A French Thanksgiving

Every year since before I can remember, we always have a theme day on the Friday after Thanksgiving, mainly so we can keep eating such great food. This year, our theme was "France," so we jumped on the Julia Child bandwagon and made some great beef bourguignon (unfortunately, no pictures). All together, we had a 7-course dinner - starting off with some raclette, which consists of a 2 part grill in which you melt some raclette cheese underneath the top grill, which has peppers and ham simmering on top. When everything is done, you pour the raclette on top and enjoy!

Next up, we had a green salad with cheese and bacon (blurry pictures only - perhaps too much wine already?)

No "French" dinner is complete without escargots... which we all had to try. Here they are getting all buttered up before going in the oven. You actually can buy the shells separately, and then get escargot and put them in these shells. Pretty ingenious. AND they were great. But it could have been all the butter (and Marty's special sauce...).

I'm blanking on some of the other courses (except who could forget the amazing cheese course - with about 5 types of Brie). But here are some croissants ready to go in the oven. I made these from scratch - they are really fun to do and about 100x better (read - fluffier, butterier, crispier, yummier) than the roll-up Pillsbury kind.

And for dessert, I made chocolate mousse and an almond-pear tart. The mousse was ok - the tart was phenomenal. I will definitely be making it again - and you can either make your own crust (which I did) or buy the ready-made.

The recipe can be found on David Lebovitz's blog here. It was awesome! I substituted Grand Marnier for the liquor because that is what we had - and it was still great!

Brioche

Even though I'm about two holidays late, I did want write about the Brioche I made for Thanksgiving!! This year, the theme was all about French cooking (more on that later), and for breakfast one morning, we decided to make brioche french toast.

I had tested this recipe out at home once before, and ended up burning the entire thing due to oven mishaps and an overly long walk with the puppy. I didn't have much better luck at the beach for Thanksgiving, because one of our ovens was down and the other one wasn't set at the correct temperature. (It was 50 degrees hotter than what it was reading) Luckily, we got an oven thermometer, and I saved all three loafs from a burning death. They ended up being a big hit! (And, if you make French Toast out of it, it doesn't really matter what it looks like! They all look the same covered in egg batter, and taste delicious!)

But it did end up really nice and fluffy - and very buttery - which I would hope so considering how much butter went into each loaf!

In fact, we had made enough brioche, that it even made it to Thanksgiving dinner table. Doesn't it look pretty on there? (I also made that amazing pile of mashed potatoes. My absolute favorite.)

The recipe is pretty involved, and takes two days. And your mixer gets a great work out, but its completely worth it!!

Brioche Dough (from Dessert University by Roland Mesnier)

1.5 tsps salt

5 tbs sugar

6tbs warm water

3 c all-purpose flour

1 1/3 envelopes active dry yeast

5 large eggs

2 sticks (1 c) unsalted butter, softened

1. Combine salt, sugar, 2tbs warm water in electric mixer. Stir together with dough hook, add flour and combine

2. Combine 4 tbs warm water with yeast, dissolve until foamy

3. Add 4 eggs to mixer on medium speed, one at a time. Mix for 5-7 minutes until dough is smooth and firm

4. Add remaining egg slowly, followed by the yeast mixture. Turn mixer down to low speed and mix for 15 minutes or until dough is silky and elastic and detaches from the side of the bowl

5. Add butter, 4 tbs at a time, with mixer still on low. Make sure the butter is incorporated before adding the next. Make sure your butter is softened for this step or it will take for forever! Overall, this should take about 5 minutes.

6. Dough should be glossy and elastic. Cover it with a towel and let stand in ~75 spot until its doubled in size (1.5 hrs). (I sometimes put my oven on warm for a few minutes, turn it off, and put the dough in there - just watch it and take it out when its doubled in size!)

7. Deflate dough by flipping it in bowl several times. Cover and place in fridge overnight, no longer than 24 hours

8. Butter a loaf pan (I used a standard large loaf pan)

9. Divide dough into 6 even pieces, roll into egg shapes. Place dough eggs in pan, 2 across, 3 deep. They will be touching

10. Drape pan with plastic wrap and let rise until its doubled in size, about 1.5 hrs

11. Preheat oven to 450. Brush loaf with beaten egg (Note - I don't do this.). Snip middle of loaf with scissors, making a half inch deep cut in order to let the bread rise.

12. Bake for 10 minutes at 450, then reduce the oven temp to 375 and bake for 50-60 minutes more until the loaf is golden and fully risen.

13. Unmold and cool on wire rack.

(Since its unlucky to end on 13)

14. Slice, eat, and enjoy!!!!!!!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Because we've been eating Joyce's famous pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving since before I was born, I haven't had a chance to make this Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe that I found last year. (Who can justify eating pumpkiny desserts any other time but Thanksgiving?) Luckily, we decided to have a pre-Thanksgiving meal with our friends, so I got to try it out!!!

I have to say, this cheesecake is fabulous. So creamy without being overwhelmingly pumpkin-y. I almost didn't add the marshmellow topping, but it made it look so pretty and also tasted great!! One thing that I might change is to go back to the good old graham cracker crust instead of this gingersnap crust. Just not a fan of gingersnaps.

