February 13, 2010
My Grandma's Pie Safe
I remember when I was 5 or 6 years old. We lived so near my Grandma and Grandpa Phillips that Mama would let me walk through a neighbors yard and to my grandparents' house by myself. They lived just down the hill. She’d call Grandma to let her know I was coming, and I’m certain she watched to make sure I’d gotten there. I loved to go in my Grandma’s kitchen and look into her green pie safe. The top half had glass inserts in the doors with red designs around the edges of the glass. There were nearly always soft, chewy, sugar cookies on the bottom right shelf. I’d stand there and look in at them until Grandma would offer me one. I was just the right height to look directly at those cookies. She had molasses cookies too, but I’d only take one of those if the sugar cookies were gone. The pie safe was passed on to my Mama who painted it country blue, and now I have it. It’s still blue, and holds games and books now, but when I see it I always remember my Grandma Phillips giving me cookies. by Marty
February 10, 2010
Roy & Etta's "To-Die-For" Coconut Cake by Louise
Ronnie, it brought memories to my mind even farther back than yours when you talked at our January 2 gathering about Daddy’s “to-die-for” coconut cake. Below is what I remember.
The Secret of the “To-Die-For” Coconut Cake
Mama used to make the best hand-grated fresh coconut cakes every Christmas. (She also made wonderful refrigerator-type fruitcakes and wild persimmon puddings, but those are stories for another time.) When the arthritis in her hands got too bad for her to grate it, Daddy took over the project. He could always think of an easier or quicker way to do most anything, so instead of grating the coconut by hand, he ground it in a meat grinder. It wasn’t quite as fine nor as fluffy in texture, but it tasted just as good as Mama’s. I don’t know what basic from-scratch cake recipe Mama used, and Daddy probably even used a packaged mix in later years, but I do know the “secret ingredient” that made theirs the best coconut cake in the world.
They first punctured the indents on the end of the coconut shell with a hammer and nail, then drained the coconut milk and strained it to get specks of hull out. They mixed it with sugar and maybe even added some water to make the amount of liquid they wanted. The mixture was boiled it until it was a light “syrup” consistency to pour over the cooked layers to make it a moist melt-in-your-mouth cake. To quote grandson Ron, it was a cake “to die for.”
Then the grated coconut and the syrup were put on top of the layers, then the icing, and lastly some fluffy coconut to garnish it all. I can still see Mama trying to “fling” small pinches of that fluffy coconut just right so it would stick to the icing on the sides of the layered cake. I’d try to sneak up and clean the bits that fell onto the glass cake plate edge instead of sticking to the icing.
The icing was homemade, too, from stiffly beaten egg whites, sugar, vanilla, and cream of tartar powder (to aid in making it stiffer, I think). The icing “melted” to some degree after being applied to the cake, but there was no loss in the taste! Many cooks made icing that way back then.
The cake itself was so moist I don’t know how it held together back in the years when Mama made the three-layer coconut cakes. I do remember she used several toothpicks to keep the layers from sliding. Later, sheet cakes worked better in that regard.
In their latter years, Mama and Daddy would sometimes give us one of their prized cakes for a family Christmas present. Yum! A cake “to die for” as Ron says. Maybe one of you younger descendants (are you reading Brian?) will take up the cocoanut cake tradition using the “secret ingredient” of sugar-water syrup. If you do, please let me be the first to sample it! (and let me be 2nd...Ronnie!)
Marty said, "I remember the cakes she made that she spooned pineapple juice into the layers. I'd stand there watching, hardly able to wait until she would say it was ready.Those were yummy, too!"
The Secret of the “To-Die-For” Coconut Cake
Mama used to make the best hand-grated fresh coconut cakes every Christmas. (She also made wonderful refrigerator-type fruitcakes and wild persimmon puddings, but those are stories for another time.) When the arthritis in her hands got too bad for her to grate it, Daddy took over the project. He could always think of an easier or quicker way to do most anything, so instead of grating the coconut by hand, he ground it in a meat grinder. It wasn’t quite as fine nor as fluffy in texture, but it tasted just as good as Mama’s. I don’t know what basic from-scratch cake recipe Mama used, and Daddy probably even used a packaged mix in later years, but I do know the “secret ingredient” that made theirs the best coconut cake in the world.
They first punctured the indents on the end of the coconut shell with a hammer and nail, then drained the coconut milk and strained it to get specks of hull out. They mixed it with sugar and maybe even added some water to make the amount of liquid they wanted. The mixture was boiled it until it was a light “syrup” consistency to pour over the cooked layers to make it a moist melt-in-your-mouth cake. To quote grandson Ron, it was a cake “to die for.”
Then the grated coconut and the syrup were put on top of the layers, then the icing, and lastly some fluffy coconut to garnish it all. I can still see Mama trying to “fling” small pinches of that fluffy coconut just right so it would stick to the icing on the sides of the layered cake. I’d try to sneak up and clean the bits that fell onto the glass cake plate edge instead of sticking to the icing.
The icing was homemade, too, from stiffly beaten egg whites, sugar, vanilla, and cream of tartar powder (to aid in making it stiffer, I think). The icing “melted” to some degree after being applied to the cake, but there was no loss in the taste! Many cooks made icing that way back then.
The cake itself was so moist I don’t know how it held together back in the years when Mama made the three-layer coconut cakes. I do remember she used several toothpicks to keep the layers from sliding. Later, sheet cakes worked better in that regard.
In their latter years, Mama and Daddy would sometimes give us one of their prized cakes for a family Christmas present. Yum! A cake “to die for” as Ron says. Maybe one of you younger descendants (are you reading Brian?) will take up the cocoanut cake tradition using the “secret ingredient” of sugar-water syrup. If you do, please let me be the first to sample it! (and let me be 2nd...Ronnie!)
Marty said, "I remember the cakes she made that she spooned pineapple juice into the layers. I'd stand there watching, hardly able to wait until she would say it was ready.Those were yummy, too!"
"A Story About Daddy" by Louise
A story about Roy William Phillips that was widely told as truth:
Daddy had the reputation of being very strong, though he wasn't a big man physically. And he always put everything he had into what he was doing and made things work -- partly because of sheer determination. When he was a young man, he once had an old mule that was more than the usual "stubborn" as mules go. Daddy got real mad and popped him in the forehead with his fist ... and knocked him out! Or at least it addled the mule enough that he fell to the ground for a short time!
by Louise
Daddy had the reputation of being very strong, though he wasn't a big man physically. And he always put everything he had into what he was doing and made things work -- partly because of sheer determination. When he was a young man, he once had an old mule that was more than the usual "stubborn" as mules go. Daddy got real mad and popped him in the forehead with his fist ... and knocked him out! Or at least it addled the mule enough that he fell to the ground for a short time!
by Louise
January 27, 2010
NEW FAMILY BLOG...
Welcome to our NEW family blog!
Please log in as a "Follower" and visit Our Phillips Heritage blog frequently! Postings will occur frequently!
Future postings will include newsworthy items to keep us all connected. You can let everyone know you are reading the blog by posting a comment! Please do...
Ron
Please log in as a "Follower" and visit Our Phillips Heritage blog frequently! Postings will occur frequently!
Future postings will include newsworthy items to keep us all connected. You can let everyone know you are reading the blog by posting a comment! Please do...
Ron
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