Thanksgiving Treats

I had Wednesday morning off and Scout's school needed a warm body so it was a treat to spend the whole morning "working" at her school. I am in great admiration of her teacher and classmates. It was an honor to get to see the kids in action. They had a pizza party for the holiday and as a goodbye to a classmate. I made rice krispie turkeys for the occasion. The kids (& Mrs. Martinez) were thrilled.

No recipe really, just rice krispie treats rolled into balls and stabbed with candy corn with melted chocolate eyes.


Thursday morning I was up early, working on my first totally-from-scratch pumpkin pie. The crust turned out beautiful, it brought a little tear to my eye. I had extra quiet time while Mike worked and Scout slept, so I made scones because that sounded good. They turned out delicious!

Awhile back, I spent about a year trying out scone recipes looking for the perfect English scone. I found an oatmeal one online that suited me okay. And it wasn't well until I gave up altogether that I found the ultimately best scone recipe ever in Cook's Illustrated magazine. Tastes vary, but this is my idea of perfection. And one of my all-time favorite pastries. And not hard. I have made all kinds of variations on the recipe. It never lets me down.

Chocolate Chip-Blood Orange Scones adapted from Cook's Illustrated magazine, August 2007.

16 T. unsalted butter, frozen whole
1/2 c. whole milk [I actually didn't have "whole", so I used 1/4 c. cream & 1/4 c. 2%]
1/2 c. sour cream
10 oz (about 2 c.) all purpose flour [I have taken to measuring my ingredients]
1/2 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. table salt
zest from one blood orange [original recipe calls for 1 t. lemon zest; obviously, this is what I happened to have in my fridge]
about 1/2 c. bittersweet chocolate chips [recipe calls for 1 1/2 c. fresh blueberries]

- 425 degrees
- score and remove half of wrapper from each stick of frozen butter and grate unwrapped ends on large holes of box grater (8 T. total); place grated butter in freezer and melt 2 T of remaining ungrated butter, set aside [if using blueberries, place in freezer too].
- whisk milk & sour cream, refrigerate.
- whisk flour, 1/2 c. sugar, baking powder & soda, salt and zest in medium bowl; add frozen butter to flour mix and toss with fingers until coated.
- add milk mixture to flour mix, fold with spatula until just combined
- with rubber spatula, transfer dough to floured work surface, knead 6-8 times until just holds together raggedly, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking
- roll dough into approx. 12" square, fold into thirds like letter, turn and fold short ends into thirds again, until approx 4" square, chill in freezer 5 minutes
- roll out dough again to 12" square, sprinkle choc chips (or berries) evenly and roll dough, pressing firm into log, lay seam down and press into 12x4" rectangle; cut into 4 equal rectangles and then cut diagonal to form total 8 triangles
- brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with extra sugar, bake until tops and bottoms golden brown, about 18-25 minutes, cool 10 minutes.


Mark Bittman's (I love that his kitchen sucks!) Walnut Tart that is amazingly simple and so very delicious. Cobin Soelberg turned me on to it. Thanks Cobin! (We miss you.)


I struggled with what desserts to take, but settled on boring ol' pumpkin pie because it really is something I count on at Thanksgiving. My first total from scratch. Decided to try Fine Cooking's. Turned out perfect. Lots of compliments. Sugar & Spice Pumpkin Pie with Brandied Ginger Cream! (I substituted dark rum for brandy in both cream and pie because thats what I had - worked just fine).


I also took an appetizer. Took a chance and tried something new (of course). Fine Cooking's Baked Brie with Dried Cherries & Thyme. It was super easy and everyone went nuts over it. I couldn't find dried cherries at Smith's, so I used cherry-flavored cranberries, which worked just fine. Yummy!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving! Hope yours was great too.