Thanksgiving Recap: Crescent Rolls & Cranberry Sauce

There are some items at the Thanksgiving table that are often "check the box" types of things.  Eating Thanksgiving day dinner as a kid, rolls and cranberries were definitely in that category.  The rolls were easy - open a tube of crescent rolls or biscuits and call it a day.  The cranberry sauce was also easy - open a can of gelatinous goo and listen to the slurping sound as it slides out of the can onto a plate.

I will not allow these things to happen at Thanksgiving any longer.  I refuse to let anything at the table to not be as good as it can possibly be.  Let's start with the bread.

I was very excited to be creating the classic crescent roll from scratch.  Making crescent rolls is very similar to making croissants - there's just less rolling and folding going on.

The yeasted dough comes together just like any other dough... mix it up, knead it and let it rest for a while.  To layer this version, softened butter is spread onto the dough and that gets folded up, rolled out and folded again.

The finished dough gets cut into triangles and then my photography skills went down the toilet as I started multitasking a little too much and completely forgot what I had documented.  Sorry.  Just imagine these triangles getting rolled up, brushed with cream and proofed. 

Here's where the trouble came in.  Looking back, I really should have baked these rolls ahead of time but, for some reason, I was convinced we needed to have rolls fresh out of the oven at dinner time.  I was also convinced that this would be possible even with six other things requiring the oven at the very same time.  I decided that the rolls would bake just fine sitting on top of all the other food.  It was a rookie move.  The rolls never rose very well, they took twice as long to bake as they were supposed to, some of them burned on the bottom and they ended up being too dry and dense.  I don't fault the recipe one bit, the downfall of these rolls is 100% my fault, so I'm determined to try these again under more ideal circumstances.  The recipe can be found at The Way the Cookie Crumbles.

I am forever in the debt of CA's grandmother for introducing me to cranberry sauce that is not fake and disgusting.  For 25 years I'd only ever seen canned cranberry sauce and although I'm sure I tried it once, I NEVER ate it again.  That stuff is not natural.  I'm sure we don't need to discuss, yet again, my aversion to fruits outside of their natural state.  CA's grandma's recipe is amazing and the perfect tart break in the carbfest that is Thanksgiving.

The recipe is pretty easy to execute - chop or grind up cranberries, apples, oranges, celery and nuts; add sugar and a little bit of jello and voila! you've got an amazing cranberry sauce (or is it a relish... either way).

Don't let this picture fool you... the picture sucks... the sauce/relish is freakin' delicious.

Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients
2 packages Cranberries
2 Oranges
2 Apples
1 stalk Celery
1 cup Pecans
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 package Cranberry or Cherry Jello
1 cup Boiling Water

Instructions
Zest and peel the orange, reserving the zest.  Grind the cranberries, orange, apples, celery and nuts using a meat grinder or food processor (or coarsely chop).  We like ours chunky so either pulse it quickly in the food processor or chop it.  Add the reserved orange zest and sugar and set aside for 5 minutes to dissolve the sugar.  Dissolve the jello in 1 cup of boiling water.  Let cool and pour 1/2 - 2/3 of the jello into the cranberry mixture.  The purpose of the jello is to hold the mixture together, not to make jello salad.  Refrigerate until serving, can be made a day ahead.

Enjoy!
Julie

Thanksgiving Recap: Bourbon Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel

I'm pretty darn proud of myself for getting my Thanksgiving recap started only one week after Thanksgiving.  You might think that it's been a week and a half since Thanksgiving but since I hosted turkey day on Saturday it's only been one week.  Your perspective is irrelevant.

We weren't able to make it home to either of our families this year which was kind of sad.  We're big family people and generally never miss a holiday unless we can help it.  This year we couldn't help it but we definitely made the best of it.  Luckily, we have a few dear friends who don't travel far to see their families so they were back in town by the weekend after the big food fest.  Therefore, we hosted Friendsgiving at our house on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  The theme of the evening was "Friends don't let friends have just one Thanksgiving" (complete with souvenir koozies courtesy of my GFF)... although some of our friends were enduring their 4th round of turkey and pie.  They all did a good job suffering through and the clean plates after the second helping convinced me the hardship was not too great.

