Gingerbread Village displayed in the lobby of the Seattle Sheraton Hotel is my favorite holiday event. These aren’t just run-of-the-mill gingerbread houses mind you. These are giant structures designed by local architectural firms and cleverly constructed and ornately decorated by the culinary talent at the Sheraton Hotel.

Flinders Street Station- Melbourne, Australia by 4D Architects and Chef Jay Sardeson

These grand creations fill the lobby of the hotel with the sweet-spicy aroma of baked deliciousness delivering as much dazzle to the olfactory senses as to the eyes.

Gare Du Palais – Quebec, Canada by Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties and Gelotte Hommas Architects and Chef Jay Sardeson

This is the 19th year that Sheraton has partnered with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and created Gingerbread Village. The event raises money to fund research for better treatments and ideally a cure for Type I diabetes. Gingerbread Village is open to the public, with a suggested donation of $5, of which 100% goes directly to JDRF.

Dunedin Railway Station - New Zealand by Callison and Chef Wally Walbert

Six notable train stations have been recreated with glorious holiday cheer and a touch of sugary magic to fit this year’s theme of Holiday Express. The attention to detail and creative use of materials seems to reveal itself slowly the longer each sculpture is pondered.

Sheep and Kiwi birds at Dunedin Railway Station

With attention completely immersed in discovering all the hidden details and humorous accents studding each piece, slipping into a fantasy state is effortless while following the red velvet roped pathway around the display. Gingerbread Village captures the awe and wonderment of Christmas at its fantastical best. It’s worth the trip downtown to lose yourself in this gingerbread fantasy land for a brief moment.

North Pole- Island of Misfit Toys by Weber Thompson and Chef David Mestl

You can even vote for your favorite gingerbread house via text. If you’re not in Seattle you can still support JDRF’s work by kicking them a $5 donation with a quick and simple text.

Visit Gingerbread Village at Seattle Sheraton Hotel, 1400 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, WA. The display is open 24 hours a day until January 1, 2012.

London's King Cross Station - Now Boarding at Platform 9-3/4 by KMD Architects and Maple Elementary F-3 Fifth Grade helpers and Chef John Hart

If you’re craving a gingerbready sweet-treat after reading this, whip up a batch of spicy molasses cookies. They’ll satisfy that gingerbread craving, without all the work of building a house, or train station.

Recipe Link

• Joe Frogettes

When you think “spectacular dessert”, what comes to mind? I needed to come up with the perfect ending for a week-long holiday dinner party and after careful thought it hit me. There is one dessert I consider to be as festive, grand, and challenging as this dinner party; croquembouche.  How exactly dose one pull off a week-long dinner party? The Internet. It’s a virtual party with over 70 bloggers participating and the best part is you’re invited, so please, come Share Our Holiday Table.   

Croquembouche with Spun Sugar

Share Our Strength is hosting this grand event featuring four complete holiday menus by sharing a different course each day. Lucky you, today is dessert! Don’t fret if you just arrived to the party, you can start at the beginning and enjoy each and every dish, or jump right in with dessert first and then go back for the rest.   

Croquembouche is not only a beautifully decadent dessert, but its many components make it multi-faceted, complex, and a little intimidating. I didn’t set out to create a pastry analogy for the work Share Our Strength does, but they’ve set a goal to end childhood hunger by 2015, and that’s clearly multi-faceted, complex, and intimidating, so it looks like a pastry analogy is exactly where this is heading.   

Share Our Strength has worked on hunger issues for 26 years and come to an interesting conclusion. People aren’t hungry because of a lack of food, people are hungry because of a lack of access to food. On a typical day like today, over half of the kids that qualify for a healthy free or reduced price school breakfast don’t get one. That’s a lot of kids sitting in class rooms distracted from learning by their empty stomachs. There are all sorts of reasons these kids are falling through the cracks. Share Our Strength works to identify and close these gaps so existing successful programs can meet the needs of the children and families in their communities. Providing access to healthy food where people live, work, learn, and play is at the core of Share Our Strength’s strategy for ending hunger.   

Croquembouch with Sugared Cranberries and Spun Sugar

In essence Share Our Strength is the sticky caramel that brings the individual cream puffs together to create something spectacular and glorious; an America where no kid goes hungry.   

Here’s a great example. Last year Share Our Strength partnered with an organization in Colorado to fund an outreach program to boost participation in the grossly underutilized Summer Food Program. Share Our Strength provided the resources needed to print fliers for schools to send home with kids and post at social service organizations. The Summer Food Program in Colorado grew by over 50% serving 950,000 summer meals. A lot of kids got healthy nutritious food last summer because this existing program was made accessible through outreach. Nationally only 16% of eligible kids participate in the Summer Food Program. Bridge this gap and kids get fed.    

