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?

So what's a famous award winning flavor combo that never gets old? Peanut butter and chocolate of course! What's the best type of candy bar to find in your candy bag at Halloween? Snickers! What happens when you put those two truths together in the form of ice cream? Serious Eat's "Better than Snickers," ice cream of course! I tagged and flagged this recipe a while ago. With the weather turning chilly and the patio seating options not as plentiful I've had to find new ways to amuse myself. Which meant out came the ice cream maker.

As I've mentioned before I use corn starch instead of egg yolks to thicken my ice creams. This recipe is even better because the peanut butter works as the thickener. No slurry! Just add some no-stir peanut butter to that cream base!

 Remove from heat and add these three: butter, half and half and salt. Stir...let cool.

Use that time the caramel is cooling wisely.... it's churning time! Set up your ice cream maker and bring out the wet mixture from the fridge. Churn that mother down.....



Once you're ice cream is done churning you'll want to store it. Layer caramel between the ice cream and twirl a knife through it to create a "ripple."

Sometimes I think I am a grandmother trapped in a not-quite middle aged woman's body. Why? Because I insist on expressing my affection and love for the young through copious amounts of sugary foods in pretty packaging. It's holiday time again and I love it! Squee!!!! Back when Kris Kross ruled the charts and the 1st generation of slap bracelets were popular (the kind of metal inside) I loved me some Halloween. I still do. But I never manage to get it together to make a great costume like I used to. It makes me sad just thinking about it. I still do love Halloween...although I'm not on the 'sexy/slutty' costume bandwagon. Go figure. I did it once... and that was enough. Even though I haven't dressed up the last few years I do love seeing my nieces/nephews costumes and helping them get into the spirit of the night. So this year I put together a small Halloween package for two groups: my nieces/nephews and my cousin who recently went off to college.

First up... festive cookies. I pulled out the best-cut-out-cookies recipe again and got to work. That was the easy part! What took patience was decorating. I mixed up some royal icing, gathered some squeeze bottles, some food coloring and sprinkles. Then I pulled a stool up to the counter and got to work.





Secondly, I wanted to make some flavored popcorn. As of late I've been all about the maple spice popcorn mix when at home. But I didn't think it would travel well so I used a recipe for popcorn balls I'd been waiting to make. Caramel with a touch of cocoa, cayenne and orange zest.



As always I had to get my packaging together. Thanks to the internet and the DIY craze this wasn't too hard. I came across a post about making a Halloween party in a box and used that for my inspiration for my cousin's college care package.

Halloween Dorm Room Party

• decorative calavera garland
• sweet treats in a box
• bewitchingly beautiful nail polish in orange and sparkly black
• cocoa-cayenne caramel popcorn
• hand-made card

I got the template for the card from Can't Stop Making Things. And the chevron box from Party Box Design. It's amazing what you can find online for free! A little patience, a nice playlist, and half a day can make a world of difference when packaging treats!

For the younger set I just kept it simple. Sugar in it's various forms plus a hand-made card. Inside their treat bags I put: gummie body parts and insects, calavera suckers, bloody vampire fang candy and a Halloween themed kaleidoscope. I also threw in a candy bar... full size. I got the treat bag toppers and candy bar wrappers from Creature Comforts.

This is what I used to tell my nephew in my futile attempt to get him to eat slower. I tell you, elementary school aged boys can plow through a plate of food.  But, I am saying this now to prove I eat things other than dessert. It's not all cakes, cookies, and pies in my kitchen. Sometimes I try to eat a well balanced meal. Here are some non-dessert things I've made recently....

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes!

You take buttermilk pancakes and add some poppy seeds and lemon zest. I also threw in the juice of said lemon because otherwise it would have sat on the counter making me feel guilty.

"Egyptian" Tomato Soup

I tagged this recipe last year and was able to make it as a shooter appetizer for a dinner party my friend was having. He made Ethiopian food... including homemade injera. I made this soup. I know that they're different cuisines but I figured many African nations have similar spice profiles so I'd take some liberties. I'm not sure how authentic this is. But, I will say it was delicious and super easy. Plus, I got to use my immersion blender! It's soup season... holla!





Step 3: Blend til smooth.... Enjoy!

Soup and Sammie lunch! 

Oh Rachael Ray... get outta my head with all your made up words! I didn't get either of these recipes from Ray Ray though. The Farmer's Sandwich came from Kitchen Therapy. Gotta love that blog! Since it was a dreary day I toasted mine in the oven. Who knew apples, cheese and onion makes such a great sandwich? The soup is Curried Lentil w/ Chickpea puree, and I got the recipe from Serious Eats.





So yes... I do eat things other than cookies and cakes. This is proof! I've got some more fall soup recipes up my sleeve too. As the weather turns cooler and the evenings get darker sooner what will you do to find a bit of cold weather pleasure?

So remember how I made those oatmeal cookies with malt powder? I had some left over right? So what's a girl to do? I needed to cull my pantry in order to make room for more, newer, ingredients. I decided to take my malt powder and turn my favorite ice cream into a cupcake. Enter the Chubby Hubby cupcake.

For those not in the know... Chubby Hubby is a Ben & Jerry's flavor. It's got malted vanilla ice cream, chocolate covered PB filled pretzels, chocolate swirls and PB swirls. In short. It is awesome. Sweet, salty, and malty!

First task... integrating the pretzel element. I chose the crumb crust route. I figured it'd give a bit of texture to the cupcake experience in the form of a buttery, crunchy, bottom layer. So I took out my food processor and crushed up some pretzels.

Then I mixed them with a couple table spoons of melted butter and smooshed them into the bottom of my cupcake liners.




Next up? Chocolate! I used a chocolate cupcake recipe from How Sweet It Is. I wanted something with actual chocolate and cocoa powder. I'm a glutton like that. I also recently realized that I left my hand mixer's beater blades at the summer rental house my family stayed at so I wanted something that didn't require creaming butter and sugar for the batter.







Now let's get to the best part.... make some plain old vanilla butter cream.... Dump the remaining malt powder into it.... Beat the hell out of it with a fork. As you work on your arm muscles don't be upset you left your beaters in Michigan City, because now your forearms get that work out they've been needing!


 Cupcake assembly line!

Finally... it was time for a garnish? What's my rule about garnish? It should give you a hint as to what flavors to expect in your food. Is this what Alton Brown would do? Alex Guarnaschelli? I'm not sure. But it's how I role.