That's more like it...

Remember my failed attempt at thumbprint cookies with the candy cane Hershey Kisses? Well, after figuring out how to actually make thumbprint cookies, I had another go at them later that week. The results were much better! :)
(I just can't believe it took me this long to blog the new photo!)

Twinkle, Twinkle

Confession: I'm not much of a sugar cookie fan. They're just a bit boring generally. I do love this recipe that I found on Annie's blog last year - the almond extract really adds that necessary little je ne c'est quoi :)
These are another great option for people who are bored with basic sugar cookies. The cardamom adds a lovely almost flowery taste. It's also quickly becoming one of my new favourite kitchen scents. I kept wafting the bottle under my nose as I was making the dough for these.
I found these to be rather reminiscent of lavender shortbread. Yum!

Cardamom Sugar Stars

Yield: About 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
Cookies ~
1 7/8 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (yes, I halved the original recipe and ended up with a wonky amount. Could have been worse...)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (room temp)
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 egg
1/2 tbsp. vanilla extract (no, that's not a typo! It should be 1/2 tablespoon)

Spice Mixture ~
1/8 cup sugar or sparkling sugar (see note below)
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom

Method:
*Note: You will need to refrigerate the dough overnight so keep that in mind before starting these.

1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl.

2. Cream the butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 tsp. cardamom in a large bowl. Beat in the egg and vanilla then mix in the flour mixture until it is just blended. Knead the dough by hand just until it is smooth. Divide the dough into two pieces; shape into flat rounds. Cover the rounds and refrigerate until firm enough to roll (overnight or up to two days).

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the refrigerator (one round at a time) and let it stand at room temperature until it is soft enough to roll but still firm. Roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper to about 1/8-inch thickness. If the dough gets too soft at any time, you can return it to the fridge until it's firm.

4. Use a star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the dough (it's helpful to dip the cutter in flour to help prevent sticking). Reroll leftover scraps. Repeat with remaining dough.

5. Combine all the spice mixture ingredients in a small bowl and sprinkle over the cookies. Bake 8-10 minutes or until pale golden brown at the edges. Let cool on wire racks.

These cookies can be made ahead. According to the original recipe, you can make them a month ahead and store them in airtight containers. I like to freeze my baked cookies.

Sparkling sugar:
I actually found sparkling sugar at Michaels (Wilton brand).
You can also order it from the following places:
King Arthur Flour
Fancy Flours
Great News
If you can't find it, you could sub regular granulated sugar or turbinado.

Reference:
Cardamom Sugar Stars by Alice Medrich. I found this recipe in the December 2007/January 2008 issue of Cooking Pleasures Magazine.
I didn't change anything this time around but I'm interested in trying different extracts (orange or almond? I think either of those would work with the sweet cardamom) or maybe subbing in cinnamon for the cardamom.

Double-Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (Vegan!)

These are so festive :) Even though I'll take chocolate-mint anything anytime of year!
These were my first attempt at making vegan cookies. I've made quite a few other vegan sweets but those have all used egg substitutes I was familiar with. These called for a commercial egg replacer so I wasn't sure how they would turn out. It works! They were easy to make and I highly recommend these for any chocoholic, vegan or not. :)
Since they are dairy-free, they are also a good option for lactose-intolerant friends.

I made these as a special treat for my vegan sister and brother-in-law and decided to keep a couple for myself. Well, since I had some of those candy cane Hershey Kisses (bit of an impulse buy at Target last night), I figured I'd try out some thumbprint cookies with them. I have never tried making thumbprint cookies so this was a huge experiment! What do you know? I managed to screw them up a bit! Apparently the vegan baking gods did not appreciate my de-veganizing my cookies - the tops of the Kisses all burned! lol :) They still taste fine and they are just for hubby and myself so it's no big deal. They look really funny, though! Guess I gave myself a bit of bad cookie karma ;)

PS - the dough is also fantastic! And you can eat it since there are no raw eggs or other yuckies

This made 32 cookies
(I used my small cookie scoop - original recipe said it would yield 1 1/2 dozen but I always end up with more vegan goodies than the recipe states..! Nice problem to have, I suppose)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer (see photo below)
2 tbsp. water
3/4 cup non-hydrogenated, non-dairy butter (I use Earth Balance)
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (I like the Wholesome Sweeteners sugars since they are organic and fair trade)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (I use evaporated cane juice)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup non-dairy chocolate chips (semi-sweet chips are usually OK)

Ener-G Egg Replacer:
Method:
1. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Whisk together the egg replacer and water until it is thick and creamy. Set aside. Mine looked like whisked egg whites when it was ready (frothy). It will thicken up as it sits so don't worry if it seems too runny.

3. Cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat in the egg replacer as well as the vanilla and peppermint extracts.

4. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add this mixture to the butter mixture. Stir well to combine and then add the chocolate chips. Mix the chips in but do not over-stir.

5. Drop rounded tablespoons of the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet. Do not try to press the blobs of dough down with a fork - it's too sticky and they come out not looking very nice (yes, I tried on one batch!)
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the baking sheet immediately after removing from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool.

These make great dunkers!

*If you would like to make a non-vegan version of these, simply sub 1 egg for the egg replacer. The butter amount would remain the same so you can sub in salted or unsalted butter as desired. I do recommend you make the vegan ones at least once. You'd never know they're vegan!
I know, I say that every time I post a vegan baking recipe. It's true, though!

Reference: Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking.

Oops... ;)

Valentine's Flowers :)

They really aren't all yellow-y! That's just my crummy camera phone :) lol

Total surprise from DH yesterday!

Vegan Stuffing/Dressing

My parents requested the stuffing/dressing I made for Thanksgiving again for Christmas. Since we're English we serve turkey at Christmas as well and they were looking for a yummy dressing to go with it. Well, after I said I could make it, my mom asked for a vegan version that my sister and brother-in-law could have. After a bit of tweaking and an "are these ingredients OK" email to my sister, here's what I came up with for them!
This is basically the same as the Sausage and Fruit Stuffing except I used tofu for the egg and made sure the bread recipes were vegan. I halved the bread, onion, and celery amounts from the original recipe but kept the fruits, nuts, and mushrooms the same since I was not using sausage. If you'd like, you could use 1/4 pound of vegan breakfast sausage (it will specify on the packaging that it is vegan) in this recipe. Just brown the sausage before mixing in with the bread, fruit, and veggies.

This was really very yummy! Perfect alongside a Tofurkey (also very yummy!)

This will make about 4 servings ~ the leftovers of this and the regular version are wonderful!

Ingredients:
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 cup vegan cornbread, cubed (make the cornbread the day before so it has some time to dry out a little)
1 cup day-old whole-wheat bread, cubed (I made my own to make sure it did not contain any milk/milk sugars. Be careful here - most grocery store breads have milk).
1/6 cup vegetarian vegetable broth
1/8 cup soft/silken tofu, pureed (I just smushed mine up with a fork) - this is a great egg substitute (1/4 cup silken tofu = 1 egg)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 Red Delicious apple, peeled, cored, and diced
3 white mushrooms, chopped
1/4 tsp. sage
1/8 tsp. thyme
1/8 tsp. rosemary
1/8 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. applesauce
1 tsp. salt
Olive oil

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Place a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and heat over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until slightly browned.

2. In a large bowl, toss together the onion, celery, cornbread, whole-wheat bread, vegetable broth, and tofu. Mix in the herbs, applesauce, salt, mushrooms, cranberries, walnuts, and apple.

3. Place the mixture in an oven-safe dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Vegan Cornbread

I have been asked to make the sausage and fruit dressing that I made for Thanksgiving for Christmas dinner. Given that my sister and brother-in-law will be there, I wanted to make a vegan version for them. I think the cornbread really added to the original dressing recipe so I went on a hunt for a vegan cornbread that I could use as the base for their dressing. Here's the one I used.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups corn meal
2 tbsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. maple syrup or 1/4 cup white sugar (please look for sugar that has been processed in a cruelty-free manner; some sugars are processed using animal products...)
1 1/2 cups soy milk or other non-dairy milk
2 tbsp. olive oil

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin cups or a square pan (I used a 9-inch x 9-inch baking pan).