Cream puff filled with Spiced Bavarian Cream

If each program, like the Summer Meals Program, is a cream puff and it’s filled with needed resources, you see where this is going. Building piece by piece, we canend child hunger by 2015. I must say I wish I had executed my crocquembouche assembly as effectively as Share Our Strength is executing their 10-Point Plan. Oh yes, lessons were learned and I’ll share all the details.   

But first let me ask you to join David and me and make a donation to Share Our Strength and help create an America where no kid goes hungry.   

This is an organization we are connected with on many levels. TableFare raises funds through our Rouxbe affiliation and I’m an active volunteer for Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters program, a free six week cooking and nutrition class for low income families. When the opportunity came up to participate in this virtual fundraising dinner party I jumped at the chance because I’m happy to sing the praises of the work this organization does.   

Redirecting money for the purchase of one coffee house drink, bottle of wine, or dinner out this holiday season to Share Our Strength will make a difference in ending child hunger by 2015. At minimum, please take the No Kid Hungry Pledge. Add your voice to the chorus of people supporting the effort to end hunger in America and ask a friend to do the same.   

I alluded to some “learning experiences” I had while making my dessert.  It ended up being a success, but there are techniques that still need to be honed and that will take practice, practice, practice. Poor David, he might have to eat more croquembouche!   

The croquembouche structure is built from cream puffs which are made from a simple pâte à choux dough. It’s an extremely versatile pastry dough worth learning to make. Once baked the dough puffs can filled with pastry cream or ice cream, and if piped out as logs they magically become éclairs. When piped as one large circle or bicycle wheel, this same dough becomes the famous Paris-Brest Cake created to commemorate the Paris to Brest to Paris bicycle race.   

Pâte à choux dough ready for the mixer

Pâte à choux dough is simply flour stirred into a boiling water and butter mixture. It quickly thickens and is stirred until it cleans the pan walls. The idea when cooking the dough is to dry it out as much as possible so it will be able to absorb more eggs. Eggs give pâte à choux puff, well eggs and a hot oven.   

pâte à choux

Though it’s called a dough, it’s more like a thick paste that is piped into shapes for baking. A gentle tap on the top of each puff with a wet finger will smooth out the point.   

Press the points down before baking

My pâte à choux baked up beautifully. I made a two fillings for the puffs; a zippy and fresh Ginger Pastry Cream and a Spiced Chocolate Bavarian Cream. So far, so good. Two lessons were learned about fillings. First of all, it’s not necessary to completely fill each cream puff. If these were going to be served as individual plated cream puffs, yes, fill ‘em up, but for a croquembouche they get too fat and heavy if filled to capacity. A nice little dollop so the puff is about half full is perfect. The second filling lesson learned is a Bavarian Cream is much too delicate for croquembouche.   

Bavarian cream differs from pastry cream in that it’s set with gelatin rather than corn starch and lightened by folding in whipped cream. When the puffs are dipped into molten sugar, the heat from the caramel melts the filling so they become very messy. It’s an absolutely deliciously light and fabulous filling, but best used for cream puffs or simply scooped into beautiful stemware and served with a spoon.   

Always have an ice bath handy when making caramel

Caramel intimidates a lot of cooks for good reason. Molten sugar can cause a more severe burn than just about anything else in the kitchen. It cooks at 310°F to 320° F and it’s sticky, so if it gets on your skin it stays there. Notice my set up; it’s really important to always have a bowl of ice water at the ready. You will need it if caramel burns you or the caramel itself starts to burn. Quenching the bottom of the pan in the ice bath will quickly stop the cooking and can save a caramel from burning. The other potential problem with caramel is it can crystallize once it cools.   

The caramel is made by simply sprinkling sugar a little bit at a time into a dry heavy-bottomed pan over a low to medium-low heat and stirring frequently. After each sprinkling begins to melt, add a bit more until 2 cups of sugar have been added to the pan. Once all the sugar is fairly melted and it’s becoming liquid, brush the sides of the pan down with a wet pastry brush to rinse away any sugar crystals stuck to the sides. Warning: when the wet pastry brush hits the hot pan, a poof of hot steam will rise, so be careful not to burn your hand on the steam. After washing down the side walls of the pan, let the caramel cook without stirring until it reaches a nice golden caramel color. If it’s cooking unevenly, gently swirl the pan.   

