No-Fail Buttercream Frosting

A foolproof buttercream frosting recipe with one box powdered sugar, one stick of butter and almost no measuring! Flavor with your favorite extract such as vanilla, almond, lemon, coconut or peppermint!

JUMP TO RECIPE

Here’s the thing with buttercream recipes… many of us don’t really use a recipe. You just mix butter, powdered sugar, some flavoring and a splash of milk or cream and keep adjusting until it looks right.

Well, that’s hard to document in a recipe. Another thing that’s hard for folks following recipes is measuring powdered sugar. Three cups at my house probably isn't the same as the three cups you measure at your house. In most recipes, that’s OK but when you’re making buttercream with just ounces of liquid, it matters.

That’s why I love this recipe. It uses one 1-pound box of powdered sugar. Ain't nobody got to measure anything. It’s a pound. Period.

The only variance is whether you need 3 or 4 tablespoons of cream (half & half or milk) and that’s really about preference and climate. I usually use half & half because it’s what I have but cream makes for a waaaay more luxurious, silky buttercream so I definitely recommend using it if you have it!

This recipe makes enough for 24 normal cupcakes or 16 heavily frosted cupcakes (like these) or one 13x9 cake. If you’re making a layered cake, double the recipe to ensure you have enough.

Don't wait too long to add sprinkles if you're using them. I photographed these without sprinkles first then added them later. As you can see, the sprinkles didn't really stay put - they look like they're on really long slide or taking a drive through the Alps. 

NOTES ABOUT NO-FAIL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:

• Flavor with your favorite extract such as vanilla, almond, lemon, coconut or peppermint!
• You can use milk, half & half or cream (whatever you have - no need to make a special trip to the store or buy something you don't use just for a few tablespoons) BUT using the one with the highest fat content will give you the best buttercream.
• Make chocolate frosting by sifting 1/3 cup cocoa powder into the powdered sugar (you’ll need about a teaspoon more liquid if adding cocoa powder).
• According to the manufacturer of the box I used with this batch, one pound equals 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar but I get 4 cups when I measure it.
• This recipe yields enough for 24 normal cupcakes or 16 heavily frosted cupcakes (like these) or one 13x9 cake. If you’re making a layered cake, double the recipe to ensure you have enough.

Recipe for No-Fail Buttercream Frosting

frosting, icing, buttercream, butter, cream, old fashioned, traditional, classic, bakery, easy, no fail, 1 box, 1 pound, powdered sugar, confectioners sugar, icing sugar, vanilla, almond, lemon, coconut, peppermint, cocoa, chocolate, cupcakes

dessert

Amercian

Yield: Frosting for 24 normal cupcakes or 16 heavily frosted cupcakes

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

No-Fail Buttercream Frosting

A foolproof buttercream frosting recipe with one box powdered sugar and one stick of butter and almost no measuring! Flavor with your favorite extract such as vanilla, almond, lemon, coconut or peppermint!

Prep time: 5 MinTotal time: 5 Min

Ingredients

• 1 1-lb. box powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (see notes)
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream plus more

Instructions

1. Sift powdered sugar then set aside. Note: sifting is optional but recommended. 1 lb powdered sugar
2. Whip butter and vanilla extract (or whichever flavor extract you're using) on medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). 1 stick butter, 1 tsp extract
3. Add 3 tablespoons cream and powdered sugar then continue mixing on medium speed until well combined and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).
4. Add more cream, 1 teaspoon at a time, until you reach desired consistency.

Notes

• Flavor with your favorite extract such as vanilla, almond, lemon, coconut or peppermint!
• You can use milk or half & half instead of cream (no need to make a special trip to the store) BUT using the one with the highest fat content will give you the best buttercream.
• If using unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon salt when whipping butter.
• Make chocolate frosting by sifting 1/3 cup cocoa powder into the powdered sugar (you’ll need about a teaspoon more liquid if adding cocoa powder).
• According to the manufacturer of the box I used with this batch, one pound equals 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar but when I measure I get 4 cups.
• This recipe yields enough for 24 normal cupcakes or 16 heavily frosted cupcakes (like these) or one 13x9 cake. If you’re making a layered cake, double the recipe to ensure you have enough.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2014/08/no-fail-vanilla-buttercream-frosting.html

Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC 2014

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Fall-Off-The-Bone Baby Back Ribs

An easy recipe for baby back ribs baked low and slow in the oven on a bed of onions that are so tender the meat falls off the bone.

When I say these ribs are “fall off the bone” good, I mean it. My kitchen looked like a voodoo den today. There were bones everywhere. Without a scrap of meat on them.

It looked like some phantom from Scooby Doo had been through and left nothing in its wake but bones.

These ribs cook low and slow in the oven on a bed of on thick onion slices to keep them out of the pan juices (so they roast instead of boil). Then you finish them off with barbeque sauce and you’re ready to chow down.

A friend of mine popped over when I was making these one day and I was somewhat apologetic about cooking them in the oven instead of on the grill. Because, I mean, we’re in the South so we’re all supposed to be grill masters, right?

