All growing up, a good friend of ours used to host a party at her house on the afternoon of New Year’s Day.  It was so nice to gather after the rush of Christmas and the craziness of New Year’s Eve, and just chat, put together puzzles, watch football, whatever.  It was such a relaxing way to celebrate the end of the holidays.

It was potluck, but she would always make this amazing pot of stew.  My stew is not the same as hers, but I have tried to carry on her tradition with my own recipe.

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I can never find enough uses for condensed milk.  My favorite part of baking with it is eating whatever doesn’t slide out of the can.

Last year I made white hot chocolate with candy cane stirrers for my friends.  It was a hit, so I thought it might be fun to adapt a fudge recipe to the flavors of white chocolate and peppermint, thus utilizing another can of pure heaven.

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When my husband and I were married a little over a year, we moved to the Big Island of Hawaii.   For the first month, we didn’t have a car, and had to walk everywhere in the June sun with a little pale, blond baby.  The one redeeming thing on our walks was the Big Island Candies store.  It was air conditioned, and had the most amazing shortbread cookies.  For mail order, you have to order the cookies in these nice boxes, but if you went to the actual store, you could buy them by the bag.  And eating through a bag of them in one sitting was not difficult.

When I saw I had some macadamia nuts in the freezer, I thought it would be fun to recreate them.

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I want to announce that I just got back from the women’s shelter after delivering a huge trunkful of toys.  Thank you so much to everyone who donated, and thank you to everyone who participated in your own communities.

I’m surprised I didn’t think of doing an online auction of the cookies.  That would have been a whole lot easier.  Next year, maybe.

I discovered the limitless possibilities of meringues when I was a kid and my friend came to school with one filled with M&M’s.  I loved how the crispy cookie was chewy on the inside, and filled with something you couldn’t see from the outside.  I wanted these to look really pretty for Christmas, so I filled them with something small and fine enough that could be piped through a large star tip.  (Wilton 1M).  If you want to fill them with something larger, just spoon them out onto the parchment paper instead of using a pastry bag.

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These little traditional Jewish cookies are so festive.  Filled with nuts and fruit, their complex flavor will liven up any holiday cookie assortment.

They’re a bit messy, but this recipe makes a ton, so your kitchen will be in shambles only until you roll them all up and bake them off or freeze them.

Lots of people like these with chocolate.  If you’re one of those people, just replace the juice and currants with mini chocolate chips.  (Which, by the way, I haven’t seen in the stores for ages.  If you know a good brand, please post it in the comments for everyone to see.)

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I thought these little stars would be a fun adaptation of shortbread.
Since the dough doesn’t have any eggs, it will keep in the fridge for at least a week, and then you just roll out a few whenever you need them.
I got that little gift box at Pier 1 for about 50 cents.

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About forty years ago, my parents clipped a recipe from the Philadelphia Inquirer called “Philly Pound Cake.” I think my dad has made several batches of these amazing cream cheese pound cakes every year since then. He still makes them as gifts for co-workers, friends, and the mailman. Sometimes keeps them on hand in the freezer as emergency presents when someone shows up unexpectedly to our house with a gift in hand. Whenever he makes a batch, they all get wrapped up, minus one. That one sits on on the counter with a knife nearby, and everyone can walk by a slice off a piece.

One year, when my family visited my parents for Christmas, I walked by the kitchen and noticed several grisly incisions in the pound cake with a butcher knife sunk into the top. Next to the counter was the kitchen stool. Evidently, my two-and-a-half-year-old had helped himself to a piece.

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I know some people aren’t big fans of raisins, but all week I was craving an apple dessert that was warm and  old fashioned— something I would imagine on a dessert table in a Charles Dickens Christmas novel.
This pie produced the exact flavor I was looking for.
If you don’t like raisins, simply leave them out or swap in dried cranberries.  Also, I tried adding cream cheese to the pie crust.  It was good, but don’t make a special trip to the store if you don’t have any.  Just replace it with butter.

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Does anybody remember that episode of The Cosby Show when Claire is making Thanksgiving dinner and keeps sending Cliff out to the store to buy things?  She’s making this cornbread, and she needs 12 eggs for it.  I always thought, Wow.  That sounds amazing.  She also nags him to find nutmeg.  I assume that what she is making is some sort of Southern spoonbread, and so this year I made up a recipe that goes along with what she made.  Mine doesn’t have a dozen eggs in it, though. She was feeding an army.  We don’t have that many friends.
This recipe is surprisingly simple to make, and it would make a great side dish for any Thanksgiving table.  It contains no wheat four, so it would be perfect for someone who cannot eat gluten.

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A few years ago, we invited our friend Shannon and her family for Thanksgiving.  If I remember right, she wasn’t a fan of cranberry sauce, but this recipe ended up converting her.   I gave her the recipe, and then the next year, I forgot how to make it.   She emailed me my own recipe, and now every year, I search through my ancient gmail archives and dig it up for Thanksgiving.  Maybe it will be easier to find, now that is on my blog.