Remove the caramel from the heat before it reaches the desired color because it will keep cooking from the residual heat of the pan. If it’s starting to get too dark, place the pan in the ice bath to stop the cooking, but only for a few seconds, or the caramel will get so cold it will harden and then you have to re-heat it.   

Is ending child hunger starting to seem easier than making caramel? With a clean heat-proof spoon you can give it a stir and begin dipping the puffs. I found holding the puffs with a pair of tongs to be the safest approach, even so my fingers went for an emergency swim in the ice bath a couple of times during this process. Having a chop stick or some other tool at hand is also helpful for getting the dipped puff turned upright and placed.   

An ill-conceived plan

Having made puffs, pastry cream and caramel more times than I can count, it was the assembly that was the real challenge. I’ve made a free-form croquembouche before, so this time I hatched a crazy plan to use a mold made from parchment covered poster board that I would remove after assembly. Real croquembouch molds exist and run upwards of $350, so I was keen on coming up with a home-made solution.   

There were so many flaws with my construction plan it’s difficult to know where to start. The biggest element leading to assembly failure was running out of cream puffs! To cover my giant mold, I would have needed twice the number of puffs, and I had upwards of 60, but that only got me about 1/3 of the way there. Then there were adhering issues. With the caramel on the top of each puff I wasn’t getting a solid bond on the sides of neighboring puffs. There was fear of pending doom at the thought of removing the mold, but once I realized I wasn’t going to be able to cover the thing, I decided to cut my losses and just pulled the puffs off and piled them on a serving platter in a rather free-form manner. Surprisingly they held together and looked pretty darn good. I added a few sugared cranberries and wrapped it with spun sugar strands and called it croquembouche!   

Croquembouch with Sugared Cranberries and Spun Sugar

It’s much easier to dip the puffs when the caramel is quite liquid, so reheat it as needed to keep it flowing. The sugar strands I made by just dipping a fork in the slightly cooled caramel. If the caramel is at the right stringy temperature, long threads are formed when the fork is pulled out. Grab the very thin threads and just pull and pull and gather them around the croquebouche. Be sure to only grab the very thin hair-like threads. If you see a thick glob falling from the fork, don’t touch it! HOT, HOT, HOT!   

I consider cooking to be a grand adventure and this was a fun one. I hope you’ll give a croquembouche a try and don’t worry if it doesn’t stack up perfectly because the cream puffs taste so good, no one will really care what it looks like.

After all that, don’t you feel like making a donation to Share Our Strength?   

Here are links to all the other desserts being served up today.

Gourmet

•  
  • Mini Milk Chocolate Cheesecakes from Little Bo Bakes
  • Walnut Snowball Cookies from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook
  • Pecan & Caramel Chocolate Clusters from Cooking on the Side

Family

•  
  • Pom Pie Delight from Devour the World
  • Hot Cocoa Cupcakes from Hoosier Homemade
  • Brownies with Coconut Icecream from For the Joy of Food
  • Chocolate Crunch Snowball Cookies from Daydreamer Desserts
  • Double Chocolate Chip Icecream from The Food Junkie

Vegetarian

•  
  • Maple Cheesecake from Deliciously Organic
  • Pomegranate Poached Pears from Jeanette’s Healthy Living

Gluten-Free

•  
  • Strawberry Jelly Roll Cake from Tartlette
  • Cinnamon Pear Cornmeal Upsidedown Cake from Cook It Allergy Free
  • Gluten Free Girl
  • Crustless Apple Pie from The Blog

And here are the rest of the dishes created for Share Our Holiday Menu. Enjoy the feast!

Sides  

Gourmet 

•  
  • The Urban Baker (read the post) 
  • Heather Christo (read the post)
  • We Like to Cook, and Eat (read the post)
  • Plum Pie (read the post)

Family Friendly   

•  
  • What’s Cooking (read the post)
  • Dine and Dish (read the post)
  • The Evolving Cook (read the post)
  • Katrina Runs for Food

Vegetarian   

•  
  • My Kitchen Addiction (read the post)
  • Taste as You Go
  • Flamingo Musings (read the post)

Gluten Free   

•  
  • The Whole Gang (read the post)
  • Jenn Cuisine– A mostly gluten free cooking blog. (read the post)
  • Creative Cooking Gluten Free (read the post)

 Entrees   

Gourmet   

•  
  • What’s Gaby Cooking (read the post)
  • Food Blogga (read the post)

Family Friendly   

•  
  • Life in Recipes (read the post)
  • Bluebonnets & Brownies (read the post)
  • Foodie Tots (read the post)

