Happy Thanksgiving everyone! On the theme of turkey, here are some turkeys in our yard. I always grab the camera and try to get a photo before the dog barks and scares them away. First up is the turkey family that was around a lot this summer.
Next we have some full-grown turkeys sauntering around on a rainy day.
And here is a whole gang of them last winter.
Enjoy the holiday!
“All in one” sums up this cake: pumpkin, nuts, cranberries, apple, and spices…it’s fall in a cake! Actually, it was breakfast in a cake for me. It was a great morning treat with a cup of coffee. Thank you Britin from The Nitty Britty for this seasonal selection!
What I did: I didn’t make any changes to the recipe…I even baked the full amount! I used a basic tube-shaped silicone bundt pan, which worked great even if it didn’t make a decorative cake.
How it went: Easy! Mix everything and bake it. I cut my apple into small pieces and it distributed throughout the cake nicely. The batter was a really pretty orange color.
How it tasted: I didn’t add any glaze, and I thought this was tasty and not too sweet. All of the flavors went well together and nothing was too strong; the cranberries added a nice punch of tartness. My husband even liked it and he isn’t a fan of pumpkin. I sliced up the cake and brought some to a party. Without the glaze, it was easy to pick up and munch on it, and the partygoers enjoyed it.
Would I make this again?: Maybe. I think it would be good as mini-loaves or muffins. Although I liked it without the glaze, I would probably glaze it next time. Some people made a cream cheese glaze for this cake, and that sounds really delicious!
You can find this recipe on page 186 of Baking: From My Home to Yours. It will also be posted on The Nitty Britty - we’re mixing things up this month and posting the recipes any week that we want, but I think Britin will have it posted on her blog today.
This is my favorite way to prepare butternut squash. I think squash is so delicious that it doesn’t need much improvement, but roasting it with olive oil and herbes de Provence makes it extra-delicious.
Peeling butternut squash is another story. I used to do it with a knife and I can’t believe I still have all 10 fingers to type with! Next, I tried a vegetable peeler and didn’t get very far. Then I discovered that this style of peeler, called a Y peeler, works wonderfully.
Now that I have a Y peeler, peeling squash is, if not quite a joy, at least a lot faster and less hazardous. It takes off a very thin layer, so after one round of peeling, the squash will probably look like this.
I go over the squash again to get rid of those green lines. The second round of peeling is even faster and easier than the first, so don’t be discouraged by having to do it twice. After a quick peel, you’re on your way to delicious squash! This recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash with Herbes de Provence is how I usually prepare butternut squash. The recipe is from Cooking Light, but I couldn’t find it on their site, so I’ve included it below.
You’ll notice that there are no onions in the photo above. This is good with and without onions; sometimes I leave them out if I don’t have any or if I’m just not in an onion mood.
from Cooking Light
6 cups peeled cubed (1 1/2 inch) butternut squash (about 2 1/2 pounds)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried herbes de Provence*
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 medium onions, each cut into 8 wedges (about 3/4 pound)
Non-stick cooking spray
Yield: 4 1-cup servings.
* Cooking Light states that herbes de Provence is a combination of dried herbs, including rosemary, lavender, thyme, marjoram, and sage. I found many different ingredient lists for herbes de Provence online; I don’t know for sure which herbs are in the blend that I use.
This week for Tuesdays with Dorie, I made Cran-Apple Crisps. This fall treat was selected by Em of the Repressed Pastry Chef, and she’s got the recipe posted right here on her blog. The group has some leeway with the November recipes, so I made these later than their “official week.” I don’t know how I waited, though, because I love fruit crisps!
I heard so much about the pumpkin shortage this year, but had no problems finding it when I needed it. But when I went to the store for cranberries, I couldn’t find them. I asked someone in the produce department and he led me to the area where they were…and there was only one bag left. I happily grabbed it, and when I got to the checkout, I saw that there was a hole in the bag. The checker asked me if I wanted to get another bag and I said “There are no more! Please tape it up!” She fixed the hole and I headed home with my precious cranberries.
