You Be Sweet: Sharing Your Heart One Down-Home Dessert at a Time

© 2012 by Amy Lyles Wilson, Patsy Caldwell, and Bryan Curtis

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Photography by Ron Manville

Food Styling by Teresa Blackburn

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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

CONTENTS

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

Back 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