Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

Just wanted to pop in quickly between bastings to say Happy Thanksgiving! Here's a few tips on cooking the bird Now back to basting. Eat well!

I've been sitting on this recipe since July (not so bad compared to some other recipes that are patiently waiting). I'm sorry that I didn't make it sooner. This would be a great dish to make and bring to a barbecue. It makes a large portion and doesn't really heat up the kitchen too badly (if you use a blow torch instead of the broiler). Part of the wait involved graham crackers. I can't seem to keep them in the house long enough because of the Sous Chef. He loves them. Sheet Pan S'Mores (Adapted from Cooking Light ) 14.4 oz of graham crackers 1 c sugar + 3T 1/4 c butter, melted 1/2 t salt & 1/4 t 5 egg whites, divided 1 egg 12 oz bittersweet chocolate chips (or chocolate finely chopped) 1 t vanilla 1/4 t cream of tartar 1/3 c water In a food processor, process graham crackers to fine crumbs. Add melted butter, 3T sugar, 1/2 t salt, 1 egg, 1 egg white. Process to combine. Press into a 13x18 greased sheet pan.  Bake at 350 for 8 minutes or...

With my cranberry sauce stowed in the refrigerator already, I got to thinking about bread for Thanksgiving. I usually don't make bread for Thanksgiving because there's so many other things going on. However, I came across this on KAF about freezing the dough and then defrosting, baking the rolls. It got me to searching for a good roll recipe.  Sweet Potato Dinner rolls seemed to fit the bill. Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls (Adapted from Handle the Heat ) 1 medium sweet potato (about 8-10 oz) 1 c buttermilk 4 T butter, melted 2 eggs 2T honey 2 1/2 t yeast 1 t salt 4 - 5 c bread flour  1 egg coarse salt Pierce sweet potato with a fork and microwave for at least 4 minutes. A knife should slide in easily. Slice in half and let cool. Press the sweet potato through a ricer or mash until there are no lumps. Add honey to buttermilk and stir. Add to sweet potato. Add butter, eggs, and salt. Mix. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until well. Switch to dough hook and add additi...

Cooking Light does it to me every time. My subscription is coming due and I start to think about not reviewing because I didn't see too many interesting recipes AND THEN they go and do it. I find an issue with a bunch of interesting recipes. This was one of them. This seems to be slow cooker week for some reason. I really need to get a new one (maybe Santa will bring me one). I got this "crock pot" for my wedding shower (ancient I know). It has that horrible orangey insert. It isn't the original because the insert is at least removable. It still works well but I'm worried since it is so old that it might just give out mid-slow cook. Maple Onion Jam (Adapted from Cooking Light*) 1/2 c brown sugar 2 clove garlic, minced 1 t ground cardamom 1 t cinnamon 1/4 t pepper 5lb onion, sliced 1/2" thick 2t salt 2T maple syrup 1T white balsamic or sherry vinegar Mix brown sugar, garlic, cardamom, pepper together. As you put the onions into...

In starting to get ahead of myself in preparing for Thanksgiving (after recovering from the shock of this week's election - ARRGGH! OK still not recovered), I decided to try this recipe for slow cooker mashed potatoes . I thought it would free up the stovetop on the big day. I used homemade bouillon instead of chicken broth and it worked well. I decided to use the mashed potatoes in my Potato Torta . I used fresh tomatoes along with fresh mozzarella . The slow cooker worked great. My only reservation is that I usually use milk and heavy cream for my garlic mashed potatoes . I'm a little worried that the milk and heavy cream might scald a little too much in the slow cooker. I won't have time to test this out again before Thanksgiving so I think I will use the stovetop method and save the experimenting with the milk/heavy cream to a less high-stakes day. I will definitely revisit this recipe. It's so great because you're not babysitting the potatoes to ensur...

So I've committed yet another sacrilege. After previously posting a vegetarian version of Cornish Pasty (remember pronounced Pahs-Tee), I've now gone and used minced (ground beef to you AMER-i-cans).  I used the same dough recipe but a slightly different filling. The only minor correction is divide the dough in half before you roll it out (DUH otherwise you don't have a lid that I talk about later on). Filling: 1 onion, chopped  1T olive oil 1 clove garlic, chopped 1/2 lb ground beef (or turkey)  1/2 c red wine 1 t fresh thyme 1 T Worcestershire sauce 1 medium potato, large dice salt/pepper Saute onion and salt in skillet in olive oil until it starts to turn brown. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add beef until it starts to brown. Raise the flame and add the wine and thyme. Cook until the wine cooks off. Add the Worcestershire sauce and potato. Stir in and let cool while you roll out the dough. I was sloppy this time a...

The Sous Chef and I went to a book Q&A and signing last night. The book is Classic German Baking by Luisa Weiss. David Lebovitz was on hand to ask the questions. He asked some great questions. It was fun to hear about living as expats in Paris (David) and Berlin (Luisa). It was surprising to hear that they don't have such great supermarkets in Paris. I guess that's because they have great markets? So who needs a supermarket. I learned that Germans are very big on Christmas cookies - I think I would fit in quite well there but might up putting on a bit of weight! They also start making their cookies in October. One particular ginger cookie, the dough ripens for 2 months! I don't know if I could stand the anticipation. They also use a lot honey so the cookies stay fresh tasting longer. We didn't stay for the signing part - it was a bit chaotic and by that point, I was annoyed with the stupid questions some of the audience asked (it was all me, me, me).  But all...

I once again had an accumulated of fastly ripening bananas. So I went to my trusty recipe archives and found that I had marked this one off to try. Since I followed the recipe (shocking I know), I'm just posting the link. I used the butter and opted for using 2 eggs as mentioned in the header notes. It is a very nice moist cake with nice banana flavor. It reminds me of my French Toast recipe because of the way you combine the brown sugar and butter and use it to "line" the pan. There is a lot of banana flavor since basically you use 5-6 bananas. I think next time I would try to add 1T of rum to the brown sugar and butter and go for a Bananas Foster type thing. I think it would add some additional flavor.