dessert

Fig & Blueberry Coffee Cake

July 22, 2017 by biz.w.harris@gmail.com 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

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

1 hour 10 mins

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

Author: Biz Harris

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

Preheat the oven to 350.
Butter a 9-inch springform pan and coat with flour to keep the batter from sticking.
In a mixer fitted with the batter attachment, beat the sugar and eggs at high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Beat in the butter and two-thirds of the zest.
At low speed, alternately beat in the flour and orange juice until almost incorporated, then fold with a spatula until it's smooth.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.
Gently press in the blueberries and figs.
Bake the cake on the bottom third of the oven for 40ish minutes.
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.
Run a thin knife around the edge and release the springform and place the cake on a rack to cool.
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

July 7, 2017 by biz.w.harris@gmail.com 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

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

55 mins

Total time

1 hour 5 mins

Author: Biz Harris

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

FOR THE FILLING:
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.
FOR THE CRUST:
Preheat oven to 360°.
Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl.
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.
The mixture should stick together when you smush it.
If using, add corn and toss to evenly distribute.
Taking some of the dough your hands, flatten the little balls and drop it over the top of the berry filling.
Continue to do this until all the dough has been used or all/the majority of the filling has been covered.
You will likely have extra dough... I prefer that to less so use as much or as little as you like.
Bake crisp until topping is golden brown and the berries are bubbly and thickening, about 40-55 minutes.
Let cook slightly (the berries will thicken more as it cools), and serve with vanilla ice cream.

‘Simmon Pudding with Bourbon Whipped Cream

November 29, 2016 by biz.w.harris@gmail.com 3 Comments

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.

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

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Prep time

40 mins

Cook time

1 hour 20 mins

Total time

2 hours

Author: Biz Harris

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

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!)
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.
Beat in the eggs.
Add in the buttermilk and baking soda into a separate medium bowl, and stir. Add to pulp, and mix well.
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.
Add heavy cream, and mix.
Grease a 9'' X 13'' baking dish with a small amount of the melted butter
Stir remaining butter into batter.
Pour batter into dish.
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.
Set aside to cool. Serve with bourbon whipped cream. (recipe below)
FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM:
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.

Personal Sized Bourbon Peaches & Cream Trifle

August 18, 2016 by biz.w.harris@gmail.com Leave a Comment

We’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.

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Peach Granola Sundaes (and a kitchen fail)

August 8, 2016 by biz.w.harris@gmail.com Leave a Comment

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.

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Lemon-Thyme Custard on Mini Angel Food Cakes

April 12, 2016 by biz.w.harris@gmail.com Leave a Comment

I’m getting the chance to cater for an upcoming ladies’ luncheon this week and I’ve been prepping like cray. We’ve got what feel like gallons of poppyseed dressing and dill vinaigrette in the fridge, I’ve made nearly a year’s worth of mini herbed buttermilk biscuits, the angel food cake is R-E-A-D-Y, and STILL have an awful lot to do. On the plus side, we’ve gotten to taste-test a couple of dessert possibilities, and one really stood out as the hands-down-winner-take-all-winner-winner-chicken-dinner winner. Classic, fluffy Angel Food Cake with lemon-thyme boiled custard.

I know, I know, I know… y’all are thinking I should put myself on custard restriction since this is the like the 3rd recipe in a row that involves making it… but I just can’t help myself. It’s so EASY. and so creamy. and so, So, SO good.

This time, rather than using it as my ice cream base, or in my banana pudding, or as the filling for a tart, I just kept it plain and simple. I drizzled it over perfect personal-sized angel food cake popovers after steeping it in lemon zest and lemon-thyme, and it is a SHOWSTOPPER. It’s light, and the lemon and custard flavors just meld beautifully…toss in a strawberry and you’ve basically hit jackpot.

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Teeny Tastes of Spring: Buttermilk Custard Tarts with Herbs & Strawberries

April 7, 2016 by biz.w.harris@gmail.com 1 Comment

My friend Anne and her honey, Jason, blogged about herbs that taste like fruit several years ago, back when I was only just getting my kitchen-legs, and before I’d been able to grow anything at all and keep it alive for more than a couple of days. I was all kinds of amazed. WHAT? There’s something called pineapple sage? And also lemon basil? Orange Thyme?

Its hard to find these down here in my little old town, BUT I did get some Lemon Thyme yesterday and have been trying it in every way imaginable. I started by garnishing a recipe of boiled custard I made with another of my recent ingredient addictions (buttermilk, obvi) and I have to say, I liked the way combining a typically savory herb with a dessert turned out. See what you think.

