Southern Nation

09/25/2025

09/22/2025

Pumpkin cider doughnuts

09/22/2025

Garlic Parmesan herb bread :
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water (about 100-110°F)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon instant dry yeast
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 to 2½ cups all-purpose flour
⅓ cup parmesan cheese, grated

Grab a big bowl and mix yeast, sugar, and warm water together. Give it a minute to get foamy. Next, stir in the salt, herbs, and garlic until it all blends well.

Pour 2 cups of flour and parmesan into the bowl. Stir it all up to form a sticky dough. Slowly sprinkle in more flour, a bit at a time, mixing until the dough feels soft and stretchy but not glued to your hands.

Rub a little oil inside a bowl and toss your dough in it, flipping it over to coat the surface. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap, then leave it somewhere cozy for about an hour until it’s doubled in size.

While the dough finishes rising, warm up your oven to 375°F (190°C). Drizzle your baking sheet with olive oil and spread it around evenly.

Press the air out of the dough gently. Split it into two even balls and shape into rounds. Place them on the baking sheet, leaving space between. Loosely cover and let them puff up again for about 15-20 minutes.

Before sliding into the oven, put half a tablespoon of butter on top of each dough round. Bake them for 18-20 minutes, until golden and they sound hollow when tapped underneath.

Take the loaves out and move them to a cooling rack. Let them sit a little. Then slice and serve warm, maybe with extra butter or alongside a bowl of soup.
Notes
This bread keeps great in the freezer. Wrap cooled loaves in plastic, add a layer of foil, and freeze up to 3 months.
For stronger garlic flavor, roasted garlic is a fun swap for the raw minced kind.
Use fresh herbs if you'd like! You'll just need to use three times as much: 6 teaspoons rosemary, 3 teaspoons basil, and 3 teaspoons oregano.
You can make one large loaf instead of two smaller ones. Just bake it 5-7 minutes longer.

09/22/2025

Sunday fun day!

09/16/2025

A little fall snack time

08/25/2025

Apple fritters

08/19/2025

MINI PUMPKIN BUNDT CAKES

Cake:
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 (15 ounce) can of puréed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (powdered, not fresh)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

DIRECTIONS:

Cake:
Whisk together oil, sugar, pumpkin, and eggs until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined and no lumps of flour remain.

Spray the mini bundt pan liberally with Baker’s Joy (or baking spray and dusted with flour). Fill each bundt just under 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 350 F until cooked through and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. This batch took 15 minutes to bake, but adjust the cooking time if your bundt pan is smaller or larger than the pan I used.

Let the cakes cool in their pan for 5 minutes. If any of the cakes have domed up over the bundt cavity, use a serrated knife to gently shave off the top of the dome off (see pictures above). This will enable the bundt cakes to sit flat on a platter. Let cool completely and decorate with sugar and cinnamon or a glaze.

08/15/2025

I’m loving our new man in the moon door hanger.