Chocolate Covered Cherries

These will have a more liquid filling with the cherry, which is what I prefer over the creamy filled kind.

Chocolate Covered Cherries

3 Cups Sugar
1/4 Cup Light Corn Syrup
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 Cup Water
1/4 cup butter ( not margarine)
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 TBS of reserved cherry juice for flavoring.
Candy Thermometer

You will also need:
2-3 8 ounce jars of maraschino cherries
2- 12 ounce bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 slab of wax

Put cherries in a strainer/sieve for several hours to drain well. Be sure to reserve 2 TBS of the cherry juice.

Combine first 4 ingredients and the reserved cherry juice in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and cover for 3 minutes so steam will wash down sugar crystals. Uncover and cook until it reached 238 degrees, stirring occasionally. Rinse a large heat proof platter or pan with water. Pour onto platter. Do not scrape the saucepan. Cool to lukewarm, then beat the candy with a wooden spoon until it turns white and creamy. If it suddenly turns hard and seems to set, knead until it becomes pliable again. Knead in the vanilla.

As soon as possible, after preparing candy, you need to begin shaping it... Roll a ball of the candy, about the size of a large marble. Now, flatten the ball, place a cherry in the center, and pinch the candy around the cherry to cover it. It is important to get the cherry completely covered. Put the candy covered cherries on wax paper and let stand until a crust forms. This takes about 1.5 hours. Melt the chocolate and wax in a double boiler. You can improvise with a bowl placed over a pot of boiling water, if needed. Dip each candy in the chocolate to cover. Place on a cookie sheet or other sturdy surface that has been covered with wax paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Dip in chocolate again. Once these have set up ( chocolate has hardened) place in an airtight container in the refrigerator. These need to be left to "ripen" for a week or so. The bit of juice that is left in the cherries will liquefy the candy the cream candy that is covering them. This recipe will make about 50-60 chocolate covered cherries.

Sweet Tea

Sweet tea is a staple in these parts. It's also pretty cheap per serving, which makes it a great drink during this recession. Some folks like sweet tea. Some folks don't. A few folks make what is akin to toasted water, with a sneeze of sugar in it, and call it "Sweet Tea". I figure those folks are mostly the reason that other folks think they don't like sweet tea. I will say this, If you make bad sweet tea, word spreads real quick and, whether you're an average citizen or a restaurant, folks quit coming for dinner.

I have been making sweet tea since I was tall enough to reach the stove. So has my sister. We've never had any complaints. My oldest daughters can also make sweet tea that tastes just like mine, and mine tastes just like my sister's. It's every Southern mother's duty to pass this skill on down to her children.

To start, I use family size bags, two per half-gallon of water. A half-gallon of sweet tea is just enough to start a fight around here, so I generally make a whole gallon, which takes four bags. My absolute favorite is Luzianne, next would be Tetley, and after that is Lipton. Lipton is a good tea, it just doesn't seem to have the body and depth of flavor that the first two have.

I fill a small sauce pot with water and bring that to a boil. Once it starts boiling, I remove from the heat and add the tea bags. Make sure to dunk them a couple of times to ensure that they stay under the water. Let this set for about 20 minutes. Put your sugar in the tea pitcher that you will be using. We're real fancy around here and use one of them plastic gallon sized ones from the dollar store. A lot of folks get confused about how much sugar to add. A good rule of thumb is to add the same amount of sugar to your tea that you like in your Kool-Aid, or lemonade, or any drink that you add sugar to. For most folks, this is 2/3 to 1 C, per half gallon. We use 1 Cup. For artificial sweetener, just check the box as most of them tell you the equivalent amount to use.

Now, wrap the strings from your tea bags around the handle of your pot and hold them there, as you pour the hot tea in with the sugar, being careful not to let the bags flop out. Now stop and use a long spoon to stir the tea and sugar. This ensures that you get your sugar dissolved, before adding the cold water. Now, with the tea bags still in the pot, fill it with cold water and then pour it into the pitcher. Repeat this step until the pitcher is full. Make sure to stir well. Put in the refrigerator to chill. Most times, by the time I finish, folks are standing around with glasses full of ice, waiting to pour that warm tea over it.

