November 17, 2011
Cornbread and turkey go really well together, so if you don’t have anything cornbread related planned for this year’s feast, I’d reconsider. I usually make a cornbread and sausage stuffing every Thanksgiving. It’s kind of amazing and probably one of the reasons why my husband wanted to be my husband, but I digress…that’s a completely different recipe.
If I were to be serving cornbread as a side on its own, this maple and sage cornbread would be it. It has a wonderful savoriness from the sage and just a hint of sweetness thanks to the maple syrup.
Since sage is the quintessential Thanksgiving herb, adding it to cornbread seemed like a no-brainer for Thanksgiving (I’m surprised I didn’t think of it earlier). Also, before I forget, you’re gonna want to eat this cornbread warm with a generous smathering of butter–take my word for it!
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See more: Cornbread • Maple • Quick Breads • Sage • Thanksgiving
November 15, 2011
I have 4 bags 3 1/2 bags of cranberries in my fridge right now. I bought them in preparation for Thanksgiving next week and somehow I’ve already started to use them up. If you are looking for a new dessert to try this Thanksgiving, consider making this cranberry clafouti! It’s sweet, tart, creamy, festive, and very PRETTY.
Now, if you’re wondering what a clafouti is (I had to Google it), it’s a French country dessert that is usually made with cherries and a custard-like batter. This version with cranberries is perfect for fall or winter and looks like it was made for the holiday season.
I miraculously managed to chop these cranberries without loosing a finger. They love to roll everywhere, so I suggest trying a food processor to chop yours if you also have questionable knife skills.
Another thing I love about this dessert is that my Emile Henry ruffled pie dish is the perfect size for the recipe. It’s the prettiest dish I own and it makes anything you put in it look beautiful.
Once it’s assembled, baked, and dusted with some confectioners sugar, all you need is a little whipped cream and a spoon. Bon appetit!
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See more: Cranberry • Custard • French • Fruit • Thanksgiving
November 10, 2011
I woke up this morning and realized that there are only two weeks until Thanksgiving! My parents will be coming into town, so I will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner for them for the first time ever (eek)! I spent most of my morning looking up table setting ideas and going through recipes. And now I have an extensive list of all the ingredients that I need to get, all my recipes picked out and ready to go, and a timeline for all the preparations. It’s amazing how fast your mindset can change with a little organization. I went from panicking to being way over-prepared to cookie baking in what seemed like mere moments.
After all the preparation, I figured a little baking was in order. If you like chocolate and have no aversions to nuts, you’ll like these cookies. They have a great set of ingredients, including oats, cocoa, coconut, and almonds:
There’s also melted chocolate and butter involved, which is never a bad thing. And the dough is so rich and chocolaty; you know they’re going to be good even before you bake them.
Once December rolls around, I’ll be making cookies non-stop for the holidays, so I think it’s safe to say that these will be my last batch of cookies for November. I plan on testing out some new Thanksgiving recipes next week so check back!
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See more: Chocolate • Coconut • Cookies • Nuts • Oats • Whole Grain
November 8, 2011
Making caramel is a tricky business, you need a candy thermometer and you have to worry about directions like “Don’t stir— just swirl the pan” and “it will bubble up violently” (like I said… tricky). So when I came across a recipe for caramel sauce that didn’t seem tricky at all, I was pretty skeptical and pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out. Not only can you stir it to your heart’s content and don’t need a candy thermometer, but also it’s ridiculously good. Plus my addition of Fleur de Sel (French sea salt) makes it even better.
This sauce is perfect for ice cream and apple dipping, but the possibilities are endless. You could drizzle it on the apple dumplings I made last week, use it instead of maple syrup on pancakes and waffles, or just eat it straight off the spoon (my personal favorite).
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See more: Caramel • Condiments • Fleur de Sel • Gluten Free • Toppings
November 3, 2011
One of the hardest things about loving to bake is actually eating everything and making sure that nothing goes to waste—I absolutely hate throwing food out! With only two people in my house, I usually have to think ahead and ask myself: Is there anyone I can give this to? Can I cut down the recipe? Is this something that freezes well?
That’s why I really love recipes that make it easy for you to make only as much you need. These apple dumplings are perfect for that. Whether you are making these for 2, 4, or 20 people, it’s super easy to adjust the amount.
All you need is some apples, frozen puff pastry, a little brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and some egg wash and you are good to go. And just so you know, serving them with ice cream is NOT optional. Can you imagine eating any baked apple dessert without it? I think not!
