Gingerbread Cookies

Copied from Mom so many years ago. I prefer to roll these out a little bit thicker so the cookie is softer, but you can also roll them out thin and have a crispy cookie. Have it your way.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. allspice

1/2 C. yellow shortening
3/4 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. dark molasses
1 egg
2 T. milk

Directions:

1. In one bowl, combine all the "dry" ingredients.

2. In separate bowl, cream butter & sugar together with electric beaters. Beat in molasses, egg, and milk. Stir flour mixture in by hand, 1/3 of mixture at a time. Mix thoroughly, but do not belabor the stirring. Can add a little extra milk if dough is too dry.

3. Chill dough (not necessary but helps firm it up a bit). Roll out to desired thickness, cut shapes out with cookie cutters and bake at 350F 10-12 minutes.

Rice Pudding

This recipe I copied from Mom's collection before I left for college the first time ten or so years ago. Who knows if it is accurate or not. I have only made it twice in that time. The first time I remember it being satisfactory, but this time something was left wanting. Perhaps because I left out the "optional" sugar...

Still, in theory, in memory, I like this rice pudding better than any other rice pudding I have ever encountered. I love the firm yet creamy texture and the skin that grows on top of the pudding from the spices. It is one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast, ever.

Ingredients:

3/4 - 1 C. raw rice, cooked

1 C. sugar (optional)
4 C. milk
1 T. butter
1-2 tsp. vanilla
2-4 eggs, beaten well
cinnamon & nutmeg to taste

Directions:

1. Mix everything together in a big bowl and transfer to a big lightly buttered casserole dish.

2. Put your casserole dish in a water bath in the oven at 325F and bake it for 1.5-2 hours, stirring every half hour. Cool in the fridge.

Notes: I think next time I will cook it only 1.5 hours and add the 2/3-full sugar and also a little bit of salt.

Old-Fashioned Ham with Brown Sugar and Mustard Glaze

I used this recipe for my second annual ham for Mormon med school dinner. Seems it is always my turn at Christmas, and I always end up baking a ham. Last year's ham was such a success that I wanted an equally good recipe but something different. So I settled for this more classic take on ham from Epicurious. Original recipe here:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Old-Fashioned-Ham-with-Brown-Sugar-and-Mustard-Glaze-241636

Many of the reviewers suggest mixing all the glaze ingredients together and pouring it on top of the ham but no consensus is reached. I did not mix and found assembling the glaze components on the ham to be a bit tricksy, and in the end after baking and before serving I roughly scraped off the glaze components anyway. So take that for what you will.

The reviews of this ham were raving, as they were for last year's ham, so I may be the new official ham-baker around Rochester.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 10-pound smoked ham with rind, preferably shank end
1 cup unsweetened apple juice or apple cider
1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place ham in large roasting pan. Pour apple juice over ham. Cover ham completely with parchment paper, then cover ham and roasting pan completely with heavy-duty foil, sealing tightly at edges of pan. Bake ham until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of ham registers 145°F, about 3 hours 45 minutes. Remove ham from oven. Increase oven temperature to 375°F.

2. Remove foil and parchment from ham. Drain and discard liquids from roasting pan. Cut off rind and all but 1/4-inch-thick layer of fat from ham and discard. Using long sharp knife, score fat in 1-inch-wide, 1/4-inch-deep diamond pattern.

3. Spread mustard evenly over fat layer on ham. Pat brown sugar over mustard coating, pressing firmly to adhere. Drizzle honey evenly over.

4. Bake until ham is well glazed, spooning any mustard and sugar glaze that slides into roasting pan back over ham, about 30 minutes. Transfer ham to serving platter; let cool at least 45 minutes. Slice ham and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Notes: I could not find a non-pre-fully-cooked ham, so I essentially skipped most of step 1. I did cook the ham in the apple juice at 225 for 30-45 minutes, just to get it a little warmed up and let it absorb some of the juices. Then I did the glaze at described above. I didn't really measure the brown sugar, just used what I needed to pat sugar all over the slidy mustard. I think it would be equally good with non-whole-grain dijon mustard and that it might be a little easier to work with.

Had lots of ham left over even with people eating a lot so I froze it in slices. We'll have to see how well that ends up going.

