Looking Back - The Class of 2011

Happy 2012! The photo above is from a cake we cut my with in-laws in keeping with Greek tradition. My father-in-law got it at a wonderful Greek bakery in Atlanta. I did not make it! It's a simple spice cake with a powdered sugar icing. There's a lucky coin hidden in it somewhere and we've yet to find it. Of course, whoever finds it will have extra good luck in the coming year. 

I love January because it seems that everyone is a bit more optimistic and excited about the possibilities the future holds. People hit the gym, take on new project, seek to mend broken relationships, vow to break bad habits and the list goes on. (Of course, we won’t talk about February when some of those resolutions have gone to the wayside!) No, I’m going to jump on the positive “life is what you make it” bandwagon and ride it as long as I can!

This blog started a year ago out of new year’s inspiration and I’m quite proud that I kept it going. You would think it would be an easy thing to sit down and write some stuff, take a few photos and send it out to the world, but it’s much harder than I ever thought. The hardest part for me is the push and pull I feel from my other “jobs” – paid professional writer, school and church volunteer, wife and mother.  There’s always a load of laundry, a fight to referee, someone who wants me to volunteer for something – and of course a meal to cook and a mess to clean! Nonetheless, one of my vows is to make more time for this blog – my writing therapy, I call it. I’m so happy that you all have found me and are interested in what I have to say. There are so many distractions out there in this great big world of ours – and I’m so happy you have taken the time to read these words.  I have a month of fun posts planned that will culminate in a giveaway to celebrate Time for Good Food’s one-year “blogiversary.” Stay tuned!

Before I get to all that, let’s take a walk down “memory lane.” January is also a time to reflect on the past year. I thought it would be fun to take a look back at some of my favorite posts – especially for those of you who may be new to the site. For fun, I’ve elected my “Class of 2011 Superlatives.” These are the coolest kids in class, so you should definitely check them out! J

– Most Popular and Most Athletic –

Squirrel, It’s What’s for Dinner

This revelation on my redneck childhood gets the most “hits” by far. A must-read if you’ve ever pondered cooking a squirrel. This post was also voted “Most Athletic” because it takes a good deal of athletic prowess to chase down a speedy squirrel.  (Plus, we we all know the most popular kids were always the jocks!)

 – Most Intelligent –

Food Matters

It is certainly most intelligent to support your local food movement. This post contains links to organizations that support farmers and organic foods, particularly here in Georgia. Yeah, this one's a nerd.

– Most Likely to Succeed –

Time for Tea Cakes

You will win friends and go places if you know how to make a good Southern tea cake. My second most popular post.

– Funniest – 

Imagining a Royal Wedding – Southern Style

A tongue-in-cheek “reimagining” of Kate and Will’s Southern style wedding. Like Harry, definitely the class clown!

– Most Talented –

Kinship in the Kitchen

Reflecting on my time in the kitchen with my mom (who was voted “Most Talented” back in her day) and truly the most talented person I’ve ever known. This post is certainly closest to my heart.

– Most Attractive –

Inspired by St. Simon's Island

St. Simon’s Island gets the prize for being the most beautiful place I have visited this year. I’m also pretty pleased with my photos in this post. A sign that my fledgling photography skills are improving!

– Most Dependable –

Banana Pudding, Please

My mama’s banana pudding will not let you down. If meringue scares you, just top it with whipped cream!

– Best All Around –

Yet to come ...

Happy New Year and may be a wonderful year for you!

Tea Cakes, Take Two

Just a quick post to share with you my guest post on Frosting for the Cause, a wonderful project that brings together food bloggers and bakers from across the United States and Canada (and beyond) with the goal of raising funds and awareness for women's cancer. Click here to read what I wrote about my mom's battle with ovarian cancer and my "fancied up" tea cake recipe. I decided to write about tea cakes again, because they remind me of my mom and home. 