Vegetarian   

•  
  • The Peche (read the post)

Gluten Free   

•  
  • The Sensitive Pantry (read the post)
  • Nourishing Meals (read the post)

 Soup   

Gourmet   

•  
  • edible cville (read the post)
  • The Runaway Spoon (read the post)
  • A Girl, A Market, A Meal (read the post)

Family Friendly   

•  
  • Ladles and Jellyspoons (read the post)
  • Two Dollar Dinners (read the post)
  • All About Alton Brown (read the post)
  • Cookie Central’s Great American Bake Sale (read the post)

Vegetarian   

•  
  • Good Life Eats (read the post)
  • Feed Our Families (read the post)

Gluten Free   

•  
  • Celiac Teen (read the post)
  • Celiacs in the House (read the post)
  • Gluten Free Life with Jen (read the post)
  • And Love it Too! (read the post)

 Salads    

Gourmet   

•  
  • The Bitten Word (read the post)
  • girlichef (read the post)

Family Friendly   

•  
  • Food For My Family (read the post)

Vegetarian   

•  
  • Glugle Gluten-Free (read the post)

Gluten Free   

•  
  • Add a Pinch (read the post)
  • Gluten Free Diva (read the post)

 Drinks    

Gourmet   

•  
  • Food Woolf (read the post)
  • The Gringo Chapin (read the post)
  • Neo-Homesteading (read the post)
  • Three Many Cooks (read the post)

Family Friendly   

•  
  • Fat Wuz Here (read the post)

Vegetarian   

•  
  • Lexies Kitchen (read the post)
  • Simply Sugar and Gluten Free (read the post)

Gluten Free   

•  
  • Gluten Free Easily (read the post)

Appetizers   

Gourmet   

•  
  • The Italian Dish (read the post)
  • Recipe Girl (read the post)
  • Neo-Homesteading (read the post)

Family Friendly   

•  
  • Family Fresh Cooking (read the post)
  • Giving Up on Perfect (read the post)

Vegetarian   

•  
  • Two Peas and Their Pod (read the post)
  • Smith Bites (read the post)

Gluten Free   

•  
  • La Fuji Mama (read the post)
  • Wenderly (read the post)   

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RUYkzJio24

In addition to great spice storage, a sharp knife, cast iron skillet, and a kitchen scale, every kitchen deserves a thermometer. It’s the most reliable way to cook foods to the proper/desired doneness. Well, it’s reliable if your thermometer is correctly calibrated.

Thermometers galore!

Though I’m an enormous fan of my Raytek MiniTemp infrared thermometer (note this style only measures surface temperatures, not internal temperatures) and my ThermoWorks ThermaPen, I happily used inexpensive dial thermometers for years with great results. One of the things I made sure to do is calibrate regularly. My method was rather standard, filling a glass with ice, adding cold water, and placing the thermometer in the ice water to get a reading. Ideally it should read 32˚F and if not the nut under the display head adjusts the reading when turned.

Dial thermometer adjustment

It wasn’t until I recently saw a post about calibrating thermometers on ThermaPen.com that I realized I didn’t have the process quite right. There are a few subtle details that are rather important when setting up a water bath for calibration. Here’s what I learned.

Fill a glass with ice

Calibration ice bath

Add just enough cold water to fill in the gaps between the ice and keep the water level 1/2”  below the surface of the ice. Check to be sure the ice isn’t floating up off the bottom of the glass. If it is, you have too much water. This picture is a bit deceptive; the ice is sitting on the bottom of the glass, but the glass has an inch-thick bottom.

Give the ice water a stir and let it sit for 1 minute.

Right where it should be

Insert the thermometer probe 2” below the surface and gently stir. This will give you an accurate reading. If you have a dial thermometer you can then turn the nut to adjust the needle to read 32˚F if it doesn’t already. ThemoWorks has a nice video demo of this water bath calibration technique.

To get an accurate reading when checking food for doneness with a probe thermometer it’s important to insert the probe deep enough into the food for the temperature to register. The sensor on some probes can be ½” to 1” from the tip, depending on the manufacturer. One of the reasons I like my ThermaPen is that the sensor is in the very tip of the probe, plus it registers temperatures at lightning fast speed.

In addition to thinking about where the probe will sense the temperature, it’s important to consider where to take a reading in the food. Generally inserting the thermometer at a slight angle into the thickest part of a piece of meat or the center of a casserole is the best approach.  If the item is thin, inserting the probe into the side at an angle nearly parallel with the surface will allow the probe enough contact to register the temperature. Be careful to avoid hitting bone or cartilage with the probe because you won’t get an accurate reading of the temperature of the meat.