Maple Mousse Pie

Another pie from the NYTimes Thanksgiving list. This pie was not my favorite because the sugar-- if you cook it to 237-- becomes a tad too carmelized/burned which gives the pie not an unpleasant, but certainly a more done, flavor. The chocolate sauce helps to mitigate the effect. The crust is good though, and I figured out how to smash up chocolate cookies better than I ever had before, using a disposable roasting pan and a regular cereal bowl. It was a total triumph to me.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups fine chocolate cookie crumbs

1 cup maple sugar

Pinch of salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1 cup pure maple syrup, preferably Grade B

2 cups heavy cream

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix crumbs with 1/4 cup maple sugar, the salt and the butter. Press into bottom and sides of a 10-inch pie plate. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Bake chilled crust 10 minutes, cool to room temperature, then place in freezer.

2. Beat egg whites until frothy. Place all but a tablespoon of remaining maple sugar in a saucepan, add 1/4 cup water, bring to a boil and cook until mixture is 237 degrees on a candy thermometer. Continue beating egg whites until softly peaked. Then, beating all the while, drizzle in all the maple sugar mixture and beat until egg whites are firm and glossy. Beat in 4 tablespoons maple syrup. Refrigerate.

3. Whip cream until stiff. Fold into egg white mixture. Refrigerate separately until cookie crust is cold. Spoon mousse in prepared cookie crust, smooth top and freeze 4 hours. When frozen, cover with plastic wrap until ready to serve.

4. Melt chocolate on low heat. Whisk in remaining maple syrup and vanilla. Place in a container, cover and refrigerate.

5. Do not thaw pie for serving. Dust top with remaining tablespoon maple sugar and serve. Spoon some chocolate sauce over each portion.

Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

Pecan Pie

Yet another recipe Mom has been making since I can remember but I don't know the origin of. The Robber specifically requested pecan pie for Thanksgiving, and although this came out of the oven a little overdone due to general hectic-ness, he still ate almost the entire pie before he left! He loved it, and that is good enough for me.

Ingredients:

1/4 c butter

1 c light corn syrup

1 c brown sugar

3 large eggs, beaten

1/2 t lemon juice

1 t vanilla

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 c whole pecans

cinnamon

Unbaked pie crust

Directions:

1. In separate bowl, add corn syrup, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, vanilla, salt. In saucepan, brown butter till golden brown-- don't burn. When butter is ready, add browned butter to the corn syrup mixture.

2. Roll pecans in cinnamon, coating well, and arrange in bottom of pie crust. Pour mixture over pecans. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then 325 for 45-50 minutes.

Consider reducing sugar/corn syrup if too sweet for your taste.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Mom's recipe, again I don't know originally from where. The only recipe lemony enough I have ever encountered! One of my favorite pies ever, I hope some day to master a meringue recipe to go along with it.

Ingredients/Directions:

Bake a nine inch pie shell.

Sift into a 2 or 3 quart saucepan:

1 1 /2 c sugar

6 T cornstarch

1/4 t salt

Gradually blend in:

1/2 c cold water

1/2 c fresh lemon juice

When smooth add, blending thoroughly:

3 well-beaten egg yolks

2 T butter

Add:

1 1/2 c milk

Bring mixture to a full boil, stirring gently. As it begins to thicken, reduce the heat and allow to simmer slowly 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in 1 t lemon zest or about 1/4 t lemon oil. Preheat oven to 325 or 350. Pour it into the pie shell and cover with meringue (meringue should completely cover lemon filling):

2 egg whites, whipped till frothy

add: 1/4 t cream of tarter

Whip till stiff but not dry; peaks should lean over slightly. Beat in 1 T at a time:

3 T sugar or 4 T powdered sugar and 1/2 t vanilla.

Pie should bake for 10-15 minutes at 325-350 until meringue begins to turn golden-brown.

Dinner Rolls

Mom's roll recipe: the best! When I make this recipe I usually halve it and make 2 dozen rolls out of it, but the original recipe will make 2-4 dozen rolls depending on how big you want them to be.

Ingredients:

2 3/4 c warm water
6 T sugar
2 T yeast
3 t salt
1 c dry milk powder
1/2-3/4 c yellow shortening (or vegetable oil)
2 eggs
~9 c white bread flour

Directions:

1. Pour water over sugar. Dissolve yeast. When foamy, add milk.

2. Alternate 1/2 c additions of flour with salt, eggs, fat and stir.

3. Knead 10 minutes with additional flour. Double. Punch, form into rolls and let rise on baking pans/dish until doubled again.

4. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Can put melted shortening on the tops of rolls to make them shiny while still hot.

Cranberry Jello Salad

This is an old recipe that my Mom has made for years and years for Thanksgiving, I don't know from where she originally got it, but it is one of my favorite foods to eat at Thanksgiving. Unfortunately I didn't make it exactly like Mom does for some reason and got a slightly different result but nonetheless it was tasty and well loved by our other male guest who declared it the best jello he had ever eaten.