As I baked five dozen cookies to give away, I was reminded of my mom doing the same to promote a youth mentoring project was heading up several years ago. She baked tea cakes, bagged them up and handed them out with a little story about how she used to bake tea cakes with her great aunt, Aunt Rene, who was a mentor to her. Aunt Rene lived alone, just down the road in the "Granny House" as everyone called it since it was the old homestead. Mama used to go over and visit with her after school and they would cook together. They once made a "tater dinner" with different variations of sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes (as I grew up calling them). Aunt Rene later died of cancer, likely colon but they weren't really so good at diagnosing cancer back then, so no one is really sure. Remembering my mom and stories I heard about Aunt Rene, it just seemed fitting to make tea cakes again.

Read my previous post, Time for Tea Cakes, if you are interested in their history and my variation on the classic. This time around I followed a more traditional recipe using butter, shortening and White Lily self-rising flour. It is what my mama and Granny used to make their tea cakes, and it is kind of nice because you can adjust the amount of flour to get the dough stiffness you want, without worrying about the leavening getting off balance. I also iced them, which we rarely did, but I thought it would fun to dress them up a little.

Finally, I wanted to post links to the two charitable organizations I donated to for this cause: the Georgia Ovarian Cancer Alliance and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home, a hospice for terminal cancer patients who cannot afford adequate nursing care elsewhere. I donated my cookies to the hospice, which I had never really noticed before despite being located close to my home. It is such a peaceful and beautiful place -- in the shadow of Turner Field. When we drove away, I noticed the receptionist digging into a bag of cookies and it made me happy. That's what it's all about -- sharing love through food.

Kinship in the Kitchen

Yesterday at my dad’s house I found myself looking through a box labeled “Memory Box” in my mom’s neat and distinct handwriting. In it were old report cards, high school diplomas, birth certificates, pictures we had drawn as kids, letters my dad had written home when he was in the National Guard during Vietnam, newspaper clippings – all manner of things from different eras. I could have spent all day looking at everything, reading it and soaking it all in.

As much as I love going through old things, this time it left me a bit melancholy. Going home to my parents’ house is always bittersweet. Most of you know me, and know that I lost my mom to ovarian cancer 4 ½ years ago. The house is in many ways as she left it – her artwork adorns the walls, the “art room” is still stocked with supplies, the piano sits unplayed, and some of her cookbooks still neatly line a shelf in the kitchen next to her teapot collection. I love feeling close to her by being close to her “things,” but at the same time their presence reminds me of the giant void her absence has left in my life.

I’ve come to realize, though, that writing this blog is one way that I am connecting with her even still. Food was, and continues to be, such an important part of my family life. I find that the times I feel closest to her are when I’m in the kitchen making biscuits, chicken and dumplings and other dishes she taught me to make – the same dishes her mama taught her to make. The kitchen was the place we spent the most time together – her cooking away with frenzied efficiency; me watching or begging to help. Later in life, we’d cook together or I would simply hang out and chat while she worked her magic. The only time I didn’t enjoy spending in the kitchen was cleaning up. Some things never change!

Now I have a five-year-old tugging on my apron strings asking to “help,” and I’m reminded of the importance of passing on family and cultural food traditions. When I make special things that I remember having as a child, I’m always sure to tell him, “My mommy cooked these things for me when I was little.” And he feels a connection, too.

Six years ago, as part of my graduate studies, I had the opportunity to document the women in my family – my mom, granny, aunt and me - making biscuits. My goal was to examine Southern biscuit making as a folk craft – a skill featuring traditional materials and “construction” passed down from generation to generation. This experience really had an impact on me as I witnessed the ways that we all learned from one another and the importance of kitchen and kinship. You’ll definitely be hearing more about it in posts to come.

Inspired by telling these stories, I dug around my mom’s kitchen and brought back with me some of her cookbooks and hand-written recipes. Since I had just experimented with tea cakes in my last post, I was thrilled to find her recipe neatly written on one of her recipe cards. If you want a more traditional Southern tea cake, these are sure to please. I also want to thank you for your kind words and the great response I’ve been getting to my blog so far. I really want this to be a labor of love, a place for inspiration and a place for you to dig from your “memory box” and share, too. It would be a whole lot easier to cook out of a box, but as my mama would say, “That’s not fit to eat!” Food is central to who we are, where we’ve been and what we are to become. Let’s enjoy!

