These Are A Few of My Favorite Things… The Holiday Gift List

Are you still needing gift ideas? With the Chanukah just around the corner and Christmas right after that getting that perfect gift can feel daunting. Well, if you have a loved one who cooks or bakes this is the post that is going to help take some stress of this holiday season. 

My Cookbook Gift List

This is the time of year for gift lists of all kinds. Right now my social media feeds seem over run with cookbook gift list but this got me thinking, what books would I recommend. Not all of my recommendations were not published this year. That’s not what I am going for. I wanted to recommend cookbooks that are well used, well loved, referenced regularly and had a profound impact on my cooking.

Decorating for the Holidays Requires a Plan and a Strategy…

Decorating your house for the holidays is something that many of us do. Those who it falls to can often feel like this is a massive undertaking and, well, it is. Year after year it goes up. Most likely we add to it and then it comes down. The following year it’s even more work to put up and that cycle just continues. Heck, there have even been years when I question wether it’s worth all the work. This was almost one of those years it didn’t go up at all but then I made myself do it and you should too. 

Ditch the PSL and Have Pumpkin Cheesecake Instead!

If you read my final post in the Week of Thanksgiving Series about this cheesecake then you already know that Bravetart is a wealth of baked treats that don’t disappoint. I didn’t think there could be something to surprise and delight me when it came to cheesecake but boy was I wrong. Other than passing the eggs through a fine mesh sieve this recipe is almost too simple, but here’s the thing, simplicity can sometimes offer something oh so much tastier and this cheesecake is that.

Triple Ginger Cookies, Great for Holidays but Good Enough for Anytime of Year.

The starting point for this recipe came from Alice Medrich. I played around with the recipe until I got a consistency I enjoyed and worked for the purposes I needed them for. These originally started as a weekend treat for my husband. He used to buy ginger snaps from the Whole Foods bakery that was near us but they stopped carrying them. It then fell to me to find a meaningful alternate. It took a little digging around and a little mucking with the recipe but we ended up with a perfect cookie.

A Light Fluffy Dinner Roll

This pillowy white dinner rolls are both visually appealing and delicious. These even work really well for petite sandwiches but for that matter you could probably make them larger in which case they could make for really great hamburger buns! However you choose to use these they are delicious. 

Triple Berry Cranberry Sauce. A Family Favorite.

This is one of those recipes that is quick and easy to throw together. It’s always been a crowd pleaser. In my recipe I used raspberry and blackberry but I have used blueberries in stead of the blackberries. Just use whatever you feel like. I also call for specific amounts but this recipe is really forgiving. I would say to try to get close to equal parts of all three fruits but if the containers you buy them in mean one is more or less feel free to through them all in. It won’t hurt anything. It might just increase the cooking time to get the consistency you want. 

A Week of Thanksgiving: A Mountain of Cranberries Where do They Belong?

The cranberry is my nemesis. It’s beautiful, it’s vibrant, and it’s quite possibly the only “winter” fruit here in the midwest. But what do you do with it? I have a confession. I have never understood cranberry sauce and in the few places I have tried to make it work in my mind, it never has on the Thanksgiving table. I get the theory, with all those rich, meaty, sweet, and savory flavors you need something to cut through it all so this tart fruit seems like a winner, and hey, if cranberry sauce on a slice of turkey is your thing than great but it just doesn’t work for me. So I have to admit when it found a home on my Thanksgiving table this year in more ways than one I was surprised and delighted. 

Butternut Squash Soup

In today’s post about being thankful for the bounty of my garden I go into detail about how this current recipe came to be. Here is the recipe I used to create a brighter and lighter take on a soup I have been doing for years. 

As If Mashed Potatoes and Gravy Weren’t Indulgent Enough…

I could try to make arguments that there’s nutrition in mashed potatoes and even gravy for that matter but even I’ll admit that they aren’t necessarily the most nutritious thing to put on a plate. That said go the route of Pomme Purée and Giblet Gravy and it’s taking it to a level of indulgence that might cause embarrassing sounds of enjoyment around the dinner table.