southerncooker's Profile

From: Boomer, NC USA

Joined: January 3rd, 2010

About me: I collect cookbooks and love to cook and try new recipes. I tested recipes for Leite's Culinaria for almost eight years. I learned to cook from many good southern cooks including my Mom, Dad, several Aunts and my Grandmothers. My children and husband also like to cook and try new foods and recipes. My son still lives with us but our daughter is married. She often visits to cook with me. We are adventuresome eaters willing to try new things.

Bourbon Roasted Pork Loin from Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook

This was delicious. I know she says in the book not to use the good bourbon but all I had was Woodford Reserve so that's what I used. I marinated for about 8 hours in fridge. Loved the apples and onions... read more >

recipe reviews (2277)
book reviews (117)
useful review votes (491)

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southerncooker's Reviews

14 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 14Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

Joy the Baker Homemade Decadence: Irresistibly Sweet, Salty, Gooey, Sticky, Fluffy, Creamy, Crunchy Treats

By Joy Wilson
Clarkson Potter - 2014

This is the cake you bake to turn into the Choco PB Pretzel Cake. It would be great all by itself. It's very moist and delicious.

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When I got this book daughter was flipping through and found this amazing cake (also on the cover) and said this is the cake I want for my birthday this year. I was a little intimidated by the photos but the cake was pretty easy and fun to make. I did need a little more cream that in the instructions for the salted Peanut butter buttercream frosting.

Son doesn't like chocolate cake but he loved the pretzels with the PB frosting on them.

Everyone else loved the cake although hubby picked the pretzels off his and from between the layers.

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Now this is how the name of this book came about I'm sure as this is decadent indeed. Very rich but oh so satisfying with a hot cup of coffee for the chocolate lover and I'm that definitely.

I did have a bit of a problem but don't think it was anything to do with the recipe. I cooled the cake in the pan for the suggested 20 minutes but when I inverted on the cake plate it cracked and broke into. The parts that weren't broke sliced beautifully after the glaze was added and set for 30 minutes.

It said dark chocolate chips so I used some Ghirardelli 60% cacao chips I had on hand. Delicious and I'm looking forward to some thin slices or small hunks of this for my work lunches this coming week.

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I decided to give this a 5 since hubby and daughter agreed that it was delicious and addictive. I had quiet a hard time with the dough though and it was probably my fault.

1. It was cold in the house so I turned on the oven and did the rising times on top of the stove.

2. I used bread flour instead of all-purpose since I was out of all purpose.

I started the dough the night before which was an option in the recipe. Next morning I continued as suggested. I had problems getting it to roll out thin. Then problems cutting the dough into the squares and finally problems getting it to fit in the pan like a flip book. Mine ended up looking more like monkey bread than a pull apart cake. Despite all that the family loved it.

Maybe one day I'll try it with all-purpose to see if I get easier results.

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Made this one for the Peanut Butter Pie from page 152. This is an excellent crust and so easy to make using boxed Graham Cracker Crumbs. I know I'll be using this recipe whenever I need a Graham Cracker Crust again.

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These are very easy to whip up. The only hard part is waiting 30 minutes for the dough to sit in the fridge to firm up a bit before rolling into balls and then into confectioners sugar. They're fantastic served still warm but quiet good cold as well.

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I should have opted to under bake these a bit since I think they would have been better a littler softer. My fault since Joy suggested doing it that way. They were still quiet good.

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I don't like s'mores since I don't like marsh mellows but I loved these. Brie, dark chocolate and peaches on graham crackers are divine!

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I made this for my hubby who loves peanut butter pie but daughter and I loved it too. Daughter did say even though she loved it she liked one I used to make a little better if that was possible. Since hubbydoesn't care for pretzels I didn't use that as one of the optional toppings but did use Reese Peanut Butter Cups. Instead of breaking the cups up like Joy suggested I used the tiny minis. Hubby was impressed but said he would have liked more crust. I made the homemade Graham Cracker Crust also from the same book. Maybe next time I should make it double thick since hubby enjoyed the pie and crust so much he wanted more crust. Hubby even asked if he could take a piece to his brother who is in a nursing home. Hope he likes it too. My pie doesn't look as beautiful as Joy's in the book but it still tasted fantastic.

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I've had my eye on this recipe since I first got this book. I finally made a half recipe for hubby and my breakfast this morning. We both loved them. I did have a bit of a problem of the potatoes sticking to the aluminum foil though and didn't flip as suggested 1/2 way through cooking. Next time I'll spray the foil.

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I made this for the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Layer Cake and it's an amazing frosting. Would be great on other cakes too I think.

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While these were quiet good they were on the sweet side. Instead of 20 cookies I ended up with 31 nice sized cookies. I didn't have cornstarch so I used flour for the berries, sugar and lemon juice mix. I opted for milk instead of water in the glaze since it was an option.

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I'm not a big fan of pure maple syrup nor pats of butter on my pancakes, but hubby is. Despite the previous statement I loved this pancake syrup. Could be it was the addition of bacon which I love with pancakes. On the other hand I though hubby would adore this but he thought it had a little to much vanilla. I disagree. I did only make a 1/4 of this recipe since I only had a little bacon and just in case hubby didn't enjoy the syrup I wouldn't have used all my store of that. He did say it was good and he enjoyed the pancakes very much. I made the overnight yeasted pancakes from page 18.

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Made these for Harold and my Sunday breakfast. They were delicious. Great that you can mix up the batter the night before and place in fridge before you go to bed. Next morning 20 minutes before you want to make you remove from fridge. Nice fluffy pancakes are the result.

I made the Ultimate Pancake Syrup from page 21 to go with and it was a perfect accompaniment. I did only made a 1/2 recipe of the pancakes since I didn't need 24 small pancakes for the two of us.

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