You Be Sweet: Sharing Your Heart One Down-Home Dessert at a Time
By Patsy Caldwell and Amy Lyles Wilson
4.5/5
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About this ebook
The sharing of food is akin to the sharing of one's heart, and Patsy Caldwell and Amy Lyles Wilson can think of no better way to "be sweet."
There are myriad ways to "be sweet" such as volunteering at the homeless shelter, remembering an aunt’s birthday, and writing thank-you notes. Then, there is food: baking a pie for a new neighbor, icing a cake for a coworker who is ill, or mixing up a batch of brownies for a family gathering.
These are the types of food traditions that inspire You Be Sweet, a celebration of southern dessert recipes and the people who cherish them. In this compilation of stories and sweet treats, Patsy Caldwell and Amy Lyles Wilson peek in on those occasions special enough to demand something decadent, and memorable enough to be repeated time and again.
In You Be Sweet, you’ll find delicious down-home desserts such as:
- German Chocolate Cake Rolls
- Doughtnut Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce
- Miss Vara’s Cherry-Berry Jam Cake with Caramel Icing
- Key Lime-Lemon Cake
- Blueberry Beignets with White Chocolate Sauce
You Be Sweet is about more than just food but present the opportunity for connection and community and inspire you to serve up a piece of yourself to others as an expression of welcome, sympathy, celebration, or concern.
Patsy Caldwell
Patsy Caldwell has been a culinary professional for more than fifty years in a career that has included teaching, catering, cooking, and writing. She is a mother of two and grandmother of two. She lives in Charlotte, Tennessee, next to the water tower with her husband Bill, where they enjoy entertaining anywhere from two to twenty-two people, depending on the occasion.
Read more from Patsy Caldwell
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Reviews for You Be Sweet
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a cookbook focusing on all things sweet and delicious. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful photographs of desserts scattered throughout the book. Patsy Caldwell takes some of her favorite Southern confections and creates a collection of recipes that you'll definitely want to make at home.Not every recipe includes a photograph, but there are still plenty to keep you turning the pages. The book is divided into eleven chapters. Each chapter begins with personal stories that will warm your heart and give you background information on many of the recipes included. These were really fun to read.If you love desserts, you need to read this cookbook. I found that I had most of the ingredients at home already. I am really excited to try things like, Doughnut Bread Pudding with vanilla sauce, pink lemonade cupcakes and the Peach coconut upside down cake. I also have a request from my daughter to make the Red Velvet cheesecake. I'm so happy to add this cookbook to my collection!I received a complimentary copy of this book from Booksneeze review program. The opinions expressed are my own and I am not required to give a positive review.
Book preview
You Be Sweet - Patsy Caldwell
© 2012 by Amy Lyles Wilson, Patsy Caldwell, and Bryan Curtis
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Photography by Ron Manville
Food Styling by Teresa Blackburn
Photos on ♣, ♦, and ♥ are from Fotolia.com
Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Caldwell, Patsy, 1939–
You be sweet : sharing your heart one down-home dessert at a time / Patsy Caldwell, Amy Lyles Wilson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4016-0173-7 (hardback)
1. Desserts. I. Wilson, Amy Lyles, 1961– II. Title.
TX773.C245 2012
641.86—dc23
2012009400
Printed in the United States of America
12 13 14 15 16 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the memory of my father, Hayden Foster. He loved sweets, and because of that, we had dessert with every meal. Also, to my brothers and sisters, Edward, Elizabeth, Jr., Louise, Juanita, Tess, Don, and Billy.
PATSY CALDWELL
In honor of my sisters, Ann Holifield and Ginny Mounger, and my husband, Henry Dennis Granberry III, who have taught me, through food and other means, what it means to be a family.