Ingredients:

6 oz raspberry Jell-O
2 c water
1 can whole cranberry sauce
1 c sour cream
1 c chopped pecans

Directions:

Follow the jello package. Note that the jello package will call for 2 cups hot water, 2 cups cold water. Heat the 2 cups of water used in this recipe for your hot water and use your cranberry sauce in lieu of the called for cold water. You can add in the pecans whenever. Swirl in sour cream when the rest is partially set. I suspect Mom just cuts in the sour cream minimally, rather than "swirling" as the directions suggest.

Roasted Cauliflower With Butter & Sage

It might not sound like the most exciting dish... but honestly this NYTimes-recipe cauliflower was so aromatic and delicious I could just eat the whole batch happily! The recipe itself is a bit fussy so I don't know that I would make it on casual occasions, but it would fit well into a dinner party and definitely into Thanksgiving again. I would consider the lemon zest essential to its success, so don't skip on the lemon, add a little bit of juice if you must.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup sage leaves, loosely packed

1 tablespoon coarse salt, more for tossing

3 heads cauliflower, cut into florets

About 1 teaspoon table salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 lemon, zest finely grated.

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a small pan until rippling. Add sage and cook, stirring, just until crisped, about 2 minutes. Lift out sage and drain on paper towels; transfer oil to a large bowl. Let sage cool and crumble with fingers into a small bowl. Stir in coarse salt and set aside.

2. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place roasting pan with an inch of water in oven bottom. Add cauliflower to bowl with oil, add about 1 teaspoon table salt, and toss gently until coated. Spread out on two large baking sheets. Bake until browned, 20 to 30 minutes.

3. Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat. When foam subsides, watch closely and stir often. When white solids are brown and butter smells toasty, turn off heat, squeeze in juice of lemon and stir well.

4. Transfer cauliflower to a bowl, pour butter over, and add lemon zest. Add half the sage salt and toss. Taste and season with remaining salt as needed.

Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

Corn with Mint

Thanks again to the NYTimes, I tried like a third of their recipes this year. This recipe produces a corn dish with a very interesting texture due to the frying. While the texture perhaps is not my favorite (it makes the kernels more rubbery), the toasted flavor of the corn is quite inviting and I found the mint to be an underwhelming complimentary flavor, I might even consider adding in a little bit more. I halved this recipe, used frozen corn thawed in advance, and thus only cooked it in one batch.

Ingredients:

4 to 5 cups fresh corn kernels, white or yellow (from about 12 cobs), or two 16-ounce bags frozen white corn

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter

1/2 cup chopped fresh mint

Salt.

Directions:

1. If using frozen corn, drain between layers of paper towels until thawed, about 30 minutes.

2. In a wide skillet, melt half the butter over high heat. Add half the corn and cook, stirring often, until golden and browned (kernels may begin to pop), about 10 minutes. Stir in half the mint and sprinkle with salt. Transfer to a serving bowl. Repeat with remaining corn, butter, mint and salt.

Cornbread Stuffing

Again from the NYTimes this Thanksgiving. I usually don't like stuffing, but somehow I got it into my head that I would like stuffing if it involved cornbread so I couldn't resist trying this recipe, even though all the Robber wanted to eat was Stove Top. I made him make his own, while I made and ate this lovely recipe. So glad I gave it a try, as it is delicious!

Cornbread

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably organic stone ground

1/2 cup all purpose flour or whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 cup plain low-fat yogurt or buttermilk

1/2 cup milk

1 tablespoon mild honey

2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (to taste)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a 9-inch cast iron skillet, a heavy 2-quart baking dish or a heavy 9-inch square baking pan in the oven while you prepare the batter.

2. Place the cornmeal in a bowl, and sift in the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir the mixture with a spoon or whisk to amalgamate. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, yogurt (or buttermilk), milk and honey. Whisk the cornmeal mixture into the liquid mixture. Do not overwork the batter.

3. Remove the pan from the oven, and add the butter to the pan. Swirl the pan so that the butter melts quickly before it gets too brown, then quickly whisk the butter into the batter. Brush the sides of the pan with any butter remaining in the pan.

4. Quickly scrape all of the batter into the hot pan, and place in the oven. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. It will be quite brown on the edges. Allow the bread to cool in the pan, or serve warm.

Yield: Makes 8 to 10 servings. This is easily doubled for a larger quantity of stuffing. Bake it in a 3-quart baking dish (it will take about 45 to 50 minutes) or in two 9-inch pans.

Variation: Sage Cornbread

Stir 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon rubbed dried sage into the batter before turning into the pan.

