Salted Butterscotch Cashew Shortbread Bars 4 Eva

Salted. Butterscotch. Cashew. Shortbread Bars. It's necessary to pause while considering the sum of these awesome parts, which heighten the experience of each to a sort of baked goods nirvana state.

It's a recipe that I came up with for the Walkers Shortbread challenge, but for the event, I honed and perfected it, and here is what I consider the absolute ideal version of the recipe. 

I'll tell you the truth: I didn't win the competition with these. But I think that I win at LIFE, because I have the ability to make this recipe whenever I want! Plus, when it came to the end of the event, there were only a few left, so I think the crowd liked 'em! 

I should mention that it was a great event, btw. I got to meet Susan of Girl in the Little Red Kitchen, who brought a killer cheesecake (and who like me is a proud pug parent):

Serena of Big Apple Nosh, who brought these ridiculous Hazelnut Banoffee Tartlets:

and Emily of Nomnivorous, who brought the most beautiful boozy pie I've ever seen; I got to hang out with Alejandra Ramos and a bunch of other cool dudettes (and a couple of dudes).

Oh oh oh! Here is the recipe. I should note that you'll see that the pan I used is bigger--I doubled the recipe and it worked fine.

Oh, and--you're so very welcome.

Printable Recipe here!

Salted Butterscotch Cashew Shortbread Bars
Makes 1 big serving (kidding. sort of)

• 2 boxes Pure Butter Shortbread
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 package (10 to 11 ounces) butterscotch chips
• 1/2 cup light
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I suggest cashews or pecans)
• coarse sea salt

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 or 9-inch square baking pan.
2. Combine the cookies and melted butter in a food processor or blender with a pulse mode. Press it into the pan. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until lightly golden on the edges. Remove from the oven.
3. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the butterscotch chips, corn syrup, butter, cream, and vanilla. Cook and stir over medium heat until smooth.
4. Spread over crust. Sprinkle with the nuts; press down lightly. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until topping is bubbly and lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Cut into bars when totally cool. 

Heart Shaped Peanut Butter and Jelly Roll Cake for Peanut Butter and Company

I’m not saying that you should totally ignore chocolate on Valentine’s Day. But…why not also include a cake that is more fun to make with a partner: the Peanut Butter and Jelly Roll! If you’ve ever made a Jelly Roll cake at home, you know that it can be hard to handle the rolling of the cake while baking solo–so why not employ your Valentine with this most delicious task? You’ll be rewarded with a delicately spongy cake which gives way to a rich, deliciously smooth white chocolate peanut butter filling, beautifully paired with sweet strawberry jelly. Bonus points if you roll it into the shape of a heart! This is an adaptation of a classic Jelly Roll recipe I discovered in Taste of Home.

For the full post and recipe, visit Peanut Butter and Company!

Salted Vanilla Butterscotch Shortbread Bars Recipe

I need to tell you about a bar I love. No, it's not a place to get crunk and meet people to hook up with. It's a bar cookie. Its name (happy dance) is Salted Vanilla Butterscotch Shortbread Bar. And what a bar cookie it is. And it's one that I give myself credit for: It's a bar I dreamed up for an upcoming Walkers Shortbread event, and for which I was given Walkers Shortbread cookies to bake with. Yeah! 

This was my "dry run" for the event, which will be next Monday, and I am quite happy with them. When it comes to the bar's taste experience, let me be to the point. This is a perfect bar cookie. It's buttery, butterscotchy, rich and gooey, nutty-crunchy, and then oh my god there's salt on top sort of treat. I'd like to offer you one, but I think I am going to hoard them.

One thing I think I will change for the event is the type of nuts. The pecans I used this time make them LOOK like your typical pecan bar, which is not such a bad thing, but the taste is rather different. So I think I may use cashews or walnuts for the event. Feel free to use whatever type of nuts you'd like, of course. 