[Cut to scene of me standing next to a giant grilling contraption (prolly made out of steel barrels on wheels with a trailer hitch) with a stack of hickory chopped and on the ready behind me with a Bud Light in one hand and a barbeque baster the size of a janitor’s mop in the other]

He surprised me by saying he used to work at one of the big rib restaurants in town and the way I was cooking them was almost exactly the way they cooked them at the restaurant. They cooked them low and slow in the oven and only popped them on the grill when it was time to sauce them.

Get. Out.

I love it when I figure this stuff out on my own. And it sure beats standing out in the heat, sweating my gonads off, swatting mosquitoes for hours.

Fall-Off-The-Bone Baby Back Ribs

Yield: 4-6 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

prep time: 10 Mcook time: 4 hourtotal time: 4 H & 10 M

An easy recipe for baby back ribs baked low and slow in the oven on a bed of onions that are so tender the meat falls off the bone.

ingredients:

• 2 racks baby back ribs
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Paprika
• Barbeque sauce
• 3-4 onions, peeled
• 1/2 cup beer (approximately)
• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke (optional)

instructions:

How to cook Fall-Off-The-Bone Baby Back Ribs

1. Remove the thin skin (or membrane) from the back of the ribs. Simply slip the point of a knife under the skin on one end then lift up to create a gap. Slide your fingers under the skin then pull the skin off. I can usually get a better grip if I use a paper towel to grab the skin.
2. Season both sides of ribs liberally with salt, pepper, garlic and paprika; set aside.
3. Slice onions into 1/2" rings and place them in the bottom of a large roasting pan (or two smaller ones – use whatever you need so that the ribs can cook in a single layer). This is to create a layer that will keep the ribs elevated so that they’re never sitting in (boiling in) the cooking liquid.
4. Pour just enough beer into the pan to cover the bottom.  Add liquid smoke to the beer.
5. Arrange rib racks in a single layer on top of onion slices. Cover pan tightly with two layers of aluminum foil (if your pan has a lid, cover with a layer of aluminum foil and the lid). Bake at 300 degrees for 4 hours. Remove ribs from oven and uncover.
6. Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees. Drain pan juices from pan (either with a turkey baster or by carefully tipping the pan). Baste ribs with barbeque sauce then return to oven. Continue baking ribs, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until sauce is heated through and slightly sticky. Remove ribs from oven, tent with foil and rest for 15 minutes before serving.
7. Discard onions.

NOTES:

Feel free to use apple juice, water, root beer or another cooking liquid if you'd prefer.
You can use carrots, apple rings or celery instead of onions if you prefer. The veg is there as an aromatic and to lift the ribs up out of the cooking liquid so they don't boil.

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This recipe was shared at the Weekend Potluck!

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Chicken & Dressing Casserole

Home » Casseroles » Chicken & Dressing Casserole

A comfort food casserole recipe made with chicken (or leftover turkey) and Southern cornbread dressing with all the flavors of Thanksgiving that can be enjoyed year-round.

Photos and blog post updated 11/1/23  

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. JUMP TO RECIPE
2. FAQ ABOUT CHICKEN & DRESSING CASSEROLE
3. NOTES ABOUT MAKING THIS RECIPE

Every year at Thanksgiving, I’d ask myself WHY do we only eat turkey and/or cornbread dressing once a year? 

And every year I’d tell myself I would start cooking one or both more often. But I never did.

And THEN I started making this recipe and haven’t had to chastise myself for not keeping my word about making turkey and dressing more often.

Because this, my friends, scratches both itches AND it’s delicious AND a bazillion times easier than recreating my Thanksgiving favorites.

I first saw a recipe like this on Southern with a Twist, a Southern food blog my buddy Lynn runs. What drew my attention was Lynn puts chopped boiled eggs in hers – which I LOVE – but never really see very often on recipe sites.

Southerners (or at least my family) have been putting boiled eggs in our recipes forever. I never once saw a pot of Chicken & Dumplings at Nanny’s house that wasn’t loaded with sliced boiled eggs. And all the women in my family put chopped boiled eggs in our cornbread dressing.

Southerners sneak boiled eggs into stews, rice dishes, casseroles – really anything that makes a big batch. I suspect this was to add protein to dishes during lean times. 

Food sources in the South were ravaged after the Civil War. Sherman ordered all the crops and livestock to be destroyed so folks got pretty creative working with what they had. That’s why collard greens (and mustard, turnip, etc.) and peas are so popular here.

The Yankees didn’t realize the peas and greens were food when they were scorching the earth so the two sustained much of the South in the years directly following the war. To this day, collard greens and black-eyed peas are eaten here on New Year’s Day for good luck.

I don’t include the boiled eggs in my recipe but you can certainly add them. You should add them! I messed around and somehow married a Canadian, so I tweak a lot of old school, deep South recipes for his sake. 

