Blueberry peach cornmeal cobbler
A few years ago, when I arrived at a friend’s house in Austin, I handed her a Fredericksburg peach I’d picked up in the Hill Country. Before I even had…
Family
Texas chili powder cheese ball
The first time I wrote about cheese balls on this site, I featured a character named Aunt Betty. She was a fancy relation who impressed everyone with her culinary prowess,…
Spicy applesauce cake
My great-grandma Blanche loved applesauce cake. In fact, her recipe collection has no less than five versions of this classic snack cake, all of them different. So when I decided…
Strawberry cream cheese kolaches
Last week I began the writing phase of my book, which means every morning I get up early and begin working. Because I like to write without any distractions, I…
Chicken tortilla casserole
For the past few weeks, like many folks this time of year, I’ve been sneezing, coughing and feeling wretched. But while this year may be off to a slow start,…
Chocolate pecan sticky bars
About this time eleven years ago, I took a plane trip to Texas. It was my first flight after 9-11 and everyone was still shaky about air travel. Many of…
Peanut butter crisscrosses
At a recent Hill Country church bake sale, I was faced with a difficult decision—which dessert to try? There were pies, cakes, and cookies, and while they all looked good…
Tamale cornbread dressing
The first time I heard of tamales used as a stuffing was in Mary Faulk Koock’s The Texas Cookbook, where she tells a story about a friend of hers in…
Hatch chile apple cobbler
Last weekend, I flew home to Texas for a family wedding. It was the Aggie branch of my family—a group that not only lives near College Station but they all…
Turkey tamales with guajillo-cranberry mole
My dad’s family always gets together the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I think this is smart as there’s nothing more stressful then either having to make a choice on where to…