Cranberry Strippers

I was looking around online at recipes to use up Thanksgiving leftovers, and saw a photo of some thumbprint cookies that someone had made using leftover cranberry sauce. Sounded like a good idea to me, and here is my version. Those of you who have been reading this blog will recognize these cookies: I have posted the recipe for them before using apple butter instead of cranberry sauce. You can really use any type of jam-like product you like. They are also delicious with raspberry or apricot jam.

I have changed the glaze for this version a little bit by using orange juice instead of lemon juice. Orange is such a nice pairing for cranberry, and I thought the added sweetness would help offset the tartness of the cranberry sauce. After the fact I thought that Cointreau or Triple Sec might make a nice glaze, too. If you try that, let me know how it works out.

Cranberry Strippers

1/3 Cup Sugar
5 Tbsp Butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Large Egg White
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp Cornstarch
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
Cooking Spray or Parchment Paper
1/3 Cup Cranberry Sauce
1/3 Cup Powdered Sugar
2 - 4 tsp Orange Juice
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat Oven to 375

Beat sugar and butter with a mixer at medium speed until well blended, about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla and egg white, beat well. Combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture ans stir until well blended.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it in two. Roll each half into a log about 12 inches long. Place the logs about 3 inches apart on a cookie sheet or baking pan coated with cooking spray (I used parchment paper instead). Using the handle of a wooden spoon, make a 1/2 inch indentation down the length of each log. Spoon the cranberry sauce into the center. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to a cutting board.

Combine the powdered sugar, orange juice, and vanilla extract. Stir well with a fork and drizzle over the logs. Cut each log diagonally into 12 slices, but don't pull the slices apart yet. Let rest on the cutting board for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool.

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Turkey Curry

I am pretty sure this will be the only leftover turkey recipe, as I am certain the rest of you are way ahead of me on this. Even though we had a really great meal at my niece's place on Thanksgiving, we decided, at nearly the last minute, that we wanted leftover turkey, too, so we went 'turkey hunting' saturday morning and came home with a prime 11 lb. specimen. Saturday we had turkey with some of the traditional trimmings. And this is what I made for dinner tonight.

Turkey Curry

2 tsp Canola Oil
1 Medium Onion, diced
2 Clove Garlic, minced or pressed
1 tsp Minced Ginger
3 tsp Curry Powder
1 tsp Ground Coriander
1 tsp Garam Marsala
1 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/2 lb Diced Potato
1 Cup Coconut Milk
3/4 Cup Chicken Broth
2 Cups chopped pre-cooked turkey meat
1 Can Diced Tomatoes, including liquid
1/2 cup frozen peas
3 Tbsp Plain Yogurt
2 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Cilantro

Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and cook until beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, and spices. Stir and cook for about a minute. Add diced potato and stir to coat with spices.

Stir in broth and coconut milk. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 1o minutes. Add the turkey and canned tomatoes and cook for another 15 minutes. Add frozen peas and cook for another 10 minutes. Garnish with plain yogurt and chopped fresh cilantro.

Chocolate Cream Pie

I have had this pie at every Thanksgiving in my life, I am pretty sure. One of the best things about hosting Thanksgiving in my family is that you get to have this pie for breakfast the next morning! This one is pretty much straight out of the box when I make it. As much as I love cooking, and have even gotten into baking over the past little while, I still hate to make pie crust, so I use the refrigerated kind. My mother always made her own, as I am pretty sure the rest of my family does. Maybe I will try pie crust again in 2010, but for now, my DS declared that "people in heaven must eat this every day. Right before going to the arcade."




Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I'll be back with more recipes next week.

Sage and Garlic Scented Butternut with Apples

How's that for a recipe title? I am still on the Thanksgiving kick, and I still have a lot of apples and now a counter full of butternut and acorn squashes, so I got to experimenting this afternoon. This is kind of like scalloped butternut with an apple topping, but the topping is not crunchy. This turned out really great! I was quite pleased with both the flavor and the texture of the final product.

And, again, I am not going to list actual amounts. This is the kind of dish that you can easily make as much as you need depending on how many eaters you have. My sweetie is out of town for a few days, and that means I am on my own come dinner time, so I just made a little bit.

