Gobble gobble.... It was Thanksgiving ya'll! Yes, as someone who wants to fight the cultural hegemony and legacy of cololinalism (deep thoughts yo!) I understand how difficult the history of Thanksgiving is. While I don't like that the holiday in some ways could be interpreted as a way to commemorate the forthcoming genocide of a people I do like to think I can take it and make it into something more positive on a personal level. The funny thing is... I'm not that big of a turkey fan. All those "Thanksgiving" foods? Not necessarily my favorites. Except for the mash potatoes, and I could eat those any day! I do love that the holiday gives my family a time to come together. I do love that the meal represents an abundance of all the wonderful things in our lives. I do love that Thanksgiving dinner represents a lot of what I love about food in general... a way to share culture and socialize. So let's talk about what I made!

As you may know I have a bit of a phobia of yeast. Last year I made sweet potato yeast dinner rolls for Thanksgiving and they turned out lovely. Then for Christmas I used a no-knead dough recipe to make sticky buns.... Slowly but surely yeast and I are starting to get along. So this year I want to make a roll but I also wanted to make biscuits. In the end I found a recipe that was a compromise. Lemon-y Angel Biscuits have baking soda, baking powder, AND yeast in them. The recipe claims they've got a biscuit texture with the light and fluffiness of a bread. I was curious enough to find out.

Due to the lemon essence of this bread product I wanted to make something tasty to accompany it. And you all should know I love a compound butter! In the spirit of the season I made a cranberry butter. I took about a tablespoon of the cranberry sauce my mom made and blended it into some softened butter. Then I plopped the mix onto some wax paper and rolled into a log. Set it in the fridge to set... then we spread it onto the warm biscuits during dinner.



I know you're probably wonder what we had for dessert... we had pie and cake. I made a bundt cake. I tweaked a recipe for a bourbon pecan cake. Instead of bourbon I added pumpkin. Then I added maple syrup for to the glaze in lieu of bourbon. Be forewarned... this is a pound cake and it's not healthy.





I'ma skip a few steps here. But just know I then whipped the egg whites to stiff peaks. Then I folded them in. 




When putting the cake into the pan I did alternate layers of pecans and batter. I forgot how long it takes for these things to cook. A little under 2 hrs later I pulled the cake out and let it cool. After about 10 min. I inverted it out of the pan and onto a cooling rack. While the cake cooled I whisked up the glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, a little milk.






What are some of the must haves at your Thanksgiving day table? Do you like to experiment? How do you celebrate?