend or a mulberry tree in your backyard? No worries. A combo of fresh or frozen blueberries and raspberries will do the trick. Your tummy will thank you.

…

Read More »