Peach Pizza

Yummy...

One of the ladies I work with brought this unique dessert to our school Christmas Party.  It was a huge hit, and we all just had to have the recipe.  The dessert is made in three layers.

Crust:  1 cup pecans

             1/4 cup brown sugar

             1 cup butter

             1 and 1/2 cups of flour

Mix the softened butter and flour until they crumble.

Then, mix in the brown sugar and pecans. 

Place in a 9x13 baking dish.

Press to cover the bottom of the dish.

Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until light brown.  Cool.

Middle Layer:
        8 ounces softened cream cheese
        2 cups powdered sugar
        16 ounces cool whip
         1 large can peaches (drained)

Combine cream cheese and powdered sugar in mixing bowl.

Beat in cool whip.

Put over crust.

Spread to the edges.  (This layer is very delicious.)

Now, put on the peaches.

Top Layer: 

 4 Tablespoons flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup cold water

1 box (3 ounces) peach gelatin

Combine the flour and sugar in a sauce pan.

Add the water, mix well, and cook until thick.

Add gelatin, and stir until it dissolves.

Cool.

Pour gelatin over peaches.

Refrigerate.

And now I have a surprise for my family.

They are constantly coming to my house looking for the food I have blogged about making...usually we have long eaten everything by the time I get my blog written.

But not this time.

Dear family, we will be eating this dessert during the Christmas holidays.

So get ready...I think you are going to love it!!!!!

Christmas

It's the most wonderful time of the year! 

We are having a great week in the Big Woods.  Life is slow and relaxing this week as we prepare for Christmas.  It is such a blessing to have an entire week off from work to prepare.  We have been making candy, wrapping presents, and enjoying a little rest in between activities.  I hope all of you are enjoying your week, and using your time to enjoy the season.



Old Fashioned Christmas

It seems as if everything we have done for Christmas this year has had an old fashioned theme.  I spent the evening with my high school Sunday School class tonight at Pizza Hut.  We had our Christmas party there.  I wanted to give them just a little something, so I found these old timey boxes at a new store right off the square in Lynchburg.

I purchased some candy to fill the boxes, and I was delighted that some of the teens had never seen or heard of the slo pokes (We called them bats.) or the kits. (We called them kitkats.)

We had a great time.  I am fortunate to have a super group of teens to work with at our church.

Fruit Dip

My daughter has one request every year for Thanksgiving.  We simply must have fruit with her favorite fruit dip.

This fruit dip is also a good recipe to serve at Christmas.

You will need:

8 ounces cream cheese

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 jar marshmallow creme

First blend the softened

cream cheese with a mixer.

Then blend in the sweetened condensed milk and the marshmallow creme.

That's it!!!

Place in a bowl and serve with your favorite fruit.

Old Fashioned Christmas

Wondering what kinds of old-fashioned items my kids have been finding each night in their Christmas bags???

How about???

-little bottled cokes

-lemon drops

-jacks

-candy cane sticks

-magnet shavings face

-chocolate cream drops

-nuts

-yo yo

-orange carnival peanuts

-oranges

Coconut Cream Pie

Are you ready???

I am about to share with you the recipe for my most requested dessert.

Notice I did not say my most requested recipe.  This dessert is not super easy to make...it takes a little time.

But, it is the dessert that when you enter a room, everyone will sigh.

Stay with me, and I will give you step by step directions to make the perfect coconut cream pie.  I actually made my first coconut cream pie when I was a senior in home economics class in high school.  (I had a very patient home economic's teacher.)

Several years later, I got some advice from a sweet little lady in my community on how to make this pie even better.  This is the recipe I will share with you today.

You will need:

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk, scalded

3 egg yolks, slightly beaten

2 Tablespoons melted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup coconut

1 baked pie shell

First, you will need to scald your milk.

Just place in a saucer and heat the milk until it starts to bubble.

I can usually tell it is ready when a film starts to coat the bottom of the pan.

Then, go ahead and seperate the yolks from the whites of the eggs.

Slightly beat the egg yolks with a fork.

Next, mix cornstarch, sugar, and salt and place in a double boiler.  (I have a homemade double boiler that I have used for years.)

Gradually add the hot milk to the mixture and cook until it thickens.

Now you're going to temper the eggs, by adding a little of the hot mixture to the eggs and stirring.  Do this 3-4 times.

Now, you can add the eggs to the hot mixture.

Cook this mixture in the double boiler for 5 minutes.

Remove from double boiler and allow to cool.

Make sure your pie crust is ready.

(Baked and cooled.)

When filling has cooled, add melted butter, vanilla, and coconut.  Stir.

Put filling into pie crust (Sorry, I forgot to make a picture here.)

Now, prepare meringue.

You will need the three egg whites and 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar. (I usually let the egg whites set out while the pie cools...this brings them to room temperature before beating.  I also use a little trick of adding a fourth egg white to make the meringue taller on the pie.)  You are going to beat and beat the egg whites on high speed with a hand held mixer until soft peaks form.

This is what soft peaks look like:

Stop beating and add 6 Tablespoons of sugar.  Beat again on high until stiff peaks form.  They look like this:

Cover the pie filling with the meringue all the way to the edge of the crust.

Use your spoon to make pretty peaks  with the meringue.  Then, sprinkle a little coconut on the top.

Bake at 350 degrees until coconut starts to lightly brown.  (Watch the pie closely so nothing burns.)

And there you have it...one delicious coconut cream pie.Try now to resist the urge to stick your face in the middle and begin eating.

Enjoy!!!

Snow Day

Surprise...at least it was for us.  We had a Snow Day today. 

I know my blogging friends with several feet of snow right now will think this is strange...but this is all it takes for a Snow Day in Tennessee.

We are just not experts at driving on icy roads.

This day could not have come at a better time for me.

I have had time to wrap presents, do a little cooking, and catch up on laundry.

The snow and terribly cold temperatures have also put us in the Christmas Spirit.

There was just enough snow last night to make the Christmas decorations a little more festive.