And thank you, Shannon, for remembering the recipe!

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I know most pumpkin pie traditionalists will not join me in this, but isn’t this a fun alternative to pumpkin pie?   And guess what!  Crème brûlée is easier to make than Rice Krispy treats.  Okay, maybe it’s not that easy.  But if you’ve never made it, you’ll be surprised at what a cinch it is.

Every Thursday, when my husband is around to watch the kids, I go to a writing group at the local bookstore.  It’s fun, but lately I haven’t been thrilled with what I’ve been writing there.   I didn’t really want to go yesterday, but I had promised Connie (a frequent sophistimom commentator) that I would bring in my pumpkin crème brûlée sometime.  Last night was as good a time as ever, so I made this up and shared it with everyone.  It was a hit.  As for my writing—I’ll keep working on it.

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Every post has been orange lately.  Don’t worry, after we finish up with these pumpkin recipes, I’ll move on to cranberries.  Mm.  That will be fun.
For now, though, I’m posting a recipe for pumpkin pie.  I made this one in a deep dish ceramic pie plate with a 5 cup capacity.  I had to bulk up my recipe some to make it fit.  Then, I ended up having extra pumpkin filling, which I poured into ramekins and oven proof mugs, and baked along side the pie.  The kids like them as snacks.

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Here’s just a quick how-to on roasting a pumpkin.  Are you all sick of pumpkins yet?  I am.  It’s not even Thanksgiving, and I just made my second pie for the blog.  I think on the day of Thanksgiving, I’m just going to order pizza.

Most cooks say sugar pumpkins make the best pie, so that’s the only kind I have ever used.  Grocery stores usually label them as pie pumpkins or sugar pumpkins.  They are generally smaller, and have shallower ridges then the ones sold as carving or jack-o-lantern pumpkins.

Sugar pumpkins can vary in size, so the only way to measure how much pie you can make from one, is to roast it, puree it, and measure it.  A medium size sugar pumpkin should yield about two cups, though, which is enough to make one standard size pie.

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I have been a bit distant lately.  I know; I’m sorry.  I entered a fiction contest on Saturday (Yeah, yeah, la-dee-dah.  I’m sure I won’t win.), which meant the weeks leading up to Saturday were very busy.  It was hard to concentrate on cookies and chocolate when my head was buried in tall ships and Pre-Revolutionary America.

Anyway, I did come up with a few recipes, and I figured I’d post them now, while you’re all dreaming up your Thanksgiving menus.  This is the winter squash soup I promised you.  By the way, it freezes beautifully, so if you want to serve it for Thanksgiving, make it now, let it cool completely, and freeze it in a big container.  You can heat it up when the turkey comes out of the oven!

Coming soon: pumpkin crème brûlée, for those of you who want something a little different for pumpkin pie.

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You ready for something healthy after all that candy? Don’t worry, this salad won’t take you off the sugar cold turkey. It’s a little like eating a candy salad, which happens to be the way I like mine.

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Pavlova is like a big meringue cookie topped with whipped cream and fruit.  It has a gooey center, which is the result of the chemical reaction between the egg whites, vinegar and starch.
I thought it might be fun for Halloween to make a chocolate pavlova with something orange on top.  It was good, but very rich.  The kids were bouncing off the walls all evening from the chocolate.

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When we are in Utah, my family and I like to go up to snowbird to attend the Oktoberfest they hold every year.  The kids enjoy all the activities, and though we never drink any of the beer, we enjoy all the food.  Unfortunately, we missed the festivities this year (They started back in August and finished up the first weekend of October–sorry everybody.), and we had to make our own potato pancakes and applesauce to serve at home.  We found the best chicken and apple sausages and bratwurst we could find, and served it all together.  Sometime soon I’ll have to come up with a great strudel recipe.

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Sorry for not putting this up yesterday, or the day before.  I got sidetracked with my major award!
The orange zest in this cider hints at the orange glaze on the brioche doughnuts, making it the perfect complement.  Enjoy!
Oh, and if you don’t have all the things like cardamom pods or whole anise florets, just toss in whatever you have.  It will still taste good.

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I know, I know: “easy brioche” is an oxymoron.  And let’s be honest—homemade doughnuts aren’t that easy, either.  But these are so delicious, you’ll be happy you made them.
Although the ingredients are very similar to what is in brioche, I cut out most of the steps—making a dough sponge, refrigeration time and multiple risings—which are required in a traditional brioche dough.
I developed this so you can be inspired to make a little before lunch time, and have them ready by the time the kids get home from school.

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I’m still on vacation, so today I’ll post a recipe I made up over a year ago.

I love these. I make a big batch, let them cool completely, wrap them each in plastic wrap (you could also use paper towels), and then freeze them in a large sealable container such as a gallon size ziploc bag. Whenever I want a healthy lunch or dinner, I just heat them up in a skillet with a little olive oil, and serve them with the guacamole. I never even miss the meat or cheese.

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