Cheese Biscuits & Chocolate

Okay, so you don't actually see the cheese biscuits and chocolate here. They've been gobbled up during the Christmas brunch. The plate to the left holds the aftermath, the one to the right some leftover sausage and eggs. Bottom right, what's left of the chocolate.

This meal came into my life via Ahoskie, North Carolina, home of my father-in-law. His mother Nettie made this stuff and instilled a love of it in her children and her grandchildren and the people who married her children and grandchildren. (I'm in the latter group.)

It's simple. Extra sharp cheddar cheese is cut up into little blocks. These are folded into the dough of individually shaped biscuits, and then the biscuits are baked as ususal. While they're baking, cocoa and sugar and some other stuff (milk and butter maybe?) are blended into a chocolate "sop" or gravy or syrup, whatever you choose to call it. Ahoskie folks get a plate of biscuits; Nettie was known to be quite strict on rations, so your plate of biscuits might be only two. Then they get a little bowl and pour chocolate in it. The biscuits are dipped in the chocolate and eaten by hand. This has been introduced to my family in Walnut and has become our traditional Christmas meal (at breakfast, brunch or lunch). My brother and I, both always fond of our Mother's biscuits and gravy, tend to serve up our biscuits and chocolate that way; that is, we put the biscuits on our plates and pour the chocolate over them, thus cutting out the need for dipping.

We had ourselves a busy little Christmas. Once school was finished, we spent three nights--Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday--in Gatlinburg at a resort called the Mountain Loft. On Wednesday, I had to travel back to Johnson City for a meeting and an Honors College staff Christmas gathering. On Thursday, we went to see a Pigeon Forge musical called The Miracle, in which a friend of mine performs. It's a fine bit of Christian message and entertainment. We came home on Friday. On Saturday the 22nd, my son and I traveled to Nashville to see I Am Legend on the IMAX screen, to visit friends and, on Sunday, to attend the Titans/Jets game. On Monday we cleaned house like mad people. I attended the early Christmas Eve service, and then all of us attended the late service. On Christmas morning, we left for North Carolina, at the aforementioned brunch at my mother's, at supper at my mother-in-law's and came home with older son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters in tow.

Whew! And it's still not over, so I'd better run for now!

All good wishes for continued season's blessings.