2. Mix the dry ingredients and maple syrup together in a large bowl. Mix the soy milk and oil together and then add all at once to the dry ingredients. Stir until just moistened.

3. Pour the cornbread batter into the prepared pan and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Reference:
I found this recipe on Recipezaar. Here's a link to the original Vegan Cornbread recipe.

Gingerbread Cookies w/ Fresh Ginger

And here's the other gingerbread recipe. I really think the fresh ginger adds something to them! If you don't have fresh ginger, you can always substitute an additional 1/2 tsp. ground ginger for the 2 tsp. of fresh ginger called for in this recipe.

**Photos coming later on after I have a chance to decorate them!**

I usually get anywhere from 30-45 cookies from this recipe; depending on which cutters I use (I have a small village worth of gingerbread men cutters!)

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
2/3 cup packed brown sugar (I always use light brown sugar; since these also use molasses I don't suppose it matters if you use dark or light sugar)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, warm
1/4 cup molasses
2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 egg

Method:
1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, and allspice. In a large bowl (I used my KA mixer), stir together the brown sugar, butter, molasses, fresh ginger, and egg until well-blended. Slowly stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Form dough into 2 flat rounds. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days.

2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Lightly sprinkle rolling surface with flour. Roll one dough round to 1/8- to 1/4-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut dough into desired shapes. Remove and reserve dough scraps from around each cookie - you can re-use them! Place cookies at least 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake 7-9 minutes or until cookies just begin to colour at the edges. Cool completely on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough and dough scraps. Cookies can be decorated with frosting, nuts, candies, etc. once they are cooled.


Great Gingerbread Icing Ideas:
*1 cup powdered sugar mixed with 1-2 tbsp. water.

*1 cup powdered sugar combined with 1-2 tbsp. water plus 1/4 tsp. finely grated fresh ginger.

*2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 2 tbsp. milk.

*One I haven't tried but it sounds great - mix some melted white chocolate with a little lemon extract. I made a chocolate topping for Grand Marnier cupcakes which used 3 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped and 1/2 tsp. vegetable shortening. For gingerbread, I'd use 3 oz. white chocolate chopped, 1/2 tsp. veg. shortening, and 1/4-1/2 tsp. lemon extract. Melt the chocolate and shortening in a double-boiler. Place the melted chocolate mix in a large Zip-Lock bag and mix in the extract by squishing the bag. Snip a corner off the bag and use this to decorate the cookies. **You may need to play around with the extract amount - I've never tried this so I honestly wouldn't know how much to use! That amount is just a guess :)

Reference:
This recipe came from the December 2001/January 2002 issue of Cooking Pleasures Magazine. The name of the original recipe was "Golden Gingerbread People." This is also where I got the idea to add fresh ginger to the basic frosting. When I tried that the first time I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! :)

Tips for Rolled Cookies
I know how much of a pest rolled cookies can be so here's a couple tips to help make your life a little easier :)

*Chill the dough for an adequate amount of time. For these sugar cookies, I let mine chill for at least 4 hours. Patience is definitely a virtue when making rolled cookies!

*Keep dough that you are not rolling/cutting in the fridge.

*Flour your work surface, rolling pin, and cutters. You can always gently dust off extra flour using a pastry brush - especially important with darker cookies like gingerbread.

*Work with small pieces of dough at a time.

*Try rolling the dough between two sheets of either wax or parchment paper. You will still need a little flour on the paper but it will prevent the dough from sticking to your counter-tops, rolling pin, or cutting board.

*Remember, they are so worth it when they're all done and decorated! :)

Gingerbread Cookies (w/ Ground Ginger)

I actually have 2 gingerbread cookie recipes that I like - this is the one which does not require fresh ginger.