If you want to make a great investment and buy an outstandingly high-quality instant read thermometer I can’t say enough good things about the ThermaPen, but if you aren’t ready for that level of commitment consider an inexpensive dial thermometer, after all you now know the proper technique for making an ice bath for calibration.

If you are cooking a turkey tomorrow, it’s ready to come out of the oven when the thickest part of the thigh registers 165˚F. Be sure to check both thighs before pulling the bird out of the oven. This doesn’t mean it’s done though, there’s still the critical rest period. Don’t skip it. Let the cooked turkey rest for 20-30 minutes before carving. You can tent the turkey with foil if you like, but be sure to poke a few holes in the foil so steam can escape and the skin stays crispy. I found a nice run-down of cooking temperatureson the Thermapen site that might be a handy reference.

If you’re staring at tomorrow with no plans and no prepped turkey, pick up a whole chicken or turkey breast to roast. Below is a recipe link for a Basic Roast Chicken from Rouxbe Online Cooking School, it’s a perfect stand-in for turkey. I’ve also included a few other recipes on our site that might round out your menu. Note, the recipes on Rouxbe are free to access, but by using our affiliate link you can access all the content, including the entire cooking school curriculum, on their site free for 14 days! If you like what you see and end up buying a membership, you help us raise money for Share Our Strength.

Recipe Links

• Basic Roast Chicken
• Cornbread Stuffing Baked in a Squash
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Pearl Onions
• Veggie Cheesy Torte
• Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We are big supporters of Share our Strength and ask you to join us in helping to end childhood hunger by 2015. Sign the No Kid Hungry Pledge today!

For a little cranberry inspiration check out my latest guest blog post on Girl Power Hour. I take the “can’t we all just get along?” approach to the fresh vs. canned cranberry quarrel and offer up some great uses for fresh cranberries that go beyond sauce.

Fresh cranberries

I recently came across Sugared Cranberries on A Spicy Perspective’s blog and had to give them a try. They’re beautiful, sweet, and tangy-tart!

Sugared Cranberries

Read the full post

This week the Tuesday’s with Dorie group is playing with more cranberries. The two most quintessential November ingredients to me are winter squash and cranberries. They bookend the month; pumpkins show up in full-force for Halloween and cranberries seal the deal as the crown jewel of the Thanksgiving table. Sadly, the last week of November feels like a lost cause, dominated by Christmas, it might as well be rolled into December. 

Cranberry Lime Galette

I’m thouroughly enjoying November right along with this Cranberry Lime Galette (gah-LEHT). A galette is basically a free-form rustic pie and both sweet and savory fillings are common. This one is definitely sweet, but the cranberries aren’t sugared into submission. Rather they hit your mouth with a puckery tang that is carefully tempered by sweetness and softened by the rich buttery crust. The dueling taste of floral and bitter linger from the lime zest while ginger pipes in with just a touch of heat. If your taste buds have been bored, jolt them back to life with a slice of this.  

Cranberry Lime Galette

Snuggled in with the fresh cranberries are dried cranberries and fresh apple. Additionally, ground nuts and a touch of breadcrumbs add body and help to thicken the filling. As is often the case, I didn’t have a few of the called-for ingredients. I used dried figs rather than dried cranberries which worked really well, but the pear I substituted for the apple turned out to be a weak point. Once cooked, it was so soft it got lost in the filling. Next time I’ll go to the store for a nice crisp apple that will hold up during cooking, something along the lines of Cameo, Honey Crisp, Empire, Jonathan, Fuji, Rome, or any other apple that isn’t likely to be reduced to mush when exposed to the toasty oven environment. Next time I will also just do a rough chop on the nuts rather than mincing them down to a fine texture. I think the added crunch and more prominent flavor would complement the cranberries. 

Galette ingredients

In addition to my convenience-motivated substitutions, I added a little spice just for the fun and flavor of it. The filling was spiked with ½ teaspoon of freshly ground allspice and I also mixed a bit of allspice with sugar for dusting the crust. Allspice combines the flavor and aroma of nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, along with a peppery note in one handy little berry. Check out our Spice Library to learn more about this magnificent spice. 

Grinding allspice berries

As luck would have it, I had a pie crust in the freezer ready and waiting. So rather than make Dorie’s Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough, I used my pie crust made with butter and some spectacularly decadent Mangalitsa lard I rendered. The sisters that write Celestial Confections, chose this week’s recipe and have posted the recipe for the Cranberry Lime Galette as well as Dorie’s crust. The link at the end of my post will take you there. 