Sage and Garlic Scented Butternut Squash with Apples

Butternut squash
Garlic
Fresh Sage Leaves
Olive Oil
Apples
Salt and Pepper
Broth or Water

Preheat the oven to 375

Peel and seed the squash. Halve it, then slice it very thinly. Toss the squash with minced garlic, chopped sage leaves, and a little bit of olive oil. Layer the slices in a greased baking dish. No need to be perfect here, just arrange them in layers until the dish is nearly full. Then core your apple and slice. I like to cut the apple in quarters, then cut the core out on a diagonal. Cover the squash slices with apples. Pour a bit of broth or water over the top (This is just to help the squash cook up nicely, maybe 1/4 cup of liquid for an 8 inch square pan), cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes until the squash is tender. Remove the foil and check for doneness. At this point my squash was very tender, but there was way too much liquid in the pan, so I put it back into the oven for about another 7 minutes.

Cloverleaf Rolls Recipe

This is a festive, delicious recipe adapted from The Joy of Cooking. These rolls turn out nice and fluffy, and are pretty enough for the holidays. The dough for these rolls is so soft it is really nice to work with, and it's fun to make it into little cloverleafs! (leaves?)

Cloverleaf Rolls

1 package (2 1/4 tsp) Active Dry Yeast
3 Tbsp warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 Cup Milk Warmed to between 105 and 115 degrees
5 Tbsp Melted Butter
3 Tbsp Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Salt
2 Cups Bread Flour
1 1/2 to 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
Melted Butter or Milk for Brushing on the Rolls

Combine the yeast and water in the bowl of the stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl if mixing by hand). Let stand until the yeast is dissolved, 5 minutes, or until you are done heating the milk and butter. Add the warm milk, melted butter, sugar, egg, and salt. Mix on low speed or by hand for a minute or so.

Gradually add the bread flour. Once the bread flour is all incorporated, gradually add in all purpose flour until the dough is moist but not sticky. Knead for about 10 minutes in your mixer or by hand until smooth and elastic.

Put the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel, and let rise until doubled, 60-90 minutes.


Punch the dough down, and divide into 12 equal portions (not 11 like I did. Counting is hard!) , cover with your tea towel, and let rest for about 10 minutes. Grease a 12 muffin pan. Divide each ball into 3 pieces, and roll each piece into a little ball. Place 3 balls in each of the muffin cups. Cover with the tea towel and let rise until doubled in volume, about 60 minutes.
















Preheat the oven to 425. Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter or milk. Bake until golden brown and delicious, about 15 minutes.

Yams, Two Ways

No, this is not Iron Chef. Nor is this anything fancy or complicated. But yams are an important dish on many Thanksgiving tables, and here are a few ways I like to prepare them. I know a lot of people like to add maple or brown sugar to yams, but I prefer them mostly plain. I find them plenty sweet on their own, but if you like, you could totally use maple syrup or brown sugar in either of these cooking methods. I also always call these 'sweet potatoes', which drives my son crazy. Hrmm... maybe that's why I continue to do it....

Easy Roasted Yams

And I mean easy. You don't even have to peel them for this cooking method. Grab however many yams you want to cook and slice them about 1/2 inch thick. Toss them with some salt, pepper and olive oil. (If you are the sort that goes for sweeter, you could add brown sugar or maple syrup at this point, I Imagine.) Spread them out on a baking sheet (or two) in a single layer, and bake in a 350 degree oven until soft and browned, maybe 15-20 minutes. You should flip them over once during cooking to get both sides browned. That's it. Easy peasy, but oh so yummy. Look, it was so easy I didn't even try to write a recipe!



Smashed Yams


Yams
Butter
Milk, Half and Half, or Cream
Salt and Pepper
Maple Syrup or Brown Sugar, if desired

I am not listing quantities because you can easily make a lot or a little depending on how many eaters you have. I used about 1 tbps of butter and maybe 1/4 cup milk for one big yam. (Plus the big pat of butter melting over the top in this photo.)

For this one you will need to peel your yams. Peel them, then cut them into roughly 1/2 inch hunks. Put them into a pan of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and boil until they are very tender, 15 minutes or so. Once they are tender, drain them and return them to the hot pan. Begin to mash them with a potato masher, when they are about 1/2 mashed, add in the butter, milk (and syrup) and continue mashing until you get the consistency you like. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Casserole Recipe

My friend Roseanne used to make a version of this recipe many years ago. Since then she has moved out of, then across, the country. Luckily, we are still in touch! I have been making this recipe every year for Thanksgiving since she first introduced me to it. It has evolved over the years, this is the current rendition.

If you have any type of aversion to dairy, you will want to avoid this dish altogether. And, sadly, despite the copious amount of vegetables, there really is nothing healthy about it. But it is Thanksgiving, after all, and it only comes around once a year.

