Southern Recipes

Recently, a visitor to this blog contacted me via Facebook. We are now friends on Facebook, and, what a friend she is. Her name is Cindy Johnson, and she is a retired Home Economist from Georgia. Cindy was kind enough to share a great recipe with me and allow me to share it with you. She says that this recipe is her most requested recipe and I can’t wait to try it for myself.

From Cindy:

Hi Christi –
I am more than happy to share this recipe – I never understood people who kept “secret” recipes….. unless it was a restaurant or a business.  I have very few original recipes – most are from friends, family, favorite magazines and cookbooks.  This is one of my most requested recipes.

This recipe came from a dear friend, Carol.  We used to share favorite recipes regularly – we would call each other all breathless about something we had tried that was a “keeper”.  We are both Auburn graduates and both former flight attendants so we have much in common.

Anyway – my family would probably send me home if I arrived at Thanksgiving without 5 or 6 loaves of this bread.  As I mentioned earlier – some eat it with coffee/tea for breakfast – we always slice up a plate to put on the dessert table, and it is available for snacks with a glass of cold milk.  Its not that poppy seed is normally associated with Thanksgiving except that this is an excellent make-ahead bread.  It is actually almost better after its been frozen and thawed ( also good warm from the oven).

I’ve already started baking these and freezing 2 loaves at a time.  That is another plus if you have a large family or are baking these for Christmas – the fact that each recipe results in 2 gifts 🙂

I also like it because you just dump everything into your mixer (no creaming, no separating, eggs, or other things that take lots of time). I can pull out my mixer, and get 2 loaves in the oven while I’m cleaning the kitchen after dinner.

Hope you enjoy it!

Poppy Seed Bread

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Prepare 2 loaf pans – (I spray with Pam and cover bottom with wax paper or parchment paper)  The sticky glaze can make them difficult to get out of the pan otherwise.

3 cups flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups oil (I use canola)
3 Tbsp. poppy seed
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. almond flavoring
1 1/2 tsp. butter flavoring

Glaze:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp  each of all flavorings (vanilla, butter, almond)
1/4 cup orange juice
Combine and set aside until bread comes out of oven.

Combine all bread ingredients in bowl.  Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.  Pour into 2 prepared loaf pans.  Bake at 325 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes (until tester comes out clean and top is golden brown).  My recipe says 1 1/2 hour but mine don’t take that long – I start checking at 1 hour.
Immediately pour,or brush glaze over hot bread.

Cool at least 10 minutes in pan – then remove from pan.  Freezes well.
Makes 2 large loaves.

Thanks so much Cindy! I’ll be trying that for my family this Thanksgiving.

Today’s Lagniappe: Sausage Cheese Muffins
I love that Cindy’s recipe is good for breakfast. I saw this recipe for breakfast muffins that sounds good. Kind of like sausage cheese balls with a little extra added to make them into muffins.

* 1  (1-lb.) package ground pork sausage
* 3  cups  all-purpose baking mix
* 1 1/2  cups  (6 oz.) shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1  (10 3/4-oz.) can condensed cheese soup
* 3/4  cup  water

Preparation

1. Cook sausage in a large skillet, stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain and cool.

2. Combine sausage, baking mix, and shredded cheese in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.

3. Stir together soup and 3/4 cup water; add to sausage mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon into lightly greased muffin pans, filling to top of cups.

4. Bake at 375° for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned.