Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti

Day 2 of holiday baking brought biscotti studded with cranberries and pistachios.  I used my favorite biscotti recipe from Dorie Greenspan--it's crunchy with cornmeal but doesn't risk your teeth--and added the dried fruit and nuts.  Around here, some people prefer what we called unoscotti--the softer cookies after only one round of baking--but they didn't get the final touches, which included dipping the ends in white chocolate and then red and green sprinkles.

Thanksgiving Brunch

Before the feast, we had another feast.  We had to have something to sustain us until the turkey was done.  We tend to have Thankgiving dinner later in the day, so this does actually make sense, though it's possible I went overboard in my baking.  We had fresh scones (cranberry-chocolate chip and pecan praline), crumb cake, apple-cinnamon coffee cake, eggs, bacon, Canadian bacon, cheese, fruit ... just a few things to keep us going during the day.

Cranberry-Lime Vodka

I spent tonight stabbing cranberries.  I can't tell you what they did, but they definitely had it coming!  I love cranberries, both fresh and dried, and I love finding new ways to use them.  This year for Thanksgiving I'll be making orange-cranberry sauce, possibly a spicy cranberry sauce, and a cranberry-almond tart, but today I mixed up some cranberry-lime vodka.  Just the colors alone are so pretty--but it's also very tasty, either alone or mixed with juice, club soda, or ginger ale. 

For three bottles, you'll need two 12 oz bags of cranberries that should be washed and then pricked with a pin.  As you're pricking them, toss out any berries that aren't quite ripe or that have become mushy.  It's not their fault, but you don't want them becoming mushier in your vodka.  This goes by pretty quickly if you're watching tv.

Then with a vegetable peeler (or a wide zester if you have one), peel off the skin of a couple of limes, trying to get as little of the pith (the white part, which is bitter) as possible.  I trimmed the zest after that with a paring knife to get more of the pith off--I don't know how it would affect the vodka, as cranberries are already bitter, but aesthetically I liked seeing more of the green with the bright red cranberries.  You can leave the lime zest in larger pieces, but I made mine into little strips that were narrow and about an inch long.

Start filling the bottles with cranberries, stopping every half inch or so to add in some lime zest slivers.  It doesn't really matter where they fall, as you'll be shaking things around later anyhow--not that you can tell them where to go anyhow.  When the bottles are full, add in 1-2 tablespoons of sugar to balance out the acidity of the cranberries and then fill to the top with vodka.  Good cranberries float, but try to have them all submerged.  Seal the bottles well and shake them to mix up the sugar, which will have all magically congregated at the bottom.  Shake every day or so when you walk by and enjoy--or share with good friends, if you're feeling generous.  This would also be good with fresh ginger (which is good in everything, IMO).

Cranberry-Almond Shortbread Tart

I'm in holiday testing mode this week, so today I tried a Fine Cooking recipe I'd seen for a cranberry-almond shortbread tart.  Because this was just a test, I made half the recipe, using two mini tarts pans, which worked out pretty well.  The filling is tart with fresh cranberries and a little apricot jam, and the crust is crunchy with ground, toasted almonds and cornmeal.  I have other recipes to try, but I'm thinking this is a definite possibility.

Sunday Brunch

On a suddenly cold, rainy Sunday, what's better than a cozy, leisurely brunch?  We had a ton of food for five people, but that's how it should be.  Brunch is my favorite meal--you can go in so many directions, and you're supposed to have plenty.  You don't have a bowl of cereal for brunch.  I made a leek and goat cheese frittata, a cinnamon-apple coffee cake made with sour cream and lots of pecans, and chocolate chip-cranberry cream scones.  We also had a selection of cheeses, smoked fish, fruit, olives, nuts, the requisite coffee, apple cider, and pear cider with prosecco--which is every bit as tasty as it sounds.

Gingerbread Layer Cake with Cranberries

We had this for dessert on Christmas. Spicy with lots of added ginger, tart with a cup of fresh cranberries tossed in, and creamy with cream cheese frosting.


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Thanksgiving Catch-Up

I've now recovered sufficiently from Thanksgiving to say a little about the non-dessert foods we had. The thing with Thanksgiving foods, though, is that the menu is fairly predictable--which is both good and bad. I always have a long list of things to try, but I don't want to (or can't) take out one of the regulars, and there's already a lot of food. I'm not sure how people do different themes every year, though I appreciate the creativity. The turkey was about 14 lbs--more than enough for our group of 11, which included vegetarians. It's resting on a bed of cilantro, well, because why not? Plus, three of us each bought big bunches of it. Everything else is vegetarian-friendly, save for the gravy.




