Thanksgiving Series: Sweet Corn Cupcakes with Cranberry Sauce Filling and Pumpkin Pie Spice Cream Cheese Frosting

This Thanksgiving we went over to a friend's house who asked me to bring dessert.  I brought pumpkin pie, apple pie, and these cupcakes.  I made them last year as well, and they have been a bit finicky.  I'm going to write this out how I will make them next year, so hopefully they won't cause quite as many problems.

Ingredients for cupcakes:

• 1.5 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 3/4 cups corn
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• cranberry sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugar in KichenAid mixer.  Add eggs and vanilla extract.  In a blender puree corn and sour cream.  Add corn mixture to butter mixture.  Slowly add dry ingredients, a little at time, until just combined.  Spoon the batter into muffin tin, about 1/3 full.  Add a dollop of cranberry sauce, then cover with thin layer of batter.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Ingredients for frosting:

• 1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Beat the cream cheese and butter in KitchenAid mixer for 5 minutes on high, scraping down the sides about halfway through.  Add vanilla and pumpkin pie spice, then add powdered sugar a little at a time until fully incorporated.  Beat until fluffy on high, about 3 minutes.  

Once the cupcakes are cool, frost with the cream cheese frosting and top with glazed pecans.  

Thanksgiving Series: Aunt Meredith's Apple Pie

Thanksgiving wouldn't be the holiday it is without apple pie.  My aunt taught me to make apple pie, so this recipe is dedicated to her.

Ingredients:

• 6 apples 
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• unbaked pie shell
• 1 teaspoon butter (more or less)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Peel and slice apples, placing them in a bowl.  Mix the apples with sugar, cinnamon, and cornstarch.  Pour apple mixture into pie shell.  Create lattice work on top of apples.  Dot butter on top of lattice.  Bake for about one hour until crust is starting to brown and apple mixture is bubbling.  

Thanksgiving Series: Mama's Sweet Potato Casserole

This is one of those recipes that you have to have at Thanksgiving; the holiday just wouldn't be the same without it!  This year we went over to a friend's house who didn't have sweet potatoes of any sort (silly Yankees!), and so I had to make this so that my Thanksgiving would be complete, but I only made a half recipe since it's only me and my husband.  This is not your typical sweet potato casserole.  It does not have butter or brown sugar or any sugar at all actually.  But I think that it's not super sweet, especially since dessert will be coming later!

Ingredients:

• 6 sweet potatoes
• orange juice
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1 (8oz) can crushed pineapple in its own juice
• marshmallows for topping

The day before you want the casserole, bake the sweet potatoes at 350 degrees for 1.5 hours.  The next day once the potatoes have cooled, slice them and place them in the blender with enough orange juice to cover them.  Puree.  Mix pecans and pineapple into the pureed sweet potato.  Pour sweet potato mixture into a greased 9x13 baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1.5 hours or until bubbling.  Place marshmallows on top and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until marshmallows are browned.  

Thanksgiving Series: Grandmommy's Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

When I was a kid, I would spend Thanksgiving with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins, and my grandmother would make this pumpkin pie.  While this pie is a bit more work that the typical pumpkin pie that is baked, it is totally worth it.  It's so light and scrumptious that it's the perfect cap to a heavy Thanksgiving meal.  Here's what you do:

Ingredients:

• Baked 9 inch pie shell
• 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar, separated in half
• 1 can pumpkin
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• Whipped cream for garnish (optional)

Soak the gelatin in the cold water and set aside.  Separate the eggs and set the egg whites aside to be used later.  Beat the egg yokes slightly.  In the top half of a double boiler, mix together the egg yokes, pumpkin, 1/2 cup half of the sugar, milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Cook pumpkin mixture in the double boiler until they are thick.  Stir in the gelatin.  Set aside to cool until it is at least room temperature. Put the egg whites and the second half of the sugar into a hot double boiler and mix with a hand mixer on high until shiny and it forms stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the pumpkin mixture. Pour into the cooked pie shell and chill overnight. May garnish with whipped cream if desired.  

Thanksgiving Series: Cranberry Sauce

I am in love with all things cranberry.  As a kid, I probably ate most of the cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving.  Growing up we always had the canned cranberry sauce, but when I realized how easy it is to make, I've never gone back.  I originally got this recipe from here.

