Since we have a new Holiday Appetizers thread, here’s the baking thread!
At Thanksgiving, I have so many food allergies and lifestyle choices to cater, I’ve started trying out new recipes on my friends and family, in advance of the big day. Yesterday, I made this Pumpkin Apple Skillet Cake from WaPo. IMO, it needs a little tweaking ie more spices, and perhaps a tad more sugar. But, with no dairy, it’s a good alternative to traditional pumpkin desserts.
I will be making apple pie for Thanksgiving. I used to be a pro at this, but I haven’t t made pies for a few years now.
I will be making a carrot cake for the kids who are coming to visit, but it likely won’t go with us to Thanksgiving dinner.
My D is baking for me this year (whoooo hooo). She’s bringing cinnamon maple iced blondies and I’m buying a carrot cake. I also ordered a bunch of things from a gluten free local bakery for those in our family who have celiacs.
For xmas, D and I will be making marzipan stollen for the first time and iced cut out cookies.
I make pumpkin pie (the crust from scratch) every Thanksgiving. We will only have the kids here this year so only H, SIL and I will eat it. (S and D won’t touch it). I’ll make a second desert, probably apple cake from a former coworkers recipe.
Since we have such a small group at Christmas, I don’t do a lot of baking. I do like to make a batch of sugar cookie cutouts and a batch of Black and White cookies.
I am baking a “pumpkin” pie, from scratch – including, for the first time, the crust – using some Long Island Cheese squash that I bought at a farmer’s market.
My wife has made chocolate chip cookies for our kids, who are coming in for Thanksgiving; the cookies are in the freezer.
My Cookbook Club is doing a December cookie exchange from the book “Milk Bar All About Cookies.” A lot of great- looking recipes. I chose Caramel Apple Walnut Bars.
There were several ginger and molasses cookie recipes posted last year. I tried a few, and they were excellent! I liked one the best, but I can’t remember which one it was right now. Time to start figuring that out!
I will make a cranberry tart for my son to take to his girlfriend’s family for Thanksgiving. For Christmas, I’ll be making my longstanding family favorite, Flourless Clementine Cake, which is super easy, tastes even better the next day, and freezes well. We will also make sticky toffee pudding, which is completely more-ish.
@CTTC i made Ginger Crinkles last year…and will be making them again this year. They were really tasty, and easy to make…and were a big hit with everyone.
I’ve been making this for many years. It’s super easy and fills the kitchen with a great citrus smell.
I buy Trader Joe’s almond flour. It’s the best price anywhere.
Here is the Clementine cake recipe I use…slightly different only.
CLEMENTINE CAKE
Preheat oven to 375
Lightly grease a 9-inch spring-form pan.
1 ¼ pounds clementines (about 7) (mandarin oranges work just as well)
Soften clementines by floating them in a bowl of water and place in a microwave for 25 minutes. They and the water will be very hot.
Remove the tiny bud, then slice each clementine in half. Place them (skins and all) in a food processor and puree until smooth. Set aside.
In a mixer, whisk eggs, sugar, orange-blossom water, flour, baking powder, and salt.
6 eggs
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 tablespoons orange-blossom water (rose water is fine; if you can’t find either, it’s still OK)
1 ½ cups flour (I used almond flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Whisk in the clementine puree.
Pour batter into greased pan and bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Check earlier to be on the safe side.
When slightly cooled (30 minutes) run knife around edge and remove from pan.
Eat as is or glaze with 1/2 cup powdered sugar , and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. You may want to double/triple depending on the thickness you want.
This Clementine Cake sounds divine! As it happens, I dried a bunch of tangerine peels earlier this week and I just ground them into powder. When I make this cake, I will add a couple of teaspoons for an extra orange-y punch!
I have some work to do with the crust (it was the first time that I made my own crust as opposed to using store-bought crust), but the filling was pretty good. Although in all fairness, with enough sugar, eggs, and rum any pie is going to taste good.
Well, these cookies look beautiful. Did you post this recipe last year? If you did, I don’t know if I tried it or not. I did find the recipe that I think I liked the best – it had maple icing. I left out the icing one time I made them, and they were still delicious. I also saved another recipe from this message board. I need to buy some molasses and get to making some more to definitively pick my favorite recipe.