Salted Vanilla Butterscotch Shortbread Bars (Printable recipe here)

Makes 1 big serving (kidding. sort of)

• 2 boxes Pure Butter Shortbread rounds

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 package (10 to 11 ounces) butterscotch chips
• 1/2 cup light OR dark corn syrup (whichever you prefer!)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I suggest cashews or pecans)
• coarse sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 or 9-inch square baking pan.
2. Combine the cookies and melted butter in a food processor or blender with a pulse mode. Press it into the pan. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until lightly golden on the edges. Remove from the oven. 
3. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the butterscotch chips, corn syrup, butter, cream, and vanilla. Cook and stir over medium heat until smooth.
4. Spread over crust. Sprinkle with the nuts; press down lightly. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until topping is bubbly and lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Cut into bars. 

Pudding Made With Pudding: Superpudding!

When I looked "pudding" up in the dictionary, it was defined as "a cooked sweet dish served after the main course of a meal: example, rice pudding". Another dictionary defined it as "a dessert with a creamy consistency". I'm going to be so bold, at this point, to say that the dictionary's definitions are highly underwhelming and don't do pudding justice at all.

Especially when it's pudding like the specimen pictured above, and which I'd like to talk about with you today, which I am going to try to sum up in a single, humble word by calling it...SUPERPUDDING.

You see, it must be called Super because if all pudding is at least good, this one is great. The secret to its success? It's made, instead of milk, with pudding. I know--your head just exploded at the mere concept.

You heard that right. The pudding is mixed with...well, pudding, to create a new variety of the dessert you thought you knew. What separates it from the rest is most notably consistency. If you like a pudding that has the texture of loose yogurt, then don't bother, just go to another website.. But if you like a pudding that is so thick and flavor-packed that it coats the tongue, then this one is for you.

In fact, it is so thick that if you turn a spoonful of it upside down...it will stick to the spoon. I'm totally not kidding.

But how do we mere mortals make this ambrosial dish? It's easy.

All you do is get a box of cook and serve pudding. And you follow the package instructions. But instead of milk, you use pudding. Pre-made. It can be homemade, but you might lose your sense of urgency by waiting for it to cool. 

The pudding mix requested 3 cups of milk; the pudding was just under 3 cups' worth, so I figured...meh, close enough. So I just replaced "milk" with "rice pudding" in the recipe.

I started by pudding the rice pudding in a saucepan. Then I added the pudding mix.

Then, I heated it up. I shoud tell you, though, pudding does not heat like milk. It won't start to simmer, it will start to scorch. So you just keep stirring like your life depended on it so it doesn't scorch, and when it starts to thicken, remove it from the heat.

Give it another stir or two, transfer to a heatproof bowl, and let it chill out in the fridge for a while. Unless you like warm pudding, in which case you can just let it cool until it's warm and not tongue-burningly hot.

Either way, it's going to thicken...a LOT. 

I put mine in pretty parfait cups, and so it didn't look like a chocolate mess, I added a butter cookie for a little color contrast. 

So, let me tell you more about the pudding. Like I have mentioned...it's so thick. To make a comparison, it's almost like the difference between a generic supermarket yogurt and a very thick greek yogurt in terms of how thick it is. 

I loved the combination of rice pudding and chocolate, too. The thickness really seemed to compress everything into an intensely textured and flavored treat. It tasted far more decadent than your everyday chocolate or rice pudding. I was curious to see how it might fare if I let it cool even more, put it into molds or ice cube trays and let it freeze--it seemed like it might be like a frozen truffle or something. Or at least a super-tricked out pudding pop. 

I love you, Superpudding. 

 

Superpudding

• 1 22 ounce tub of pudding (I used Kozy Shack rice pudding)
• 1 box cook and serve pudding (I used a 6 ounce box of chocolate pudding)

Procedure

1. Combine pudding and pudding mix in a medium saucepan on low heat. Stir constantly; after a while, the heated mixture will scorch if you are not constantly stirring. At this point, remove from heat. Put in a heatproof bowl and place plastic wrap directly on top, to keep a skin from forming. 
2. Let cool entirely, if you like your pudding cold. Serve in pretty cups. Keep leftovers refrigerated.

Sweet Attempt: Mac and Cheese Cookies Recipe

We all have baking failures. Until yesterday, I considered Mac and Cheese Cookies one of mine. I mean, seriously. Mac and Cheese is delicious. Cookies are delicious. But when I tried to combine them into one unholy cookie foodstuff, it was so clearly a mistake. They're from different worlds! This is an ill-fated love story that really has no happy ending.

