American Ghost (40 page)

1 tablespoon plain flour

¹
/
₂
teaspoon ground cinnamon

¹
/
₄
teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Graham Cracker Crust (see previous recipe)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. Put the cream cheese, sweet potato, and both sugars in a large mixer bowl, then beat till smooth.

3. Blend in the flour, cinnamon, and salt. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat till blended.

4. Pour the mixture into the pie crust. Bake for 40 minutes, till firm.

5. Cool before slicing.

Serves 5

 

Orange Slice Cake

In the heart of Cracker Florida, oranges come to harvest around the holidays. In their honor, instead of the usual pies, I am offering the always delicious Orange Slice Cake. It's definitely a modern Cracker invention, dating back to the 1940s, when every orange grove on Highway 441, from the Georgia state line to Miami (or
My-amma,
as Crackers call it) had its own little store and book of recipes. It is a strange little cake and strangely delicious if you like little orange-slice candies (and I do).

1 cup sweet butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

¹
/
₂
cup buttermilk

3
¹
/
₂
cups all-purpose flour

1 pound chopped dates

1 pound orange-slice candies (found in the candy aisle at your grocery store), chopped

2 cups chopped pecans

1
¹
/
₄
cups grated fresh coconut

GLAZE

1 cup fresh orange juice

2 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 250°.

2. In a mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition.

3. Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk, add to the butter mixture, and blend well.

4. Place the flour in a large bowl. Add the dates, candies, and nuts and stir to coat all the pieces well.

5. Add the flour mixture and coconut to the creamed mixture and stir.

6. Press the batter into a buttered 13 x 9 inch cake pan. Bake for 2 dang hours.

7. To make the glaze, mix the orange juice and powdered sugar until smooth. Pour the glaze over the cake as soon as you pull it out of the oven. Let it stand in the pan overnight to congeal into true orange ecstasy, then cut into squares.

Serves 8 to 10

SCRIBNER

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2012 by Janis Owens

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First Scribner hardcover edition October 2012

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2012009163

ISBN 978-1-4516-7463-7

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