Jellied Cranberry Sauce has a certain nostalgia to it because the can-shaped log of clear cranberry juice made an appearance of many of our Thanksgiving tables growing up. While whole berry cranberry sauce seems to be a bit more popular these days (especially amongst foodies and food bloggers), you have to admit that the jellied sauce tastes pretty darn good when you slice it up despite its less-than-gourmet appearance.
For a homemade version, I blended together the idea of a sliceable sauce with a whole berry sauce and made my own Homemade Cranberry Jelly. This jelly starts off with fresh cranberries and cranberry juice and is held together with just enough gelatin to make sure that the jelly will hold its shape when you turn it out of the mold. It is sweet-tart and has a great fresh cranberry flavor. While it doesn’t have the nostalgic element that canned cranberry jelly has, it looks beautiful when plated and is easy to slice and serve.
I used a loaf pan to mold my cranberry jelly, but if you have a small decorative ring mold, you can make your jelly look even more spectacular.
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Black Friday is just a few days away. Stores will open at the crack of dawn, lines of tired and hopefully people with too much caffeine in their systems will wait at their doors for the chance to be the first to get their hands on some amazing deals, stores will be crowded and parking lots will be even more so. This isn’t to say that it’s not fun to get great deals, but it is a heck of a lot more relaxing to stay home and eat leftover turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pie – and do some of that holiday shopping online.
Obviously, a good solution to the Black Friday shopping rush is to order a copy of The Baking Bites Cookbook from the comfort of your own computer. The book is jam packed with full color photos and great recipes that are easy to follow and make use of ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. The cookbook also makes a great holiday gift for bakers, foodies and family members, and can also make a neat hostess gift if you don’t want to bring another bottle of wine to a party (like everyone else does).
The Baking Bites Cookbook is just $16.95 with free shipping (US only) if you order it directly from this site. If you order 2 or more copies, you can get them for just $15.95 each, also including US shipping! On Amazon, the book is $19,95 but qualifies for free Super Saver shipping if you’re already ordering gifts from that site. International shipping and priority shipping are also available.
If you take the time to your orders in before the holiday rush hits the post office, you should be browsing through your very own copy of the cookbook in no time flat and able to add a few of the recipes to your holiday table!
Pumpkins and other firm winter squash can seem a bit daunting the first time you set out to cook one at home. This is largely because they’re a bit foreign looking when compared to other fruits and veggies, with an intimidating outer peel. Fortunately, they can actually be very easy to cook and once you’ve done it once, you’ll find yourself doing it again to enjoy the sweet, tender flesh of the gourd as a side dish with dinner.
To begin, take your squash (acorn, butternut, etc.) and wash it well. Then, trim off the top and bottom stems. Slice the squash down the middle carefully, using a very sharp knife, then use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and pulp. There is no need to remove the skin because the flesh will be so tender after roasting that you can scrape it off of the skin with a spoon, but this is the time to peel it if you prefer to cut your squash into chunks before roasting.
Place the squash on a lightly oiled sheet of aluminum paper or directly on a lightly greased baking sheet and slide it into a 375F oven. Cover loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil to keep the flesh tender and roast for 60-80 minutes. The timing will depend on how thick your squash was to begin with, so check it and make sure that it is fork-tender before you take it out of the oven regardless of baking time.
At this point, I brush mine with a little butter and salt (or butter, salt and maple syrup if I want something sweet) and serve it as is. The squash can also be pureed into a mashed potato-like dish or used in baking at this point, as well.
Pecans are one of my favorite nuts and pecan pie is definitely a holiday classic, but even though I enjoy a slice from time to time, pecan pie tends to be a little too gooey and a little too rich much of the time – especially after a big meal. If you like a less gooey dessert, as I do with pecan pie, you might want to try a pecan tart instead. With the tart, you get the crunch of the nuts along with just the right amount of sticky, caramely filling in each slice.
Many versions of pecan pie use corn syrup as a sweetener and as the base for their filling. I’m not a big fan of this approach (corn syrup has a place, but not in my pies), so starting last year I set out to experiment with some different sweeteners in pecan pie. For instance, last year I made a Maple Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving. The flavor combination was great, but there are plenty of other options for sweets that go with pecans, so I ended up making a Honey Pecan Tart this time around.
The tart is a lot like a pecan pie, with a generous base of pecans. Honey is naturally very sweet, so I used roasted and salted pecans for this pie and the flavor balance turned out to be absolutely perfect. There is some additional sugar in the filling, as well as some eggs, butter and a little bit of flour to bind everything together. The tart bakes and cools more quickly than a regular pecan pie and can be made a day or two in advance. It has a wonderfully sticky consistency when it is served, but that is balanced with the nuts on top of the pie and the just-crisp crust below it.
I used a shortbread crumb crust for this tart, but graham crackers would work just as well and you can also choose to use a different tart crust entirely if you want to use something other than a crumb crust. Browned Butter Tart Dough would be a great choice.
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