This year Trevor and I are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time. It’s my doing – even though our house is small and unfinished and we’ll need our guests to bring their own chairs, I really wanted to do it, to bring our families together in our home. It will probably be a little bit stressful and uncoordinated and messy, but I’m still thrilled we’re doing it.

I was thinking, on the morning of Election Day last week, how great Thanksgiving is. How it is something truly American and something to be proud of. Two days for the entire country to be with their families, a holiday with no religious element, no political element, just a time reserved for being thankful and being with family. What a nice thing! A holiday designed to celebrate gratitude! I know that sentiment can get lost amidst the planning and family squabbles and food and excitement for the start of the “holiday season,” but let’s try to bring it front and center this year, at least for a few hours next Thursday. In the midst of a busy season, let’s use Thanksgiving as the bright spot that it is – a time to rest, to take a break from our busyness, to slow down and focus on the people and things that matter most to us.

We’re still tinkering with our menu for next week, but last weekend we did a sort of test run, putting together a Latin-inspired Thanksgiving menu. It’s the latest in our series of globally-inspired dinner menus we’ve been creating in partnership with La Crema Wines – the others include October’s autumnal Korean dinner, the summer’s Italian seafood feast, and a Greek-American cookout for Labor Day. I have unexpectedly fallen in love with the Latin culture over the past two years of travel, and a big part of that is due to the food. There’s so much more to Latin cuisine than I realized before I started traveling there. So this Thanksgiving menu is laced with chiles and rich sauces that remind me of dinners in Colombia and Chile.

As a main dish, we created a Mole Roasted Chicken (or turkey, if you’re feeding more than two people!) with a very-simplified mole sauce, that uses the basic techniques of a traditional mole but takes a few shortcuts. We also made a Cornbread, Chorizo, and Poblano Stuffing – I could have eaten an entire tray of it on my own and I think it’s one we’ll repeat next week for the real thing. As a side dish, Chipotle Sweet Potato Pommes Anna, a super simple dish that’s easy to make but has tons of flavor and a lovely presentation. And for dessert, a showstopper of a pie, a far cry from your traditional apple and pumpkin pies but still equally deserving of a spot on your Thanksgiving table: Chocolate Mousse and Passion Fruit Pie.

One of the foods I fell in love with in Latin America, particularly in Colombia, was passion fruit. If you’ve never had the chance to try one, seek it out – it’s sweet and citrusy and tangy and unlike any other flavor I know. Chocolate and passion fruit has become one of my favorite combos, and it’s now my standard order at any gelato place that offers passion fruit as one of the flavors. I first experienced the pure deliciousness of chocolate and passion fruit at a restaurant in Chile that served me an enormous bowl of incredibly rich and decadent chocolate mousse with a passion fruit caramel on top – I think it was the best dessert of my life. I may have to take some more time to think about that statement, but off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything that surpasses it. That dessert was the primary inspiration for this pie, which combines a passion fruit curd with a light chocolate mousse and a buttery chocolate cookie crust.

It was shockingly hard to find passion fruit near me in Boston, and when I did, they were pretty pricey – $1.99 a piece and I needed 5 to scrape together 2/3 of a cup of pulp. But as soon as I cut into one and that beautiful, tangy smell filled the air I knew it was worth it. Turning the fruit into a curd stretches the flavor and also gives you a filling with a beautiful, silky texture. The passion fruit curd together with the chocolate mousse made the pie pretty much everything I imagined it would be.

The recipe for the pie is below, and you can find the recipes for the Mole Roasted Chicken, the Cornbread, Chorizo, and Poblano Stuffing, and the Chipotle Sweet Potato Pommes Anna on the La Crema blog. All three dishes were designed to pair equally well with La Crema’s Sonoma Coast Chardonnay or their Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. Since a “help yourself” policy is usually best when it comes to wine and big holidays, it makes sense to choose a few versatile bottles that will be good at any point during the meal and will also give guests the flexibility to choose for themselves. These two La Crema bottles fit the bill perfectly.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by La Crema. All opinions are honest and my own.

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Chocolate Mousse and Passion Fruit Pie

Serves 8. Passion fruit curd recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson. Chocolate mousse pie adapted from Chowhound.

For the passion fruit curd:

• 2/3 c. passion fruit pulp (from 6-7 ripe passion fruit)
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 stick butter

For the chocolate mousse and pie crust:

• 6 oz. chocolate cookies
• 4 TBS salted butter
• 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate
• 1 c. heavy cream
• 2 TBS sugar
• 2 egg whites

1. To make the passion fruit curd: place the passion fruit pulp in a food processor and pulse several times to loosen the juice from the seeds. Strain the juice through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl. Add about half of the seeds and pulp to the juice, and discard the other half (or eat it!). Add the sugar, eggs, and egg yolk to the passion fruit juice and whisk to combine very thoroughly. Set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat. Add the passion fruit mixture to the melted butter, whisking vigorously as soon as you add it to the pan to prevent the eggs in the mixture from scrambling. Cook over low heat, whisking continuously, until the curd has thickened to a spoonable consistency. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and chill until set, at least 3 hours.
3. To make the pie crust: preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the chocolate cookies in a food processor and pulse until they are small crumbs of even size. Melt the 4 TBS butter in the microwave and stir into the cookie crumbs. Press the cookie crumbs around the bottom and sides of a 9-inch tart pan. Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes, then remove and set aside to cool.
4. To make the chocolate mousse: roughly chop the chocolate and place pieces in a metal bowl. Add ¼ cup of the heavy cream to the bowl with the chocolate. Bring a small saucepan half full of water to a boil. Place the metal bowl over the boiling water and whisk chocolate until evenly melted. Set aside and let cool slightly. Beat the remaining heavy cream together with the sugar until the whipped cream holds a firm peak. Fold half of the whipped cream into the warm chocolate mixture, taking care not to overmix. After incorporating the first half of the cream, gently fold in the second half of the whipped cream, leaving some streaks of white and chocolate. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the mousse.
5. To assemble the pie: spoon the chilled passion fruit curd evenly over the bottom of the cookie crust. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate mousse over the top of the curd, leaving some of the curd visible around the edges of the pie. Dome the mousse in the center of the pie. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until set, at least 3 hours. You can also freeze the pie for 1-2 hours for a firmer set.

