Denise Gee - Sweet on Texas: lovable confections from the Lone Star State

For Holly Dauphin Fields
and the sweet memories of friends and family
who left us too soon.

To Bill LeBlond and Amy Treadwell at Chronicle Books, and my literary agent Angela Miller-for helping make this book possible. Thanks for believing in me. And to the rest of the Chronicle Books team: Doug Ogan, Claire Fletcher, Alice Chau, Tera Killip, Peter Perez, and David Hawk, thanks for helping me look good. Thanks also go to copy editor AnnRolke.

To Dale Dietert and Hank Hammett, two of the most creative, charming, and hospitable Texans Im blessed to know. And to Pamela Elrod, whose stories of her aunt, Texas Elrod Culver (a.k.a. Sugah), and her familys East Texas farm named Plentywood, set me on my way.

To my brother Dempse McMullen, and friends Kirk and Joy Kirksey: Hats off for lending us some fab Texas wares for photography

To my SMU colleagues in News & Communications: Thanks for putting up with my sugar rushes and helping me taste-test the goods.

To all those featured in the book who let me show off what you can do: Bless you.

To my mother, Freddie Lee, and father, Johnnyfor letting me be born in this great state.

To my husband, Robert M. Peacocka sweet soul and talented photographerand Alfie the wonder dog: Thanks for being at my side.

Texas does not, like any other region, simply have indigenous dishes. It proclaims them. It congratulates you, on your arrival, at having escaped from the slop pails of other states.

Alistair Cooke, legendary broadcast journalist (1908-2004)

T exans sport a self-assured lightheartedness that truly goes unrivaled. Our mostly rebellious country music says it all with a wide grin, but so, too, do our lesser-known ambassadors of attitudeour businesses. To wit, a billboard: Walker Tires: If Its in Stock, Weve Got It. A mattress store slogan: Come to Us for the Best Lay in Town. On the door of a diner: Warning: Unattended children will be given an espresso and a puppy. On the marquee of a quirky Mexican restaurant: Show me on the doll where El Arroyo touched you. You just cant help but smile.

The Lone Star State has equal magnetism when it comes to food. Theres our succulent brisket that we run smoke rings around compared to others; our ginormous chicken-fried steak slathered in peppery cream gravy; our Tex-Mex thats as American as fajitas. But one dining treasure often overlooked in the horn-tootin department? Our desserts. Damn fine ones. Ones that represent our hospitality and sweetness like nothing else. Hence, this book. This is where I get to give Texas confections their moment in the sun. (Briefly, of course, before putting them back in the fridge. It gets hot here, yall.)

Like Texass topography, our desserts arent easy to stereotype. Thats because the state, which covers 268,601 square miles, is truly, as we say, like a whole other country. Theres a Southern drawl in the lush piney woods of our far east; the laid-back conviviality of Cajuns, Vietnamese, and native Islanders along the Gulf coast; the rich Mexican heritage of our festive border region; the free-spiritedness of our wests arid and mountainous Big Bend area; the artsy charm and eastern European heritage in the Hill Country; the rugged, old-Texas style of San Antone and El Paso; the cowboy and prairie flavors northward to the Panhandle; and the poshness of Dallas and Houston.

And though theres so much that differs, there are two things that bring us together: a friendliness that is unmatched and our love of fellowship, made sweeter as we sit down and enjoy dessert together. (Even the name Texas derives from the Caddo Indian word tejas, for friends.)

This book is a collection of the very best desserts-not all of them, mind you, just some personal favorites-representing each of our four culturally distinctive regions: East/Coastal, Central, South, and North/West. It wasnt too hard to figure out where to draw the lines of demarcation, though of course they blur in spots, but not in others, which might surprise some people. Dallas and Fort Worth in two different chapters? You bet: Despite being only thirty miles apart, their styles and personalities couldnt be more different. Fort Worth really is where the East meets the West.

I must admit, the pressure was on while researching and testing these recipes. You see, like everything we do in this state, it better be good. It better be authentic. And it better, as folks might say, cook right. For this I know: My fellow Texas foodies will be paying attention and will let me know about it if Im not shooting straight.

Much of my research has been during the last four decades. I was born in Houston, and while I was raised in Mississippi, I regularly visited family in the Lone Star State before my husband and I ultimately anchored in Dallas after stints living in Galveston and Austin. Even while living in Birmingham, Alabama, and working for Southern Living, I traveled the state extensively, covering foodies and chefs for food features and also serving as the magazines Texas Living editor. And then when I was managing editor of Coastal Living, I called the Texas food and travel beat. And even when I was a senior home design editor for Better Homes and Gardens, I called the Texas beat-even moving here to serve as its regional editor (thank you, BH&G). This place kept calling me back. I just had to stay put.

In keeping with our states rich and engaging diversity of people and ingredients, Sweet on Texas features the must-know, must-eat recipes and must-meet dessert devotees from my own knowledge base as well as whats been graciously shared with me by the states top restaurants and diners, home cooks, and bakeries. It dishes on each recipes most interesting bit of history technique, or ingredient. But its ultimate goal? To leave you, my kindred dessert-loving brethren wherever you arein an altogether other great state: of cold and creamy, warm and gooey euphoria, Texas style.

Now then. Enough yammering. Lets eat.