I normally make as much as will fit in my largest casserole, and I also never measure anything. This time I have tried my best to keep track of what I've done, and made a more modest amount to serve maybe 8 as a side dish?

Broccoli and Cauliflower Casserole

3 Cups Broccoli Florets
3 Cups Cauliflower Florets
2 Tbsp Butter
12 Ounces Mushrooms, halved then sliced into thick slices (about 4 cups)
Salt and Pepper
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced or Pressed
Pinch Nutmeg
2 Tbsp Flour
1 Cup Broth
1 Cup Half and Half
3/4 Cup Sour Cream
1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese (I like Medium)
French's Onions


Steam the broccoli and cauliflower and set aside.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, a generous pinch of salt, and some pepper. Cook until the mushrooms begin to give off their liquid, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add the garlic and nutmeg (I always put nutmeg in any white sauce I make: it reminds me of Swedish Meatballs) and cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and cook and stir for about one minute. Stir in the broth and cook for one or two minutes, then add the half and half. Cook, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 8 or 10 minutes.



In a large bowl, combine the broccoli, cauliflower, and the mushroom mixture. Stir in the sour cream and shredded cheese. Scrape into a baking dish. At this point you can bake it in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes, then sprinkle the top with French's onions and return to the oven until the top is browned. Or, if you are eating later, cover the casserole and refrigerate until ready to bake. The cold casserole will take longer to bake. It should be nice and bubbly and golden brown the top. If you have to bake it at a lower temperature because there are other things in the oven, no worries. (It seems like most Thanksgiving recipes have to bake at 350.) Just bake it a little longer.

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts Recipe

Brussels Sprouts. The vegetable we all love to hate. I definitely remember the horrible smell whenever my mom cooked these when I was a kid. But now that I know a few different ways to prepare them, I really love them. Here is one of those ways. I will list the amounts I used for two servings, but this can be made in larger quantities for a crowd quite readily. (Say for Thanksgiving, for example.)





Sauteed Brussels Sprouts

8 oz. Brussels Sprouts
1/4 Onion
1 tsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Chopped Walnuts
A Splash of Liquid (Water, White Wine, or Broth)





Cut the bottoms off the sprouts and slice them. If you have a lot, use your food processor. Since I only had a handful, I used my trusty chef's knife. Thinly slice the onion. Heat the olive oil in a non stick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until very soft and beginning to caramelize, about 12 minutes. Add the brussels sprouts and cook for about 10 minutes more. Sprinkle the sugar over the top and add a splash of your liquid of choice. Continue to cook until softened and beginning to caramelize, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle walnuts over top.

Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Thanksgiving is next week! I know I said I would be posting Thanksgiving recipes, but last week I got sidetracked by apples. So this week, I will be posting some of my favorite Thanksgiving side dish recipes. I know for many people Thanksgiving is all about the turkey, but I love me my veggie sides. Of course, you can't have Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce, so here is mine.



Cranberry Sauce

12 Ounces Fresh Cranberries
1 Cup Cranberry Juice
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
3 Tbsp Cointreau

(I know there is an orange in the picture. Sometimes I put orange zest in as well, but this turned out orangy enough with just the Cointreau, so I left it out)


Bring the cranberries and juice to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue cooking until it's pretty thick and most of the juice has cooked off, about 10 minutes. Stir in the brown sugar and Cointreau. Taste and add more sugar, Cointreau (or orange zest) as needed. Transfer to a serving bowl and refrigerate until serving time.

Cornbread Stuffing Recipe

Now that November is here, Thanksgiving is officially right around the corner. It doesn't look like I will be cooking the whole dinner this year, so instead I will be posting a few of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes each week for the next few weeks. Today's offering is corn bread stuffing, which I made for the first time last year and seemed to be a big hit.

Corn Bread Stuffing

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking


One recipe Skillet Corn Bread
1-2 Tbsp Butter
One Cup Diced Onion
1/2 Cup Diced Celery
1 Clove of Garlic
2 Tbsp Minced Fresh Parsley
1 1/2-2 tsp Minced Fresh Thyme
1 1/2-2 tsp Minced Fresh Sage
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to Taste
1/4 Cup or so Chicken or Vegetable Broth

Slice the cornbread into about 1 inch cubes and put in a bowl. Melt the butter over medium heat, then add the onions and celery and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the herbs, salt and pepper. Add the onion mixture to the bread cubes and stir to coat. Pour in broth until the stuffing is moist, but not saturated. You don't want it to stick together, but you don't want it too dry, either.

Turn the stuffing out into a buttered baking dish (8 inch) and bake until brown on top, about 25-35 minutes.