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Midnight Snack Perfection: Fudgey Chocolate Pecan Brownies

March 3, 2016 by biz.w.harris@gmail.com Leave a Comment

The fellas in our house have a serious sweet tooth around, say, 10pm. They always want just a little taste of chocolate, and sometimes they squirrel away tootsie rolls, Oreos, or whatever little snack they can to munch on while everyone else is tucked in bed. We had a brand new carton of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream and a bag of pecans, so it just seemed right to make a batch of fudgey, gooey brownies that would be perfect for sundaes before I went away to the Southern Foodways Alliance Food & Media event last weekend…. as a little thank you for making sure my little guy didn’t miss me TOO much.

This was a super duper easy recipe, and if you’ve got a nut allergy or just aren’t into pecans, then you can leave them out and still make a killer brownie sundae. Also, I added a little coffee and bourbon since people swear that coffee HAS to be added to chocolate, and because I love bourbon, but I can’t totally swear that they made a huge difference. Since they were so good, though, I can’t say that they didn’t. 😉

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The real deal…Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

January 13, 2014 by biz.w.harris@gmail.com Leave a Comment

My mother in law, Shirley is an INCREDIBLE baker. A serious sweets maker. A sugar-craving away-taker.
So when she asked me to chip into the Thanksgiving preparations by making a pecan pie I felt more than a little nervous… thankfully, she was making an apple AND a pumpkin pie just in case. 😉

She also made enough crust so I could just use the flaky pastry she’s perfected over the years…which meant that I was really just in charge of the filling. I wanted to jazz up the standard pecan pie recipe she had just a bit, so I combined a couple of recipes that looked good and ended up with a Chocolate. Bourbon. Pecan. Pie. that was the real deal for people who need a little something (or a lot of something) sweet after ALL the thanksgiving gorging.

I wanted to share the recipe here since it was really tasty AND I was able to get Shirley’s fantastic pie crust recipe with tips and notes straight from the horse’s mouth. Read on because it’s hard to find a foolproof pie crust recipe AND because I promise this pie isn’t only good in November.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Serves 8-ish

What you need:

For the Pie Crust…

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 Cup plus 1 Tablespoon of Crisco or other shortening
2 Tablespoons of cool water

For the filling…

2 cups pecan halves or pieces
3 large eggs, beaten
1/4 Cup butter, melted
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup sugar
2-3 tablespoons good-quality bourbon

2 teaspoons vanilla

2/3 Cup semisweet chocolate chips

What you Do:

Preheat your oven to 325.

Once that’s done we’ll get started with the crust… Shirley’s favorite recipe comes from a super Classic Betty Crocker cookbook. It’s clear that this book has been used and loved and cooked from for decades, and her pies are always SO good there’s no need to fix something that isn’t broken.

To make the crust, mix your salt into the flour in a medium mixing bowl. Cut the shortening into the flour/salt mixture using a pastry cutter or a fork until the mixture is the size of peas. Shirley uses a fork, and works just right, so if you don’t have a pastry cutter, don’t fret or run out and buy one. (this is Shirley, hard at work.)

Add in the water, one Tablespoon at a time, sprinkling it around the flour/shortening mixture and stirring/working it into the flour with the fork until it’s moistened. At this point, you’ll need to get your hands in it (or WANT to… we’re making pie crust here!) Gather the dough together with your hands until it releases from the sides of the bowl.

Press it into a ball. Whatever you do, don’t overwork the dough… this means, just press the dough enough in your hands to make it a ball.. anything more than that, you’re overworking it.

Now, lightly flour your work surface and turn the ball of dough out onto it. Lightly flour the rolling pin and/or the top of the ball of dough so it won’t stick. No really… lightly flour this so you don’t work too much flour into the dough otherwise it’ll be too tough.

Flatten your dough ball just a little by hand, and then roll it out. If your dough cracks at the edges, you can work it back together with your hands.

Tip from Shirley: Roll the dough from the center of the ball OUTWARD so that your pie ends up a more uniform thickness.

