Blue Ribbon Baking from a Redneck Kitchen

National pie champion, mom, homemaker, and self-proclaimed redneck, Francine Bryson won the hearts of bakers everywhere when she appeared on CBS’s The American Baking Competition and went on to become a finalist on the show. Known for her down-home Southern charm and sass (and for successfully pairing chocolate and peanut butter with bacon), Francine now shares her sought-after recipes and tips in her very first baking book.

“Here are the recipes and tricks I was taught by my Great-Granny, Granny, Nana, and Mama—the women who schooled me on the ways a Southern woman keeps a kitchen—and that I learned from twenty-plus years of competing on the baking circuit. Now you can bake up award-winning pies such as Upside-Down Apple Pie, fluffy Biscuits Like Nana Made, and irresistible treats like Soda Pop Cake and Classic Southern Lemon Bars—all so good they have made the rounds with the ladies at church, the bridge clubs, supper clubs, and mom groups for generations.”
--from the Introduction

FRANCINE BRYSON has won more than 200 local and national baking competitions and was the runner-up and crowd favorite on CBS’s The American Baking Competition. Her childhood home in Greenville, South Carolina, was located between those of her Nana and Granny, both keen bakers who started passing their secrets to Francine when she was barely tall enough to reach the countertop. A member of the American Pie Council, she lives with her husband in Pickens, South Carolina.