AMY LYLES WILSON
9781401601737_INT_0006_001CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1: Sip and See the Baby
CARROT CUPCAKES WITH ORANGE CREAM CHEESE ICING
CHOCOLATE SPOONS
HOT SPICED COFFEE
SIP ’N’ SEE
PUNCH
GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST
COCONUT BUTTER CRUST
TOFFEE BARS
GRANNY ERA’S COOKIES
STRAWBERRY JAM BARS
CANTALOUPE POPSICLES
SOUTHERN BRUSCHETTA
STRAWBERRY TEA SANDWICHES
CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN MUFFINS
LOUISE’S CHOCOLATE PEANUT COCONUT BARS
STRAWBERRY BREAD PUDDING WITH CARAMEL SAUCE
NECTARINE CRUMBLE
POUND CAKE WITH BLUEBERRY BUTTER
CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING
Chapter 2: Sweet Georgia Visits Her Mother
CORNBREAD SPIDER CAKE
PEACH CRISP
IRON SKILLET CARAMEL PIE
JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED: CINNAMON ROLLS WITH VANILLA ICING
MOLASSES PECAN PIE
TEACAKES
SOUR CREAM LEMON PIE
PEACH COBBLER
TRADITIONAL SOUTHERN BLACKBERRY COBBLER
FUNERAL PIE
PEPPERMINT ICE CREAM
OLD FASHIONED SOUTHERN CHESS PIE
HOT BUTTERED LEMONADE
RICE PUDDING
PEACH AMBROSIA
RHUBARB-STRAWBERRY PIE
HEIRLOOM BLACK WALNUT PIE
Chapter 3: The Ladies Who Lunch
BROILED GRAPEFRUIT
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS APPLE SORBET
FRUIT SALSA WITH CINNAMON CHIPS
WHITE AND DARK CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
PEAR PIE WITH CHEDDAR CHEESE PASTRY
STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM PIE
VANILLA SOUFFLÉ WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE
WHITE CHOCOLATE SOUP WITH BROWNIES
WHITE CHOCOLATE PARTY MIX
NO RUM PUNCH
STRAWBERRIES ON A CLOUD
PECAN COBBLER
PECAN COOKIE CUPS
MOLTEN CHOCOLATE CAKES
FROZEN STRAWBERRY SALAD
NO-CRUST FUDGE PIE
LEMON-FILLED CAKE ROLL
CHOCOLATE BANANA CARAMEL CREAM PIE
RED VELVET CHEESECAKE
NO FLAMES, NO FUSS EASY BANANAS FOSTER
Chapter 4: Reverend Boydston Comes to Town
HOMEMADE CARAMEL CANDY
SPONGE CAKE DELIGHT
WHITE CHOCOLATE BROWNIE CHEESECAKE
ALEZE’S CHOCOLATE MERINGUE PIE
PURPLE PLUM GOOD PECAN BREAD
DOWNTOWN DATE NUT MACAROON PIE
RIBBON PIE
SINFULLY DELICIOUS PECANS
CHERRY-APPLE FRIED PIES
CHOCOLATE CHIP MERINGUE BITES
TOASTED ANGEL FOOD CAKE WITH ORANGE SAUCE
DOUGHNUT BREAD PUDDING WITH VANILLA SAUCE
STRAWBERRY SNOWBALL CAKE
GRAPE ICE CREAM
CHERRY MUFFINS WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS
FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE
Chapter 5: Aunt Carlisle Cuts Back—A Little
FRESH BLUEBERRY CREAM PIE
SUGAR-FREE PEACH ICE CREAM
CARAMEL POPCORN WITH PEANUTS
CHERRY CHEESECAKE BARS
GAY TAYLOR’S RAISIN BRAN MUFFINS
PEACH SORBET
STRAWBERRY-GRAPEFRUIT COOLER
FALL HARVEST APPLE CAKE WITH CARAMEL GLAZE
PINEAPPLE APPLESAUCE SUGAR-FREE CAKE
MINTED PINEAPPLE FREEZE
FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES WITH PEANUT BUTTER CHIPS
FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE
Chapter 6: Luckettville Bands Together
FRIED BLACKBERRY PIES
PINEAPPLE-BANANA CAKE
FRIED PECAN PIES WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS
BEST-THING-YOU-EVER-PUT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH YELLOW CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE ICING
GRAHAM CRACKER CAKE WITH PINEAPPLE LEMON FILLING AND CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
