Blueberries are a gift – they speak “Summer”

Just Picked Blueberries from the farm at Big Mill B&B

If you can pick your own blueberries that is the best. I have blueberries growing right outside my kitchen window and I try to use them any way I can. Local farmers’ markets also have good berries.

I love cooking with fresh blueberries and this is the very BEST jam recipe I have ever made – and it is EASY. If you don’t like the cinnamon and lime, then I have another Blueberry Jam recipe for you. And remember – Don’t Double the Recipe! Click to get Chloe’s Blueberry Cinnamon Jam Recipe

Built in 1823, the Ocracoke Lighthouse is North Carolina’s oldest lighthouse still in use.

Ocracoke Lighthouse on Ocracoke Island

In fact, Ocracoke Lighthouse is the second oldest lighthouse still in use in the entire United States, although this is controversial. It has been in constant use since 1823, except for a brief period during the Civil War when the Rebels dismantled the light. It continues to emit its constant fixed beam, visible for 14 miles – a welcome beacon for sailors. Click to Read More about the Ocracoke Lighthouse

This easy Strawberry Bread recipe uses self-rising flour

Fresh strawberries make the best bread

I just love this photo – I was outside getting ready to take a picture of these berries when a rainstorm made me take cover in my Old Red Truck. While I waited out the storm, I took this photo — the lighting was perfect. It is one of my favorites.  To get Chloe’s Strawberry Bread Recipe click here

Somerset Place Plantation in Creswell, NC, is off the beaten path.

Somerset is isolated. That is one of the reasons it is so haunting.

In 1860, Somerset Place Plantation near Creswell, NC had 328 slaves, making it the third largest plantation in North Carolina.  At one time it encompassed 100,000 acres of land and swamp sitting on the shores of Lake Phelps right in the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina, which meant drainage ditches, canals, mosquitoes and basically not an easy life. To read more about Somersest click here

Molasses is a staple in the south – we use molasses for everything and Molasses Pudding is a southern tradition.

It seemed like everybody’s grandmother made Molasses Pudding and it was always a treat. In some parts of the country, it might be called Molasses Cake, but southerners call it Molasses Pudding. Once you add the Bourbon Sauce, it does seem more like a pudding.

Friend Nancy and I set out to recreate this old-fashioned southern recipe and we did it! We added the Bourbon Pecan Sauce to spice it up. Southerners love molasses and use it everywhere.

Print Recipe

Southern Molasses Pudding Cake

This tasty pudding is an old southern classic

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time35 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: molasses cake, molasses pudding, molassses, southern comfort food

Servings: 8 pieces

Calories: 392kcal

Author: Chloe Tuttle

Ingredients

For the Pudding

• ½ cup raisins dark
• ¼ cup Bourbon
• ¼ cup molasses
• 1 egg if doubling recipe use 1 large egg
• 4 Tablespoons butter ½ stick butter, melted
• ¼ cup buttermilk
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For The Bourbon Sauce

• 4 Tablespoons butter 1/2 stick butter
• ¼ cup white sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 3 Tablespoons cream
• 1/3 cup Bourbon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• 
  Grease a 1½ quart glass baking dish using something like Baker's Secret cooking spray
• 
  Put raisins and Bourbon into small deep Pyrex dish or measuring cup and microwave for 30 seconds. Set aside to steep.
• 
  In medium mixing bowl stir together the egg, molasses, melted butter and buttermilk. Add the sugar, flour, baking powder and ground cinnamon. Stir to mix. Drain raisins and add drained raisins to the batter mix. Stir to combine.
• 
  Pour batter in to baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a straw inserted into the center of the batter comes out clean.

TO MAKE BOURBON SAUCE

• 
  In a small saucepan on low heat add the butter, Bourbon, brown and white sugars, cream, Bourbon and salt. Heat on low until all is dissolved. Continue to keep warm and add chopped pecans. Pour over each piece of Molasses Pudding.
• 
  This makes 1 cup sauce.
• 
  Serving Suggestions
• 
  Serve warm or hot or else it will be grainy. Do not cook too fast or too long; sauce will become grainy.
• 
  Serve hot with warm Bourbon sauce drizzled over each piece of pudding cake. If wanted you can add dollop of whipped cream.

Notes

This recipe is a favorite of southern cooks.

Nutrition

Calories: 392kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 59mg | Sodium: 199mg | Potassium: 302mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 475IU | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 61mg | Iron: 1.1mg

Read more about Molasses and Chloe’s Molasses Pudding Cake

There is a small wood frame church in Swan Quarter, North Carolina, that was truthfully moved by the hand of God.

Church Moved by the Hand of God traveled by itself to sit on this lot.

In 1874, members of this small congregation in eastern North Carolina tried in vain to buy a piece of land from a Mr. Sam Sadler in order to build a church. This lot was perfect –it was higher land than any other lot in town.

Mind you, almost all of Hyde County is barely above sea level, so a higher lot was important. Mr. Sadler vehemently refused to sell.

The congregation then accepted a gift of another lot behind the courthouse and soon they had a basic structure for the church. It was a simple wood building on piers called the Methodist Episcopal Church South.

Folks began worshiping in this new church. On the eve of the dedication, September 16, 1876, a big storm was brewing out in the Pamlico Sound. By the next day, September 17th, a full force hurricane hit all of Hyde County; Swan Quarter was under 5 feet of water. Click to find out what happened next – it’s quite amazing!

Big Mill B&B birds need special foods in the cold winter. 

Woodpecker enjoys suet meal at Big Mill B&B

I was snowed in so I created this easy, new Suet Recipe with foods I had on hand in the pantry. The birds LOVE it! And children love helping you make it.

Read more about Chloe’s Homemade Suet

All the cows at Simply Natural Creamery dairy in eastern NC  have a name – and they are all women.

Cupcake #33 poses for the camera.. Just look at that Face !!!!

This wonderful North Carolina dairy and creamery produces some of the BEST ice cream around. And to think – it was started as a project for the children of the owners.

Neil Moye bought three Jersey cows for the milk and to instill a work ethic in his young sons. The boys milked the cows every day when they came home from school. Neil and Jackie, his wife, loved the Jersey cows and so did their boys.

It was an easy decision to start a dairy farm.  After much planning and many hours of hard work, the dream of Simply Natural Creamery has come true. Read more about Cupcake and her life at Simply Natural Creamery

My love affair with knitting started years ago when I adopted my sheep, Maggie Belle and Yorick

I was a graduate student at East Carolina University in  fiber arts, with a specialty in spinning and natural dyeing. I had lots of wonderful hand-spun yarn, but I never learned how to knit until friend Jody taught me a few months ago. Click to read more about Chloe’s hand-spun yarn