Old Fashioned Southern Tea Ring

As a young girl growing up in the south, going to church socials and covered dish luncheons was nothing unusual.  Whether it was the monthly, after-Sunday-service lunch or a holiday social, the ladies of the church always put their best dishes forward.  As a foodie from birth, I have always associated food with people and events—Mrs. Arrant’s cheese straws, Aunt Karla’s fruit dressing, Mrs. Weishaupt’s tea rings.

Oh, those tea rings…  I can’t imagine anyone not remembering those with special fondness.  Mrs. Weishaupt made them every holiday.  Yeasty, bready, cinnamon goodness, covered in vanilla icing…oh my! 

Sadly, after Mrs. Weishaupt passed away, the tradition of holiday tea rings sort of faded away.  The young girls of my generation grew up and went away to college and life.  The older ladies kept making their specialties, and Mrs. Weishaupt’s tea ring was lost—sort of.

Years ago, my family published a hometown cookbook, featuring my late aunt’s recipes.  Just before the holidays, while looking through that book, I found a recipe for the long forgotten tea rind and set out to learn to make it.  As usual, I set out with the “I got this” attitude and quickly realized that “I didn’t have anything.”  The recipe had some of the ingredients, but not all.  The recipe had instructions, but they were vague and strangely worded.  So my quick plan to learn to make the tea ring quickly became a lesson in experimenting and asking for tea ring memories.

The first attempt was…interesting.  It wasn’t perfect.  In fact, it wasn’t even pretty.  However, it tasted…AMAZING!  At least, I had that part right.  The second attempt was even better.  By the third, fourth, and fifth attempt, I didn’t even need the “recipe.”  By the sixth attempt, with my confidence up, I decided to experiment some more.  Instead of just filling it with the standard cinnamon, sugar, and butter, I added some left over cranberry filling that I’d made for an almond cake.  The results…OMG!  That was probably the best dessert/breakfast/brunch/bread thing I’d ever put in my mouth.  For a diabetic, it was dangerously good.

Southern Tea Ring

1 c. scalded milk

¼ c. shortening

¼ c. sugar

1 tsp salt

4 c. all purpose flour + extra for kneading

1 egg, beaten

1 pkt quick rise yeast, dissolved into ½ c. warm water

½ c. margarine (1 stick softened)

½ c. sugar

4 TBSP ground cinnamon

Place shortening, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.  Pour hot milk over and allow shortening to melt.  Add beaten egg and yeast-water mixture.  Stir to combine.  Add flour. Stir vigorously to combine.  Cover and allow to rise for 2 hours.  Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface.  Knead for 10 minutes.  Allow to rest/relax for 10 minutes.  Roll dough out into a rectangle of about ¼ - ½ inch thickness.  Spread margarine over the entire surface.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Roll up as you would a jelly roll.  Place on a pizza pan or cookie sheet.  Form into a circle/wreath and tuck ends together.  Using kitchen shears, snip 1” cuts around the entire ring.  Using your fingers, turn each dough cut under to expose the cinnamon layer.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.  Allow to cool before frosting.

Icing:

2 c. powdered sugar

1 TBSP meringue powder

4-6 TBSP milk

Mix ingredients in a bowl.  Pour icing into a piping or Ziploc bag.  Snip the end and drizzle over the entire tea ring. 

Serve warm.

Variations

Cranberry Filling:

1 bag cranberries, ½ c. sugar, zest of one orange, ¼ c orange juice, 2 TBSP cornstarch

Cook over medium heat until thick.  Use a whisk to stir and mash cranberries.  Remove from heat and allow to cool before using.  Spread over cinnamon-sugar-butter coating.  Roll up tea ring and bake as ususal.

Mixed Berry Filling:

1 bag frozen mixed berries, ½ c. sugar, 2 TBSP cornstarch

Cook over medium heat until thick.  Use a whisk to stir and mash berries.  Remove from heat and allow to cool before using.  Spread over cinnamon-sugar-butter coating.  Roll up tea ring and bake as ususal.

Guava Cream Cheese Filling:

8 oz cream cheese, ¼ c. powdered sugar, 6 oz. guava paste

Combine cream cheese and powdered sugar.  Spread over dough.  Heat guava paste in the microwave until smooth.  Do not melt.  Drop guava paste by the spoonful over cream cheese layer.  Spread melted guava paste.  Roll up tea ring and bake as usual.

Dark Chocolate Caramel Macchiato Tarts

From World Food Championships 2013 Semi-finals 

Dark Chocolate Shortbread:

2c all purpose flour

¼ tsp salt

1 c. butter, room temperature

½ c. powdered sugar

¼ c. Special Dark Cocoa

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 TBSP milk

In a mixing bowl, cream butter with vanilla.  Add dark cocoa, powdered sugar, and milk.  Mix well.  Add flour and salt.  Mix just until combined.  With hands, form dough into a disk.  On a floured or sugared surface, roll dough to ¼ inch thickness.  Using a biscuit cutter, cut shortbread disks and place on parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Remove parchment sheets from pan and allow shortbreads to cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Truffle:

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

2/3 c. powdered sugar

8 oz. dark chocolate

¼ c.  cold espresso ( ¼ c. water & 2 tsp instant coffee)

Beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add powdered sugar and mix well.  Melt dark chocolate in the microwave.  Beat into cream cheese mixture.  Add cold espresso and mix well.  Place truffle into a piping bag and pipe perimeter of shortbreads, leaving a well for caramel.

Caramel:

1 jar caramel ice cream topping poured into a Ziploc bag. Snip the end, and squeeze approximately 1 tsp into truffle well. Reserve remaining caramel for final drizzle.

Milk Chocolate Cream:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

2/3 c. powdered sugar

8 oz. milk chocolate

3/4 c. Cool Whip

Beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add powdered sugar and mix well.  Melt milk chocolate in the microwave.  Beat into cream cheese mixture.  Fold in Cool Whip.  Spoon milk chocolate cream into a piping bag and pipe over dark chocolate and caramel layer.

Whipped Cream:

1 ½ c. heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

¾ c. powdered sugar

In a cold mixing bowl, beat heavy cream, vanilla, and powdered sugar until stiff.  Spoon whipped cream into a piping bag and pipe a rosette to cover milk chocolate cream.

Caramel Drizzle:

Use remaining caramel ice cream sauce to drizzle over whipping cream.

Refrigerate mini pies for 15-30 minutes before serving.

Plating…

On each glass plate, 1 shortbread, dark chocolate truffle, a caramel well, the 2nd shortbread, milk chocolate cream, the 3^rd shortbread, whipped cream, powdered sugar and caramel drizzle.  On the plate, powdered sugar, more caramel drizzle, a rosette of whipped cream & chocolate covered coffee bean.

Cherry-filled Biscones

Ingredients:

2 ½ c. pancake/waffle mix

1 egg

½ c. half & half

¼ c. melted butter

¼ c. sugar

1 can cherry pie filling

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, stir together pancake mix, egg, half & half, melted butter, and sugar.  Batter will be thick and lumpy. 

Spray cookie sheets with non-stick cooking spray or cover with parchment.  Spoon biscuit batter/dough onto cookie sheet by the large spoonful.  Spoon 1-2 TBSP cherry pie filling on the center of each biscone, pressing filling into dough.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and cool.  Dust with powdered sugar or glaze.

Asian Pork Meatballs with Teriyaki Glazed Noodles

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

1 lb ground pork

1 egg

¼ c. chopped red onion

2 TBSP soy sauce

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp black pepper

2 TBSP dried parsley

¼ c. dried bread crumbs

Teriyaki Glaze:

1 c. brown sugar

¾ c. soy sauce

1 TBSP butter

Pasta:

¾ lb. dried spaghetti

2 TBSP olive oil

¼ c. julienned carrots (carrot sticks)

¼ c. chopped green onion

¼ c. chopped celery

2 cloves garlic--minced

¼ c. julienned water chestnuts

3 TBSP Hoisin Sauce

Teriyaki Glaze

Directions:

Combine all meatball ingredients in a bowl.  Using a cookie scoop, form pork into meatballs and place on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil sprayed with Pam. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until done.

In a saucepan, combine soy sauce, brown sugar, and butter.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Boil pasta according to package directions to al dente’.  While pasta cooks, heat olive oil in a large skillet.  Sautee carrots, onion, celery, garlic, and water chestnuts over medium heat until carrots are tender.  Add Hoisin and half of teriyaki glaze. Add pasta, directly from the water, allowing some of the pasta water to cook with veggies.  Using tongs, toss pasta in veggie & sauce mix, coating every noodle.  Serve with meatballs.

When meatballs are done, submerge/coat with remaining teriyaki glaze.  Serve meatballs with pasta.

Garnish with green onion.

Memphis BBQ Potato Salad

Ingredients

2 lbs. red skinned potatoes, cut in half

¼ c. chopped green onion

¼  c. chopped celery

4 slices of bacon (crumbled)

½ cup of shredded Colby jack cheese

½ c French fried onions

½ c. cubed cooked pork roast

Dressing:

½  c. mayonnaise

½ c SweetBaby Ray’s BBQ sauce

Directions:

Boil potatoes in water until just fork tender.  Do not over cook.  Drain potatoes and cool completely before mixing & dressing. Cut cooked potatoes into 1 inch chunks. Combine all ingredients.

In a small bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients.  Pour dressing over potato mixture.  Toss gently to combine.

Serve immediately.

Sittin on a Sandbar Key Lime Pie

 2 c. crushed vanilla wafers

2 TBSP granulated sugar

5 TBSP. melted butter

8 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese-softened

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

1-15 oz can Eagle Brand Condensed milk

¾ c. Coco Lopez (Cream of Coconut)

3/4 c. key lime juice

In a bowl, combine vanilla wafer crumbs, sugar and melted butter.  Press into a 9 inch deep dish pie plate.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool to the touch before filling.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add eggs & egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add condensed milk and beat well.  Add key lime juice and Coco Lopez  and beat well.  Pour into crust.  Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes or until center is set to the touch.  Allow to cool before refrigerating.

Whipped Cream Layer

1 c. heavy whipping cream

1 c. powdered sugar

In a cold bowl, beat whipping cream and powdered sugar until stiff.  Pipe large rosettes around edges.

Garnish

Lime slices & white chocolate sea shells

To make white chocolate sea shells:

Melt white chocolate almond bark or white chocolate pieces in microwave.  Pour into sea shell molds.  Chill until set.