Nov212012

Busy Days

I know everyone hates it when bloggers come back after some time away and say “I’ve been gone so long! I’m so sorry! Wow, I’ve been so busy! I need to get things rolling again!” so I won’t 🙂 (but it’s true!).

We haven’t actually been so much busy as we have been contaminated with plague.

Someone who may or may not work at Mike’s place of business may or may not have decided to head into work sick a couple of weeks ago, and it’s ripped through our household like wildfire. We’ve had two separate rounds of antibiotics, prescriptions for coughs and sore throats, and as many over-the-counter pills available for sneezing and runny noses. And we’ve been dealing with this alongside a pretty sick 13-year-old dog as well.

In other words, it’s been loads of fun around here.

Doctor Who Birthday Cake

Anyway, I had meant to do this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie (brownies!) but just didn’t have the stamina to stay upright in the kitchen over the weekend, so I had to give it a pass.

And today has taken any energy I’ve had in reserve since it’s my oldest daughter’s 14th birthday. It’s been a caffeine-filled day as I’ve not only been baking for Thanksgiving tomorrow, but juggling the above birthday cake and birthday preparations as well.

Can you tell what she (we) is currently into? It’s an interest I am trying to encourage since I’ve wondered if any of the girls would be bitten with the science fiction bug (they all have!). The cake was heavily inspired by this picture, and as you can see I’ve got a little bit of temporal distortion happening along the bottom there. That blue is strong willed.

Anyway, I just made a basic old pumpkin pie alongside the cake (but I did get my spiced pumpkin cheesecake fix a couple of weeks ago),

pumpkin pie

And we’ve got the turkey prepped and ready to be lowered into some Alton Brown brine,

turekey brining

And tomorrow I get to wrestle with stuffing, potatoes and all the rest of it.

I hope all my American friends have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Nov142011

Muddy Buddies

image: bettycrocker.com

One of our Thanksgiving traditions is to snack throughout the day while the turkey is cooking. The theory is that this will save some room (and effort) for the big meal, though this is debatable when kids are involved. Case in point is one of their favorite snacks — Muddy Buddies.

While the largest component of this snack is indeed a “healthy” cereal, it also involves chocolate and powdered sugar, which, I’m not going to kid myself, is the main reason these are such a hit. Read More

Nov172009

Mini Pecan Pumpkin Pies

pecanpumpkintarts

I made these last year when I needed a small treat to make for one of my daughters’ classes for a Thanksgiving party. I’ve made them several times since for dessert nights or snacks and they’re always a hit.

I don’t have any tweaks except that I wouldn’t fill the mini tins up all the way with the filling, probably just enough to cover the crust a bit, otherwise it’s really gooey and the filling overpowers the crust.

Mini Pecan Pumpkin Pies
from Sunny Anderson

For the dough:

1/4 cup pecans
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for shaping dough
6 tablespoons butter, ice cold
2 to 3 tablespoons ice cold water

For the filling:

1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin filling
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup pecans, chopped plus 24 halves for garnish

1 24-cup mini muffin tin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the bottoms and sides of the mini muffin tins with cooking spray.

For the dough: In a food processor, pulse pecans with the sugar, salt, and flour, until the nuts are ground and the ingredients are combined. Add in butter and pulse until dough resembles coarse meal. Slowly pour in ice water through the feed tube, pulsing, until the dough comes together. Remove from processor bowl onto clean work surface sprinkled with flour.

Form dough into a ball and divide evenly into 24 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and evenly press into each cup, until the bottom is covered. If the dough is sticky, dip your finger in flour first.

Bake 15 to 18 minutes, until the crusts are very golden. Check periodically to make sure they don’t get too brown.

Meanwhile, make the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk the egg and yolk with the corn syrup, sugar, pumpkin filling and vanilla. Stir in the chopped pecans.

Remove dough from oven and spoon 1 tablespoon of the filling into each cup. Top each with one pecan half. Return the pans to the oven and continue baking for 12 to 15 minutes more, or until the pumpkin filling is set. Allow to cool before removing from the pans.