Cornbread and Sage Stuffing

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or 1 tablespoon each olive oil and unsalted butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

Salt to taste

4 stalks celery, cut in small dice

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons rubbed sage, or 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

1/2 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Freshly ground pepper

A double batch of cornbread (see above), crumbled (you can do this in a food processor fitted with the steel blade)

1/2 cup milk, or as necessary, for moistening

4 tablespoons unsalted butter if baking separately

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil (or oil and butter) over medium heat in a large, heavy, nonstick skillet, and add the onion. Cook, stirring often, until it begins to soften, about three minutes, and add 1/2 teaspoon salt and the celery. Cook together for another few minutes, until the onion is tender. Add the garlic, and stir together for 30 seconds to a minute, until fragrant. Transfer to a large bowl, and add the remaining ingredients. Combine well. Taste and adjust salt. Moisten as desired with milk.

2. Stuff the cavity of the turkey, or transfer to a buttered or oiled 2-quart baking dish. Dot with butter. Cover with aluminum foil, and heat through in a 325-degree oven for 30 minutes.

Yield: Makes enough stuffing to fill an 18-pound turkey.

Advance preparation: You can make the cornbread several days ahead and the stuffing a day ahead.

Notes: I made the cornbread two days in advance and crumbled it one day in advance without problems. I used the whole 1/2 cup milk to moisten it, as I like a softer stuffing. I forgot the sage in the cornbread but used the full complement of fresh sage in the stuffing, and I think it might have been overwhelmingly sagey otherwise, so I was just as happy to have done it that way. You can bake it in a 13 x 9 glass pan.

Mashed Potatoes

This is how to do it, Mom says.

Select your potatoes according to the number of eaters-- one potato per eater. Peel, wash, and cut them in quarter (or smaller) pieces. Cover them with salted water. Boil them for 25 minutes. Adjust the time depending on your altitude. While they boil put in a bowl (here's where you can get creative): salt, pepper, powdered milk, butter, and a little paprika for color. Pour the water off, saving a little in a cup. Put them in the bowl. Beat them up with the beaters and add a little extra water if you need to.

Dry-Brined Turkey

I cooked my very first turkey this year. I am rather proud now to be a real adult person. And I am very proud to say that my turkey was a total triumph, following (sort-of) this recipe courtesy of the NYTimes Thanksgiving section this year.

Ingredients:

1 12- to 16-pound turkey, preferably a heritage or pasture raised bird

1/2 cup kosher salt, more if needed

1 tablespoon black pepper

10 sprigs fresh thyme

1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley

2 small onions, halved

2 small apples, cored and halved

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup white wine (optional)

Directions:

1. Two days before serving, rinse turkey and pat dry. Rub all over with kosher salt, slipping salt under skin where possible and rubbing some into cavities. Use about 1 tablespoon per four pounds of bird.

2. Wrap bird in a large plastic bag and place in refrigerator. On second night, turn turkey over. A couple of hours before cooking, remove turkey from bag and pat dry. Place in roasting pan and allow to come to room temperature.

3. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle half the pepper into main cavity of turkey; add thyme, parsley, half the onions and half the apples. Truss legs with kitchen twine. Put remaining apples and onions in neck opening and tuck neck skin under bird.

4. Rub butter under breast skin and onto thigh meat. Sprinkle bird with remaining pepper.

5. Roast for 30 minutes. Remove turkey from oven, reduce heat to 350 degrees and cover breast of bird and wing tips with foil. Add a cup and a half of water or white wine to bottom of roasting pan and roast bird for another two hours, depending on size; figure 12 minutes a pound for an unstuffed bird. Remove foil in last half-hour so breast browns.

6. When turkey has roasted for two hours, begin to test for doneness by inserting a meat thermometer (digital is best) into two places in thigh, making sure not to touch bone. It should be at about 160 degrees.

7. When roasting is done, tip turkey so interior juices run back into pan. Remove turkey to a separate baking sheet or serving platter, cover with foil and then a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes.

8. Pour fat and drippings from pan into a measuring cup. Deglaze pan with white wine or broth and pour that into same measuring cup. Fat and drippings can then be used to make gravy.

Things I did differently:

I didn't make the onion/apple stuffing, but I did use some pepper. thyme, and parsley on the outside of my bird & did rub the bird with butter. I used half water with the other half portioned with white wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar-- the apple cider vinegar gave a sweet flavor to the turkey but ruined the gravy apparently, so I don't know if it is the wisest thing to try again, maybe just use the apples. I was inspired to try this recipe after eating a dry-brined bird at my sister's this year, and this recipe did not disappoint, producing a turkey that was This recipe makes a turkey that is just the right amount of salty and just the right amount of moist.