Cranberry Sauce!

Hi everyone!  We are getting so close to Thanksgiving!  Have you finalized your plans?  We are going to see Chris’s family in Nevada City, CA for Thanksgiving, and then we will be with my family the day after.  I love it because it is a big food free-for-all for two days!  I am not sure what I will be bringing since we will be driving the two hours to Nevada City on Thursday morning.  I will probably just bring an appetizer that I can cook at Chris’s grandma’s house……I will show it to you in a bit.

First, I want to start with an easy cranberry sauce recipe that is guaranteed to impress.  Last year, I showed you how to make a sweet and spicy cranberry sauce that has horseradish in it.  This recipe is much more traditional.  It is sweet and tart, and perfect for Thanksgiving.

For this recipe, I used a 12 ounce bag of fresh cranberries, sugar, water, and Gourmet Rooster Ginger Pear spread.  I love the addition of the Ginger Pear spread to this.  The ginger works so perfectly with cranberries.  It gives it a bit of spice, but it is a warm spice…not a spicy “hot” spice.  It by no means overshadows the sweetness of the recipe.

Now obviously I prefer you use Gourmet Rooster Ginger Pear Spread, but I understand that many of you don’t have any on hand;)  Or any that you can get easily.  You can always check the “where to buy” section on my website, or you can use any pear jam you can find.  Just throw in a teaspoon of dried ginger.

And oh yea, you can always order it directly from me.

I start by bringing the water and sugar to a boil.  Then, I stir in the bag of cranberries.  I let this simmer for ten minutes. 

While it simmers, the cranberries will start to pop and thicken the mixture.  After ten minutes, I remove the pot from the heat and let it cool a bit.

Once the mixture cooled for about 5 or 10 minutes, I poured it into a bowl and stirred in an entire jar of Ginger Pear Spread.  I popped this in the fridge and let it cool down completely.  Once this cools, it will thicken into a “sauce”.

You have just completed homemade cranberry sauce.  How easy was that?  You so don’t need to open a can of cranberry sauce this year.  Make this….it is almost as easy, but 100 times better.

You can serve this on its own for Thanksgiving, but there are so many other things to do with it!  I will show you my favorite, which is also the appetizer I will make at Grandma Margaret’s house.  It is a baked brie.  I am down with any kind of baked cheese, so this tops my list;)

For this recipe, I used some of my ginger pear cranberry sauce, orange marmalade, puff pastry, a bit of cream, and a wheel of brie.

I think the cranberries and orange are a great combination.  But really, you could top brie with dirt and it would still be amazing.  If you don’t like orange marmalade, leave it out.  The ginger pear cranberry sauce has plenty of great flavor on its own.

I laid one sheet of puff pastry on a baking sheet.  The package comes with two, usually.  I put a few tablespoons of cranberry sauce right in the middle of the puff pastry.  I topped that with about two tablespoons of orange marmalade.

Meanwhile, I had my oven pre-heating to 350 degrees…….

I placed the brie right on top of my sauces.  I folded the puff pastry up and around the brie.  I cut several slits in the puff pastry to make this easier.  Make sure you seal it tightly to prevent leakage!

Once I had my little package sealed, I flipped it over and put the smooth side facing up.  This will be prettier.

Are you wondering what to do with the extra sheet of puff pastry?  I used some autumnal cookie cutters to make a pretty decoration for the top of my baked brie.  And yes, I said autumnal.....I am super fancy.

Now comes the cream…..I “glued” the acorns on to the little package with a bit of cream.  Then, I brushed the entire top with cream.  This will help the puff pastry get nice and brown.

I baked this for about 30 minutes. 

Why yes, mine did get browner on one side then the other.  Thanks for noticing.  Next time I will turn it around half way through, as you should.  DO as I say, not as I do.

I served my baked brie with sliced baguette, crackers and apple slices.

How pretty is that?  It will definitely impress your family and friends, and there is a strong chance that they will never know how easy it was to do!

The cheese gets gooey and melty and delicious!  The cranberries and orange gives a yummy sweetness that is perfect with the cheese.

This is a showstopper, folks!  I hope you try it!

I will be back tomorrow with another two more quick recipes using my delicious ginger pear cranberry sauce.

Ginger Pear Cranberry Sauce

12 ounces fresh cranberries

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

9 ounces Gourmet Rooster Ginger Pear Spread

In a medium sized pot, bring water and sugar to a boil.  Stir in cranberries.  Let this simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.  Cranberries will pop and thicken sauce.

After 10 minutes, remove from heat and let cool.  Stir in Ginger Pear spread.  Keep refrigerated.

Cranberry Orange Baked Brie

Puff Pastry

3 tablespoons cranberry sauce

2 tablespoons orange marmalade                   

8 ounce brie round

2 tablespoons cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Let puff pastry thaw according to package directions.  Once thawed, place puff pastry sheet on baking sheet.  In the center of the puff pastry, add cranberry sauce and orange marmalade.  Place brie on top of sauce and marmalade.

Fold excess puff pastry up and around brie, cutting slits in pastry if needed.  Flip package over and place on baking sheet.  Brush top and sides with cream.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until top is golden brown.

Thanksgiving Recipes

I know I don't normally post on Mondays.....but I have so many Turkey Day ideas, and so little time.  I say "so little time" because I am taking next week off.  Instead of seeing me next week, you will get to see posts by two fabulous guest chefs!  Anyhoo, today I am going to share with you two recipes for Thanksgiving....
My first recipe is:

Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Green Beans

1 pound green beans or haricot vert

4 slices bacon

4.5 ounces Gourmet Rooster Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Spread

¼ cup sliced almonds

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

In a large skillet, cook bacon until brown and crispy on both sides.  Remove bacon from skillet and drain on paper towels.  Remove all but 1 tablespoon of bacon grease from pan.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Boil green beans for 7 minutes.  Drain green beans and place directly in hot skillet that the bacon was cooked in.  Sauté green beans in the bacon drippings for 2 minutes.  Add Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Spread and heat through.  Add crumbled bacon and sliced almonds before serving.

Serves 6

Next is a Whiskey Apple Cranberry Pie.....Yum!

Whiskey Apple Cranberry

Double pie crust, packaged is fine

1 & 1/2 pounds tart apples, peeled, chopped into chunks, and sprinkled with lemon juice to prevent browning

1 cup fresh cranberries

3/4 cup sugar

1 jar Gourmet Rooster Whiskey Apple Spread

2 Tablespoons flour

2 Tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll out bottom pie crust into pie pan.  Press into sides.

In a large bowl, mix together apples, cranberries, sugar, Whiskey Apple Spread and flour.  Pour into bottom pie crust.  Dot top with pieces of butter.

Place top crust on top of filling.  Press sides together and crimp, if desired.  Cut two small slits on the top of pie for steam to escape while baking.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Take pie out of oven and cover edges with foil so prevent over browning.  Return to oven and bake an additional 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

The Whiskey Apple spread makes this pie so unbelievable good!  I hope you try these recipes!

Best Ever Roasted Turkey

Two weeks until Thanksgiving!  One of my favorite days of the year…..because I get to eat until I almost explode!  Today I have a recipe for the most important part of your holiday meal….unless you’re a vegetarian.  I have no recipes for tofurkey, but I do have a fabulous recipe for a regular roasted turkey.  I made THE BEST turkey yesterday using my Gourmet Rooster Carolina Style BBQ sauce.  Yes, that is right….I used a mustard based BBQ sauce.  So if you don’t like mustard, this recipe isn’t for you.  That means you, mom.  You can stop reading now;)  If you do like mustard, get out your elastic waist pants because this turkey recipe is that good.

My Carolina Style BBQ sauce is smoky and a bit spicy.  It has mustard, vinegar, and lots of secret spices in it.  It works so well with poultry, I figured why not create a roasted turkey recipe with it.

I start by making a compound butter to cover the turkey in.  A compound butter is butter and anything else blended into it.  Mine stars butter (duh), Carolina Style sauce, sage, garlic, and salt & pepper. 

I throw all the ingredients into the food processor.  You could always use a blender if you don’t have a food processor.  Oh yea, make sure you butter is at room temperature.  You really want this to come together as a smooth mixture.

The next step is to slather the butter all over the turkey.  And I mean all over.

I had a 13 pound turkey.  I let it defrost in the fridge for a few days.  Once it was defrosted, I pulled its nasty guts out and rinsed it with cool water.  I also patted it dry after its bath.  Then I put it in a pair of snuggly pajamas and tucked it in.  I’m kidding on the last part.  Where would I get a turkey pjs?

To re-visit the “all over”, you really have to slather this butter under the skin, on top of the skin, in all of its crevices and cracks.  It is a dirty job, but someone needs to be wrist deep in this turkey.