Until yesterday, that is, when someone spied the old photo of these cookies on Flickr and sent me an email imploring, "Please, please, please can you give me more info on these? Did you make them? Do you have a recipe? Were they as delicious as they look?"

Well, yes, dear reader, I can send you a recipe. But no, I wouldn't say they were delicious. They were strange, not rocking the sweet and salty thing the way that some cookies can, too savory to be dessert-ish but not sweet enough to be a true cookie experience. I think that maybe without the noodles they would stand a chance, might even be good...but...as much as I wanted it to work, no.

All the same, it is a fun memory for me. I remember how excited I was about the cookies; I remember how very badly I wanted them to taste good. They might be right up someone's alley--but I don't think they're quite ready for the masses yet. Or maybe they are? Just in case, from the archives, here's the recipe. Choose your own adventure!

Mac and Cheese Cookies (Printable Recipe Here!)

• 1 cup cooked elbow macaroni
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup light cream
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the icing

• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup cream
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• more cream, to thin

1. Make the cookies. Blend flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl; put off to the side.
2. Mix butter, sugar and egg until fully incorporated; Stir in cream.
3. Add flour mixture little by little, stirring well with each addition, until fully incorporated. Stir in the cheese and elbow macaroni.
4. Allow the dough to chill for about an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 400°F.  

6. Using a teaspoon or a mini ice cream scoop, drop rounds of dough on your lightly greased cookie sheet, leaving at least 2 inches around each dough ball.

7. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies will not be brown on top, but will have a slight toasty color on the bottom. Let them cool on the sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

8. Make the icing. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the cream and grated cheese. Once melted and liquid, begin to stir in the sifted confectioners' sugar. If it gets too thick, add a little more cream. Use to glaze over the cooled cookies.

Staples Sells Sweets and I Made Something Tasty With Them

Let's say I was a bit surprised when Staples contacted me to ask if I wanted to do a review for them. My response was something like, "dudes, you do know this is a dessert blog, right?"

But I stayed with them, and I was glad I did. Because for one thing, I learned that apparently supplying food (including snacks and sweets) to offices and corporate accounts is a very big part of Staples' business. Who knew?

Additionally, I was glad because they offered to give me a tablet to test out with my bloggity-blogging. I was just fine with this. I like stuff like that.

 So Staples went ahead and sent me a parcel including a tablet--the Nexus 7--and a big tin of cookies. The picture to the left shows me taking a picture of the tablet with my phone after opening it. Whoa, technology rabbit hole! I was especially excited about these Dansk cookies, because my grandma always used to buy them for us, and I would zero right in on the pretzel cookies. I mean, they're sweet! Cookies! But they LOOK like pretzels! It confounded my 6-year old mind. I was happy to see the cookies again.

So, first, since they were nice enough to send it, my thoughts on the Nexus. I connected it to my at home wifi connection and used it to find some baking ideas which I could use with the butter cookies. I found that it connected very fast, seamlessly, and that the visuals were very nice. I also found that it was VERY handy to use for displaying recipes in the kitchen--so much easier than a laptop. And easier to clean. 

Also nice--the Nexus was easy to hook up my google account with, so it was very easy to plug in all of my info. I found that while it wasn't quite easy to say, create a blog post, on the tablet, it was very easy to log in and make changes to existing blog posts or respond to comments.

But anyway, let's get back to those cookies. Like I said, apparently Staples sells a lot of food. And surprisingly, a lot of it is dessert or sweet stuff. 

What I did with those cookies is this. First, I opened them up and took a nice long look. Then I asked, "are you ready to meet your destiny?". There was no response.

Then, I mashed them all up and mixed them with half a stick of butter. I then pressed it into a foil-lined 8x8-inch pan.

Next, I warmed a jar of dark chocolate peanut butter, and poured it right on top. I spread it as gently as possible.

After that, I melted 4 ounces of semisweet chocolate and spread it on top (again as gently as possible). Then I topped it all with sprinkles.

I let it chill in the fridge overnight, and in the morning I had a deliciously decadent snack. Shortbready! Chocolatey! Peanut buttery! Swoon. Staples may have given me the means, but I made it even better. YUM.