**Photos coming later after I decorate them!**

This will make a LOT of dough - enough for 30 or so large cookies. You can easily halve the recipe if needed.

Ingredients:
5 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. ground ginger
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg or 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
16 tbsp. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2/3 cup molasses

Method:
1. Combine the flour, spices, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl; stir well to mix.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until well mixed (about 1 minute). Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating smooth after each addition. Scrape down the bowl and beater.
**There is no law saying you have to use a stand mixer for this! If you don't have one you can always make these by hand. Goodness knows people have been making cookies since long before KA mixers were invented (I do have to say, mine makes my life so much easier, though!!**

3. Lower the mixer speed and beat in about half the flour mixture. Beat in all the molasses, then scrape the bowl and beater. Add the remaining flour mixture, about a cup at a time, and beat after each addition until it has all been absorbed.

4. Remove the bowl from the mixer and give the dough a final mixing with a large rubber spatula. Scrape half the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and press it to about a 1/2-inch thickness. Wrap the dough securely and repeat with the remaining dough. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days (I always let mine chill overnight).

5. When you are ready to bake the cookies, prepare the cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

6. Unwrap one of the pieces of dough and cut it in half. Re-wrap the dough you are not using and return it to the fridge!
7. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/4-inch thick. Use a floured cookie cutter to cut the cookies. As they are cut, place them on the prepared pans about an inch apart in all directions. Repeat with the remaining dough. Save, press together, and re-roll the dough scraps.

8. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes (I only give mine 7-9 since my oven is a bit funny), or until they become dull and dry-looking and feel slightly firm when pressed with a fingertip. Slide the papers onto racks to cool. After the cookies have cooled they can be decorated with icing, candies, nuts, whatever you like.

9. Store cooled cookies between sheets of parchment or wax paper in a tin or plastic container with a tight-fitting lid.

Great Gingerbread Icing Ideas:
*1 cup powdered sugar mixed with 1-2 tbsp. water.

*1 cup powdered sugar combined with 1-2 tbsp. water plus 1/4 tsp. finely grated fresh ginger.

*2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 2 tbsp. milk.

*One I haven't tried but it sounds great - mix some melted white chocolate with a little lemon extract. I made a chocolate topping for Grand Marnier cupcakes which used 3 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped and 1/2 tsp. vegetable shortening. For gingerbread, I'd use 3 oz. white chocolate chopped, 1/2 tsp. veg. shortening, and 1/4-1/2 tsp. lemon extract. Melt the chocolate and shortening in a double-boiler. Place the melted chocolate mix in a large Zip-Lock bag and mix in the extract by squishing the bag. Snip a corner off the bag and use this to decorate the cookies. **You may need to play around with the extract amount - I've never tried this so I honestly wouldn't know how much to use! That amount is just a guess :)

Reference:
This is the "Gingerbread People" recipe from Nick Malgieri's "Cookies Unlimited."

Tips for Rolled Cookies
I know how much of a pest rolled cookies can be so here's a couple tips to help make your life a little easier :)

*Chill the dough for an adequate amount of time. For these sugar cookies, I let mine chill for at least 4 hours. Patience is definitely a virtue when making rolled cookies!

*Keep dough that you are not rolling/cutting in the fridge.

*Flour your work surface, rolling pin, and cutters. You can always gently dust off extra flour using a pastry brush.

*Work with small pieces of dough at a time.

*Try rolling the dough between two sheets of either wax or parchment paper. You will still need a little flour on the paper but it will prevent the dough from sticking to your counter-tops, rolling pin, or cutting board.

*Remember, they are so worth it when they're all done and decorated! :)

Christmas Sugar Cookies

For these cookies, I used the recipe from Annie's Eats. Since I really didn't change any of the ingredients, I'll just put a link to her post. The only thing I did change was to decrease the oven temperature to 350 degrees but that's just because I have a pretty ancient oven and it seems to do best at 350! :)

Here's the link: Christmas Cookies.

