Bountiful Breakfast

CHEF CHRISTINA HENDRICKSON believes in real breakfasts: biscuits and sausage gravy with bacon and eggs; omelet with mushrooms and cheese.

Real also means a breakfast made with farm products from Kentucky—bacon and sausage from Kentucky pork, eggs from Kentucky hens, cheese from Kentucky Holstein milk, and fresh mushrooms, all grown on Kentucky farms.

You can find Hendrickson’s local breakfasts, and equally local lunches (cheeseburgers, BLTs, chorizo baked beans, macaroni and cheese, etc.), inside the Shoppes at Otter Creek, 5165 Old Mill Road (Hwy. 1638), southeast of Brandenburg.

Opened last fall by Scott Austin and Pauline Bramer, a member of Meade County Rural Electric Cooperative, the Shoppes feature works of Kentucky artists, including pottery, wood, oils and pastels, 3D creations, fibers, and more.

Shoppes hours are Tuesday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The café is open Tuesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Lickskillet Café Bread Pudding

The bread pudding at Lickskillet Café is served with homemade caramel and Kentucky bourbon ice cream with blueberries and strawberries.
1 lb day-old biscuits, crumbled
5 beaten eggs
4 Tbsp butter
1⁄2 C sugar
Pinch of salt
1⁄8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
5 C cream
1⁄2 C currants or chopped raisins

Place crumbled biscuits in 9×13-inch baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray. Pour melted butter over biscuits. Toss lightly and toast at 300° until light brown. Mix together sugar, salt, nutmeg, vanilla, cream, and beaten eggs. Pour mixture over bread. Sprinkle currants evenly over mixture. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Bake at 350° for one hour or until firm. Serve warm with your favorite caramel sauce. Serves 15.

Caramel Sauce
1 C sugar
2 C cream

Add 1 cup of sugar to a small pan with 3 tablespoons water. Heat over high heat, stirring to mix sugar and water. Quit stirring, reduce heat to medium, and bring mixture to a boil. When sugar has melted and turned dark brown, remove from heat and add cream slowly. Stir to melt sugar. Makes 2 cups.

READER RECIPE

Kentucky Cream Cake
1⁄2 C butter
1⁄2 C shortening or lard
2 C sugar
5 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
2 1⁄4 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 C buttermilk
1 C coconut
2⁄3 C chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

Icing
8 oz cream cheese
1⁄4 C butter
4 C (1 pound) powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350°. Beat butter and shortening and keep beating as you add sugar. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla. Add flour and soda alternately with buttermilk. Stir in coconut and nuts. Beat egg whites slightly and fold into batter. Bake in two 9-inch cake pans for approximately 40 minutes. Cool completely on racks. For icing, beat cream cheese and butter to mix. Add powdered sugar gradually, beating it in. Beat in vanilla. Frost cake; if desired, sprinkle top with a handful of chopped nuts. Serves 12.

Submitted by JEAN SELLS of Burkesville and a Tri-County Electric co-op member, who describes this cake as “very similar to Italian cake.” It is moist and a great keeper.