I was super pumped about the tablescape...

Chevron paper table runner (which I did not buy at Anthropologie but you can find on their website)

Gold Candles, Tray, Napkins Rings & Gold Acorns from Pier 1

2008 Shadrach Chardonnay from one of our favorite Sonoma, CA wineries, Munselle Vineyards (wine counts as part of the tablescape and no, I'm not going to tell you how many bottles we drank).

CA was in charge of the turkey and I was too busy preparing the 10 other foods to pay attention to what he was doing.  However, it was freaking amazing... potentially the best turkey we've he's ever made.  We typically fry our turkeys but CA wanted to try something new.  Putting anything else in the oven was not an option (I already had space issues with the oven as Thanksgiving dinner is very casserole centric) so the grill was the only other cooking vessel available.  What I loved about the turkey was that it really took on the flavor of the brine and the smoke of the grill.  You can find the recipe on the Washington Post website.  You should make it.

CA was also in charge of his family's stuffing recipe, the gravy (I make terrible gravy) and cocktails.  I got everything else. While we'll get to the savory food items over the course of the week, I feel it only appropriate that we start with pie.

I struggle with narrowing down the pie selections for Thanksgiving.  There are so many great ones to choose from... pumpkin, pecan, apple, chocolate, cranberry... and don't even get me started on the options if you include non-pie desserts at Thanksgiving (which I only allow if there are 3 or more desserts available).  I've been making this Bourbon Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel for years and I love it because it checks two pie boxes... pumpkin & pecan.

The pie starts with your standard pie crust.  It is then filled with a pumpkin custard that is flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves (regular pumpkin pie stuff) and bourbon (extra special pumpkin pie stuff).  The topping is a super yummy strudel made with brown sugar, flour, butter and pecans.

I was reading the recipe too fast when I made the streusel and put way too much sugar in it which isn't a terrible thing, but it meant that the streusel didn't hold up as well as it normally does when it was baked.  This was the first of two kitchen mishaps - but all things considered I didn't drop anything, burn anything (badly) or burn myself so it was pretty successful!

 I promise if you make it according to the directions it will be even prettier than this.  I also promise you that even if you screw it up like I did it will still taste amazing

The pumpkin part of the pie is pretty light because there are whipped egg whites  folded into the custard.  You get a great hint of bourbon flavor without overpowering the pumpkin.  The streusel is sweet and crunchy and the texture is the perfect compliment to the creamy pumpkin filling.  I love this pie.

The recipe for this pie can be found on Food & Wine.  It's a really great one to add to your holiday table... If you make it for Christmas dinner I'll feel less guilty about not telling you about it until after Thanksgiving. 

Enjoy!
Julie

Pumpkin Spice Kiss Cookies

I never said that when pumpkin week was over that all pumpkin was banished from my house. That would just make me sad.  Sure, Captain America needed a pumpkin break.  I might have needed a mini break, but it couldn't have lasted too long.  Especially when I finally spotted these little kisses. 

I looked for Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses a few weeks ago because I wanted to make a play on Peanut Butter Blossoms (you know the delightful peanut butter cookies with the chocolate kiss on top?  They're classics and oh so delicious!)  However, I couldn't find them anywhere... except that they were at Giant where I didn't look because I thought they only sold them at Target.  I know that's where they sell all the super weird versions of Oreo Cookies (have you seen these?  They have a candy corn version which sounds really gross.  Double Stuff and a Golden Oreo is as adventurous as I am willing to get.) so I deduced that they also exclusively sell the odd Hershey Kisses.  I was wrong.

The kisses taste very similar to a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte so if you like that you'll like this.  I know people who are obsessed with the PSL but I find it to be too spicy and not pumpkiny enough.  My real favorite is the peppermint mocha which I'm currently enjoying every chance I get.

