Sweetness

BUTTERMILK LIME POUND CAKE...enough said!

Sweetness: Celebrating Sweet Moments in Life and on the Table--with 197 Cookies, Brownies, Puddings, Pies, Cakes, Candies, and More by Christy Jordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sweetness by Christy Jordan is a perfectly sweet book as cookbooks go. The author has included plenty of sweet recipes, cooking tips, friendly tidbits reminiscent of her blog posts, and color photos illustrating her cookbook.

I particularly loved reading her recipe intros and blogger type writing sprinkled throughout her cookbook.

I can't wait to try some of her recipes as she's included many attractive sounding recipes that I am sure will taste mighty fine once prepared.

There is a heavy emphasis towards nuts in her recipes, so if you have a nut allergy you might want to think about ways to adapt some of her recipes. I was pleased to find she did include some sugar-free recipes for people who are watching their sugar intake.

Some of the recipes you'll find in her cookbook include:

Monster Cookies Milk Dunkin' Peanut Butter Cookies Graham Cracker Praline Cookies Candy Cane Cookies Amazing Brownie Bars Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars Basic Baking Mix Bar Cookies Small Batch Yellow Cake Lemon Custard Poke Cake Pecan Pie Cake Black Pepper Cake Lotsa Crumb Cake Buttermilk Lime Pound Cake Pound Cake in Jars (it is not recommended that cakes be baked in jars. You can check Ball canning site to confirm this. I do appreciate Jordan's note of storing the jarred cakes in the freezer as the preferred method of preservation.)
Coconut Cake with No-Fail Seven Minute Frosting Caramel Tiramisu Peanut Butter Cup Trifle Classic Buttercream Frosting Coconut Pecan Icing Chocolate Fudge Icing Classic Confectioners' Sugar Glaze Peach Buttermilk Pie Apple Doozie Dessert Pizza Faux Apple Pie (uses Ritz crackers)
Homemade Chocolate Pie Coca-Cola Pie Chocolate Chess Pie Basic Fried Pies Pecan Pie Cheesecake Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Pie Frozen Oreo Pie Old-Fashioned Banana Pudding Sweet Potato Creme Brûlée Old-Fashioned Butter Rolls Amazing Pineapple Bread Amazing Apple Bread Super Easy King Cake Apple Oat Muffins Hot Cocoa Muffins Overnight Stuffed French Toast with Strawberry Syrup Funnel Cake Feather-Light Chocolate Biscuits Aunt Tina's Dr. Pepper Salad Apple Salad Five-Cup Fruit Salad Ambrosia Whoa Horsey Salad (uses sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix)
Cream Cheese Mints Cream Cheese Divinity Chocolate Chip Meringues Old-Fashioned Egg Cream Fresh Strawberry-ade Mix-in-Pan Pie Crust Homemade Self-Rising Flour

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a galley from NetGalley.

View all my reviews

What a delightful book! Blogger and author, Christy Jordan’s book Sweetness: Southern Recipes to Celebrate the Warmth, the Love, and the Blessings of a Full Life, is loaded with not only mouthwatering recipes, but also positive, charming vignettes on life in general that will inspire readers, whether they are cooking or not.

Jordan hosts the excellent blog, Southern Plate, where she celebrates life and living, as well as eating southern food. Several of her recipes from the website are included in this cookbook.

Most of the recipes are easy to make, and the instructions are easy to follow. I did, however, use my mixer on some when she suggested that they be stirred by hand; I don’t have time for that. So far, I’ve made three versions of the Honey Nut Bars, our favorite being made with salted peanuts. The possibilities for these easy shortbread bars are endless, varying different nuts, and substituting other flavors of chips for the butterscotch chips. Another favorite, which blew a week’s worth of Weight Watchers points, is the Feather-Light Chocolate Biscuits. Yum! My husband and children devoured Mama Reed’s Caramel Apple Cake; it’s especially good with ice cream. Other recipes in the queue are Lemon Custard Poke Cake, Water Pie, and Easy Fudge Meltaways. To be honest, there isn’t even one recipe in the book that I don’t want to make.

Although there are nice pictures, there isn’t a picture of each recipe. Most cooks, especially beginners, appreciate knowing what the finished product is supposed to look like, so that is possibly the only drawback to the book. The book is well-organized, has a good index and table of contents, and it is fun to read.

