Some of my favorite memories as a child were the weekend visits to my Grandmother Icy’s house. I would awaken to a sense of light coming from the kitchen. Then the smells and noises of pots and pans would draw me to the kitchen to spend some precious time alone with my grandmother before everyone else was awake. I’d walk into the small, warm, steaming kitchen full of smells of bacon frying and coffee perking. She would always ask me what I wanted for breakfast and she would always fix me exactly what I wanted. I could eat more in her kitchen than anywhere else. Looking back at those times in her kitchen, I realize that she was actually feeding me love.
Cinnamon Bread
½ cup chopped pecans
¾ cup water
¾ cup Crisco Oil
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 package yellow cake mix
1 small package vanilla instant pudding
Filling:
½ cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon vanilla
Spray a bundt pan with Pam lightly and dust with flour. Sprinkle pecans in bottom of prepared pan. Mix the cake mix, pudding mix, oil, water, eggs and vanilla in a mixer. Pour half of the batter in bundt pan. Combine filling together. Sprinkle half of the filling evenly over batter. Pour remaining batter over filling and also remaining filling over batter. Mix glaze ingredients together and pour over bread.
Andy’s Note: I love this coffee cake. It is so easy and so good. This is fabulous with a cup of coffee in the morning or any time of day.
Peach Muffins
1 ½ cups flour
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 (20 oz.) can peaches, drained and cut up
2 eggs
½ cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix dry ingredients together. Beat eggs and mix eggs with can of peaches before adding to dry ingredients. Add ¼ cup peach juice, oil and vanilla. Mix and pour into greased muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.
Andy’s Note: These are delish. The next time I make these, I am going to use fresh peaches. Can you just imagine how wonderful these would taste?
Keep cooking and stay cool.
Andy Bedwell
Southern Cooking with Andy Bedwell” can be purchased at Alabama Gift Company in downtown Gadsden and The Messenger on Rainbow Drive.