Cranberry Lime Galette

Though a galette boasts the rustic, hand-made look, it still requires rolling out pastry dough. Don’t let this dissuade you from making home-made crusts. On a side note, when making pie dough, if you have a food processor, use it. When rolling out dough, give it enough time in the fridge to become well chilled. Then place it on a lightly floured work surface and roll from the center to 12:00. Spin the dough ¼ turn and roll again from the center to 12:00. Repeat the rolling and spinning adding a dusting of flour on or under the dough as needed if it starts to stick. I find a bench scraper to be invaluable in this process. A large spatula will work as well. Slide the blade under the dough to release it from the work surface if it sticks between rolls. Then spin the dough a quarter turn and toss a little more flour down. Before you know it you will have a nice big round of dough ready to be filled. 

French rolling pin and bench scraper

I use a straight French rolling pin. Gale Gand mentioned this was her favorite style of pin on her Food Network show, Sweet Dreams, back in the day. I bought one and love it. Tapered wood pins are another popular style of French rolling pins, but I’ve not had the chance to try one so I can’t tell you how they compare. 

In all of my enthusiasm to get the dough filled and in the oven, it wasn’t until assembly was complete that I noticed a most unfortunate oversight. 

Ready for the oven - not so fast...

See the little bowl of what looks like it might be crumb topping? It’s actually the breadcrumb mixture that was supposed to have been spread on the dough before adding the fruit. Damn. What folds up, unfolds, so I carefully unfolded the dough, scooped up the filling, spread the breadcrumbs and then put it back together. The galette was no worse for the wear and into the oven it went. 

If you are looking for a slightly less obvious pie for Thanksgiving embrace the punchy-tartness of cranberries and give this Cranberry Lime Galette a try. Just save yourself some grief and remember to put the breadcrumbs in before you get it all assembled! 

Recipe Links 

• Cranberry Lime Galette and Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough

We are big supporters of Share our Strength and ask you to join us in helping to end childhood hunger by 2015. Sign the No Kid Hungry Pledge today! 

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. 152 recipes completed 69 to go!

These spicy pumpkin seeds are my favorite snack to counter all the sugar of the day. They are salty, crispy and you can make them as spicy as you care to by boosting the cayenne pepper.

 My tip for good pumpkin seeds is to cook them long enough so they take on some color, which makes them really crispy with a nice toasty flavor.

Wondering where thoes pumpkin seeds came from? My TableFare themed pumpkin of course.

I’m celebrating my inner Julia Child this Halloween. I hope you are having a fun day!

Spicy Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups cleaned and dried pumpkin seeds
 Tbsp. olive oil, melted butter, or vegetable oil
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. cumin, ground
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

After hollowing out a pumpkin, separate the seeds from the stringy membrane and rinse the seeds in a large bowl of water. Swish and rub them around to loosen any bits of pumpkin meat. Lift the seeds out of the water into a strainer and repeat the rinse as many times as is necessary until they are satisfactorily clean, usually 2 to 3 rinses. Drain the seeds and dry them on a clean dishtowel. They can be left to dry overnight, or baked right away.

In a small bowl combine the spices and mix well. Spread the pumpkin seeds out on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle with oil or butter, and mix well to combine. Sprinkle on the spice mixture and continue to mix until the spices are evenly distributed over the pumpkin seeds.

Bake for 35-50 minutes. If the seeds dried overnight they will bake on the shorter end of the range. Stir the seeds every ten minutes and spread out evenly over the pan to continue baking until they are a deep golden brown. Many of the seeds will puff up and they will make a crackling noise. Let cool and store in an airtight container.

My special twist on this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie baking adventure is adding a charcoal finish to the beautiful Thanksgiving Twofer Pie (pumpkin and pecan pie all in one!) that Vivi of La Casserole Carree selected for the group to make this week.

photo by David Peterman

This is the result of multi-tasking gone bad. Thanksgiving was celebrated on Sunday at my house because of my desire to cook the full-blown feast and spend Thanksgiving Day at a friend’s house. There is nothing wrong with wanting to have your pie and eat it too – unless you get distracted.

The Thanksgiving Twofer Pie is Dorie Greenspan’s answer to the age old question “Should I make pumpkin or pecan pie?” Her smart solution is to make both in one pie; a classic pumpkin pie filling scattered with pecans and covered with a sugary-gooey pecan pie filling. Assembly was fine, so into the oven at 450 degrees F for ten minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F for the remainder of the bake time; this doesn’t seem so hard.