My initial thought when buying these kisses was to put them atop a sugar cookie.  However, upon further evaluation I decided they belonged on pumpkin snickerdoodles which we have already established are one of the best cookies of all time.  There really is no reason to show restraint in the pumpkin department when it comes to cookies so a pumpkin cookie with a pumpkin kiss is totally perfect.

Truthfully, I don't really like the kisses by themselves - there's too much spice in them for me to like them au natural.  However, put those buddies on top of a sweet sugary pumpkin pillow and you've got yourself a delicious Fall treat.  One of my coworkers asked me what I put inside the kiss... as if I made the kiss.  It was a sweet comment that I secretly enjoyed because I have them all totally fooled that I'm talented enough to make my own Hershey kisses.

I bet the kisses are on clearance now... you should go get them before they're yanked from the shelves and you're deprived of this yummy cookie until Halloween 2014.

Pumpkin Spice Kiss Cookies
Adapted from Annie's Eats

Ingredients
3 3/4 cups Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1 cup Butter, at room temperature
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
3/4 cup Pumpkin Puree
1 Egg
2 tsp Vanilla Extract

For the coating:
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
Dash of Allspice


1 bag Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses

Instructions
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Whisk to blend and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Blend in the pumpkin puree.  Beat in the egg and vanilla on low speed until just incorporated.  Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.  Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend.  Scoop the dough (about 2 1/2 tablespoons) and roll into a ball.  Coat the dough ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough to fill the sheets, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart. 

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through.  Right when you take the cookies out of the oven, press 1 kiss onto the top of each cookie.  Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Enjoy!
Julie

Drunken Cranberry Orange Bread

I snatched up this bag of cranberries in the produce section of my grocery store the second I saw it.  It's sad that you can't get fresh cranberries all year because they make the best baked goods!  Cranberry bread is one of my favorite breakfast breads.  The sweet bread and the tart cranberries are a perfect combination.

I require a hint of orange in my cranberry bread.  Unfortunately, today I did not have any oranges or orange juice.  Unfortunately, I was too lazy to get out of my pajamas to go to the store.  Fortunately, I did have was orange booze.  It's rare we don't have orange booze in our house - it's a staple in margaritas and we drink a lot of margaritas.  It pairs well with our love of Mexican food.

I don't know why there is sour cream in this picture.  I don't know why there isn't milk in this picture  My memory is failing me.  I must have thought I would use sour cream instead of milk but did not.  It was early.  I hadn't had any coffee yet.

This bread is made similar to scones where cold butter is cut into the dry ingredients.  Then the wet ingredients are folded in until the dough just barely comes together.  Then the good stuff goes in... coarsely chopped cranberries and pecans.  I don't like to cut up the cranberries and pecans too small, I like some good sized chunks in there.

The original recipe called for orange juice and an egg as the wet ingredients to bind everything together.  I did have one egg (thank goodness - I didn't check the egg crate before starting to bake and it turned out I had only one egg... I didn't notice CA used a bunch of eggs up when I made him make me cornbread and left only one... they should make egg crates see through) but I did not have any orange juice.  The only orange flavored thing I had was triple sec.  I decided that replacing all the orange juice with booze would be a little aggressive (an unusual display of self restraint) so I put in both liquor and milk.

I crossed my fingers a little bit when I put this in the oven.  The batter looked good and tasted good but often my substitutions don't work out quite like I want them to.  There was no reason to worry.  I'm due for a big baking disaster, it's been a while since I dropped something or burned something or myself but today was not that day.  Thank goodness because I was starving and really wanted cranberry bread.

I got exactly what I wanted which was fantastic.  The bread was moist, perfectly tart,  and with just the right amount of orange flavor.  I loved it so much that I didn't give any of it away... except to Captain America.  It would have been mean of me to hide it from him although I thought about it.  I ate this for breakfast and for snacks until every crumb of it was gone.  I have cranberries left that I need to use and if I didn't want to make something new for all of you I'd totally make this again.

Drunken Cranberry Orange Bread
Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients 
2 cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold Unsalted Butter, cut into small cubes 
1/4 cup Orange Liquor (triple sec, cointreau or grand marnier)
1/2 cup Milk
1 Egg, lightly beaten
1 cup coarsely chopped Cranberries
1/3 cup coarsely chopped Pecans


Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt.  Add the butter and cut it into the dry ingredients with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture resembles meal.  (You can also do this by pulsing all the ingredients together in the food processor).  Add the liquor, milk and egg to the flour mixture and stir the batter until it is just combined. Stir in the cranberries and walnuts and transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan.

Bake the bread for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.  Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes and turn it out onto a rack.

Enjoy!
Julie

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

This started out as Chicken & Rice Casserole but morphed into Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole during its preparation.  I intended to put a little bit of cheese in here, but I ended up putting in a lot of cheese.  Oops.  I could call this a mistake but I would be lying... this was more of a result of me cooking while extremely hungry when the five kinds of cheese in my refrigerator all sounded really good.

At least there's a bunch of vegetables in here.  Plus they're green.  They really do help break up the cheesiness.
This is a one pan, one bowl kind of recipe which I appreciate.  Actually that's not true - you do have to cook the rice which is another pot.  However, the chicken is browned, the veggies are cooked and the sauce is made all in the same skillet so that will save you a few dishes.

I used a big mix of cheeses in here... Goat, American, Monterey Jack, Swiss and Parmesan.  This happened to be what was leftover from other uses in small baggies in my fridge.  I really think you can use whatever cheese you want here...  the goat is tart and creamy but you could put in a little cream cheese... the American is nice and melty but you could substitute cheddar... the Parmesan is sharp and salty but Pecorino is a good alternative.  Mix it up, clean out your fridge, do whatever you want.

This turned out pretty great even if I went overboard on the cheese.  I really like the mix of cheeses because you get the best each have to offer.  The vegetables are a great counter balance to the cheese's richness, especially the bitter spinach and asparagus.

CA was a big fan as well, although if you put cheese on anything, Captain America likes it.

Cheese Chicken & Rice Casserole
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 cups cooked Brown Rice (1/2 cup dry)
10 oz. Chicken, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 T Olive Oil
1/2 cup diced Onion
1 Zucchini, chopped
1 cup chopped Asparagus (20 stalks)
3 cups Spinach
1 T Butter
2 T Flour
1 cup Chicken or Vegetable Broth
2 T Sour Cream
5 oz. Cheese, grated or chopped (I used a mix of Goat, American, Monterey Jack, Parmesan and Swiss)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Put the cooked rice in a large bowl.

Brown the chicken in a non-stick skillet until cooked through.  Add cooked chicken to the bowl.

Add olive oil to the same non-stick skillet.  Add onions, zucchini and asparagus.  Saute 5 minutes.  Add spinach, saute an additional 3 minutes.  Add cooked vegetables to the bowl.

Melt the butter in the same non-stick skillet.  Add flour and cook 2 minutes.  Add broth slowly, stirring constantly.  Cook, stirring often, until thick, about 20 minutes.  Stir in sour cream.  Add sauce to the bowl.

Add cheese, salt and pepper to the bowl and mix everything together.  Place the mixture in a casserole dish.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Turn on the oven's broiler and broil for 5 minutes until the top is slightly browned.


Enjoy!
Julie

Candy Bar Cupcakes

As if you couldn't tell from my blog posts, I have a sweet tooth.  I've been known to eat cookie dough until I'm sick.  I've been known to skip second helpings at dinner to make sure I can eat more dessert.  Last year at Thanksgiving, I ran five miles in a row for the first time ever motivated solely by the prospect of eating more pie.  You get the picture.  So when I tell you that these cupcakes are so sweet I could hardly eat them you should believe me.

I blame the icing.  Specifically, I blame the Snickers bars.  These were supposed to be chocolate cupcakes with a Milky Way center and Milky Way icing.  When looking into my leftover Halloween candy bag it appeared that I had a ton of Milky Ways (does anyone really choose to eat Milky Ways or do they just put them in the mixed back with the Snickers to get rid of them?)  It turns out you need two tons of Milky Ways so I subbed in some Snickers when I got to the icing.  It made a large difference.