I cooked my turkey on a rack in a roasting pan.  I put some aromatics (I’m so fancy!) in the bottom of the pan too.  Aromatics are things like carrots, celery, onion, etc.  This will help give the gravy great flavor later.

I cooked my turkey at 325 degrees for about 3 and ½ hours.  Your cook time will depend on the size of your turkey, but your turkey should have directions on its wrapping.  I also had to cover my turkey with foil, loosely, about halfway through cooking because his breasts were getting too dark;)

Beautiful turkey!  And your house will seriously smell so good!  Cooking a turkey is actually pretty easy.  And this turkey ends up so moist and flavorful because of the compound butter.  Literally, butter flows out of this dude….Paula Deen would be proud.

You do need a few additional ingredients for the gravy…..I used more Carolina Style sauce, chicken broth, butter, flour, and a splash of cream besides the pan drippings.

You need to separate your pan drippings into fat and not fat.  This will seem hard because it will all seem like fat.  I let mine cool a bit and the fat will congeal on the top.  I plucked out the aromatics and skimmed the fat off the top.

I had about 2 tablespoons of good fat.  I put that in a pan with 2 tablespoons of butter too.  This is Thanksgiving, go big.

Once the butter melted, I added a few tablespoons of flour and whisked that until smooth.  Then, I added the drippings that had been skimmed of fat, and about 3 to 4 cups of broth.  I kept whisking this as it came to a boil.  Once it boils, it will thicken. 

While the gravy was simmering, I added ¼ cup of Carolina Style sauce and a splash of cream.  And by splash, I mean another ¼ cup;)  It also might need some more salt and pepper, taste it to see.

If your gravy gets too thick, just whisk in some more broth.

This was, by far, the best gravy I have ever had.  It had a subtle mustard taste that was amazing and so perfect with turkey.

Here is my finished turkey!  Isn’t he pretty??  You can see butter gushing out.  He was almost too pretty to carve.  Almost.

I think you should try this turkey recipe this Thanksgiving.  And not just because I created it.  But because it is different than what you are used to.  It definitely isn’t your basic roasted turkey.  The Carolina Sauce brings it to a whole ‘nother level.  A level that you want to be at.  For real.

I will see you next week with more Thanksgiving recipes!

Carolina Style Compound Butter

2 sticks butter (1 cup), softened

1 cup Gourmet Rooster Carolina Style BBQ sauce

3 cloves garlic

20 leaves fresh sage

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Place all ingredients in food processor.  Blend until smooth.

Slather this butter all over your turkey and bake according to package directions.

Carolina Style Gravy

Pan drippings from roasted turkey, fat skimmed off and reserved

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

3 to 4 cups chicken broth

¼ cup Gourmet Rooster Carolina Style BBQ sauce

¼ cup cream

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pan, melt butter with 2 tablespoons of fat from pan drippings.  Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute.  Slowly whisk in pan drippings and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, whisking occasionally.

Once gravy has come to a boil and thickened, whisk in BBQ sauce and cream.  Heat through.  Season with salt and pepper if desired.

Black Bottom Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie

Good morning everyone!  I am sure you saw the picture of Addy on my Facebook page……Her cheer squad won their competition!  It was so exciting!  The girls were all so excited….it was probably the cutest thing ever.  Addy is still trying to wear the medal that she won.  She was supposed to wear it to school yesterday, but she tried to wear it again today.  I had to explain to her that at a certain point, the medal gets maybe hung up on your wall, and you can’t wear it every day.  I am pretty sure that Olympians don’t rock their medals every day.  But it is cute that she is so proud.  And of course, I am a very proud mommy too.

So Thanksgiving is quickly approaching.  Have you been searching for a new dessert recipe?  I have one for you.  And the best part….it doesn’t require any baking!  I created a recipe for a pumpkin pie that is totally different than what you are used to.  I call it a “Black Bottom Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie”.  Long name, I know.  But don’t worry, it is super easy to make.

Let’s start with the crust.

I made an Oreo cookie crumb crust for this.  You can totally buy a premade one if you want.  I had Oreos, I had butter, I figured why not make my own?  Plus, the homemade version always tastes better.  But I promise not to judge you if you buy one.  At least not out loud or to your face;) 

I threw about 24 cookies into my food processor.  If you don’t have a food processor, put the cookies into a re-sealable plastic bag and beat the hell out of them.  If you have a processor, blend them until they are turned into crumbs.  Then, pour in ¼ a cup of melted butter.  Blend that.