An undetermined amount of time passes and as I breeze past the oven I notice the pie is getting really brown and decide to grab some foil to cover the top, but by the time I get to the other side of my kitchen (all of about five steps) I am fully distracted with prepping brussels sprouts, checking the temperature of the turkey, strategizing on the timing of starting the potatoes…then I get a whiff of something burning…the pie! I am a bit shocked to notice the oven temperature still says 450. Well, fancy new-fangled electronic control panel ovens are great for all that they do, but if you don’t hit “enter” after resetting the temperature, the temperature does not get reset. The charcoal finish overwhelmed the pie and I finally admitted that it wasn’t really salvageable after eating a piece for dessert. It was no bother for David, who is not a pumpkin or pecan fan, as he had stocked the freezer with some Ben & Jerry’s for his early Thanksgiving feast dessert.

I have no doubt the pie would have been fantastic had I not burned it to smithereens. I will make it again once I get over the pain of ruining a cup and a half of beautiful pecans. You can test your oven temperature setting skills and make it yourself from the recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, or click over to Vivi’s blog where she has posted it (scroll down for the English version).

photo by David Peterman

Thankfully there were other delicious things to eat for early Thanksgiving dinner (recipes below). The red kuri squash stuffed with cornmeal stuffing made with apples, currants, hazelnuts and a nice dash of curry powder was wonderful and the baking vessel adds a side vegetable for no extra work!

photo by David Peterman

Roasted brussels sprouts and pearl onions with caraway and juniper were tasty and beautiful. The turkey was baked with a delicious herb, orange, and fennel compound butter that takes just minutes to create. And of course a bowl of my favorite fall delight, spiced cranberry sauce.

With the inevitable Thanksgiving disaster all ready out of the way, now I can relax, enjoy early leftovers and a fun Thanksgiving Day with friends eating more delicious food. Have a wonderful holiday and keep an eye on that oven temperature!

Citrus Herb Compound Butter
 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
1 Tbsp. fresh sage, chopped
zest of one medium orange, finely grated
1/2 tsp. aleppo pepper, or dried red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. fennel seed, ground
1/4 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground

Combine all ingredients together and mix well. Rub under the skin of a turkey or chicken before roasting. A dollop placed on hot grilled chicken breasts just before serving is nice as well.

Cornbread Stuffing Baked in a Squash

Serves 6

For the cornbread (can be made a day early)
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. sea salt
1 large egg
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the first 4 ingredients to mix well.

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg and mix in the brown sugar, oil and milk. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cornbread is slightly puffed and golden brown. Let cool in the pan, then remove from the pan and cut cornbread into half-inch cubes. If starting a day ahead, leave the bread cubes sitting out overnight uncovered to stale. If proceeding the same day, place bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake in a 325 degree F oven for 15-20 minutes to dry out the cornbread. Let cool and proceed with stuffing recipe.

For the stuffing
1 medium-sized red kuri or other winter squash
6 cups (about) dried cornbread cubes (one batch of above cornbread recipe)
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 onion, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 apple, peeled and diced
1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 cup dried currants
11/2 -2 tsp. curry powder (depending on your taste and your curry powder)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock, have a little extra on hand if needed
2 large eggs

Cut the top off of the squash and set aside. Scrape the seeds and stringy bits from the inside of the squash and sprinkle the cleaned interior generously with salt, pepper, and a bit of the curry powder. Set the squash aside.

Place a heavy-bottom large pan over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sauté for a few minutes, then add the celery, apple, thyme, curry powder and continue to cook for 6-8 additional minutes until the vegetables are soft. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the white wine reduce until the pan is almost dry. Remove from the heat and stir in the currants and hazelnuts. Add salt and pepper to taste, seasoning on the strong side to account for the cornbread, stock and squash that has yet to be incorporated. Transfer vegetables to a large bowl.

Add the cornbread to the bowl of vegetables and mix to combine. Whisk the eggs and 1 cup of stock together and add slowly to the stuffing letting each addition be absorbed before adding more. Add additional stock, 1/4 cup at a time, until the stuffing is quite wet and holds together easily, but not so much that it pools at the bottom of the bowl.