Buttery Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Treats (Printable recipe here!)

Ingredients

• 3/4 tin of Dansk Cookies (about 30 cookies)
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
• Dash salt, if you want
• 1 jar peanut butter (I used Dark Chocolate Dreams by Peanut Butter and Co.)
• 4 squares semisweet chocolate (1 ounce each)

Procedure

1. Line an 8x8-inch pan with foil. Set aside.
2. Crush the cookies until they are fairly fine crumbs. Mix with the butter, stirring well. Add in the salt.
3. Press into the bottom of the foil lined pan. Press it down well.
4. Warm the peanut butter until it is pourable. Pour on top of the cookie crust. Spread with a spatula, trying not to upset the cookie crumbs below. Put the pan in the fridge for the moment.
5. In a double boiler, melt the semisweet chocolate. Once melted and pourable, remove the pan from the fridge; gently pour the chocolate over the peanut butter layer on your bars. Use a spatula to spread. Try to do this quickly as the peanut butter will get soft and start to mix with the top layer.
6. Top with sprinkles, if desired. Put back in the fridge and let set until firm before serving (2 hours or so). Keep chilled. 

 Full disclosure, Staples provided me with this Nexus tablet. However, the words and opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own. To see the full line of tablets visit Staples.com.

Clean Out the Cabinets Cake Recipe

It doesn't happen, but every now and again (usually when I know I'm moving soon) I get the urge to clean out all the random ingredients that I have lying around in the kitchen. But I absolutely despise throwing things out--it seems so wasteful. But how to make use of these ingredients in an efficient way? 

Well, when I found myself cleaning out the cabinets recently, I had an inspiration.

It started when I found a box of Jiffy Yellow Cake mix. All of a sudden, I looked at everything else with new eyes.

What if I could combine orphan ingredients, all in one cake? It would certainly be something completely awful, or awesome. Maybe both.

So I rounded up a few things that I thought could possibly work in this monster of a cake: half a jar of peanut butter, a third of a box of Teddy Grahams, a handful of Fun-Size candy bars, and about 2 handfuls of potato chips (plain, salted). 

I started by mixing the cake according to the box ingredients (1 egg, 1/2 cup of water). Then, I stirred in the peanut butter. It smelled really good, and my spirits began to get high.

I then stirred in the rest of it--I broke each candy bar into 3 or 4 pieces, crushed the chips in my hand before adding, but just added the Teddy Grahams as-is. It made for an extremely thick, lumpy batter.

I spread it into a well-greased 8x8-inch pan.

I baked it for 22 minutes at 350 degrees, at which point I took out one of the most alluring-smelling cakes my nose has ever known.

When it cooled, I realized that this was a great opportunity to use another ingredient--half a can of cream cheese frosting--so I added that too. Why not? And sprinkles. Rainbow! 

So, you're wondering after this big buildup, how did it taste? 

I was so glad I hadn't thrown anything out--this cake was a keeper. The peanut butter mixed throughout the batter worked amazingly with the chocolate chunks studded everywhere from the Fun-size candy bars, making it feel like you were eating birthday cake with alternating bites of a peanut butter cup. But all mixed in your mouth. The only weirdness was the Teddy grahams, which had lightly softened in the baking process, just to the point where they were just crunchy enough to distract from the cake texture, but not different enough to really have a crunchy crunch impact. Next time I'd crush them before adding. The chips were a pleasant surprise, adding a nice saltiness which made all the competing tastes--peanut butter, cake, frosting, chocolate--come together in a beautiful salty end note. It's like the most beautiful epilogue. 

Clean Out the Cabinets Cake (Printable recipe here!)

Serves 9

• 1 Box Jiffy Cake
• 1 Egg 
• 1/2 cup water
• Whatever stuff you want to add (I added: half a jar of The Bee's Knees peanut butter by Peanut Butter and Company, 2 handfuls of potato chips, about 6 fun-size candy bars, and a third of a box of Teddy Grahams

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a cake pan (round or square).
2. Prepare the cake mix per the package instructions (1 egg and 1/2 cup water). 
3. Once the batter is ready, stir in the peanut butter (or any "wet" ingredients).
4. Stir in the rest of your ingredients.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, per the package instructions. When golden, remove from the oven. Cool the cake, and turn out on to a wire rack. Let cool completely.
6. If you have frosting, go ahead and frost it. Add sprinkles (why not?). Enjoy!