The mixture gets dumped into a pie pan and all you have to do is press it into the pan.  Sometimes it is easier to use the bottom and sides of a measuring cup to really make sure you get your crust tight and even.

Once you have your crust formed, pop it in the fridge while you move on to the ganache.

Remember I said this is a “black bottom” pie.  So not only does it have a chocolate cookie crust, it also has a layer of chocolate ganache on top of the crust.  Ganache is chocolate melted with butter and cream.  It will harden as it sits, but it will never get candy bar hard.  It will be more like the texture of chilled butter.

For my ganache, I used dark chocolate chips, heavy cream and butter.  You could use milk chocolate, semi-sweet, whatever your little heart desires.

Ganache is super easy to make.  I heated up the butter and cream in the microwave for about one minute.  Then, I dumped in a cup of chocolate chips and stirred that until the chips were melted.  It will be smooth and glossy when it is ready.

I poured the ganache right on top of the cookie crust.  Then, back into the fridge.  The ganache will set in about 15 minutes in the fridge.

Now onto the filling…..

This filling is super easy.  It is 4 ingredients.  I know I only have 3 in the picture.  I forgot to put the milk in the picture.  I really struggle with that;)

Anyhoo, I used cream cheese, whipped topping, milk and Pumpkin Spice Jell-O pudding.  You can only find this flavor Jell-O pudding in the fall.  I got mine at Wal-Mart.  You could always call your local store to see if they carry it.

I started the filling by beating the cream cheese and pudding mix together with a hand mixer.  My cream cheese had been sitting on the counter all afternoon, so it was nice and soft.

Once that is blended, I slowly beat in about ½ cup of milk.  This is just to loosen the pudding and cream cheese up a bit.  I beat this until it is lightened and somewhat fluffy.

The whipped topping gets folded in in 2 stages.  I added about ½ of the whipped topping container to the pudding mixture first.  I stirred this in to the pudding mixture.  Don’t worry too much about “folding” and keeping the fluffiness at this point.  Just get it blended. 

Once the first half is blended, slowly fold in the second half.  Folding is really very easy.  You drag you spatula down the middle and fold the bottom of your mixture over the top.  Turn your bowl about ¼ turn and do the same thing.  Keep going until the mixture is blended….but it should still be fluffy!

The filling gets spread on top of the ganache, and the whole thing gets put back in the fridge for another few hours.  I made my pie in the early afternoon, and we ate it around 7pm….so mine got about 7 hours in the fridge.

The filling should feel pretty firm when you take it out of the fridge.  This pie really sets up nicely.

I covered my whole pie with whipped cream and sprinkled some chocolate chips over the top.  If you only plan on eating a piece or two, don’t cover the whole thing with whipped cream.  Just add whipped cream to individual slices.  I say this because whipped cream won’t hold up well in the fridge, so your leftovers will have watery whipped cream on top.

Yum!  Do you see all the layers?  Now I love Pumpkin Pie, but this pie was so much better, in my humble opinion;)  It is light, cream, fluffy, and so good!  The cream cheese makes it cheese-cakey which it delicious in my book.

I hope you try this pie this Thanksgiving!  Your family and friends will love it!

PS-If you can’t find Pumpkin Spice pudding, replace it with vanilla pudding and beat in 1 cup of canned pumpkin with the cream cheese.  Omit the milk.

Black Bottom Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie

Crust:

24 Oreos, crushed into crumbs

¼ cup butter, melted

Mix crumbs and melted butter.  Press into 9 inch pie pan.  Chill in refrigerator until ready to use.

Ganache:

1 cup dark chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter

¼ cup heavy cream

In a microwavable bowl, heat butter and cream for 1 minute in microwave.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Stir until smooth. 

Pour ganache over crust.  Chill in refrigerator.

Filling:

3.4 ounce box Pumpkin Spice Jell-O Pudding

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

½ cup milk

8 ounces whipped topping (Cool Whip)

In a large bowl, beat together pudding mix and softened cream cheese with a hand mixer.  Slowly beat in milk.  Continue beating until light and fluffy.

With a spatula, fold ½ of the whipped topping into the pudding mixture.  Whipped topping will lose some of its “fluff” while mixing.  Once blended, fold the other ½ of the whipped topping into the mixture.  This time, fold gently as to not lose the “fluff”.