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Thanksgiving Just Desserts

After the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and squash, there's not always a lot of room for dessert on Thanksgiving. Still, I usually make three or four pies and cakes so we can have choices. But this year, thinking more is better, and having more people over, I made seven desserts. Yes, seven--it's not like I made 19 pies or anything. From front to back, we had classic apple pie, raspberry key lime tart, pumpkin chiffon pie, carrot cake, chocolate-cranberry-pecan pie, apple crumble cake, and mocha buttercrunch pie. Possibly it was too much ... but I don't think so. One day later, and there's not too much left.
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Israeli Couscous with Cranberries, Apples and Almonds

This recipe, from Giada, is one of my new favorites. Israeli, or pearl, couscous is mixed with dried cranberries, chopped up apple, and toasted almonds, all in an herby apple cider vinaigrette. It's good hot ... warm ... or just out of the fridge, if it lasts that long. I served this with apricot chicken, maple roasted butternut squash and carrots, and a big green salad.


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All-in-One-Thanksgiving Cake

This recipe combines pumpkin, apples, pecans, and cranberries. Technically, I think it's called an all-in-one holiday cake, but to me it just says Thanksgiving. All that's missing is the turkey--but I don't want turkey in my cake. I was a little dubious with the combination--everything all in together?--but it's so good. It's not too sweet, and it disappeared very quickly. It was a great first use for my cool new cathedral Bundt pan.

Cranberry-Orange Streusel Muffins

This recipe is adapted from a blueberry muffin recipe and then topped with the streusel from another. It's not too sweet, and I added fresh ginger to the streusel for a little kick.

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Cranberry Streusel Shortbread

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I have several desserts in the works, but today I present one of my new favorite treats. I made this recipe for a dinner party last night, and the sweet and tangy combination of the shortbread and cranberries was delicious.

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Rugelach with All the Right Things

The last time I made rugelach, I wasn't so impressed with the results. This time, however, I'm much happier. Growing up, I was never a big fan of rugelach, as they were usually pretty dry and filled some raisiny/figgy/apricoty mixture. The chocolate ones were good, but rare. This recipe uses raspberry jam, pecans, dried cranberries AND dark chocolate--a fairly perfect combination, I think, though of course you can switch it around for what like, too.

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Christmas Cookies!

This year's Christmas cookies are done, and the kitchen is now closed. At least for a few days. And despite my plans to not go overboard this year, it's possible I did, though strangely there aren't many left at this point. As usual, there were a couple of regulars and a few new flavors, too -- I kept finding new recipes to try, but eventually even I had to call it quits. In the final tally, I made peach-raspberry linzers, shortbread snowflakes, chocolate-dipped espresso shortbread trees, soft ginger cookies, fleur de sel caramel, almond buttercrunch, chocolate chip-pretzel cookies, cranberry-oatmeal-chip cookies, and pecan bars with cranberries.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We had 10 people at our table for Thanksgiving this year--and, of course, enough food for many, many more. I'm only just recovering from the food coma that was Thursday, though a long walk around the zoo today helped. We cover the traditionals at our holiday meal--there are no theme Thanksgivings around here--and it was all very, very good. We had turkey with gravy, apple-pecan stuffing, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, asparagus, cranberry-0range sauce, and more. Not surprisingly, dessert was my focus, and with four (yes, 4) options, I think we covered all the bases. The above picture is of a caramel-apple cheesecake tart, a great recipe I found at Annie's Eats, that essentially combined pecan pie, apple pie, and a cheesecake all in one. The sides: mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy The big three: turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing Broad beans, olives, asparagus with a lemon vinaigrette, cranberry sauce, gravy Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and pecans Homemade toasted coconut-macaroon ice cream with dark chocolate chunks, made with the effort and inspiration of SwimmerGirl The final round-up: (from the top) carrot cake, caramel-apple cheesecake tart, and pumpkin chiffon pie

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad With Apple Cider Vinaigrette

This is the perfect fall salad. Cubes of butternut squash are roasted with dried cranberries, maple syrup, olive oil, and salt and pepper, and then the squash is piled on top a mound of arugula, toasted walnuts and parmesan, and the whole salad is drizzled with a warm apple cider vinaigrette. The recipe is from Ina Garten.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, if somewhat belatedly! Sometimes it takes a while getting back from the festivities--it's a long drive home, you know. My mom and I cooked up a storm. And with family visiting from the north, there were plenty of people to help eat it all. Once again I made maybe too many desserts--four for eight people--but they were all so good. And long gone, alas. Life is short, eat dessert first Carrot cake, with cream cheese icing and pecans Apple crostata Pumpkin chiffon pie Chocolate-mint semifreddo, studded with teeny tiny peppermint patties that taste like mini thin mint cookies. SwimmerGirl and I made this one, which was cool and creamy and refreshing. The main event A mountain of mashed potatoes; Mom's famous stuffing with cranberries, apples, pecans, and other good stuff; and cranberry-orange sauce Homemade applesauce, gravy, and a Cabernet sauvignon cranberry sauce Mashed buttercup squash with butter and brown sugar And of course, the roast beast, a very tasty 15 lb. turkey Many hours before the main feast Breakfast included an apple coffeecake drizzled with a maple glaze a strata made with three cheese, challah, and shallots and lots of fresh fruit