Photos coming later on after I decorate them all tonight!

Frosting:
I use a very basic frosting for sugar cookies.
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract (you could also use almond extract or do 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. almond)
2 tbsp. milk
Food colouring

Mix sugar and vanilla extract. Add milk gradually while mixing until icing is a good, slightly stiff, consistency for decorating.

Tips for Rolled Cookies
I know how much of a pest rolled cookies can be so here's a couple tips to help make your life a little easier :)

*Chill the dough for an adequate amount of time. For these sugar cookies, I let mine chill for at least 4 hours. Patience is definitely a virtue when making rolled cookies!

*Keep dough that you are not rolling/cutting in the fridge.

*Flour your work surface, rolling pin, and cutters. You can always gently dust off extra flour using a pastry brush.

*Work with small pieces of dough at a time.

*Try rolling the dough between two sheets of either wax or parchment paper. You will still need a little flour on the paper but it will prevent the dough from sticking to your counter-tops, rolling pin, or cutting board.

*Remember, they are so worth it when they're all done and decorated! :)

Brussels Sprouts Amandine

I was one of those strange children who actually liked Brussels sprouts when I was growing up! :) They were actually one of the things I looked forward to at Christmas because I knew they would be served with the large turkey dinner! I never claimed to be 100% normal...
My parents started making this jazzed up version of my favourite mini cabbages a few years ago and I decided to treat them, and my in-laws, to it at Thanksgiving this year.

Ingredients:
Brussels sprouts
1 tbsp. slivered almonds
1/2 tbsp. margarine or butter (I like to use Earth Balance so they're vegan)
1/2 tsp. lemon juice

Method:
1. Cook Brussels sprouts until crisp-tender. Allow to cool a little and then slice.

2. Melt the margarine in a skillet and add the almonds. Cook and stir until golden. Add the Brussels sprouts and lemon juice. Cook until sprouts are warmed through.

Apple Pie #2

I made this apple pie as an alternative to the double-crust apple pie since my husband prefers Dutch apple. This wasn't a true Dutch apple pie, I just used the crumbly topping from the fruit cobblers I make as the topping of this pie and a regular pastry crust as the base. Here's the recipe. This was almost as yummy as the two-crust pie ;)

Bottom pastry crust
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled, cut up
1/8 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/6 cup to 1/4 cup ice water

Method:
1. Place all ingredients (except water) in a large bowl. Crumble together with your fingers until you have some pea-sized pieces of dough along with coarse crumbs. Add 1/3 cup water; knead just until dough begins to form, adding additional water 1 tsp. at a time if necessary.

2. Divide dough in half; shape each half into a flat round. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 20-30 minutes.

3. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly flour a work surface and roll one piece of dough into a 13-inch round (I can never made perfect circles..!) Gently line a 9-inch pie pan with the dough. Trim dough along the edge of the pan. Press a doubled 12-inch piece of aluminium foil inside the unbaked pie shell and cover the foil with pie weights. Bake, leaving the foil and weights in place until the dough looks dry and is light in color, about 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and weights and transfer the pie crust to a wire rack to cool.

Filling:
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour
3 large Granny Smith apples
3 large McIntosh apples
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. granulated sugar (I wonder if light brown sugar would taste good as a substitute...?)
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. salt

Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1. Peel, core, and quarter the apples. Cut the quarters into bite-sized pieces and toss apple pieces with the lemon juice and zest. In a medium bowl, mix 3/4 cup of the sugar, the flour, spices, and salt. Toss the dry ingredients with the apples. Turn the fruit mixture, including juices, into the pie shell and mound the fruit slightly in the center.

2. Top with crumbly cobbler topping - see recipe below.

Crumbly Topping
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
6 tbsp. melted butter

Method:
1. Sift the flour, sugar, and salt together; add the egg. Toss until crumbly then sprinkle over the apple pie filling. Drizzle with melted butter.

2. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until bubbly and browned. ***It's a good idea to place your pie plate on a baking sheet so the filling does not make a mess in your oven!***

Reference:
The filling recipe is the Classic Apple Pie recipe from Baking Illustrated. The bottom pastry crust is "Perfect Pie Pastry" from Cooking Pleasures Magazine (October/November 2007). Unfortunately, I have forgotten where I got the cobbler topping recipe from - I've had it for years!

Apple Pie #1

I made two apple pies for Thanksgiving dessert this year - this one with a pastry bottom and top and one with a pastry bottom and cobbler-style top. Here is the pastry one. It was very tasty :) Apple pie is best if you leave it until the next day to eat it (and it makes great leftovers!) I served this with home-made vanilla ice-cream as a Thanksgiving dessert.

Pastry
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled, cut up
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup ice water

Method:
1. Place all ingredients (except water) in a large bowl. Crumble together with your fingers until you have some pea-sized pieces of dough along with coarse crumbs. Add 1/3 cup water; knead just until dough begins to form, adding additional water 1 tsp. at a time if necessary.

2. Divide dough in half; shape each half into a flat round. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 20-30 minutes.

3. Lightly flour a work surface and roll one piece of dough into a 13-inch round (I can never made perfect circles..!) Gently line a 9-inch pie pan with the dough. Trim dough along the edge of the pan. Leave the second piece of dough in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Filling
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 large Granny Smith apples
3 large McIntosh apples
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. granulated sugar (I wonder if light brown sugar would taste good as a substitute...?)
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. salt

Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1. Peel, core, and quarter the apples. Cut the quarters into bite-sized pieces and toss apple pieces with the lemon juice and zest. In a medium bowl, mix 3/4 cup of the sugar, the flour, spices, and salt. Toss the dry ingredients with the apples. Turn the fruit mixture, including juices, into the pie shell and mound the fruit slightly in the center.

2. Roll out the second piece of dough to a 12-inch circle; place it over the filling. Trim the edges of the top and bottom dough layers to 1/2 inch beyond the pan lip. Flute the edge or press with the tines of a fork to seal. Cut 4 slits in the dough top. Brush the pastry with a little milk and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tbsp. sugar.

3. Place the pie plate on a baking sheet and bake until the top crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Rotate the pie from front to back and continue baking until the juices bubble and the crust is a deep golden brown.

4. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

References:
The filling recipe is the "Classic Apple Pie" recipe from Baking Illustrated. The pastry recipe is "Perfect Pie Pastry" from the October/November 2007 issue of Cooking Pleasures magazine.

Thanksgiving Menu

I volunteered to host Thanksgiving this year and I'm actually really excited about it. I actually *want* to go grocery shopping for the first time in my life! lol There will only be 7 or 8 of us which is nice - not too stressful! We'll have my parents, my younger brother, my in-laws, possibly my sister-in-law, and my husband and myself. Good thing we bought a new dining room table earlier this year! :)

Here's what I'm planning:
Appetizer:
*Cheese/crackers.
*Veggies and dip.
*I *might* make a shrimp cocktail but looking at the rest of my menu, I really don't think I'll need it!

Dinner:
*Turkey (obviously)
*Two types of stuffing - one hybrid one I'm sort of making up as I go along (regular bread + cornbread, celery/onion, sage, chicken-apple sausage, and dried cranberries) and one plain/boring one with just the two breads, celery, onion, sage, thyme. The boring one will be stuffed in the bird; my hybrid one will be used as a dressing.
*Cranberry sauce.
*Apple sauce.
*Sweet potato and orange swirls (some recipe my dad has... I'll have to either get it from him or have him make them).
*Roasted potatoes (my mom will make these).
*Mashed potatoes.
*Brussels sprouts - seasoned with herbs and sauteed. They are so yummy!
*Green beans amandine.
*Carrots with a brown sugar glaze.

Desserts:
*Apple pie - regular crust-topped pie plus a Dutch apple pie for my husband.
*My mom will make a pumpkin pie for my brother/anyone else who eats that (I personally think it's vile).
*Home-made vanilla ice-cream.