Despite the occasionally negative comments that I have heard about Beth Hensperger’s Bread Bible, I (so far) have always had good results with it. Last week, when I was looking for a bread to make for Thanksgiving, I flipped through the book, looking for something that would be hearty but not too heavy to accompany the big meal. I had in mind that I wanted oatmeal in the loaf, since I had done an oatmeal bread last year with success.

I settled on making a variation of Ms. Hensperger’s Potato Oatmeal Bread, though I swapped out the potato in favor of using pumpkin puree. Adding pumpkin to a bread, I have found, can make it incredibly moist. It is usually very important to allow the bread to cool completely before slicing it, lest it befome gummy from the steam that will escape from a preemptive slice.

This bread was a snap to put together. The resulting loaves were soft, with a fairly tight and even crumb. There were no large bubbles. I cut it into big chunks to serve with dinner, but it also held up very well for slicing the next day. I am sure that it would have made fine rolls, but the baking time would have to be adjusted from the time I’ve given below.

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I remembered a post on My Adventures in the Breadbox that Alice did way back in March and decided that some of my leftover turkey was just the thing to make mini-muffin sandwiches. The only question in my mind was to decide what type of muffins to make.

Cornbread always goes well with turkey, so adding cornmeal to the muffins was an easy decision. I wanted them to be slightly sweet and not too dry, so I added a small amount of brown sugar to them. I planned on using some leftover cranberry sauce with the turkey, and because cranberry and citrus work so well together, I also opted to add some orange juice to the muffins. I didn’t add any zest, though the juice was fresh squeezed, because I wanted the flavor to be subtle enough to prevent it from competing with the turkey.

Because I did not use muffin liners, which, by the way, I would not recommend for muffins you intend to use in sandwiches, these developed a nice little crunch, as well as nice browning, on the bottom. They were not dry, but mini muffins can be overcooked quickly and they will dry out if left in the oven too long. These made great little sandwiches and I would make the cornbread again for any corn muffin occasion. I might also use the mini muffins again as a holiday appetiser.

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Every month, Adagio Teas has a TeaChef contest. When you sign up, they’ll send you a free sample of the month’s featured tea, which you can use to create an original recipe. The recipes are submitted back to the site and, at the end of each month, you can vote for your favorite recipe to win. The prize? Something tea-related and the honorary title of “Best [Tea] Chef in the Universe”. Frankly, I’m in it for the title.

This month’s tea is here, along with all the other entries.

This is a variation on my rolls that was really quite tasty. Try these as cinnamon buns or try the base recipe for the rolls alone, if you have a chance. Regardless of whether you will try them or not, please head over and vote for my entry! The voting button is just under the photo.

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Food blogging stars Jennifer, at the Domestic Goddess, and Alberto, at Il Forno combined forces this month to arrange a joint event of Sugar High Friday and Is My Blog Burning?. I guess that makes this month’s cookie swap fall under the heading of Is My Sugar High Burning?

These shortbread cookies are crisp and crumbly. They are fairly thin, which creates a nice ratio of topping to biscuit. I really like crumbly shortbread and the use of cornstarch instead of part of the flour makes these quite crumbly. Keep an eye on them as they bake; their thinness can cause them to go from perfect to a bit overdone in a short preiod of time.
Some people loved the peppermint topping, which was very good, but I loved the chocolate covered espresso bean shortbreads. They had an extra coffee kick that only espresso beans can provide, but they’re not overwhelming because of the chocolate. My chocolate covered espresso beans had a fairly thick dark chocolate coating. I personally wouldn’t have minded even more coffee, but I think that having a bit more chocolate gives them a more widespread appeal.
You can’t go wrong with shorbread around the holidays and you definately can’t deny that these look gorgeous on a cookie plate. Easy to make and even easier to eat.

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I definately admire Gale Gand, the ever-so-talented pastry chef and owner of Chicago’s Tru Restaurant. Her books, including Butter, Sugar, Flour, Eggs - which this recipe comes from - are wonderful and detailed. Her TV show also really resonated with my deep love of desserts. I think that my first time watching it was the first time I ever saw a real pastry chef in action. Gale, though incredibly innovative, has a soft spot for the desserts that some (food snobs) would certainly consider to be too homey to be truly worthwhile - like the mud pies she made as a little girl. While I don’t necessarily consider Lemon Meringue to be homey, I do consider it a classic that is worth making.

Lemon meringue pie is a diner staple across the country. It is quite easy to make and takes less time and talent than even a fruit pie does. Essentially, the crust is prebaked, filled with a very thick curd and topped with meringue, which is then browned lightly in the oven.If you keep a stock of prebaked pie shells (or buy them from the market), you can have a fresh pie in practically record time.

Since Gale is a pastry chef, her recipe has a few features that are different from many lemon meringue pie recipes. Her filling is thickened with a combination of flour and cornstarch and the lemon flavor is brightened with a tiny bit of lemon oil (or extract). Almost all lemon fillings are thickend with flour and/or cornstarch to create something that you can actually slice into cleanly. To create a stable, weepless meringue, a sugar syrup is cooked and streamed into beaten egg whites. This actually “cooks” the eggs, so the meringue will last longer than a simple meringue.

I love lemon meringue pies (especially this one) because I love the smooth tartness of the lemon filling and the fluffy, slight sweetness of the meringue. Unlike topping a pie with whipped cream, the taste is very clean and not unctuous. I used my own crust recipe, but Gale’s full recipe is available online. My meringue did separate slightly from the filling, so make sure to wait until your filling is cooled to room temperature before topping it with the meringue. This pie cuts beautifully and the filling maintains its shape. To avoid having the meringue stick to the knife, run it under very hot water for a few seconds before slicing.

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Nothing beats a steaming cupful of thick, creamy, rich-tasting soup on a cold day. This is particularly enjoyable, to me at least, when I know that the soup isn’t loaded with heavy cream. Not only does this make the soup much, much healthier, but it gives it a little bit of lightness that a soup heavy on the heavy cream wouldn’t be able to achive.

Sweet potatoes are an excellent choice to thicken a creamy soup because they have a rich taste and smooth texture. They also can absorb a lot of moisture, which I find makes them incorporate more easily into a soup. Since they are, unsuprisingly, sweet tasting, I added a bit of cumin to downplay that sweetness; it doesn’t take very much to highlight it. You can eiiher roast the sweet potatoes in the oven or peel and boil them until tender for this soup.

This soup is simple and has a nice tang to it from the ginger and the lime. The soup is very thick and rich tasting. If you like a soup that is less thick, just add 1/2 to 1 cup more liquid once the soup is done. It is lovely for a first course, but still satisfying enough to be an entree. Because of the lime in it, it goes very well when garnished with a bit of Fresh Cranberry Relish. If you have leftovers, you might need to add a bit more liguid to it when you’re reheating.

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