Flour Tortillas

A bit of caution as these can be very addictive. These honestly made me detest the store bought varieties. They aren't exactly "easy" to make, but it gets easier every time you make them. Besides, all that rolling, slapping, and patting, is very therapeutic! I use these in any Mexican recipe that calls for flour tortillas and also in those that call for corn tortillas, as I just prefer the flour kind. These turn out study enough for filling yet melt in your mouth and are never tough.

I actually own a tortilla press but do not use it. Mainly because I like my tortillas to be a bit larger and also find it just an annoyance to use. I use a marble rolling pin. One of these can be quite expensive new, but Renni purchased mine at a thrift shop for only $8.00. But really, any rolling pin should work.

Flour Tortillas

4 cups plain white flour (Plus extra for rolling)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup shortening
1 and 1/4 cups hot (not boiling) water
( Not sure why, but the hot water really makes a difference.)

I use a fairly large bowl for mixing these, as it gives me plenty of room to work my hands in the dough. Add the flour, salt, and baking powder to the bowl and mix well with a fork or your hands. Now add the shortening and blend into the flour mixture until your mixture gets to the consistency of little peas. Next, use your fist to make a little "nest" in the center of your flour mixture and pour the hot water into the nest. Carefully work in a circular motion, turning the bowl as you go, and gently toss the flour into the hot water.(I know this sounds odd but really, just hug the bowl with one arm and mix the flour into the water with the hand of the other arm. I always feel so "pioneer" when I do this step! lol).

Once you have married the water and flour, you can begin to knead it inside the bowl, as you do this, kinda roll the dough around the sides of the bowl, collecting any stray pieces. Knead about 20 times or so. If it is too sticky, add another tablespoon or so of flour. If it is too dry, add a tad more water. We're going for a sort of elastic, smooth ball of dough. You'll just know when it gets to that point.

Now, it's time to pinch off the dough and roll it into balls with the palms of your hands. I make mine about the size of a golf ball and this usually yields me about 18 tortillas. Place these on a cookie sheet or other flat surface, cover with a towel, and let rest for around 20 minutes. While I wait, I take out a large bowl and a lid or plate to cover it with. I make sure I have a small bowl of flour near my rolling area. I start heating up my cooking surface about 5 minutes before the resting period is over. If you can have someone help you with the next steps, it would be a great help. Otherwise, just try to set things up so you can get move the tortilla quickly from one step to the next.

Roll the dough ball around in the flour and place on your flat surface and get to rolling!. The goal is to keep a circular shape, so turn 1/4 turn clockwise, after each swipe with the rolling pin. I also like to flip mine over now and then. I add flour as needed to prevent sticking and tearing. Get it really thin. Now toss it onto a hot griddle, electric skillet, frying pan, whatever. I usually toss the tortilla lightly from hand to hand, on it's way to the griddle, this probably isn't necessary but I have convinced myself that it removes excess flour. I do not grease the surface of the pan. I just make sure it is hot enough that water drops will dance across the surface. Cook for 20-30 seconds on each side. It will puff in places and get little "toasty" spots. Immediately place in the large bowl and cover with the plate. Once you get the hang of this, you should be able to work on rolling one tortilla, while keeping an eye on the one that is cooking. You could also roll them all out first and then cook but I have found this to be a true pain as they like to stick together and tear, when stacked in raw dough form. With any luck, you can convince someone to roll while you cook. Also, there can be quite a bit of smoke.

Enchilada Sauce

This is so easy to make and tastes just as good as the canned stuff. Plus, if you purchase your spices at a dollar store this is also really low cost compared to canned. I buy all of my spices at a dollar store for usually .50 a bottle. The only ones I do not purchase there are spice blends like Season All. Simply because I have found that the cheaper brands of blends tend to use way too much of some spices just to keep it cheap, like celery salt, etc...

Enchilada Sauce

3 T Oil
4 T Flour
1/2 C Chile Powder
2 C Water
8 Ounce Can of Tomato Sauce
1/4 tsp Salt

Heat oil in sauce pan over medium heat. Blend in flour and cook until flour is lightly browned. You should keep this mixture "moving around" as it browns, to avoid scorching. (I always use a wire whisk when making any sort of gravy or sauce, to minimize the chance of having lumps.)Remove from heat and blend in Chile powder. Stir until smooth, then add water, tomato sauce, and salt. Return to low heat and simmer until desired consistancy ( about 20 minutes)