The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies

Peel, pit, and slice peaches. Place in a saucepan, add sugar, and stir well. Warm over low heat until sugar is dissolved and peaches are juicy. Place mixture into a large jar, add lemon peel, cloves, cinnamon stick, and alcohol. Stir to combine. Cover and keep in a cool, dark place for 1 week, stirring occasionally. Strain and filter, pressing out the liquid from the peaches. Strain again. Homemade Southern Comforter is ready for cooking after a week, for drinking after a month.

Elizabeth Lacy’s Peach Pie

Every Southern cook has a recipe for peach pie. Sally-Lou taught Lizzy how to make this one. The almond-flavored whipping cream topping is a perfect complement.

Dough for 9-inch 2-crust pie

5 generous cups sliced peaches (5 to 7 large peaches)

Juice of ? lemon

1 teaspoon almond flavoring

? cup sugar

? cup flour

? teaspoon cinnamon

? teaspoon nutmeg

3 tablespoons butter, cut into bits



Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate and line with half the pastry. Reserve remainder for top crust. Preheat oven to 425°F. (If you’re using a glass pie pan, reduce heat by 25 degrees.) Peel peaches and slice into large bowl. Add lemon juice and almond flavoring and toss gently. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add to peaches and mix well. Spoon into pastry and dot with butter. Roll out remaining dough. Moisten rim of bottom crust with water and put top crust in place. Trim overhanging pastry within 1 inch of edge, and fold top edge under bottom edge, pressing together to seal. Cut a few slits in top crust to allow steam to escape. Bake 45 to 50 minutes. Serve warm.





Almond Whipped Cream Topping


1 pint heavy whipping cream

? teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

? cup powdered sugar



Stir all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl, then whip the mixture with an egg beater until raised peaks form and hold their shape. (Modern cooks will want to use an electric beater.) Aunt Hetty says if you want to add a spoonful of her Southern Comforter to this, that would be fine.

Myra May’s Mother’s Sweet Potato Cake

Native Americans were already growing sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) when Columbus arrived in 1492. Because they grow readily in warm regions, sweet potatoes became a staple food for Southern colonists and supplemented diets from late summer until spring. Most large plantations had a fenced sweet potato lot where low mounds of potatoes were grown, then dug and covered with straw and soil to protect them from the cold and frost of winter. During the War Between the States, when there were many shortages, the sweet potato—thinly sliced, dried, parched, ground, and brewed—became a substitute for coffee.

This recipe for sweet potato cake, perhaps descended from the many traditional recipes for sweet potato pudding, was handed down in Myra May’s family for several generations. It is now a favorite at the Darling Diner.





? cup butter or shortening

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup cooked, peeled, and mashed sweet potatoes

3 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

? teaspoon baking soda

? teaspoon ginger

? teaspoon cinnamon

? teaspoon cloves

? cup milk

1 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon maple or vanilla flavoring



Grease and flour 3 8-inch-round cake pans. Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and sweet potatoes. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to sweet potato mixture. (If batter seems too stiff, add 1 or 2 more tablespoons of milk.) Fold in nuts and flavoring. Spoon batter into cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes. Turn out on racks. Cool and frost with brown sugar icing.





Icing


1 cup confectioners’ sugar

? cup (packed) dark brown sugar

? cup whipping cream

? cup (? stick) unsalted butter

? teaspoon vanilla flavoring



Sift confectioners’ sugar into medium bowl. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stir brown sugar, whipping cream, and butter until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil. Boil 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour brown sugar mixture over confectioners’ sugar, whisking. Whisk until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Cool icing until lukewarm and icing falls in heavy ribbon from spoon, whisking often, about 15 minutes. Stack layers, thinly icing between. Spoon icing thickly over top, allowing it to drip down sides of cake. Serve after icing is firm, at least 1 hour.