One way to take homemade marshmallows to the next level - aside from flavoring them creatively - is to dip them in chocolate, turning the light and fluffy candies into a more substantial snack. There are a couple of potential pitfalls that you can encounter when using chocolate, however, and it might not be best to simply melt some chocolate and dunk in the marshmallow.

Marshmallows have a subtle vanilla flavor and a cloud-like texture. It is very easy for both of these to be overwhelmed by chocolate. Dark chocolate can easily dominate the vanilla flavor or cover it up entirely, depending on whether the marshmallow is completely encased. A thick layer of chocolate virtually guarantees that you won’t be able to taste much marshmallow, and the crunch of a thick shell can really hide the signature texture of the marshmallow, as well.

To avoid these problems, I take two precautions. First, I only dip half of each marshmallow into chocolate. Second, I use a thinner chocolate ganache to dip them in, rather than using straight melted chocolate. The ganache - made with a combination of butter and chocolate - produces a much thinner shell once the marshmallow has been dipped into it, but still sets up nicely. I prefer milk chocolate because the sweetness goes well with the marshmallows. Darker chocolate can sometimes be a little overpowering, especially if you opt for a very dark chocolate with a high cocoa content. That said, chose any chocolate you like and I doubt you’ll be dissatisfied when you have a full batch of these to enjoy with hot chocolate.

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The colder the weather gets, the more appealing the idea of starting the day with something warming is, and nothing is quite as warm and satisfying as a hot bowl of oatmeal (hot coffee is a year round staple, naturally). Maple syrup or brown sugar are all I really need to make a bowl of oatmeal perfectly enjoyable, but when I have the chance I like to play with flavors and get more creative. Chai spiced oatmeal is one example of this. Today’s oatmeal was inspired by a favorite dessert: coconut cream pie.

I added coconut flavor to this oatmeal in two ways, using coconut milk and shredded coconut. Coconut milk can be a bit too rich - even the low fat variety - if it is used to replace all the milk in a bowl of oatmeal, so I use a combination of water and coconut milk as a base. Shredded coconut is stirred into the mix, along with a pinch of salt and some vanilla, and the finished bowl is topped off with a bit of whipped cream. Toasting the coconut is optional, since it is easier to use untoasted and untoasted still tastes great in the bowl. I usually have sweetened shredded coconut, so I don’t add in sugar or syrup, although you can certainly sweeten to taste.

These flavors can easily be adapted to use in steel cut oatmeal if you have more time to make up a big batch. I often use quick-cooking on weekday mornings when time is at a premium, so I’ve written the recipe to work for a single serving of “regular” oatmeal, whether you prefer to use plain rolled oats or quick-cooking.
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I know that the morning after Thanksgiving, the last thing I am interested in doing is settling down to work. I’m still thinking about - not to mention digesting - a huge dinner. I made up a meal based on the recipes I’ve posted in the past few weeks, including turkey, stuffing - not dressing - and mashed potatoes. The truth is that I’ve actually had several Thanksgiving dinners in preparation for last night, partially to test out some new recipes for Baking Bites and partially to compare some favorites to see which were worthy of dinner. Pecan pie and cherry cobbler made the cut for dessert, along with lots of coffee and water to wash everything down.

What dishes made it to your table? Did you try any new recipes, from this site or other favorite food blogs, that were real hits? Post it in the comments. I know I’m going to start looking for ideas for Christmas and might even make some bookmarks for next year.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I’m taking the day off to do some cooking, just as I imagine that many of you are. If you need some last minute tips or recipes, check out this post for a full listing of Thanksgiving mains, sides and desserts.

Speaking of desserts, the turkey pictured above is a Chocolate Maple-Glazed Turkey Cake that I made last year. This cake is made by “carving” a sheet cake into a turkey base, turkey leg and turkey wing, then sticking all the pieces together and pouring a smooth chocolate-maple glaze over them. If you’re not going to go with pie or something similar, this is a really fun dessert to trot out to a crowd. It seems to go over especially well if you have some vegetarian friends/family who might like to see a turkey alternative on the table - and wouldn’t just about everyone like a slice of cake as an alternative to the real bird, given the chance?

Pound cake is known for being a dense, but tender cake. It actually has an ideal consistency for mix-ins in the batter. Unlike lighter and fluffier cakes, pieces of fruit or chocolate chips are much more likely to remain suspended in the middle of the cake, while in less substantial cakes they will sink down to the bottom before the cake has set in the oven. Pound cake has a good flavor from butter and sugar on its own, but the fact that you can add to it so easily makes versatile, and a great recipe to have on file.

Inspired by the success of my blackberry cranberry sauce recently, I decided to add fresh blackberries into this cake while I knew I could get some that were very juicy and sweet. You can use fresh or frozen, whichever is easier to find. Frozen have the advantage that they are always available, but fresh are less likely to “bleed” into the cake and turn the batter pink. Frozen berries often have some juice frozen to the outside of the berries, making them more likely to dye the cake as they warm up. Toss frozen berries in a bit of flour before folding them into the batter, if you use them instead of fresh.

This cake has a great pound cake texture. It has a very tight, moist crumb that makes the cake easy to slice thinly, and the plain cake has a great butter flavor, a combination of the buttermilk and the butter in the batter. Despite the fact that there is fair amount of sugar in the cake, the cake itself is not too sweet. The berries really stand out, both in color and in flavor on the plain vanilla cake. I think this bundt easily stands alone and needs no glaze or icing. Serve it with ice cream, if you want something on the side, but otherwise just put out thin pieces with cups of coffee and enjoy.

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• My Thanksgiving bread basket is going to feature some buttermilk biscuits this year. I tend to view them in a somewhat savory light - even though I sometimes top them with jam or honey - but not everyone has this type of take. Bread & Honey seems to see them as a backdrop for sweeter fillings or toppings, serving up Buttermilk Biscuits and Slow Cooker Applesauce as a simple, homey dessert.
• Pie is a well known delivery vehicle for sweet potatoes as dessert. Tender Crumb presents an alternative way to use up these lovely orange veggies in Sweet Potato Cake with Orange Filling and Chocolate Frosting. The triple-layer cake recipe comes from the cookbook Sky High and delivers a moist, hearty cake that is packed with warm, spicy flavors. The orange filling lightens up the overall taste of the cake, too.
• Tarte tatin is a relatively simple dessert made with caramel and apples, with a crust of puff pastry to hold the tart together. I love the apple version as a simple alternative to apple pie, but if you’re feeling a bit experimental, you might want to try the Quince Tarte Tatin that David Lebovitz recently made. It is actually a bit easier than the apple version, since it doesn’t require a caramel to be made before cooking the quince, but you might have a bit harder of a time tracking down the pear-like fruits to make the recipe.
• A jar of toffee-covered peanuts - which are pretty much like honey roasted peanuts, but with a butter toffee coating - served as inspiration to Alpineberry for a batch of Salted Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies. The base is a peanut butter cookie spiked with a bit extra sea salt to give it an almost savory edge, and the chopped peanuts are mixed into the batter before baking. The whole thing is sweet, salty and very indulgent tasting, especially if you are a fan of peanut butter cookies in general.
• For a new twist on an old favorite, try the Chocolate Chipotle Brownies at Baking and Books. The recipe adds the flavors of cinnamon and chipotle into a rich chocolate brownie, giving it a subtle heat that makes the chocolate seem more intense and tones down the overall sweetness of the treat. It’s a bit of a grown up treat - but even grown ups deserve a little something special once in a while!