FAQ ABOUT CHICKEN & DRESSING CASSEROLE

How much cornbread do I need?  Use a 6-serving mix or half a pan of most standard family-size cornbread recipes (which bake in a 13x9 pan). You can also use leftover cornbread muffins from your local meat-and-three restaurant or Cracker Barrel. 

Can I use Jiffy mix?  Yes, but I personally don’t love straight-up Jiffy cornbread in this because it’s a little too sweet but LOTS of people love it (I think most people make this with Jiffy mix). When I do use Jiffy mix, I add 1/2 cup sour cream to the batter which really knocks the sweetness down a bit.

Can I use leftover, canned or rotisserie chicken in this?  Yes, yes and yes! You’ll need to buy chicken broth to use since you won’t be making your own when you cook the chicken but I’ve done all three and they’re all great!

Is this a meal or a side dish?  I serve this as a meal but a lot of folks serve this at Thanksgiving as a side dish. It makes a GREAT potluck dish since it can be served as either.

Can I use Stove Top or Pepperidge Farm stuffing in this instead of cornbread?  Probably. You will likely need to add more broth since both of these are somewhat dehydrated. If using Stove Top, reduce the salt since it’s already pretty heavily seasoned.

Don’t you want gravy with it?  Well, I ain’t never turned down gravy and I’m not about to start now but, no, I don’t make gravy to serve with this. This is super moist so it doesn’t really need anything but, gravy is never wrong. Ever. You could use a packet of gravy mix or a jar if you want something quick and easy.

Can I make this with turkey?  Of course you can!

Would cranberry sauce be good served with this?  Well, since I don’t like cranberry sauce, my answer would be heck no but I imagine folks who traditionally enjoy cranberry sauce with turkey and dressing would love it with this.

NOTES ABOUT MAKING THIS RECIPE FOR CHICKEN & DRESSING CASSEROLE

• The reason I specify to use a smaller saucepan when cooking the chicken is so you don’t have to use more water than necessary. The less water you use, the more flavorful the broth is.
• Once the chicken is cooked, you will most likely have more than 2 cups of broth so you’ll definitely want to measure the broth. 
• Feel free to use leftover, canned or rotisserie chicken and prepared chicken broth or bullion.
• Diced boiled eggs are SCRUMPTIOUS in this and very much in keeping with the southern tradition of adding boiled eggs to cornbread dressing. 
• This is very moist and doesn’t need gravy but feel free to serve gravy on the side. Gravy is never wrong. Ever.
• I like Campbells Cream of Chicken with Herbs condensed soup best but regular cream of chicken is great too.
• Substitute cream of mushroom, celery or onion for the cream of chicken if desired.

Recipe for How to Cook Grits

Chicken & Dressing Casserole

Yield: 6 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 40 MinTotal time: 1 Hour

A comfort food casserole recipe made with chicken (or leftover turkey) and Southern cornbread dressing with all the flavors of Thanksgiving that can be enjoyed year-round.

Ingredients

• 2-3 large chicken breasts
• 1 8x8 pan of cornbread, cooled
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 10-oz can cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

Instructions

1. Add chicken breasts to a saucepan (the smallest pan you can fit them in so that 2 cups of water will cover or mostly cover them). Add water, salt and pepper. Cover then bring to a boil. Once, boiling, reduce heat to low then cook for 30 minutes or until cooked through (larger, bone-in breasts may take longer).
2. Remove chicken from pot to cool, reserving 2 cups of broth.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Combine 2 cups reserved broth, cream of chicken soup (do not prepare first) and poultry seasoning then whisk until smooth; set aside.
5. Sauté celery and onion in butter for 5 minutes then add to a large mixing bowl.
6. Shred or cut chicken into bite-sited pieces, add to bowl with vegetables then stir to combine.
7. Crumble cornbread into bowl with chicken and vegetables then pour in broth mixture. Gently fold to combine all ingredients. Taste for seasoning then add salt, pepper or more poultry seasoning if desired.
8. Spoon mixture into a 2-quart casserole dish. Bake, uncovered, for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. All of the ingredients are cooked (and there are no raw eggs, etc) so we really just need to heat everything through and get a little color on the top.

Notes

• The reason I specify to use a smaller saucepan is so you don’t have to use more water than necessary. The less water you use, the more flavorful the broth is.
• Once the chicken is cooked, you will most likely have more than 2 cups of broth so you’ll definitely want to measure the broth.
• Feel free to use leftover, canned or rotisserie chicken and prepared chicken broth or bullion.
• Diced boil eggs are SCRUMPTIOUS in this and very much in keeping with the southern tradition of adding boiled eggs to cornbread dressing.
• This is very moist and doesn’t need gravy but feel free to serve gravy on the side. Gravy is never wrong. Ever.
• I like Campbells Cream of Chicken with Herbs condensed soup best but regular cream of chicken is great too.
• Substitute cream of mushroom, celery or onion for the cream of chicken if desired.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2014/08/chicken-and-dressing-casserole.html

Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC 2014

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