Holm Family Cookbook

Our family has participated in and worked at the Alameda County Fair for three generations. We have helped to coordinate the wine competition for close to three decades now, and a number of years back, Courtney Townsend catered the awards dinner, and we have enjoyed working with her ever since. Courtney is a graduate of Paris' Le Cordon Bleu, a professional chef and the Fine Foods Editor for the San Francisco Sentinel. She recently published a story "Freedom Pie," and a recipe for "Freedom Sauce" in memory of Martin Luther King Jr., and we wanted to share this recipe with you…

“Freedom Sauce”

Caramel sauce with roasted pecans

THE RECIPE

4oz unsalted butter

1cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

8oz evaporated milk or heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey

6oz Georgia pecan halves- toasted

Pinch salt

THE PROCESS

1. Heat a dry sauté pan on medium high heat. Toast the pecans till lightly fragrant. Immediately remove from pan and set aside.

2. Cube your butter into equal pieces. Add to a heavy bottomed saucepot with the brown sugar. This next step is the most important one! Melt together over medium low heat. Your goal is for the brown sugar granules to dissolve into the butter while it barely gives the butter a slightly nutty flavor. Quickly whisk until smooth.

3. When the mixture comes to just under a boil. It should appear a bit like molten lava. Remove from heat. Whisk in your salt & cream.

4. Allow sauce to cool for a couple of minutes. Whisk in the whiskey and vanilla.

5. Dip and go!

Key Tips/Comments

· If your sauce comes out a bit too loose, return to the heat and reduce on low for several minutes.

· Package your sauce in a glass jar to maintain true flavor. It will keep in the refrigerator for easily a month or longer.

· You can easily attain “Freedom” pie by adding a layer of warm “Freedom” sauce over your favorite sweet potatoe pie or any other pie for that matter!

Click here to read the entire story.

~ Susie and Nancy