BANANA BUTTERSCOTCH BREAD
KEY LIME-LEMON CAKE
JUANITA’S DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE ICING
CANDY BAR COOKIE POPS
PEACH-COCONUT UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE
GERMAN CHOCOLATE FRIED PIES
GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE ROLL
WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIP AND PISTACHIO OATMEAL COOKIES
WHITE CHOCOLATE COCONUT CAKE WITH COCONUT FILLING AND BOILED ICING
MILKY WAY PECAN POUND CAKE
Chapter 7: Honey’s Sweet Tooth
STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE CUPCAKES
FRESH FROZEN RASPBERRY YOGURT
APPLE AND CRANBERRY MUFFINS WITH WALNUTS
RANDY’S FAVORITE BANANA SPLIT PIE
LEMON-RASPBERRY CUPCAKES WITH LEMON ICING
PINK LEMONADE CUPCAKES
WHOOPIE PECAN PIES
CARAMEL-DIPPED APPLES WITH CHOCOLATE AND PECANS
SCOTT’S CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE
MISS IRENE’S APPLE DUMPLINGS WITH CHEDDAR CHEESE PASTRY
PISTACHIO PUDDING CAKE
STRAWBERRY CAKE WITH STRAWBERRY FROSTING
BIG EASY BLUEBERRY BEIGNETS WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE SAUCE
PEACH-BLUEBERRY SMOOTHIE
CHOCOLATE-PECAN CRÈME BRÛLÉE
SOUTHERN GLAZED DOUGHNUTS
FIG MUFFINS
SURPRISE COCONUT PIE
SWEET POTATO MUFFINS
Chapter 8: When Neighbors Give You Lemons . . .
BLACKBERRY CRUMB PIE
HOMEMADE BLACKBERRY JELLY
ORANGE CHESS PIE
PECAN PIE WITH HONEY PECAN TOPPING
DESSERT FOR THE ANGELS
DROP-BY COOKIES AND CREAM PIE
CHOCOLATE GRAVY
TURTLE CHEESECAKE
CHERRY COFFEECAKE
LEMON LAYER CAKE
HONEY BUN CAKE WITH VANILLA GLAZE
GRANDCHILDREN’S FAVORITE BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS
DEVIL’S FOOD CREAM CHEESE BROWNIES
PEACH PRESERVES
HOT SPICED TEA MIX
Chapter 9: Family Reunion
DIVIDED SOUTH BANANA PUDDING
ZUCCHINI BREAD
PEANUT BUTTER SAUCE
MARSHMALLOW ICE CREAM
CONCORD GRAPE PIE
WILMA’S KEY LIME PIE
CHOCOLATE SAUCE
CHOCOLATE CHIP PECAN PIE
BROWN SUGAR ICE CREAM
VERNA’S SOUR CREAM APPLE PIE WITH CINNAMON TOPPING
WATERMELON POPSICLES
BAY’S FUDGE PIE
GERALDINE’S PAPER BAG APPLE PIE
Chapter 10: Mary Beth Has a Bridal Shower
CARAMEL PECAN CHOCOLATE CAKE
MARIE’S PEACH DESSERT
WHITE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
PEACH TEA
EMILY’S CHOCOLATE CREAM TOES
CINNAMON CREAM BISCUITS WITH PECAN TOPPING
RASPBERRY, ALMOND, AND WHITE CHOCOLATE COFFEECAKE
JUST PERFECT CHERRY WALNUT BARS WITH CHERRY ICING
APRICOT DIP
OATMEAL CAKE WITH PECAN-COCONUT TOPPING
CHOCOLATE FONDUE
MINT TEA
CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOW SQUARES
EMPTY-NESTER COCONUT BANANA NUT BREAD
Chapter 11: Holidays and Traditions
SOUR CREAM BLUEBERRY PANCAKES WITH CINNAMON HONEY SYRUP
CHOCOLATE CANDY NUT CLUSTERS
MISS VARA’S CHERRY-BERRY JAM CAKE WITH CARAMEL ICING
STRAWBERRY BUTTER
NIVA’S PRALINES
SARA’S PEANUT BRITTLE
PERSIMMON BREAD
FRUIT COCKTAIL CAKE
CARROT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE ICING
HONEY PEANUT BUTTER TOPPING
COCONUT CHOCOLATE BUCKEYES
PUMPKIN PIE
PUMPKIN CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE ICING
TESS’S DIVINITY
FRUIT CAKE COOKIES
GINGERBREAD WITH LEMON SAUCE
THREE-TIMES-THE-COCONUT CAKE WITH DIVINITY ICING
DEVIL’S FOOD PEPPERMINT ICE CREAM CAKE
JAM CAKE
FRENCH TOAST FINGERS WITH ORANGE SAUCE
SWEET POTATO PIE WITH PRALINE TOPPING
CHRISTMAS PEPPERMINT BARK
