Janae Harrelson Winter

Two weeks ago Janae Harrelson Winter learned to make her granny, Evelyn Harrelson’s yeast rolls, and, “I have the pictures to prove it,” she said. She was at her granny’s from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. learning how to make the family favorite she has for them every Christmas. The next thing Janae wants to learn to make from Granny is homemade donuts. She has given up sweets for Lent, and after that she will be giving them a try.

The first thing she learned to make by herself as an adult was when she was a college freshman. It was Angel Food Cake from scratch that she has been making ever since. She said it was an Alton Brown recipe she found online. “It is so good!” and the first one was for her grandmother’s birthday.  At the time, she and Bethany Pratt (Flint) were roommates and Bethany cooked all the time. Janae said that inspired her, so she tried making the cake. She learned from Bethany that cooking and baking can be enjoyable– not to stress, but to have fun with it.
She has learned a lot more about baking during her eight years of working at Jeffery’s, where her favorite cake to make is Italian Creme. She has also learned to make homemade icing and says now it’s easy.

She loves dark chocolate, so she just decided to swap out the cocoa powder for dark in making a chocolate cobbler. “It is perfect with ice cream,” she said.
After she and Jim married, she worried he would starve because he was so used to his mother, Barbara Winter’s gourmet cooking, “but he survived.”?Her homemade macaroni and cheese is one of his favorites, so Janae learned to make that. The first meal she cooked for them included meatloaf and “surprisingly it turned out good,” she said.
Janae recently made Slow Cooker Creamed Corn for Barbara’s birthday by her recipe, and she approved. “She liked my food,” she said. She also served roasted potatoes and strawberry-mandarin orange salad, along with pork loin  grilled by Jim.

She said her mother, Debbi, who always stressed to her and her brother, Jahew, to know how to do basic things in cooking and cleaning, has cooked Sunday breakfast for as long as Janae can remember–homemade biscuits, eggs, bacon, sausage, and chocolate gravy. And Janae has learned to make the biscuits, too.

Angel Food Cake
1 ¾ cups sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1 c. cake flour, sifted
12 eggs whites
1/3 c. warm water
1 tsp. butter flavor extract
1 ½ tsp. cream of tartar
Preheat oven to 350° F. In a food processor spin sugar about 2 minutes until it is superfine. Sift half of the sugar with the salt the cake flour, setting the remaining sugar aside. In a large bowl, use a whisk to thoroughly combine egg whites, water, butter flavoring, and cream of tartar. After two minutes, switch to a hand mixer. Slowly sift the reserved sugar, beating continuously at medium speed. Once you have achieved medium peaks, sift enough of the flour mixture in to dust the top of the foam. Using a spatula fold in gently. Continue until all of the flour mixture is incorporated. Carefully spoon mixture into an ungreased tube pan. Bake for 35 minutes before checking for doneness with a wooden skewer. Cool upside down on cooling rack for at least an hour before removing from pan.

Granny’s Homemade Yeast Rolls
(Evelyn Harrelson)   
1 pkg. + ½ tsp. yeast
¼ c. luke warm water
1 tsp. sugar
1 c. water
1/3 c. sugar
1 stick margarine, soften
1 egg beaten
1 tsp. salt
4 cups self-rising flour
Dissolve yeast and one tsp. sugar in lukewarm water. Mix 1 cup water, 1/3 cup sugar in a separate bowl until dissolved. Add the yeast mixture to the water. Next, add margarine, salt and egg. Then add flour one cup at a time, mix well. Cover the mixture and lets rise for two hours. Roll out the dough and form rolls. Let the rolls rise for two more hours. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until brown.

Dark Chocolate Cobbler
6 tbsp. butter
1 c. self-rising flour
¾ c. white sugar
1 ½ Tbsp. Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder
½ c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. white sugar
¼ c. Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder
1 ½ c. boiling water
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Melt butter in a 8×8 inch baking dish while the oven preheats. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, ¾ cup sugar, and 1 ½ Tbsp. cocoa. Stir in milk and vanilla until smooth. Spoon this batter over the melted butter in the baking dish. Stir together the remaining cup of sugar and ¼ cup cocoa powder. Sprinkle over the batter. Slowly pour boiling water over the top of the mixture. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until set. Serve with ice cream.

Slow Cooker Creamed Corn
(Barbara Winter)   
1 -16 oz pkg. frozen whole kernel corn
1-8 oz. cream cheese
½ cup butter
½  milk
1 Tbsp. white sugar
Salt and pepper
Combine cream cheese, butter, sugar, and milk in a saucepan. Place corn in a slow cooker and add the combined ingredients. Cook on High 2 to 4 hours or on Low 4 to 6 hours.