You can find the recipe (and some better pictures) here.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cookies

I've been on a continual quest for the perfect peanut butter cookie, which gives me an excuse to make them a lot!! These ones are more on the crunchy side, and are great, but not THE PNB cookie. The search is still on.....

BUT, I tried these chocolate sugar cookies about a month ago and fell in love with them! I don't really like to make sugar cookies because I HATE decorating, but with these guys, you don't have to roll them out or shape them at all - just drop & bake. And, they are SUPER chewy - my fav.

Thanks for reading and bothering me to post more often (Mel & Laura!!).

Peanut Butter Sandies (from Cookies: Food Writers' Favorites)

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

7/8 cups unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I use more - around 3/4 to 1 cup)

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1/2 cup chopped peanuts (or use chunky peanut butter)

Beat butter and peanut butter until fluffy, add sugars and beat until smooth. Beat in vanilla and egg. Gradually beat in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Form into about 1 inch balls. Flatten each ball into a disk using your palm (wash hands please!!!). Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until edges are lightly brown. Cool & eat.

Blueberry "Scones"

When I think of a scone, I think of something triangular shaped, slightly sweet, dense, and moist. These are not scones:

But they are delicious! They are more like a muffin top - round, light and airy.  But I'm not complaining. 

I didn't have the correct sugar to put on the top of them, and I think that it would have added that little extra something to put them over the edge.  They can be made either in a food processor or with a pastry cutter.  Also, this recipe makes a lot of scones, and they don't keep very well, so I would definitely scale this one down!

Blueberry Oat Scones (from bonappetit)

3 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsps baking soda

2/4 tsp salt

11 tbsps chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-in cubes

1 cup plus 3 tbs old-fashioned oats

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1 3/4 cups chilled half and half 

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 tsps raw sugar (look for turbinado or demerara sugar) 

Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a food processor or bowl and blend.  Add butter and blend until mixture resembles coarse meal.  If in food processor, transfer mixture to a large bowl.  Add 1 cup oats and blueberries, stir to blend.  

Stir together half and half and vanilla.  Gradually add to flour mixture until dough comes together.  Drop dough into 1/2 cup mounds, spacing about 3 inches apart.  Sprinkle tops with remaining 3 tbps oats, then raw sugar. 

Bake about 25 minutes or until scones (muffin tops) are golden and toothpick comes out clean.  Cool slightly and serve warm! Enjoy! 

Strawberry Cake!

It was my turn to bring in a cake for this month's birthdays at work (yes, we celebrate birthday's by the month, which stinks when you have 5 other people to share your birthday cake with... not that I'm bitter or anything...). We normally have a store-bought cake, but I was excited to finally be able to make a a whole cake without the danger of having  3/4 of a cake left over to eat by myself.

 I knew the birthday girl liked a strawberry and whipped cream cake that we normally get, so I re-created it with a few twists.  

Yummy!! It's a three-layer white cake frosted with some delicious, but not too sweet, vanilla buttercream. In between each layer are poached strawberries and buttercream.  I finished it off with some fresh strawberries and homemade whipped cream!  

The cake was a hit, with only one piece left standing, and I might have been hired to make a cake for everyone at work's birthday! (or month).  Stay tuned!

Love, 

Becky

Cherries, Cherries, and more Cherries

I can never resist a sale.  It could be anything - from a great pair of shoes to a huge pack of toilet paper (at least I won't have to buy any for a while!).  This time, the lovely yellow sign at the Harris Teeter indicated that a huge bag of cherries was on sale.  Without particularly liking cherries, I ended up leaving the store with several pounds.  After literally eating three, I grew annoyed dealing with the pits, and there they sat in the fridge for a week.  

Before I wasted my (on sale) money, I decided to throw them in some goodies!  

First on the list: Cherry-Poppyseed Muffins

These were so good! I made them as mini's and regular size and brought them into work - they disappeared before I could snag a few of my own!  (I've put the recipe below.)

Next up: Mini Cherry Pies

These guys were super simple - I took some leftover instant pie dough from the Blueberry pie and put it in a regular sized muffin pan.  I added cherries that were mixed with some sugar, sealed the top, and baked at 350 for about 20 minutes. They made a perfect sized and super sweet dessert! 

Last, but definitely not the least: Cherry Garcia Ice Cream!

One of my favorite and most coveted cook books is the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Book with all their original recipes! I've never actually tried their Cherry Garcia Ice Cream because I always get sidetracked by the Peanut Butter Cup (best thing ever), so I decided to give it a whirl.  Undoubtedly, it came out great!

Recipe: Cherry-PoppySeed Muffins (adapted from Tyler Florence)

1/2 cup unsalted butter -melted & cooled

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk

2 large eggs - lightly beaten

1 tbsp poppy seeds

Zest of 1 orange (I used lemon)

1 cup dried cherries (I used fresh and cut them into quarters)

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a muffin tin with Pam. 

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour wet into the well and fold together.

Toss the cherries with flour and fold them into the batter.

Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling them two-thirds full. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.