Ingredients:

• 12oz fresh cranberries
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup orange juice

In a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the orange juice.  Stir in the cranberries and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries start to pop (about 10 minutes).  Remove from heat and place sauce in a bowl.  Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.


**Thanksgiving 2017 update:  You can add 1/2 teaspoon orange extract when cooking and a tablespoon of brandy after you take the sauce off the heat.

Thanksgiving Series: Debbie's Mashed Potatoes

I have been out of commission the last few years due to working on my doctorate.  Now that I'm on my internship, I have had a bit more time and energy to get back to my blog.  Now that it's the week of Thanksgiving, I want to share some of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes each day this week.  And of course we have to start with mashed potatoes!  This is my friend Debbie's recipe.  I spent many Thanksgivings at her house with my family and hers, so it seems only right to share her recipe first.  I must say that this mashed potato recipe always comes out great, and it's pretty darn easy!

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs. potatoes, peeled and sliced thin (Yukon Gold potatoes are the best)
• 1 (8oz) package cream cheese
• 1 stick butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

Put the potatoes in a large pot and fill with water until the potatoes are completely covered.  Boil until they are soft, about 15 minutes.  Put the potatoes, cream cheese, butter, and salt/pepper in KitchenAid stand mixer, and mix until smooth. 

I like to leave a little peel on my potatoes to give it some texture, but if you're not into that, feel free to completely peel them.  Also, mixing mashed potatoes is one of the best uses for a KitchenAid stand mixer.  I'm not getting paid by them, but I must say they make a great mixer, and I don't know what I'd do with out it.  As you can see from my picture, the KitchenAid makes the potatoes nice and creamy.  

Chocolate Stout Bread Pudding

This year is my husband's 30th birthday, and so I asked him what he wanted me to make to celebrate. I was thinking something like chocolate cake, but being the craft beer enthusiast he is, he requested this chocolate stout bread pudding.   I doubled the recipe, and I don't know if it messed with the proportions, but this recipe was a bit soupy.  So I'm going to write out how I'll make it next time.

Ingredients:

• 2 packages croissant dough
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1.75 cups stout (I used Southern Tier's Chokolat stout)
• 1.75 cups heavy cream
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 6 egg yokes

Bake croissants according to package directions. Cool, then cut into 1 inch pieces.  Change the oven temperature to 325 degrees.  Place croissant pieces on baking sheet and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes to dry out bread.  After it's been dried out, transfer the bread into a 2 quart greased baking dish and pour the beer over the bread.   Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the bread.  Meanwhile, mix together the cream and vanilla in a medium saucepan on medium heat, until it simmers.  In a medium bowl mix together the egg yokes and sugar.  Gradually at the hot cream to the egg yoke mixture while maintaining a continuous whisk to avoid scrambling the eggs.  Pour the cream mixture over the bread.  Bake in a 250 degree oven for 45-60 minutes.  Let cool before serving.  

This bread pudding is very boozy.  My husband liked that aspect, but I wouldn't have minded if it had been a little less alcoholic.  I've thought about reducing the beer on the stove to help cook off some of the alcohol.  Also, when looking for a beer to use, my husband and I had a furious text message exchange.  I don't know a whole lot about beer, but he recommended an imperial coffee or chocolate stout.  I used an imperial chocolate stout, and I think the flavors went really well with the other ingredients.  

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Mama's Meatloaf

This is mother's meatloaf recipe, and I must say that I think it's the best meatloaf out there.  She's spent a lot of time perfecting the recipe so that it's tasty, healthy, and not dry.  I've only made one change; my mom likes to use spice blends, like Mrs. Dash in this recipe, but I don't typically use them, so I just separated out the spices and put the ones I had in the recipe.  Also, using a KitchenAid mixer to mix everything together saves so much time and hassle!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 onion
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• 1.5 lbs. ground beef
• 1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup milk 
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1.5 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon marjoram
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 3/4 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried mustard
• 1/3 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon rosemary
• pinch of salt
• ketchup, if desired for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Puree onion, bell pepper, and garlic in blender until it is smooth.  Mix onion mixture and the rest of the ingredients (except the ketchup) together in a large mixing bowl.  Put beef mixture into a loaf pan or form into a loaf in an 8x8 baking dish.  Bake for 30 minutes, and if you want ketchup on top, put it on at the 30 minute mark.  Bake another 15-30 minutes until cooked through.