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See more: Apples • Cinnamon • Fruit • Puff Pastry
October 31, 2011
In an attempt to prevent myself from OD’ing on sugar today, I roasted some pumpkin seeds to snack on. These are wonderfully spiced and totally addicting. And the best part is that you only need a few ingredients and a few minutes to make them.
All you have to do is plop all the ingredients in a bowl, stir, spread, and bake. They are perfect served right out of a bowl, but they would also be great sprinkled on top of a salad or used to garnish a bowl of soup. Yay for pumpkins, fall, and Halloween!
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See more: Gluten Free • Pumpkin • Snacks • Spicy • Vegan
October 29, 2011
Fall is my favorite season of the year. The weather is great, sweaters and boots come out of hibernation (even here in Houston), and fall produce makes its way to markets and menus. Pumpkin, butternut squash, apples, and cranberries are a few of my fall favorites. Fresh cranberries in the grocery store especially remind me that Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) is around the corner. Yay!
This cranberry jam reminds me of what would be served alongside a turkey on Thanksgiving, but as an everyday treat it is wonderful for breakfast slathered on a piece of buttered toast or on a PB and J. It’s sweet and tart at the same time and I think I’m going to have to make some every cranberry season from now on.
I especially love this recipe because it really showcases the cranberries. Other recipes sometimes contain apples or other fruit, but this one really lets the cranberries shine. It’s also ridiculously easy, which I love.
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See more: Condiments • Cranberry • Fruit • Gluten Free • Jam • Oranges • Vegan
October 19, 2011
Yesterday, the temperature in Houston was below 80 degrees… it finally feels like fall! We just got back from a trip to France and my desire to make pain au chocolat and macarons has now been trumped by my urge to make anything and everything I can with pumpkin. I’ve got dozens of different pumpkin recipes flagged to make this autumn and sadly (knowing that it’s already the middle of October), many of them will have to wait for another year.
After a week of eating fois gras and croissants nonstop, I decided to start with a pumpkin recipe that didn’t require loads of butter or cream. These vegan pumpkin cookies are really good—even to non-vegan butter lovers like my husband and me. They are more cake-like than cookie-like in texture and are filled with quintessential fall spices. I like to keep them on the smaller side because they pack a lot of sweetness and a lot of flavor; plus, the smaller they are, the cuter they are and the more you can eat without gilt.
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See more: Cinnamon • Cookies • Nutmeg • Pumpkin • Vegan • Whole Grain • Whole Wheat
October 2, 2011
I like to think of myself as an expert when it comes to pancakes. I have made tons of pancakes over the years and they are one of my favorites things to make. These pancakes have become one of my go-to pancakes and I like to call them “Sunday Morning Pancakes” because they are easy enough to make every week and good enough that you’ll want to. They are super fluffy (thanks to sifting and a generous amount of baking powder) and they don’t give you a sugar high the way some other pancakes do because of the whole wheat flour. Also, this recipe is pretty versatile and foolproof: you can make them healthier with low-fat milk and heart healthy oil, or more decadent with whole milk and butter. Both ways are delicious and personally, I can hardly tell the difference between them (like I said, foolproof).
Sometimes if I’m baking and have the flour out already, I’ll go ahead and pre-measure out some pancake mix, so that when Sundays roll around I already have half of the work done. Here’s a jar of mix that I made a few weeks back and me sifting it before adding in the wet ingredients.
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See more: Breakfast • Pancakes • Whole Grain • Whole Wheat
September 28, 2011
There’s nothing more comforting than a homemade hot breakfast. And on the weekends, they are an absolute must. I usually default to making pancakes, but I like to switch things up every once in awhile and this recipe does the trick. These French Breakfast Puffs are so yummy; they’ve been added to my “make often” list and I think you should add them to yours too. Essentially, they are light and fluffy muffins, coated in melted butter and then coated in cinnamon-sugar… Seriously delicious!
After first discovering these on The Pioneer Woman, I found a whole host of recipes for these beloved puffs online (like here, here, and here just to point out a few). All of them are very similar and most seem to rely on vegetable shortening for the muffin base. When I make them, I skip the processed shortening, in favor of good old-fashioned natural butter with results just as delicious. And chances are that you have most of these ingredients already in your pantry, so you have no excuse not to make them this weekend!
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See more: Breakfast • Cinnamon • Muffins • Nutmeg