You’ll need to roll the dough into a circle about 1/8″ thick. It’ll also need to be a 1″-2″ inches greater than the diameter of the pan. (so if your pan is 9″ in diameter, then you’ll want to have 10″ or 11″ circle of pie crust”

THIS IS TRICKY for the beginner, but you can do it! Make sure the top of the crust is lightly floured and fold the the dough circle in half to make a half-moon. Carefully (eeks!) lift the dough into your pie pan with the fold in the center and then unfold it to cover the entire pan. Lightly press the dough down onto the edges of the pan, and along the sides.
The dough will hang over the edge of the pan a little bit. It’s almost time to crimp the crust and make it pretty, but first you’ll want to roll the dough along the edges back under so that you have a little extra ridge of dough to work with. Then, you can take your thumbs and make an imprint with a little raised ridge between each. Continue around the pan using both thumbs. You can technically also use a fork for this if you want a different kind of edge, but Shirley crinkles her nose and shakes her head at this tactic.”Use your thumbs,” she says.

At this point you can set the pie crust aside and start on your filling. Pull all your ingredients together, since this is a dump and stir kind of deal.

Start by combining your eggs and sugar and mix well. Add in your corn syrup, vanilla, and bourbon and stir into the eggs, then add in your melted butter.

I added the pecans BEFORE the butter the first time, but I recommend adding the pecans and chocolate chips in last so that all of the liquid ingredients are able to mix and incorporate super well.

Pour the mixture into your pie crust and and bake at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the filling sets. Let sit to firm up and cool for a about 10 minutes, then cut and serve (ideally with vanilla ice cream!)

Hope you like Shirley and my first cooking collaboration (the first of many!)

Oatmeal Lace Cookies

December 28, 2012 by biz.w.harris@gmail.com 2 Comments

Oh y’all, what do you do when you need to take a gift and the hostess doesn’t like chocolate?

Boone’s mama makes the most amazing chocolate covered peanut butter balls (read: an amazing homemade version of a Reece’s cup) every Christmas and this year we had like a zillion extra. We were going to a friend’s house for dinner and I thought we should take them a few (I mean, we could definitely eat ALL of the leftovers, but we probably shouldn’t, right?) but then Boone reminded me that our hostess hates chocolate. Seriously, hates chocolate.

I knew I needed to make something non-chocolatey, festive, and pretty, but was tired from all the holiday cooking. Thankfully I was lucky enough to run across what seemed like an easy recipe my mom used to make for dinner parties and ladies’ luncheons a few days earlier in The Memphis Cookbook from the Memphis Junior League. This little cookie crisp is sweet, and dainty, with a browned butter or caramel flavor, plus it looks pretty fancy although the ingredient list is super easy. Perfect.

FYI, The ingredient list was simple, but it took a little more baking finesse than i’d imagined. in fact, I made 2.5 batches to get the ratio of cookie to cookie sheet right (they spread out A LOT and my first batch ended up as one huge cookie stuck to parchment paper) and get them to look much like lace, and since I was giving them to a friend, they had to look “just so”. Read on for the recipe and my hints!

Oatmeal Lace Cookies (or butter snowflakes)
Yields: approximately 15-20

What You Need:
1/2 C Flour
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 C rolled oats
2 Tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 C melted butter
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
1 Tablespoon vanilla

What To Do:
Preheat the oven to 375, and get started by sifting the flour, the sugar, and the baking powder together into a medium bowl. Add in the butter, oats, cream, vanilla, and corn syrup (so far so good, right?)

Once it’s all mixed together, drop small spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. When I say “small” I mean a teeny tiny amount, y’all. Definitely less than a quarter sized spoonful but more than a nickel. Also, stay away from wax or parchment paper… A plain old cookie sheet will do.

You get the best spreading results if you smush the dough down flat a little. Also, make sure to leave plenty of room for the cookies to spread out (because they will spread, and spread a lot). I got best results when I put only 3 rows across on my sheet, and then about 4 cookies down which ended up being about 2 1/2″ to 3″ between the cookies.

Bake the cookies at 375 for 6-8 minutes or until they’re golden brown and have bubbly holes showing through. (Hence the “lace”). Once you’ve taken the out, let them cool for about 2 minutes and then lift them carefully from the cookie sheet with a thin spatula. Place them on a paper towel until they are crisp. It turns out that I broke about 1/4 of the cookies because I wasn’t careful enough, and just so you know, the ones lighter in color need a little longer to cool before you can pull them up with the spatula… If you try to pick them up too soon they get smushed together and look nothing like lace.

But if you get them just right you have THE PERFECT thin, crisp cookie to dress up a bowl of ice cream or serve at a ladies’ tea. Since I was taking these to a friend, i only wanted to give her the pretty ones, so whenever one got broken or had less than perfect edges I just had to keep it for us. (I know, right? so terrible. 😉 They were gone in a day since they’re so thin…I mean, you can have more than one when they’re small right?

dessert

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