This week I have another new cookbook to share with you! The The Southern Pie Book (Southern Living) written by Jan Moon (owner of Dreamcakes Bakery in Birmingham) is a great collection of Southern tarts, pies, cobblers and hand pies with some really nice recipes for fall and holiday entertaining. I have made myself a list of all the desserts I want to make from this cookbook, here are just a few: Fresh Strawberry Pie with Pretzel Crust, Red Velvet Pie, Banana Cream Pie, Frosty Peppermint Pie, Mocha Fudge Cobbler and Mini Bananas Foster Pies! Don’t they all sound delish? The cookbook is broken down into 11 chapters.

1. From the Bottom Up-Pie and Tart Crusts
2. Truly Southern-Classic Southern Pies
3. Fresh Picked-Fruit Pies
4. Whipped Together-Cream, Meringue & Ice-Cream Pies
5. Rustic to Elegant-Tarts & Galettes
6. Baked Until Bubbly-Cobblers & Crisps
7. Hot to Handle-Hand Pies & Fried Pies
8. Pie Aplenty-Slab Pies
9. Top That-Pie Toppings
10. Easy as Pie-Equipment
11. Pure and Simple-Ingredients

The recipe I made was from the Pie Aplenty chapter, a slab pie called Chunky Chocolate-Cherry Pie. I made the pie for our church picnic and I came home with an empty pan! It was adored by cherry lovers and several took slices home with them. I call that a success.

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Chunky Chocolate-Cherry Pie

Prep Time 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Total Time 3 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author cindy

Ingredients

• 5 cups fresh or frozen pitted tart cherries thawed and drained
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 3 cups sugar divided
• 3/4 tsp almond extract divided
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp table salt
• 1 cup butter softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1 12 oz package chocolate chunks

Instructions

For the filling

• Combine cherries, cornstarch and 1 1/3 cups sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat
  
• Bring to a boil
• Boil, stirring constantly, 2 minutes or until thickened
• Remove from heat, cool completely (about 1-1 1/2 hours)
• Stir in 1/4 tsp almond extract

For the dough

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Stir together flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl
  
• Beat butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and remaining 1/2 tsp almond extract in a large bowl at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy
  
• Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition
• Gradually add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until blended
• Spread 2/3 of dough in bottom of a lightly greased 13x9 inch baking dish
  
• Spoon cherry mixture over dough
  
• Sprinkle with chocolate chunks
• Drop remaining 1/3 of dough by tablespoonfuls onto cherry mixture
• Sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbs sugar
  
• Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until golden brown
• Cool at least 1 hour before serving

Notes

Total time includes 2 separate 1 hour cooling periods

This recipe was very different from any others I have made, which is good because I like to stretch myself. If you like to bake, or have a baker on your Christmas shopping list I suggest you get a copy of The Southern Pie Book (Southern Living).

I hope you enjoy this recipe and all of the easy recipes I share here on The Mom Maven. I hope you share them on your social networks ie. Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and G+. I just ask that you not copy and share the entire recipe with photos. Please use the sharing buttons below and share the link to this post. Thanks!

Disclosure: This is a compensated post. All opinions are 100% mine.

The post The Southern Pie Book Review and Chunky Chocolate-Cherry Pie Recipe appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Quick-Start Homemade

About Quick Start Homemade

Southern Living Quick-Start Homemade gives moms a jumpstart on making dinner after a long day. Using pantry staples and go-to ingredients like pasta, salad greens, bought pizza dough, eggs, rotisserie chicken and other short-cut essentials easily picked-up from the store, it’s now simple to have a homemade dinner on the table every night of the week.

Each nutritious recipe has been triple-tested by the Southern Living test kitchen and Quick-Start Homemade includes great pasta dishes like Skillet Ziti, made in half the time of baked, and Green Bean Pasta Salad with Lemon-Thyme Vinaigrette, a 30-minute recipe with an extra tip for preparing the recipe ahead of time and freshening up before serving. The “Pastry & Pizza Dough” chapter lets fresh pizza dough, piecrust dough or puff pastry do most of the work and features inventive pizza recipes perfect for a mid-week meal, as well as savory hand pies and pot pies. In “Rotisserie Chicken,” crowd-pleasing dinners like Chicken Enchiladas and Chicken Pot Pie with Cheddar Biscuits are no-hassle, but with a homemade touch.

The first recipe I made was the Pizza Spaghetti Casserole and it has made its way into my regular recipe rotation. Next time I make it I think I’ll make double and freeze one so that I can just defrost and bake it on a really busy night.

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Pizza Spaghetti Casserole-Southern Living Quick Start Homemade

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 6 servings

Author cindy

Ingredients

• 12 oz uncooked spaghetti
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1 lb package mild ground pork sausage
• 2 oz sliced turkey pepperoni
• 26 oz jar tomato-basil pasta sauce
• 1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 oz packaged shredded Italian three-cheese blend

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Cook spaghetti with salt according to package directions
• Drain well and place in a lighlty greased 13x9 baking dish
  
• Brown sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat. stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until meat crumbles and is no longer pink
  
• Drain and set aside in a bowl
• Wipe skillet clean
• Add pepperoni to the skillet and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, 4 minutes until slightly crisp
  
• (Place pepperoni on a paper towel lined plate to soak up any grease)
• Top spaghetti in baking dish with sausage
  
• Pour sauce over sausage
  
• Arrange half of pepperoni slices evenly over pasta sauce.
  
• Sprinkle evenly with cheeses
  
• Arrange remaining half of pepperoni slices evenly over cheese.
  
• Cover with nonstick or lightly greased aluminum foil
• Bake at 350 for 30 minutes
• Remove foil
• Bake 10 more minutes or until cheese is melted and just begins to brown

Notes

1. I used regular pepperoni instead of turkey pepperoni
2. I felt the casserole was a bit dry for my taste so I heated up some additional sauce and pored it over the top of my serving. Others like it just the way it was.

Disclosure: This is a compensated post that includes affiliate links. All opinions are 100% mine.

The post Pizza Spaghetti Casserole from Southern Living Quick Start Homemade appeared first on The Mom Maven.

The book starts with an introduction about how Dreamcakes Bakery got started. Then there is Cupcakes 101 which covers basic baking terminology and the tools of the trade…I need some new cupcake pans and a few ice cream scoops! Next come the delicious cupcake recipes broken down by season. I’ll share just a few of the delicious cupcake names: Over the Moon-a white cupcake with blue vanilla bean frosting, Caramel Mocha Sea Salt-chocolate cupcake with mocha frosting and caramel drizzle, Mocha Latte-mocha cake, vanilla frosting, chocolate ganache and caramel drizzle, Mojito Cupcakes-white cupcakes with a mojito glaze, Peanut Butter Cup-chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate ganache and topped with peanut butter frosting Yum! Each recipe also comes with a “Flip It!” idea. This is a simple way to modify the cupcake recipe to make something new!

I chose to make the Orange Cream Dream cupcakes for Father’s Day this year. I am usually a mix girl but I made everything from scratch with the help of my 16yo son. We made the white cupcakes and orange frosting-using several ingredients I’ve never used before and they were delicious! The cupcake was moist and light and the frosting was a tangy orange. (I couldn’t find orange flavoring so I used orange extract and I had to add a lot more than was called for to get the desired taste.)  My cupcake may not look as pretty as the ones in the book, but it sure did taste good! Now I’m trying to decide which one to make for 4th of July!

Do you like cupcakes? What is your favorite kind? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the book for the purpose of the review. All opinions are 100% mine.

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