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Index
INTRODUCTION
You be sweet,
my mother said to me as long ago as 1967, when I was six years old and heading off to my first day of school at Hattie Casey Elementary. She uttered those same words as recently as last week when I left her at the retirement home in Mississippi where she lives to drive the four hundred miles back to my home in Tennessee. Like generations of other Southerners, that phrase has served my family well for decades, regardless of the occasion. Mother practically raised my two sisters and me on those three little words, along with be careful,
mind your manners,
and always wear a slip.
No doubt her own mother offered similar instruction to her when she was growing up as the only daughter in a family of three sons in rural Mississippi in the 1920s and 1930s.
The all-purpose phrase saw me through my childhood: You be sweet,
Mother advised as I went next door to jump on a neighbor’s trampoline; You be sweet,
she said when I told her the clique in junior high wanted little to do with me; You be sweet,
she repeated when, in my twenties, I relocated to a town where I knew nary a soul; and now, You be sweet,
she says as we hang up the phone from our long-distance calls.
You might be led to think I wasn’t a nice person, as often as Mother has encouraged me to be sweet.
And if she trotted out the harsher translation, Don’t be ugly
—not to be interpreted, as it was by a friend who’s not from around here, as a demand to look pretty—I knew I had better watch my step. Surely I was overreacting when someone was rude to me at school, wasn’t I? Didn’t I want the best for the person who was promoted over me at work despite my seniority?
But I dare say I grew up as decent and civilized as the next girl in the Deep South, born to a culture crammed full of tradition, hospitality, and decorum. It’s what we say, like bless your heart
and y’all come back.
It’s also how we live. These customs are such a part of me that I can’t imagine not having the terms in my lexicon. I even catch myself telling the dog, Hiram, to be sweet
when I leave him alone in the house. What I really mean, I suppose, is Don’t chew up the furniture,
but that’s not what flows from my mouth. I say it to my husband when he’s on his way to the driving range, unlikely to interact with another human being for two solid hours (which, if the truth be known, is his preference).
There are myriad ways to be sweet,
of course, such as volunteering at the homeless shelter, remembering Aunt Carlisle’s birthday, and writing thank-you notes. And then there is food: baking a pie for a new neighbor, icing a cake for a coworker who is ill, or mixing up a batch of brownies for a family gathering. As with Bless Your Heart: Saving the World One Covered Dish at a Time, Patsy Caldwell and I invite you to consider that the recipes in You Be Sweet are about more than food. We like to think they present opportunities for connection and community, and we hope they inspire you to serve up a piece to others as an expression of welcome, sympathy, celebration, or concern. For we believe that the sharing of food is akin to the sharing of one’s heart, and we can think of no better way for us to be sweet
to one another.
