Carolina Kitchen

Spiced Refrigerator Pickled Peaches Some of us grew up enjoying pickled peaches, while others may find them unfamiliar and odd. This classic Southern food first appeared in a cookbook in the 1700s. Both sweet and tart, serve pickled peaches alongside ham and turkey, or diced and spooned over ice cream, pancakes or waffles. 4 pounds peaches (freestone preferred; choose peaches that are ripe and slightly soft to touch) 8 cinnamon sticks ½ teaspoon per pint crushed red pepper, optional 2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup apple cider vinegar ½ cup water 2 teaspoons whole cloves 4 teaspoons apple or pumpkin pie spice

Peel peaches and cut into halves or wedges and then place into 8 pint or 4 quart-sized jars. Add cinnamon sticks (1 per pint or 2 per quart jar). If using red pepper for a bit of a kick, add to jars as well.

Heat sugars, vinegar, water and spices to a low boil and cook for about 10 minutes to thicken into a thin syrup. Remove from heat.

Carefully ladle the hot syrup with spices over peaches (leaving ½-inch head space if canning).

Refrigerate and enjoy in a day or two once spices and peaches marry. Keep in refrigerator up to a few months. Or, if you’d rather, can per industry recommendations (10-minute water bath).

During off season, you can make these using canned peaches for homemade Christmas gifts!

Once you have enjoyed all the peaches, use the remaining syrup as you would other syrups or just add more peaches.

Sticky Chicken Legs

With orange marmalade Summertime and the livin’ is easy. And we like to keep it that way, so give this simple recipe a go. Just a few ingredients and you’ll be devouring finger lick’n good, sweet ‘n’ crispy chicken legs. Pair with our Butter Swim Cornbread Biscuits on the side — simply scrumptious! 1 dozen chicken legs

Salt and pepper 2 teaspoons granulated garlic ½ cup orange marmalade 1 stick butter, cut in small pieces

Pat legs dry with paper towels. Season all sides with salt, pepper and garlic.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking pan with parchment paper and place a cooking rack over paper. Coat rack with pan spray. Cook legs until they reach 165 degrees, turning after the top side has browned a bit to do the same on the other side.

If preferred, you can also grill the legs until crispy and browned.

Put hot legs in a deep bowl and add in marmalade and butter. Cover with another bowl and shake vigorously until butter melts and hot legs are nicely glazed.

Serve immediately if you prefer your chicken crispy. Tip: To give your legs a little heat, add some hot sauce or cayenne pepper when shaking.

With blueberries and rosemary It’s blueberry season here in North Carolina, so time to ramp up your usage. These baked beauties are a little bit cornbread and a little bit biscuit. If you’ve never made butter swim biscuits, they are just what they sound like: biscuits, swimming in butter as they bake. 1 stick butter 1½ cups all-purpose flour 1 cup yellow cornmeal 1 tablespoon baking powder 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon table salt 1²/₃ cup buttermilk ¼ cup chopped fresh rosemary 1 cup fresh blueberries 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons flake salt (optional) 2 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Put butter into an 8-by-8-inch baking dish to melt while oven heats and biscuits are made.

Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir in buttermilk and rosemary until just blended and dough is wet. Overworking will make biscuits “tough.” Gently fold in blueberries.

Spoon batter over melted butter and spread to edges with a spatula. Dust with 1 tablespoon of sugar and the flake salt if so desired. Cut into 3-by-3-inch squares before putting into hot oven.

Bake 30–40 minutes until golden brown. Let sit for the butter to be absorbed, then cut and serve. Variation: For pastry-type biscuits, add ¼ cup sugar to the batter. Make a glaze of powdered sugar and a little water to drizzle over top when done.

Yield: 9 biscuits

Unless otherwise noted, recipes and photos on these pages are from Wendy Perry, a culinary adventurist and blogger, who chats about goodness around NC on her blog at WendysHomeEconomics.com.

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From Your Kitchen

Coconut Cookie Pudding While not exactly a trifle or a pie, this Coconut Cookie Pudding is reminiscent of both. Thanks to a triple dose of coconut products, its tropical flavor arrives in full force. Crust 12 coconut cookies, crushed, and the rest reserved (we used a family-sized box of belVita Breakfast

Biscuits, toasted coconut flavor) 6 tablespoons butter, melted First layer 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened 2 tablespoons sugar, granulated Pudding 1 tub (8 ounces) of whipped topping, divided 12 reserved whole coconut cookies 2 small boxes Coconut Cream JELL-O instant pudding 2½ cups cold milk 1½ cups shredded coconut, toasted* and divided

Make the crust by crushing 12 coconut cookies, mix with butter and press into bottom of an 8-by-8-inch baking dish. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Beat cream cheese and sugar with mixer until blended. Spread over crust.

For the pudding, whisk pudding powders with milk; let set. Then stir in 1 cup whipped topping with ¾ cup coconut. Spread over cream cheese mixture, using just enough to cover.

Add another layer of cookies, then more pudding. Continue layering until the cookies and pudding mixture are gone. Then top with remaining whipped topping. Sprinkle with the rest of the toasted coconut. Refrigerate about 5 hours to let the flavors meld. Serve.

*To toast shredded coconut, bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, and then let cool.

Recipe courtesy of Patricia Mitchell of Randleman, a member of EnergyUnited.

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