Sweet Recipe: Mom McComb’s Mocha Hot Chocolate Pie

CakeSpy Note: This is a sweet exclusive, a recipe from Linda Hundt, owner of Sweetie-licious' Pie Pantry in DeWitt, Michigan.  The recipe is for Mom McComb’s Mocha Hot Chocolate Pie and is an exclusive recipe that has not yet been published, but will be published in Linda's forthcoming cookbook, Sweetie-licious Pies (this coming fall).

While growing up in Michigan, there were plenty of snowy days and all the fun activities that went along with the winter weather, but ice skating was a family favorite.  At the end of our street, there was a darling park that was transformed into an ice rink in the winter. The rink was fashioned with a warming house, outdoor lights and music and was surrounded by large Sycamore trees.  Afterschool, my siblings and I would race home, put on our ice skates, and skate down the ice covered street to the rink. We would meet our friends there to play crack the whip, pretend to be Dorothy Hamill, and ice dance to the music all afternoon. 

On Saturdays, after a full day of skating, and numb from the cold, we would anxiously skate home.  At times, we were not only welcomed by the warmth of the house, but also the fragrant smell of chocolate; as my dear mother had made a big pot of steaming, creamy hot chocolate.  Her hot chocolate was extra special, made with cream, cinnamon and a splash of her leftover morning coffee.  The thick and rich cocoa was always topped by a large marshmallow and served in antique teacups and saucers!  I remember our little hands wrapped around our cups, tipping the marshmallow into the pond of chocolate bliss with our tongues. I remember feeling warm with love while sipping on such a special winter treat, as you will, with this most delicious, cool version created as a pie!

Eat pie, and serve love in all you do!

Mom McComb’s Mocha Hot Chocolate Pie

Recommended: Graham Cracker Crust

Filling

• 2 ½ cups whole milk
• ½ cup half & half
• 1 ¼ cups of sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1/3 cup Hershey’s Cocoa
• ½ teaspoon coffee extract OR 1 rounded tablespoon finely ground espresso powder
• ¼ teaspoon of vanilla

Garnish – Optional

• Whipped cream
• Marshmallow cream
• Marshmallows
• Chocolate syrup

Procedure

Mix milk, half & half, sugar, egg yolks in medium pan. Sift cornstarch, cocoa and espresso powder, if using, and add to pan. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Add vanilla extract and coffee extract, if using. Pour filling into pie crust, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Garnish with whipped cream, drizzled marshmallow cream or marshmallows and chocolate syrup.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Funfetti Cake

Certainly, if there were an Official List of Things That Are Grand and Mighty, the following would be on it: Funfetti Cake Mix, Sweetened Condensed Milk, Chocolate Fudge Frosting, and Teddy Grahams. 

So you can imagine how wealthy in sweet riches I felt when I found myself in possession of all of these things, at once, in my kitchen, at the ready. 

Knowing that I needed to make the most of this precious bounty, I thought long and hard before settling on the ideal concoction: a Sweetened Condensed Milk Cake. 

I quickly found a recipe on this forum which detailed how to trick-out a cake mix with sweetened condensed milk for a decadent treat, and was delighted to see that I had all of the ingredients on hand. 

Now, the recipe I started with was somewhat like Houdini Bars--a cake mix crust, but with a sweetened condensed milk and chocolate gooey topping.

But what the heck, I thought, and decided to pour in the sweetened condensed milk right along with the cake mix and see how it baked up. 

And you know what? It worked! The resulting cake was very dense, more like a bar cookie texture; the taste was heavenly sweet, with that lightly caramelly-milk tasting flavor that the sweetened condensed milk so deliciously imparts. So rich. You really shouldn't eat a lot of this. Just kidding. Eat more.