If you or your significant others have a sweet tooth, this is a must-have cookbook that will be used often and your finished dishes will draw raves.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying an advanced review copy of this cookbook

This is my favorite cookbook in a long time. I love a cookbook that has memories, stories, etc in it, and this one doesn't fail me. The writing is delightful, the photos are super tempting, and the recipes aren't overwhelming. I love that she gives options to change it up, whether because of taste preference, mood, or ingredients....I'm dieting, and this one definitely made me fall off the wagon. That said...she also gives tips on freezing ahead of the holidays, etc. LOVED this book. I've already bought another copy as the one I received in exchange for an honest review was digital...and I wanted my actual hands on it.

From cookies , brownies and bars to cakes , pies , cobblers , puddings and fruit salads each and every recipe are a must recipe. Pictures were so wonderful , I can't take my eyes out of them. This will be a wonderful book for a beginner who wants to try their hands on baking......

This is a great book if you are in the mood for some good ol' fashion comfort food. There are so many recipes that bring back Americana and old family memories. I'm not from the South, but a lot of the recipes are familiar and seem reasonably simple to whip up. The Cookie Jar section had to be my favorite, although there were other recipes that definitely caught my eye and were bookmarked for later baking/making. This would make a great selection or even a gift for anyone who likes to indulge their sweet tooth on occasion.

I just love Christy Jordan and her southern recipes and this book did not dissappoint.

I am not a baker or a candy maker. The precision measurements, temperatures, and timing of baking and candy making are usually too much for me to handle. And I am a New England native of Italian descent, so my idea of dessert is fairly well fixed to include seasonal fruit pies, ice cream from the local farm, and the occasional delicacies from the Italian bakery down the street. However, the allure of Southern recipes for sweet treats was too much for me to pass up. Surely, there must be at least one or two of the 197 recipes in this volume that are easy enough for me to master?

Sweetness is divided into nine chapters according to the general category of recipe – cookies, brownies and bars, cakes, pies, cobblers and puddings, breakfast treats, fruit salads, candies, drinks – followed by a pantry chapter. The chapters themselves don’t have tables of contents, so you have to rely on the index to find a particular recipe. (The advance reader galley didn’t have an index available, so I can’t comment on how easily you will be able to find what you are looking for.)

Each recipe began with a short paragraph of introduction, explaining the origin or the appeal of the recipe. The last line of the introduction, in bright orange, was the recipe yield. The ingredient list was well organized, and offered in the order items were used in the recipe. The amount of butter was helpfully measured in tablespoons or cups, and sticks. The ingredients themselves were commonplace, inexpensive, and easy to acquire items. In fact, the author advocates the use of imitation vanilla extract (because no one in her family can tell the difference) and permits the substitution of margarine for butter in the recipes. Some of the recipes relied on Bisquick, cake mix, brownie mix, instant pudding mix, frozen whipped topping, prepackaged cookie dough or frozen bread dough as the main ingredient, but not so many that I felt like I was being cheated out of a “real” baking experience. For example, in three of the four recipes in the brownie chapter that called for brownie mix as the main ingredient, it would be easy enough to substitute the Rich and Fudgy One Bowl Brownie recipe that opened the chapter. Likewise, in the Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bar recipe, it would be easy enough to substitute 16 ounces of homemade peanut butter cookie dough for the prepackaged stuff. The Always Moist Pineapple Upside Down Cake included directions on how to substitute the Small Batch Yellow Cake recipe at the beginning of the chapter for the yellow cake mix. All of the homemade pie recipes (except the Basic Fried Pies, the Vinegar Dumplings and the Frozen Oreo Pie) relied on premade pie crusts, although some recipes offered the option of using one of the homemade crust recipes found in the pantry chapter. And it would be super easy to substitute homemade whipped cream for frozen whipped topping. Recipe steps in all recipes were clearly labeled and well written. Lots of descriptive words were used to ensure the reader had a good feel for exactly what things were supposed to look like. For example, in one recipe, forming drop cookies was described as forming “golf ball-sized balls.” The last line in each recipe contained storage instructions. When necessary, notes on ingredients and recipe steps followed the recipe. Variations on the recipes, when possible, also followed the recipe.

The recipe selection was very diverse. I found what I had hoped to find: red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting (albeit cupcakes instead of a layer cake), hummingbird cake, blueberry muffins, orange rolls, sticky cinnamon buns, ambrosia, rice cereal treats, Southern sweet tea. But there is so much more to the book than what you would think of as classic Southern sweet recipes. For example, there is a whole chapter on Jell-O salads, which she calls “congealed salads.” The recipes themselves are a combination of new innovations, treasures rescued from family ancestors’ recipe organizers, and contributions from friends.