Place the Squash in a baking dish lined with parchment paper. Fill the squash with the stuffing and put the lid on the squash, any extra stuffing can be baked in a buttered baking dish covered with buttered foil. Place in an oven at 350-375 degrees F to bake for about 2 hours. The squash can bake alongside a turkey or other dishes and the exact oven temperature is not critical. After an hour check the sidewalls of the squash to determine the baking progress, the squash will probably be rather firm at this point. Remove the lid of the squash and tuck it in the baking dish so the squash can bake uncovered (if your squash lid has a stem, it will be very brittle and likely break off if you try to lift the lid using the stem). Let the squash bake until it is easily pierced with the tip of a knife and the stuffing is hot through. Cover loosely with foil if the top begins to brown too much. Check the squash every 20 minutes for doneness.

Once it is fully cooked carefully lift the whole squash onto a serving platter. This move is best executed with the help of an additional person to peel away the parchment paper once the squash is lifted from the pan. It works well to slide a sturdy spatula under the squash while supporting the side with a hot pad or kitchen towel. Serve by scooping out the stuffing along with some of the squash meat.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Pearl Onions

Serves 4

20 brussels sprouts
30 pearl onions
2 slices of thick bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4 garlic cloves, whole and unpeeled
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. caraway seeds, whole
1/2 tsp. juniper berries, ground
1 Tbsp. sherry vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Trim the bottom of the sprouts, peel off the dark outer leaves, and cut an X in the stem end. Bring a 3 qt. pot of water to boil and add 2 tsp. of salt to the water. Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside. Add the brussels sprouts to the boiling water and simmer uncovered for 4-5 minutes. Remove the brussels sprouts from the boiling water and place in the ice water to cool for 3-4 minutes. Scoop the brussels sprouts from the ice water, drain and dry them.

Add the pearl onions to the pot of boiling water and simmer for 2 minutes then remove them to the ice water. Once the onions are cool enough to touch, drain them. Cut the root end off and peel the outer papery layer off and pat them dry. (This can be done one day ahead, store the brussels sprouts and onions in the refrigerator).

Slice the brussels sprouts in half and place in a medium-sized bowl along with the onions. Mix in the olive oil, caraway seeds, juniper, unpeeled garlic cloves, diced bacon, as well as a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Spread the vegetables out on a sheet pan and place in a hot oven to roast. After 15-20 minutes give the vegetables a stir and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes more until they are nicely browned and cooked through.

Remove the pan from the oven and collect the unpeeled garlic cloves. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the papery shell into a mixing bowl. Using a whisk mash the roasted garlic into a paste and whisk in the sherry vinegar. Add the brussels sprouts and onions and toss to coat. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if needed and serve.

Fresh cranberries are showing up at the market, so it is the perfect time to share my cranberry sauce recipe with you. Freshly made cranberry sauce is such a world away from the canned version. Granted it won’t have the lovely can shape and can ridge texture on the sides, but the taste of freshly made cranberry sauce easily outweighs the nostalgia of cranberry sauce shaped like a can. If you have never made cranberry sauce, you need to know it is a snap to make. I have been making versions of this recipe for my entire adult life. Over the years it has evolved into what is now my favorite version.

photo by David Peterman

Warm exotic spice flavors play between the sweet and tart flavors of this sauce. It is perfect for the Thanksgiving table, but I enjoy this cranberry sauce on turkey sandwiches all year long.

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Makes about 3 cups

16 oz. fresh or frozen whole cranberries
¾ cup water
½ cup red wine vinegar or raspberry vinegar
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 cups sugar
zest of one medium orange
2 star anise, whole
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon, ground
½ tsp. clove, ground
½ tsp. allspice, ground
½ tsp. cardamom, ground
1” piece of fresh ginger, juiced in garlic press

Clean and de-stem cranberries. In a medium saucepan combine cranberries, vinegars, water, sugar, orange zest, and star anise pods. Cook over medium heat until cranberries begin to pop. Stir and mash the berries with the back of a spoon.

Add the spices and the ginger juice. Cook at a medium-low boil for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
If you prefer less pulp, press a quarter to half of the sauce through a sieve to strain. Taste the sauce and adjust spices as desired*. Once the sauce cools it will thicken.

It keeps well for a few months in the refrigerator. If you like to can, preserve this sauce following proper canning proceedures. Leave ¼ inch headspace and process in a water bath for 10 minutes, if using half-pint jars or smaller. If you pack in larger jars, or live at an altitude above 1000 feet, refer to a trusted canning resource to adjust the processing time.

* Spice Note: I use whole spices and grind them as I need them. Once I made the switch to buying whole spices I dialed back the amount of spice in the recipe because freshly ground spices are so much more powerful. If you are using pre-ground spices and feel like the flavors aren’t as prominent as you would like, add a bit more of each to suit your taste.