What I did:
How it went: So easy! I mixed the topping ingredients (butter, sugar, oats, flour, coconut, spices) in my mini chopper. Does anyone have one of these? It’s an attachment for my immersion blender; the base of the blender attaches to the chopper and it works great. I sometimes forget that I have it, but it comes in handy.
I put the topping in the refrigerator, and after dinner I peeled an apple, tossed it with the cranberries, sugar, and flour, and baked the crisps.
How it tasted: So good! I loved the combination of apples and cranberries, and of course the topping was delicious. I thought that my husband was anti-cranberry, but it turns out that he is just anti-canned cranberry sauce. He declared this a restaurant-quality dessert, and he enjoyed the sweet-tart taste and the crispy topping. We liked both versions: with and without the dried cranberries. I thought the dried cranberries made it sweeter.
Would I make this again?: Yes. I love crisps, but for some unknown reason, I haven’t made one for a long time. This is so easy and delicious!
You can find the recipe on page 422 of Baking: From My Home to Yours, or right here.
What I like about this recipe is that it adds a little something to a traditional pumpkin pie. That “something” is cream cheese, but this is not a pumpkin cheesecake. It’s a pumpkin pie with some cream cheese added to the filling, which adds a nice flavor, and in my opinion, improves the texture of the filling.
I’m the only one in my house who appreciates the deliciousness of pumpkin pie, so when I had a little bit of pumpkin left over from another recipe, I decided to make a tiny pie. I made 1/4 of the recipe and baked it in a 4.5 inch springform pan. It was just enough to satisfy my yearly pumpkin pie craving!
Speaking of pie, I found this article about the White House pastry chef interesting; he gives a few pie tips as well as some insight on the goings-on in the White House pastry kitchen.
from Ideals Gourmet Christmas Cookbook
8oz cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 16 oz can pumpkin pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)*
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pecan halves (optional, for garnish)
1 9 inch pie crust, unbaked (use your favorite crust)
*The pumpkin I bought came in a 15 oz can; you should be fine with either size.
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Mix sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese until fluffy, gradually adding sugar mixture. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in pumpkin and vanilla.
Pour into prepared shell. Bake 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. During the last 15 minutes of baking, pecan halves may be placed on top.
Chill before serving. Serves 8-10.
This month, we’re mixing it up a bit at Tuesdays with Dorie; to make things more flexible, we can post any of the November recipes on any Tuesday during the month. So this week I bring you the recipe that is officially on the schedule for next week: Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies. This recipe was selected by Pamela from Cookies with Boys. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that she chose a cookie recipe! She cooks and bakes lots of great-looking things, and I’m always sure to check her blog – you should too!
What I did:
How it went: These were easy to put together. I mixed the dough one day, refrigerated it overnight, and baked it the next day. The dough is rolled into balls, the balls are rolled in sugar and then flattened on a cookie sheet. Because I made them smaller than suggested, they baked very quickly and my first batch got really dark. I watched the second batch more closely and baked them for about 9 minutes.
How it tasted: My cookies came out thin and crisp and reminded me of gingersnaps, but certainly better than store-bought gingersnaps! I liked them a lot and was surprised that my husband liked them too. I was debating whether to make these, but after reading good reviews from some of the other TWD bakers, I decided to give them a try. I’m glad I did!
Would I make this again?: Yes, these were really tasty. Next time I’ll try making them larger and softer, but really, I’m happy with the crispy version too.
Pamela will have the recipe on her blog next week, or look on page 76 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.
Crackers are something I’ve wanted to make for a while, but after a couple of unsuccessful attempts last year, I hadn’t done much about it. But after baking a couple of things with Michele from Veggie Num Nums, I mentioned wanting to make crackers. She was game and that was the push we both needed to get the cracker baking started. All of these crackers were easy to make and the dough was very easy to work with. Read on and then get ready to bake up a tasty snack!
First up are High-Tech Crackers. This recipe is from Flatbreads and Flavors: A Baker’s Atlas, a book that Michele sent me after I mentioned that I was interested in baking flatbreads and crackers. This is an awesome book and you will be seeing more recipes from it on my blog. These are called high-tech crackers because the author’s original version of the recipe was mixed by hand and this one uses a food processor.