Interspersed among the recipes were bright green call out boxes with general culinary advice that varied from choosing cookie baking sheets to bake sale tips and tricks. These were more prevalent in the first two chapters than in later chapters, but were usually informative and interesting. However, sometimes, the bright green call out boxes, like “Birthdays for Teddy,” were family anecdotes instead of culinary advice.

Also interspersed among the recipes were call out boxes with personal remembrances or other reflections that culminated in a lesson about the sweetness of life. The sweetness theme came across very heavy-handed in the chapters where these call out boxes outnumbered the bright green culinary themed call out boxes. Personally, I would have enjoyed the book more without these call out boxes because many of them were overly saccharine. The author’s personality and message definitely came through in the introductions to the chapters and the recipes, so the additional family anecdotes -watching Hee-Haw with Grandaddy, swinging in the park with Katy - seemed to be overkill. The anecdote about Katy’s first sentence being “I need chocwat.” was actually in the cookbook in two different places. And there is only so much of “Guard Your Light Switch,” “Hey You, Time to Sparkle,” “Make Some Wrinkles Today,” and other motivational sweetness of that ilk that I can tolerate in general.

There was a basic baking pantry list in a call out box in the brownies and bars chapter that lists dry goods and refrigerated goods essential to baking. The list did include Bisquick, but didn’t include cake mix or brownie mix. The “pantry” chapter at the end of the book wasn’t about stocking a pantry; it was about the essential “go-to” recipes that were used in the other recipes in the book. This section included cookie crumb pie crust, mix-in-pan pie crust, meringue, self-rising flour, whipped cream, and buttermilk.

The photographs in Sweetness were all styled photos of finished food, including some cakes in the process of being frosted, all of which were wonderfully appetizing. If the recipe was not on the page facing the photo, the photographs were labeled with the name of the recipe and the page that the recipe appeared on.

Overall, the experience of reading Sweetness from cover to cover in two days was a bit cloying. It seems like a good go-to book for modern and heritage desserts because the recipes themselves were so clearly written and required such basic ingredients and techniques.

I have yet to prepare any of the recipes from Sweetness, but I have several on my list to try. I will update my review once I have.

UPDATE: The first recipe I tried from Sweetness was the Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing. Thanks to the brightly numbered recipe steps, the recipe was super easy to follow. Curiously, the recipe only called for one teaspoon of cocoa powder, as compared to one-third cup of cocoa powder called for by my normal red velvet cake recipe. Granted, my normal recipe might be heavy handed on the cocoa because it is from Hershey’s Chocolate, but one teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa seemed like too little to even make a difference. I forgot to check my pantry staples before embarking on this project, so it turned out that I was short about half a cup of vegetable oil; I made up the difference with melted butter. Overall, the cupcake recipe turned out well, although I wasn’t so wowed by it that I would declare it “the best red velvet I’ve ever had.” However, I sent the seventeen remaining cupcakes with my friend Dominique to the detectives of the major crimes division at a local police department, and they definitely enjoyed them. The accompanying cream cheese frosting recipe turned out very well. I was concerned that it wouldn’t make enough to frost all eighteen cupcakes; I was able to generously frost each cupcake and still had frosting left over. I would definitely make the cream cheese frosting again, because my usual cream cheese frosting recipe calls for either cream of coconut or dulce de leche.

After the incident with the Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing, Dominique told me that the detectives of the major crimes division were willing to be my guinea pigs any time I felt like recipe testing. Since I knew I was going to see her at a benefit for female war veterans, I decided to bake something for her to take to the detectives. This time my choice was the Easy Coconut Macaroons. Curiously, the recipe calls for two five ounce packages to make up five cups of sweetened shredded coconut. At least in my area, five ounce packages of sweetened shredded coconut do not exist. Both name brands and generic brands of sweetened shredded coconut are only sold in seven ounce or fourteen ounce packages. In fact, the fourteen ounce package of the name brand was clearly labeled on the front of the package that it contained 5 1/3 cups shredded coconut. So it would have been most efficient for the recipe to just call for one fourteen ounce package of sweetened shredded coconut. That small quirk aside, the recipe was really easy to follow, thanks to the brightly colored step numbers, and super easy to execute. The cookies smelled so tempting coming out of the oven that I tried to eat one hot, and it immediately disintegrated, so they definitely need to be left to cool and harden before eating. And the greased aluminum foil on the baking tin is another MUST; I forgot to grease the aluminum foil on my second baking tin and had a devil of a time removing the cookies. But overall, this was a terrific super easy recipe that I would definitely make again. Dominique brought the cookies to her midnight shift of police instead of to the detectives, and the word back was that they really enjoyed the macaroons.

