Cranberry Bourbon Christmas Cake
I’m not going to lie … this is a highfalutin fruit cake. Every year I make a fruit cake. I find I really like them around the holidays. There is something comforting about a booze soaked slice of cake which has been festooned with fruits and nuts. (Yes, I said festooned. It is a great word and we do not use it often enough I think.) I know they are not popular and are usually derided as inedible, but that is the kind...
Chocolate Chip Coconut ‘Awesome’ Bars
I was kind of half joking on Twitter when I said that I would call these ‘Awesome Bars’. It turns out they are really quite awesome so I felt no qualms about adding it to the title. So, what are ‘Awesome Bars,’ you might ask?. Well, they are a dense, buttery cake bottom with a VERY rich cream cheese topping loaded with coconut, chocolate chips, and some crisp rice cereal. The cereal does not really add any...
Chorizo Cheddar Potato Puffs
It is almost time for the BEST part of Thanksgiving. If you would guess the big meal itself you would only be half right. My favorite part of this feasting holiday would be the day AFTER the big event when the left-overs roam free! I love left-overs more than the actual meal because they can either be reheated and eaten as is, or they can be transformed into all manner of interesting dishes like soups, casseroles, or in this case...
Thanksgiving 2011 Round-up!!
So, Turkey Day is on Thursday and I wanted to offer up a few suggestions for appetizers, side dishes, and desserts for those of you out there who are still working out those big feast menus. Tomorrow I will be posting a recipe idea for those left-over mashed potatoes, but until then here are a few recipes (can you BELIEVE it is almost over??) that might make your Thanksgiving spread a little more Evil! Cream Cheese Pancakes with...
Creamy Pumpkin Polenta
I love the side dishes served for Thanksgiving better the turkey. Yep, I’m the one who piles on the stuffing, scoops up the sweet potatoes, and gets the greediest portion of green beans. For me turkey is better the next day in sandwiches, casseroles, or chopped up and cooked into soups. This is one meal where excess is truly acceptable, and when my family cooks Thanksgiving dinner we have at least 6 side dishes, sometimes 10...
Sweet Potato Pecan Coconut Cake
I love single layer cakes. They have a rustic appeal that I find immensely comforting. Most single layer cakes are charmingly homemade in appearance, requiring no special skills to decorate them. No torting layers, no stacking, no praying you avoid the dreaded buttercream belly around the side of the cake. If you decorate cakes you know about buttercream bellies. No, a single layer cake is reassuringly easy to make, and during...