I tried an assortment of toppings on these crackers: salt, sesame seeds with and without salt, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese. These crackers are very wheaty tasting and I thought that the crackers with the garlic powder tasted best. Although they were kind of plain, they would be great with a dip. I’ll make these again and will add seasonings or herbs to them: these are like a blank canvas waiting for some flavors to be added. Scroll down to the end of this post for the recipe.
The next recipe we tried is Four-Seed Snapper Crackers, a Peter Reinhart recipe that Michele found online.
I love seeds, and these crackers were my favorite of the three that we made. The dough was a little harder to roll out thin because of all the seeds, but the thinner portions turned out the crispiest. A few days later, I put some of the thicker crackers back into the oven to crisp them and it worked very well. I cut some with a round cutter and others into squares with a pizza cutter. The round ones got a brush of egg wash and a topping of black and white sesame seeds. The seeds on top look nice, but with all the seeds inside, they aren’t needed for flavor. These crackers were great for snacking! The recipe is here. I used a combination of whole wheat and rye flour. I have a bag of flax seed meal, so I used that instead of grinding whole flax seeds.
Next was Alton Brown’s Lavash, which is not as healthy as the other recipes (but trust me, not nearly as unhealthy as some of the crackers out there).
I didn’t get another photo of this one, but after it cools, you break it up into pieces. This is a fun cracker, crispy and full of air bubbles. This was a great accompaniment to a bowl of chili and it was a big hit with my husband. The Lavash recipe is here. I didn’t need all of the melted butter called for, and I sprinkled a little bit of kosher salt on top before baking.
There you go: three different crackers, all of them good. Give them a try! All of these recipes make a fairly large amount, so you may want to make half a batch. Be sure to head over to Veggie Num Nums to see what Michele has to say about these recipes.
from Flatbreads and Flavors: A Baker’s Atlas
3 cups whole wheat flour (or more, as needed)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
Optional toppings: grated parmesan, cayenne, coarse salt, sesame seeds, grated unsweetened coconut, cumin seed, garlic powder. Note: you can also sprinkle seeds or coconut on the baking sheet and then lay the dough on top.
Place the flour and salt in a food processor and process for 10 seconds to mix thoroughly. With the motor running, add the water in a steady stream, and then process for 10 seconds longer. The dough should have formed into one large ball; if not, feel the dough: If it feels very sticky, add 3 to 4 tablespoons more flour and process briefly until a ball forms. If the dough feels dry and floury, start the processor again, add 2 to 3 tablespoons more water, and process until a ball of dough forms.
Once you have a ball of dough, process for 1 minute more, no longer. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 30 seconds or so. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 500º F and place an oven rack near the center of the oven.
Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Work with one piece at a time, leaving the other pieces covered. On a lightly floured surface, with lightly floured hands, flatten a piece of dough with your palms. Then roll it out to a very thin rectangle or round, as even as possible to ensure even cooking. Gently lift the dough from your rolling surface and place it on a large baking sheet or pizza pan. Sprinkle on one of the optional toppings or leave plain. Using a knife or a pizza cutter, cut through the dough to make rectangular crackers. (Don’t worry if they are not all exactly the same size. Variations in size and flavor will make your crackers interesting.) Spray the dough lightly with water and place in the center of the oven.
Begin rolling out the next piece of dough, keeping an eye on the crackers already baking. (Crackers brown from underneath.) Check on them 2 1/2 to 3 minutes after they go in. As soon as the thinnest patches of the dough have started to brown, take them out. If necessary, continue baking, checking every 30 seconds, but it is better to take the crackers out a little early than too late.
You will soon get a feel for timing and degree of doneness. Variables that affect timing are the heat of your oven and how thin you managed to roll out your dough. When they come out of the oven, some of the crackers will be crisp, while others will need a little time in the air to crisp up. Transfer to a large bowl, breaking up any incompletely separated crackers. Roll out the remaining dough, season, and bake. When completely cool, crackers can be stored in a well-sealed plastic bag or cookie tins for up to a month.