And in a case of pure gilding the lily, I added an extremely thick layer of fudge frosting on top of it all, and since they were on hand, gently placed Teddy Grahams on top. Now, it wasn't my intention, but with those Teddy Grahams gently resting on top of the cake, waiting for their final resting place in the greedy mouth of various sugar fiends, something was pointed out to me by the creators of The Sporkful. These teddies resembled the rows of soldiers so dramatically captured in Gone With the Wind!

So I started to think of it as a Teddy Graham Graveyard. So, that's my secondary title for this cake: Teddy Graham Graveyard Cake.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Funfetti Cake, or Teddy Graham Graveyard Cake

Printable recipe here!

About 1 hour - 24 servings

For the cake

• 1 box cake mix (I used Funfetti)
• 2 large eggs 
• 1/3 cup oil 
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk 
• 1/2 stick butter, cut small

Frosting

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Teddy Grahams, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cake mix, eggs, oil, and sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl with mixer until blended. Pour into the prepared pan. 

Bake 20 to 25 minutes until lightly browned. 

While the cake cools, prepare the frosting. To make the frosting, in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. In a separate bowl, sift together 3 cups of the confectioners' sugar with the cocoa.

Add the sugar and cocoa mixture to the butter mixture in 2 to 3 additions, beating on low speed to incorporate. Pause to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition.

Add the salt, vanilla, and cream; increase speed to medium, and beat until the mixture is very fluffy a spreadable consistency. If the frosting is too soft, add a little more sugar; if it's too thick, add additional cream in small increments, mixing after each addition, until it has reached your desired consistency.

Frost the cake all over, right in the pan. It's gonna be a lot of frosting. Sprinkle with nonpareils or sprinkles of your choice, and don't forget the Teddy Grahams.

The Mystery Pie Is...

There's nothing more exciting than discovering a new dessert.

So when I found myself leafing through the book Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible: The New Classic Guide to Delicious Dishes with More Than 300 Recipes, I was delighted to come across a recipe for a pie that I'd never seen before, and furthermore, it prominently featured an ingredient, that while very well-known, is not strongly associated with pie or dessert. 

Thanks, P-Deeny!

And as it turns out, I have a very special person in my life who is just crazy about this ingredient. He always orders it as a side, and his speeches about what makes the ideal version of this dish can get quite involved and somewhat dramatic. 

So I told him to make the pie.

So he went to the grocery store, picked up some ingredients, and made the recipe that had so enchanted me...

Southern Grits Pie.

Basically a custard pie held together with grits, I personally was curious to hear what a grits lover would say about it. The final thoughts were:

"The finished product was very interesting. In the piece I had for breakfast, I could really see the texture working as a bar cookie, perhaps with a shortbread crust. The texture calls to mind a thick coconut pie, but the taste is different. Adding flavoring would be welcome--as it is with grits as a side. I am curious about how this pie might work with maple syrup added to the filling instead of sugar, or how it might taste with a sauce such as caramel or chocolate, or any fruit topping. But it was strong enough to stand alone--the first piece begged me to have another. A good dessert for someone who doesn't want way-out sweet."

A few more baking notes:

• I used Quaker Grits Quick 5 Minutes 
• The idea of whisking for 20 minutes was daunting, but I decided I'd just do it til they were done--less than 10 minutes. But at that point, the mixture was fairly solid so I stopped it there. Once the butter was in, it was easier to work with. But the mixture definitely wasn't pretty. The flour clumped when mixed in; I tried to use a whisk, but it was too thick. I had to mix quite a bit. It might be a good idea to sift the flour before mixing it in. 
• The baking was straightforward; I had to put foil around the edges to keep the crust for baking more rapidly than the filling. I baked mine for 38 minutes.

Southern Grits Pie (Printable recipe here)

Adapted from Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible: The New Classic Guide to Delicious Dishes with More Than 300 Recipes

Total time: 1 hour. Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup quick-cook grits (not instant)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup butermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 unbaked pie crust
• whipped cream, fruit, or whatever topping you'd like.

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 325.

In a small saucepan, bring 3/4 cup water to a boil. Slowly, whisk in the grits and salt. Cook for 20 minutes (see note, above), whisking constangly. Add the butter and cook for an extra minute. Set aside to let cool slightly.

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Stir into the cooked grits. Pour the grits mixture into the unbaked pie crust and bake until set, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold.