January 10, 2009

Gingerbread Biscotti...a new x-mas fave!

Okay so I am a bad person...I only have a pic of my chopped crystallized ginger but hey you know what biscotti look like and you know what gingerbread looks like so you can do the math...Anyway, I have made these twice and now and they are sooo good. First I made them for my mother's bunko night and I dipped them halfway in dark chocolate, and they got rave reviews. The second time I made them was as one of our Christmas cookies this year and all my cousins, brothers, and the rest of the gang gobbled them up. Needless to say I will be making these sweet and spicy little cookies again next year. RECIPE!

PUMPKIN PIE like never before!






























I always thought that I really liked our same old pumpkin pie recipe but Cook's Illustrated proved me wrong. They improved upon their already improved upon recipe and made the silkiest, most perfectly spiced pumpkin pie ever. It is like when you come across the perfect consistency of cheese cake but with pumpkin pie. Fortunately for us Smitten Kitchen also tried out this recipe so if you click here you can find it on her blog. Ok so this pie may be a little more involved than your plain old pumpkin pie but it is so much better that you must at least try. You will not go back to your old recipe if you do! The good thing about this recipe is that, though it takes a little bit longer to prepare, nothing about the recipe is hard. You basically sautee your pureed pumpkin with the spices, maple syrup, and here is the kicker some pureed yams, and then you push it through a seive to make it extra smooth and less pulpy. Then you mix in the cream, pour, and bake! This is a must recipe and is now going to be my turkey day family tradition.

Molto Squisito e Basta!



                                                                       
   I made these Sweet and Sour Cippoline for thanksgiving as a fun different side dish and boy were they good. I ended up using just small onions that I got from a North Union Farmer's Market, farmer, and they were perfect. They were very easy to make, you pretty much sautee them in butter for awhile and then simmer them with balsamic vinegar (among a few other things) and voila you have sticky little orbs of sweet and sour goodness! This recipe is courtesy of Smitten Kitchen, so click here if you want it!