Because Dominique and I had a lunch date on the Army Birthday, I felt compelled to bake something for her to take to either the detectives or to her midnight shift. This time my choice was Miss Barbara’s Sold-Out Key Lime Cupcakes. Normally I wouldn’t have given such a recipe a second thought because it relies on lemon cake mix and lime flavored gelatin as the main ingredients. But I thought they would be fun single serve items. And it would be easier than adapting a cake recipe to cupcakes. Again, the recipe was super easy to execute thanks to the brightly colored step numbers. The cupcakes themselves were not anything super special because they barely had any citrus taste to them. The recipe directed to “divide the batter evenly” among the prepared muffin cups. I didn’t know how to judge that, so I filled each muffin cup about ¾ full and ended up with 18 cupcakes instead of 24 cupcakes. The frosting recipe was exactly the same as the Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing, with the minor change that the cream cheese icing recipe for the red velvet cupcakes provided the option of using margarine instead of butter. One recipe specified a 16-ounce box of confectioners’ sugar and the other recipe specified a one-pound box of confectioners’ sugar. It was a good thing that the recipe only made 18 cupcakes because the frosting barely provided them with a generous coating; I would not have been able to stretch it to cover 24 cupcakes. But, again, the frosting recipe is definitely a keeper! Because I left for travel the very next day, I never heard where Dominique brought the cupcakes or what their opinion of them was.

Love the stories associated with each recipe. Makes me remember all of the good times in the kitchen with my own family.

Perfect cookbook for anyone looking to start their own holiday traditions or someone that participates in bake sales or potlucks. Clear concise recipes with beautiful pictures in each category. Great for the new or busy cook.
I received an advance copy for my honest opinion...it's a definite buy.

Cookbooks can be a dime a dozen, but not this book. I was immediately drawn into reading this cookbook, not just for the tasty recipes, but for the enduring stories. I felt as if I was sitting across the table having a cup of tea with Christy, as she shared fond memories of dear loved ones that live on only in her precious memories. Share in the wonder as Christy's Mom bought 1" thick candy canes, and placed them in a bag and repeatedly drove over them to crush them for her holiday Candy Cane Cookies. You will not only have a book of delicious treats, you will have front seat to the beautiful memories reel that is a part of Christy's life. I loved this pre-release look, and have already pre-ordered my very own copy.

I haven't had a cookbook move me to tears before, until now. Christy Jordan to not only put together a book that is "drool worthy" because it's so good, but one that moves your heart as well.

I miss my Grandmother very much, among other people. Jordan's book is full of memories of family. While they aren't my memories, they are able to easily cause nostalgia and memories of my own to come to the surface very quickly. She's correct about why we cook some of the things we cook.

The recipes are awesome. I did know some of them, others I can't wait to try. Cakes, pies, and pastries are what I'm good at in the kitchen. So very many recipes in this book are just waiting to be made, and to create memories with. This book is well worth reading, and not just for the recipes.

My copy came from Net Galley. I was not required to leave a review, I do so of my own free volition. My thoughts and opinions are my own. I will be buying this book, and hopefully copies as gifts. I highly recommend it.

Oh my goodness...where do I begin? This book is aptly titled as it practically oozes with Southern sweetness. It is filled with good old-fashioned recipes that I remember enjoying as a child but have forgotten many of them. I cannot wait to revisit and remake these recipes as I was quite the little baker in my childhood and enjoyed being in the kitchen with my mother and grandmothers. The recipes are not complicated and the ingredients should be easily found in any grocery. The author provides great tips and shares many memories of her childhood that trigger many memories of my own. And the pictures, well they just brought a smile to my face as many of the recipes were photographed in vintage bakeware, serving dishes and placed on vintage tablecloths. I think I may have gotten a little younger while reading this book! I highly recommend this book for anyone who is nostalgic for older, forgotten recipes and memories of years gone by! (It would also make a great gift.)

I received a time-limited electronic copy of this cookbook for evaluation and review.

I enjoyed reading this cookbook as much as the recipes. It was full of inspirational tidbits, stories, and reminiscing. I loved the story of how "Old Scrap Iron" got her name. There are lots of recounted memories from times go by of older generations that I just really loved reading. There was lots of true wisdom there and a lot of times I found myself laughing, and it brought back fond memories of my own. It's definitely Southern, and I think Southern born and raised readers will especially enjoy the way this book often evokes memories of a time when families and people were closer.

The recipes are all about sweets, with some punches, fruit drinks, and Southern Sweet tea added. The Southern Sweet tea recipe was the only one I didn't care for. We just make ours differently, never letting the tea actually boil keeps the bitterness down and we DO pour ours over sugar when it is still warm, so the sugar dissolves well. Plus we use 2-3 times the amount of tea. We like our Southern Sweet Tea so it can about get up and walk by itself.

I love that she included very traditionally Southern recipes like Hummingbird Cake, Coca-Cola cake, Divinity, and various chess pies. There are icing recipes galore, and they are good, and many I recognized as being recipes that I learned from my own mother. My favorite new recipes though involved some of the cake mix recipes that were included. I always stock up on cake mixes during sales, and making cookies with them will give me another way to use them up before they expire, so I really appreciated those- and they are excellent; I'd never have known they were made from a cake mix.

The recipes are all centered around common pantry items and are very affordable. Almost all are very simple and make very little mess. They are practical, and good, and pleasing to the Southern palate. They are NOT gourmet, or fussy, and they are full-calorie.

I will pick a hard copy of this book up when it comes out. The pictures are nice, but this is a cookbook I'd like to keep a copy of in my 'sweets' cabinet. The icings are great- really with the collection in this cookbook, there's no reason anyone should ever buy another can of icing again.

I love cookbooks, and (being from the south myself) I’m especially fond of cookbooks featuring southern recipes. It’s the type of food I’m most familiar with—it’s what I was raised on, and what I’ve fed my own family through the years.

When I first saw the title of this particular cookbook, I was immediately reminded of my Great-Grandmother. Grandma Margie always had homemade sweets ready and waiting in case any of her grandkids and great-grandkids stopped by to visit for a while. Grandma always came outside to greet us the same way—with joy on her face, and her arms opened wide, saying “C’mere so I can hug your neck!”

Once we went inside the house, my eyes were inevitably drawn to the dining room, excited because I knew what I would see. Two long tables, filled with every sweet treat a child could ever want, made by Grandma herself. The love she put into making those cookies, brownies, fudges, and candies made them even sweeter to me, and I will forever cherish memories of those visits.

It’s appropriate to share this beloved memory in my review, because in addition to the many yummy recipes, Jordan has sprinkled in several sweet memories of her own, along with the encouragement to appreciate the sweetness in life. Sometimes, we get so busy living life that we don’t always remember to stop and smell the roses… to take a moment to be grateful for what we have in this life, and the loved ones we share it with each day. There is always something sweet to cherish, and I was reminded of many cherished memories of my own as I read hers.

As far as the recipes themselves, there were extremely few that I didn’t want to try out myself. They all sound SO good, and if the photos of the finished treats don’t make your mouth water, nothing will. There are also many tips—for example, simple ways to decorate a cake—that are quite useful to know.

This would be a fantastic addition to anyone’s cookbook library, and with Christmas right around the corner, it’s a great time to try your hand at making some of these luscious sweets!

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review*
I really liked this book, it was the first cookbook that I entirely read!!
The recipes are all great and I saved some of them to practice(since I am just a beginner). But, if you are just starting in baking and cooking, I think there are some recipes easier than others. It's a pity that there aren't a lot of pictures to take as a reference, I want to know how it is supposed to look like!!! Maybe I did something wrong and I'll never know because I didn't have a picture.
The organization of the book is great, as well as the content and design, so I hope to buy it soon. And I hope that in the future this book will have a translation so I can share some recipes with my mom and maybe baking together, since I am the only one in my home that likes to bake.
If you like to cook, this book is for you, and if you are absolutely not interested in cooking, this book is for you as well. I am sure that you'll find an easy recipe, there are like 197 recipes to practice!!! But, you'll also find some interesting memories from the author that I enjoyed so much because it added a more sentimental feeling to the book :).