This image is the cover for the book Shining

Shining

The family behind Ole Smoky moonshine shares their favorite recipes, from moonshine chili to traditional Southern breads, creative cocktails, and more.

When a change in Tennessee law finally made it legal to sell moonshine, Jessi and Joe Baker drew on their family’s rich history to start Ole Smokey Distillery. Ole Smoky moonshine is made with love for the Appalachian Mountains—and the home-style Southern food that goes with it.

In Shining, Jessi Baker shares the history of Tennessee moonshining, as well as some of her family’s favorite recipes. While some recipes feature moonshine in creative ways, like Moonshine Eggnog or the Moonshine Bloody Mary, not all the recipes are boozy. Jessi shares classic Southern favorites like Skillet Cornbread and Wild Blackberry Cobbler, as well as salads, soups, steaks, and more.

Jessi Baker

Jessi Baker grew up in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a small mountain community that serves as the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and where her grandparents started Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen in 1950. After college she returned home to Tennessee for law school and married her high school sweetheart, Joe Baker, a lawyer, whose family enjoys a long, colorful history of living in the Smoky Mountains.In 2009, when the Tennessee legislature passed a bill that legalized distilling spirits, Joe decided to follow his family's 230-year history of East Tennesseans and make moonshine. Like any good, stubborn hillbilly, Joe persisted and in less than 9 months, Ole Smoky Moonshine was open for business. After a few short years, Ole Smoky Moonshine has grown into the most visited distillery in the world with four locations. Their kitchen was initially the laboratory from which flavors such as Apple Pie, Blackberry, Sweet Tea and Lemon Drop Moonshine were born. Their line of moonshine and whiskeys are now sold in all 50 states and 53 countries around the world.Jessi embraced the many ways moonshine could spice up everything from canning pickles and okra to making cupcakes and cobblers a little bit naughty, but not every recipe has moonshine in it. Jessi had her hesitations in the early days, but now she’s proud to call herself a moonshiner, especially in the kitchen.

Andrews McMeel Publishing