Spread mixture on top of the ganache.  Chill pie for at least 4 hours.

Serve with whipped cream.

So Much Candy, So Little Time

Hi guys.  Are you still up to your eyeballs in Halloween candy?  We are.  My kids are pretty much only excited about it for the first day or so.  They really haven’t asked for any today.  I don’t think Paisley even asked for any yesterday.  They forget pretty fast.  So today I picked through their baskets and took what I wanted.  I also took out the majority of the chocolate.  I will freeze some of it and take it out the next time I want to make cookies.  I will crush the candy bars and use that instead of chocolate chips.  The part that I don’t freeze, I will use today in two different recipes that I will show you.  I don’t expect you to make these recipes today.  I think that you should freeze all of your chocolate, and bust it out the next time you need a quick and easy dessert.

My first recipe is “candy bar pies”.  It really isn’t much of a recipe since it is so easy.  But I will call it that anyway;)

I used refrigerated pie crusts, assorted candy bars, mini marshmallows and oil to cook the pies in.  Yep, I fry my pies.  I realize not everyone is down with the deep fryer so I will also show you a baked version.

The first step is to crush, or chop, your candy bars.

Like so.

Then, on a floured board, I unrolled my pie crust.  My pie crust had been sitting on the counter for about 30 minutes to make sure it was at room temperature.

I used a biscuit cutter (round cookie cutter) to punch out circles.  You can trace around a small bowl if you aren’t a weird cookie cutter collector like me.

I place a few chunks of the candy bars on the dough circle.  I have a mix of lots of different candy bars, but I think that is what makes these good!  I also plop a couple of mini marshmallows on top.  Be careful not to overfill.  You don’t want your pies to bust open in the fryer!

I used water to “seal” the edges of the pies.  I also crimped the edges with a fork….all to ensure that the pies don’t pop open.

You should get about 7 or 8 circles per big circle of pie dough.

I fried my pies in oil that had been heated to about 350 degrees.  You can do this without a candy thermometer.  When the oil looks like it is about to boil, stick the end of a wooden spoon in the oil.  If bubbles immediately form all around it….the oil is ready.  If your oil isn’t hot enough….the pies will absorb all of the oil and get soggy.  Gross.

I fry these for about 2 or 3 minutes per side, or until golden brown on both sides.  Once they are cooked, place them on paper towels to drain.

Yum! 

The chocolate gets all gooey and melty.  The crust puffs up so there will be “open space” in the pies, but that’s ok.  The yummy, warm marshmallows and candy will make you forget.

If you choose to bake your pies, make sure you cut a small slit in the tops of the pies so that steam can escape.  Bake the pies at 400 degrees until golden brown, about 10 minutes.

This is the baked version….good, but not fried good;)

I also made some delicious ice cream with some of my kid’s Halloween candy.  In October, Baskin Robbins had a flavor called “Trick or Treat”.  It was cookies and cream ice cream with candy bars mixed in.  I think it also had an orange swirl or something like that to, but that is beside the point.  I made something equally good at home.

Now I have an ice cream maker which, of course, makes making ice cream 100 times easier.  If you don’t have an ice cream maker, skip to the end of this….I will tell you how to do this without a maker.

This ice cream is super easy because it is so few ingredients.  I don’t use eggs, and I don’t have to temper anything.  I used half and half, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, candy and peanut butter Oreos.

I chopped the candy and smashed the Oreos with a rolling pin.  I really beat the hell out of the cookies.  I have had a bad day.

In a large bowl, I stirred together the half and half, condensed milk and extract.

I poured the milk mixture into my ice cream maker and let ‘er rip.  I let it go for about 20 minutes before I added in the candy and cookies.

When the ice cream seems done, or as done as it is going to get in the ice cream maker, I poured it into a container and froze it for an additional hour or so.  I don’t like it too soft.

So, so good!  Homemade ice cream rocks.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker……just buy a cheap container of vanilla ice cream.  Whatever is on sale.  You should be able to find a store brand for a couple of bucks.  Let it get soft, and then mix in your candy and cookies.  I realize you can buy pre-made ice cream that already has candy in it…..the point here is to use up your Halloween candy.  And when you make it yourself….you can combine the flavors you want.  For instance….I love Butterfingers, Twix, and Kit-Kats, but I do not like Almond Joys, Baby Ruth’s or York Peppermint Patties.  I was able to put it what I wanted.  What will you put in yours?

See you next week for more Thanksgiving recipes!!