Growing up in Kentucky, I’ve had a love affair with bourbon balls for many years; however, it took a California girl to put the real meaning in “bourbon” balls!
Sunday I attended a Christmas cookie exchange hosted by my good friend Tracy (California girl). There were so many great cookies and it was good to see “old” friends.
There aren't many bourbon balls in the photo above because we devoured them before I remembered to take pictures...
These are about the best "boozy" bourbon balls and there is no mistaking the bourbon in them!
So --- Have a boozy ball!
Bourbon Balls
Ingredients:
12 cups crushed vanilla wafers—the original Vanilla Wafers (4 boxes)
¾ cup dark corn syrup
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4¼ cups powdered sugar, divided
4¾ cups chopped pecans, divided
3 cups bourbon—Old Grand Dad’s
Instructions:
Mix vanilla wafers, corn syrup, cocoa powder, 4 cups powdered sugar, 4 cups pecans and bourbon. Refrigerate at least 12 hours.
Shape into balls. Pulverize remaining ¾ cup pecans and sift in remaining ¼ cup powdered sugar. Mix together and roll bourbon balls in mixture.
You may want to halve the recipe as it makes a lot, 6 dozen.
They are “blue-ribbon” bourbon balls for sure! Thanks for the recipe California Girl!
This is an oldie but goodie cake and easy cake! I imagine most of you have heard of it, maybe even baked it. But ~ it is, without a doubt, a great chocolate cake. And who doesn’t like chocolate?
Texas Sheet Cake is a rich, dense, moist chocolate cake that is a cross between a brownie and cake, covered in a fudgy frosting. What may make this recipe a little different from most of them is the addition of cinnamon. It pairs perfectly with chocolate and gives a wonderful flavor to the cake.
Here’s some chocolate fun:
Reasons Why a Chocolate is Better Than a Man
Chocolate’s not afraid to pull over and ask for directions.
After telling your chocolate bar all your worries you can simply eat it.
You can share chocolates with your best friend.
A bar of chocolate doesn't bore you by constantly talking about football.
Your mother will never disapprove of your choice of chocolate.
Chocolate will never tell you that you’re “getting a little chubby.”
No one's ever been jilted by a chocolate gateau
Reasons Why a Chocolate is Better Than a Woman
Chocolate never keeps you waiting.
Chocolate doesn't get jealous when you look at another chocolate bar.
You never have to buy a box of chocolates for a box of chocolates.
Chocolate doesn't talk incessantly while you're watching the football.
It doesn't expect you to remember the anniversary of the first time you met.
Chocolate never tries to chat up your best friend.
Chocolate isn't looking for a long term commitment.
And on with the recipe:
Texas Sheet Cake
Ingredients:
2 sticks butter
1 cup water
4 tablespoons cocoa
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sour cream
Method:
Bring butter, water and cocoa to a boil.
Remove from heat.
Add flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon.
Beat in soda, eggs, vanilla and sour cream.
Pour onto large greased cookie sheet with sides of jelly roll pan, 10 ½” X 15 ½.”
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until a wooden pick comes out clean.
“It’s the Dolly Parton of cakes: a little bit tacky, but you love her,” said Angie Mosier, an Atlanta food writer.
The day that you either love or hate, depending upon your love-life status, is fast approaching and here is a charmer of a dessert, Red Velvet Cake for the day! I can’t really tell you what it tastes like other than delicious because it is neither a chocolate (although there is a little cocoa in it) cake nor a white cake and it certainly doesn’t taste like anything red, as in berries. It has a distinct flavor of its own. It has to be the brilliant red color that is so alluring!
Red Velvet Cake, according to some, was invented in the 1920’s at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City and was considered their signature dessert. Others insist that it is from the Civil War era and that southern ladies baked it to “keep their husbands home.” If you’ve seen the great movie “Steel Magnolias,” you will recall that the groom’s cake (another southern tradition) was a Red Velvet Cake made in the shape of an armadillo. This movie brought a resurgence in the cake’s popularity and I tend to believe the Civil War version as it is served so much in the South, particularly around Savannah.
Whatever your love-life status is, you will love this cake! It actually looks like ketchup when it is poured into the cake pans to bake. It is so very moist with a fabulous cream cheese frosting covering it; sinfully good and rich. Those people in the South have a good reason to be crying out their “oohs” and “aahs” when it is served! Sweet, it is!
This recipe is out of “Mrs. Wilkes’ Boardinghouse Cookbook.” Mrs. Wilkes took over a non-descript turn-of-the-century boardinghouse on a brick street in historic downtown Savannah. Her goal was to make a living plus offer comfortable lodging and home-style Southern cooking served family style in the downstairs dining room.
Mrs. Wilkes is in her nineties now and four generations of Wilkeses help her keep the restaurant's tables laden with platters of her fried chicken, ribs, biscuits and her Red Velvet Cake. Here's the recipe:
Red Velvet Cake
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar
2 ½ cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 to 3 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 ounce bottle red food coloring
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the eggs, sugar, oil and vinegar. Sift the cake flour, baking soda, and cocoa together. Add the flour mixture to the creamed ingredients while beating. Slowly add the buttermilk. While still beating, add the vanilla and food coloring.
Pour into three 8” greased and floured cake pans.
Bake for about 25 minutes. Press lightly; if the layers are spongy, then the cake is done. A toothpick will come out clean.
Let set in pans for 10 minutes on wire racks.
Frost when cool.
Frosting
Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter
1 (1 pound) box confectioner’s sugar
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Method:
Combine the cream cheese and butter, melt over very low heat. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. If frosting becomes too thick, add a little milk. Frost the cake layers.