Yield: Approximately 13 dozen very thin crackers of varying size, averaging 1 1/2×2 1/2″
This month’s selection for The Kitchen Reader is My Life in France by Julia Child. Until I read Julie and Julia, I didn’t know much of anything about Julia Child. That book was a bit of an introduction, but I really got bitten by the Julia Child bug after seeing the movie Julie and Julia. The movie went into some detail about her life in Paris and how she got involved in writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I walked out of the movie wanting to know much more about all of it. My Life in France did not disappoint! I loved this book so much that I was sad when it ended.
The book is written by Julia Child with her great-nephew Alex Prud’homme. They cover a lot of ground in 333 pages! The book begins in 1948 when Julia and her husband Paul arrive in France and ends in the early 1970s when she is living in the US and filming her television show (plus there is a brief epilogue). I enjoyed all of the book, but I especially enjoyed reading about the process of writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The extent of the research she did alone was amazing (and she didn’t have the Internet!). And then there was the testing, the writing, the rewriting, and the sometimes tenuous relationship with the two French women she was collaborating with, not to mention the process of getting the book published.
We learn a lot about Julia’s personal life too, including her strained relationship with her father, who couldn’t accept her opinions about politics and the world. On the flip side, she had a wonderful relationship with Paul; the two not only loved each other, they genuinely liked, respected, and supported each other. There are stories about Julia’s time at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, Paul’s job (very interesting, and a mini history lesson to boot!), and of course life in France. I was delighted to learn that Julia was a cat lover and included some fun cat stories.
Sprinkled throughout the book are photos, many of which were taken by Paul. The photos add a great personal touch to the book; if you’re on the fence about reading the book, at least page through a copy and look at the photos. Maybe they’ll intrigue you enough to give this book a read!
Be sure to take a look at The Kitchen Reader blogroll to see what the others thought of My Life in France.
For a little more interesting reading about Julia Child, Dorie Greenspan wrote four Tales of Julia posts on her blog. They were fun to read and I wish she’d write more! Here are the links to her posts:
Do you like Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks? Take a look here at Sweet Cheeks in the Kitchen to see a great recipe for making your own Pumpkin Spice Lattes at home. It’s easy to mix up a batch of the syrup and it tastes great.
I didn’t bother frothing my milk…it always results in a milk mustache.
How does a fudgy brownie, studded with dried cherries and chocolate chunks and topped with a layer of cream cheese-mascarpone mousse sound? It sounded pretty good to me, and it tasted even better!
This Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte is the recipe baked by the Tuesdays with Dorie group this week. Thanks go to April of Short + Rose for selecting this week’s recipe! She’ll have the recipe posted on her site, or open your copy of Baking: From My Home to Yours to page 284.
What I did:
Side note: I bought two mini springform pans and this was my first time using them. So far they’re great! I’m glad I had the right kind of pan and didn’t try to make do with another type of pan.
How it went: I was concerned that I’d have trouble with my small amounts, but aside from getting a large amount of dishes dirty, this went smoothly. I would also like to note that I actually bought real cream to use in the mousse. I usually avoid the cream, but after a few recipes that didn’t turn out great, I decided to just deal with it and use the cream!
How it tasted: I’m in love with the brownie layer! It’s oh-so-fudgy and the chocolate bits make it even better. And the mousse on top is the icing on the cake, so to speak. It’s a delicious, creamy layer that is a great accompaniment to the brownie layer. My husband really liked this and couldn’t stop talking about the fabulous mousse on top. He did say he’d prefer it without the cherries. That’s fine with me; I could go either way with the cherries.
Would I make this again?: Yes; I’d make this but without the cherries. I’d also make just the brownie part, either to eat as-is, or to use in another brownie-based recipe.
Thanks Jennifer!
![a-lovely-blog-award_Michelle_Frugal_Creativity_07_31_09[1]](http://jillbert.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/a-lovely-blog-award_michelle_frugal_creativity_07_31_091.jpg "a-lovely-blog-award_Michelle_Frugal_Creativity_07_31_09[1]")
Thanks again Jennifer!