The chocolate cake is definitely the best part of this cupcake.  If I hadn't ruined it with the icing I would have been much happier.  In fact, this recipe makes a ton of cake batter so I ended up with a bunch of plain ones that I gobbled up with whipped cream over the next few days while the iced cupcakes sat idle.

To make the cake all the dry ingredients get mixed together... cocoa powder, flour, sugar, soda, powder, salt... then go in the wet ingredients... eggs, buttermilk, warm water, oil and vanilla.  You end up with a batter that is really thin.  It freaked me out a little.

The trick to getting the candy centers in the cupcakes is to bake the batter for a few minutes and then put the mini candy bar in there.  That keeps it from sinking all the way to the bottom.  Pretty smart.

The icing comes together by melting the candy bars over the stove, then adding them to a whipped mixture of butter and marshmallow fluff and then adding some powdered sugar and milk. 

If I'd had enough Milky Ways I think the icing would have turned out really well.  Milky Ways are essentially chocolate covered marshmallow fluff so you probably end up with a tasty marshmallowey frosting.  Using Snickers which includes peanuts (which I don't think are the problem) and caramel (which I totally think is the problem) the icing got way too sticky and so sweet it felt like eating melted candy bars sprinkled with sugar... which is exactly what it is.

Both recipes are from Cookie & Cups.  I highly recommend the chocolate cupcake recipe.  If you're going to try the icing, skip the Snickers and stick with all Milky Ways. 

Enjoy!
Julie

Oreo & M&M Blondies

There were leftover Oreo cookies in the house from the Pumpkin Oreo Cheesecakes and I cannot allow an open package of Oreos to linger in our house because CA eats them.  I couldn't care less if CA ate dozens of Oreo cookies in one sitting but when he does it he always tells me it's my fault.  He thinks he's funny.  In order to avoid this misplaced blame, I decided to use them up along with more of our leftover Halloween candy.  Pinterest came to the rescue with this recipe for Oreo and M&M Blondies.

I love blondies!  I think I prefer them to brownies.  Granted, sometimes you just need a big fudgy dose of chocolate but 75% of the time I'd rather have a blondie.  Blondies are like big gooey chocolate chip cookies and I could eat that every day.  Plus, they taste amazing warmed up with ice cream on top which is generally what I actually want when I think I want a brownie.  A la mode all the way.

They other thing I love about blondies is that you can mix just about anything into them... chips, nuts, candy, cookies... it's like the trash can of desserts... in a good way.

The blondie base comes together really easily with very minimal dirty dishes which I appreciate.  The butter is melted in the microwave and then everything else gets mixed in... eggs, brown sugar, vanilla and flour.  Then the good stuff goes in - chopped up Oreo cookies (there were none left for which CA was appreciative) and more good stuff goes on top - M&M's (there are still M&M's leftover which I have to dispose of, luckily those don't spark CA's interest so I don't get scolded for their presence).

These bake up really nicely with an aluminum foil shield to make sure they don't stick to the pan.  This isn't something I always do but it was recommended in the recipe so I figured I'd follow directions.  I do that sometimes.

 

These are decent, solid blondies but not my favorite.  I can't pinpoint exactly why, but I didn't love them.  I love blondies.  I like Oreos.  I like M&Ms.  However, these just weren't very exciting.  I was a much bigger fan of the Candy Bar Peanut Butter Cookies from yesterday.  And while I typically give away treats so that I don't eat them (which gives me a little bit of sadness because I wish it wasn't detrimental to my health for me to eat them all) I wasn't terribly sad giving each and every one of these away.

CA liked them, probably more than me but not enough to be blown away.  I feel like I need to have a blondie and Halloween candy redo.  Maybe in a few days.

The recipe can be found at Averie Cooks.

Enjoy!
Julie