Tea Cakes (recipe by Joyce Corn Roberts)
1 stick of butter
½ c. shortening
1 ½ c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
6+ cups self-rising flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat with electric mixer until fluffy. Add about 3 cups of flour mixing well. Add more flour until very stiff dough is formed. Form 1-inch balls in palms of hands. Place about two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with bottom of smooth drinking glass dipped in sugar. Bake about 8-10 minutes until very light brown. Makes about 6 dozen.

Time for Tea Cakes

We’re going into day three of “Snowmegedon 2011” as a few folks around here have named it. The snow, rather ice, is losing its charm as the city has been virtually shut down. The cold weather is making me go into hibernation mode. All I want to do is cook, eat, sleep (and write). While there were a million other household projects I could and should have been working on, all I could think about yesterday is what to bake. Nothing says “home, comfort and warmth” more to me than fresh from the oven tea cakes like my mom and granny used to make. Whenever the weather was bad, we were sick or just needed a pick-me-up, tea cakes were the cure. When my mom was sick in the hospital for months, a family friend kept sending her amazing homemade tea cakes down to the hospital with anyone heading that way. They brought such comfort during a difficult time.

After dinner last night, I set out to make tea cakes with the hope they would raise my spirits and give the endurance I need for another day of being stuck in the house with my young children. Food is magical like that! My five-year-old was very confused when the tea cakes came out of the oven. “That’s not a cake,” he said. True. Southern style tea cakes are actually a kin to a soft, billowy sugar cookie. After he went to bed, I did a little research and learned that the word “cookie” is derived from the Dutch word, koekje, which means “little cake.” I should have told him that all cookies were thought of as little cakes at one time!

Southern tea cakes are thought to be descended from English tea cakes. They were likely adapted by enslaved African American cooks who made them with the simple ingredients they had on hand – flour, butter (or lard), sugar and eggs. Another theory is that English and Scotch-Irish settlers, especially in the Appalachians, adapted the butter cookies or biscuits of their homeland. In either case (likely a combination of the two), the dense, soft and mildly sweet cookie eventually became a staple of the Southern kitchen.

Every Southern cook has their own version of tea cakes. My granny’s are more firm and crunchy. She uses margarine so they aren’t as buttery and soft as my mom’s usually were. Our family friend (I mentioned earlier) incorporated powdered sugar into her tea cakes so they were a bit more delicate – almost like shortbreads. I still haven’t perfected my signature tea cake. What I made last night was an experiment that turned out quite well. I made a small batch because I only had one egg – and it’s not like I could go to the store. I also didn’t have any buttermilk which I think gives them a nice tang. I did have heavy whipping cream which ended up giving a nice texture – almost scone like.

I also experimented with using whole wheat flour. Inspired by my friend Niki at Life, in Recipes, I have been trying to incorporate more whole wheat into my baking. I think you really have to experiment with proportions and sneak it in so that it doesn’t change the flavor and texture too dramatically. I used King Arthur Organic White Whole Wheat Flour since it has a milder flavor. My mom and granny would have only used White Lily flour, of course. I used one cup of whole wheat and one cup of regular flour to see how it turned out. The result was that you couldn’t really taste a difference. Maybe next time I’ll go all the way.

Without further adieu, here is my recipe if you want to try it out. Note that I am an improviser – especially when it comes to flavoring. Some measurements are not exact. Let your intuition be your guide!:

Tea Cakes
¼ cup butter (1/2 stick)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup heavy cream (milk or buttermilk would also work)
Lemon zest (maybe around a tsp. -- just grate until it feels right)
Vanilla (a good splash – again until it feels right)
1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of whole wheat flour (note: can use 2 cups regular flour instead)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg. Slowly add cream or milk, lemon zest and vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients and add gradually to the wet mixture. The dough should be pretty firm. Roll into balls and place about an inch apart on a cookie sheet. Wet a glass bottom, dip in sugar and flatten each ball. Sprinkle the tops with more sugar if you desire. (You can also roll out the dough and cut into rounds if you’d like). Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are golden brown.

I’d love to hear from you about your tea cake memories and recipes. Do you actually enjoy your tea cakes with tea (maybe sweet tea)? I think they are excellent dipped in coffee or with a glass of milk. If you try my recipe, let me know what you think. It’s always a work in progress!