AMY LYLES WILSON
19781401601737_INT_0012_001Back in Ida’s day, women had babies without making a fuss or calling attention to themselves. They simply got married, got pregnant—in that order—and ran an announcement in the local paper heralding the child’s arrival. Maybe some friends at church hosted a tasteful shower in the fellowship hall, with punch and an ice ring of frozen fruit. Quite possibly, there were pastel-colored mints in glass bowls and a sheet cake with roses. The gifts were practical, like cloth diapers and handmade bibs. But there were no printed invitations, no party favors, and certainly no games requiring you to drink punch out of a sippy cup. The more experienced mothers wished you well and offered you sound advice. Then you went home, wrote your thank-you notes, and got down to the business of raising your young one as best you could.
Of course, baby showers aren’t the only societal norm that has changed since Ida was young. Take television, for instance. For the life of her, Ida can’t figure out why people seem to be fascinated by something called reality TV.
Surely their own lives should be interesting enough without needing to spend countless hours watching strangers try to outwit one another on an island or housewives fight over one another’s husbands. And Ida has yet to comprehend exactly what the Internet is or why everyone under fifty needs to check something called e-mail
constantly. Her own grandchildren are glued to their cell phones every time they visit her. Sometimes Ida wonders why they bother to come at all, but she knows the answer to that in her heart of hearts: Ida raised her daughter, Claire, right. So Claire knows that it’s proper to bring the grandchildren to visit their grandmother. And she does, every two weeks like clockwork.
All Ida can do is shake her head when she thinks back to Claire’s first pregnancy. Even before she was showing, Claire hired a childbearing coach and signed up for seminars about raising confident children. It wasn’t long before she circulated petitions calling for the town council to provide a breastfeeding station in the library and organized community workshops on how to prepare organic baby food. Eventually Claire parlayed her maternal knowledge and enthusiasm into a top-rated mommy blog. Ida has no idea what a blog is, she’s sorry to say, but she knows it provides Claire with a sense of accomplishment and purpose. For that, Ida is grateful.
Ida tries to be a hip grandmother, really she does, but sometimes today’s world threatens to get the best of her. She’d never heard of a gender reveal party,
for example, until her granddaughter Mallory, Claire’s middle child, became pregnant. Ida was actually somewhat scandalized to think that people would know the baby’s gender before it arrived. Whatever happened to being surprised? Bless their hearts; these young people today want to have everything figured out before they even get started. Where’s the fun in that, wonders Ida.
Now there is to be something called a sip ’n’ see
for Mallory and her infant son. Despite Ida’s best efforts to appear with it,
she hasn’t a clue as to the purpose of the event. She just knows Claire and Mallory expect her to attend, and she doesn’t like to disappoint her family.
Basically it’s just friends and family gathering to ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over how cute the baby is,
says Claire when Ida calls to inquire.
There’s always lots of good food,
Claire continues. Maybe you could bring your strawberry bread pudding? It’s Mallory’s favorite.
Food is something Ida can relate to, and to her mind it’s one of the few things that can stand the test of time and unite young people with old across the generations. Everyone likes to eat, regardless of how newfangled the world has become. Now that Claire has inspired Ida with the thought of taking a dessert to the sip ’n’ see,
Ida goes to the pantry and takes out the tin box that contains her most cherished recipes, those scribblings from another era that offer more than mere instruction to Ida; they provide connection, and allow Ida an excuse to revisit some of her fondest memories.
Ida doesn’t really need to read the index card telling her how to make strawberry bread pudding, but just holding it in her hands takes her straight to the summers of her childhood when she would spend two weeks with her own grandmother in South Carolina. Their days would start early, maybe with a walk around the farm, before gathering in the kitchen to make sour cream blueberry pancakes with cinnamon honey syrup. It was there that Ida learned to cook.
During those simpler times, back when all Ida had to worry about was eating her vegetables and minding her manners, she also learned what it meant to be family. More than once Ida saw her grandmother preparing