The post Latin Thanksgiving: Chocolate Mousse and Passion Fruit Pie appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Can you believe there are only 2 more weeks until Thanksgiving? And you know that after that it will be a whirlwind four weeks until Christmas, New Year’s and then 2016 will be off and running. I don’t mean to diminish the last two months of the year, but it’s a season that’s both joyous and a little exhausting, making the end of the year fly by.

We still go to our parents’ houses for thanksgiving, so I’m usually benefiting from other people’s good cooking rather than contributing my own. This is perfectly fine with me, as I cook enough the rest of the year – being fed a delicious meal prepared by someone else is a nice treat. Still, there are a few thanksgiving dishes that I like to cook on their own, and this year I’m collaborating with Cambria Wines to bring you a lovely stuffing recipe, featuring rich duck confit and sweet apples. I have to admit, I love store-bought stuffing, but when a homemade version is studded with juicy duck and cider-sauteed apples and flecked with sage and thyme, it’s at least equal, if not greater than, the stuff that comes out of a box.

Since duck is a gamey meat, this stuffing pairs equally well with Cambria Pinot Noir or Chardonnay, which is perfect if you’re planning on giving your guests multiple wine options on Thanksgiving. For the test run, I went with Cambria Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir, since it was a cold and rainy night and I was craving a juicy glass of red.

Find the recipes for this Duck Confit and Apple Stuffing over on the Cambria Wines blog!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Cambria Wines. All opinions are honest and my own.

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Last April, Trevor and I made the drive up to Montreal just to partake in the sugar shack dinner at Au Pied de Cochon, Martin Picard’s infamous and lively, pork-loving restaurant. We’d been waiting for over two years to go – reservations open December 1st at midnight, and over 2,000 people submitted requests in the first five minutes – and it 100% lived up to our (very high) expectations. I wanted to write about it right away, but by the time we were back and I’d processed what I wanted to say, we were well into May, and it just seemed like an inappropriate time to share maple-syrup laden pork and duck dishes. So I waited until now, when heavy winter dishes are once again on the menu (and now this post can serve as a more timely reminder to those of you who might want to snag a reservation!).

As I flip through the pictures from that trip, I’m wishing now that I took better notes for you. I’m left mostly with a memory of warm yellow light filling a crowded cabin-style room, anticipation and excitement building with every course. A loud and convivial atmosphere of friends and strangers enjoying food that is completely over-the-top in more ways than one. A giant block of cheddar cheese being wheeled around the room on a trolley cart, the servers tossing steaming hot blood-and-ink fettucine in the hollowed out center to coat the noodles with  melted cheese. A cognac-doused duck-stuffed-duck being placed in front of Trevor and me, flaming, the whole duck just for the two of us. Sitting at the bar, watching the waitresses pour mug after mug of maple beer. Walking through the still-cold, still-muddy woods at twilight, enjoying the contrast between the still woods and the jolly feast inside. It was a wonderful experience: lively and joyful and a bit otherwordly, like something out of a book or a play. I’d go back in a heartbeat.

I do have a good list of what we were served, course by course. First, the drinks: a hefty mug of maple beer for Trevor, and a series of just-sweet-enough maple daiquiris for me. The appetizer course had three meal-sized components: a huge piece of maple foie-gras served with duck fat toast; a “sushi cake,” made with layers of rice, salmon tartare, and wasabi avocado mash; and pork cracklings served with little pots of maple-soaked scrambled eggs and maple baked beans. Next up was sturgeon in mussel and bacon sauce, followed quickly by an omelet of sorts, baked into a skillet with potato, beef, tomato, and a parmesan bread crust. Then one of my favorites, a make-it-yourself sandwich with duck fat fried dough as the bread, mustard, and inch-thick slices of juicy ham unlike any ham I’d every had before. Perhaps the most impressive course was the afore-mentioned duck, fed on maple syrup then stuffed, drenched, doused with cognac, and flambeed. This was served with baked sweet potatoes topped with maple-meringue, a dish I’ve recreated for you here. The last savory course was the blood and ink fettucine with blood sausage and cheddar cheese, and then we moved on to the desserts. Served all together, the desserts were a banana cream pie with maple meringue, maple taffy on ice, a mocha maple cake, and a maple frozen yogurt with maple sugar and whiskey.

There was an absurd amount of food served, and all of it was incredibly rich and delicious – easily the most lavish meal I’ve ever been a part of. The standouts for me were the maple daiquiris, the ham sandwich, and the maple frozen yogurt, which had an incredible tang to it. We may try to recreate all of these dishes at home at some point, but the easiest, and the most appropriate for this month, were the simple but clever baked sweet potatoes with maple meringue topping. Although I know that realistically, anyone who is cooking Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow has had their menu set for weeks and is not looking for last minute additions to their very long to-do list, these baked sweet potatoes would theoretically be a great addition to a Thanksgiving menu. They are super easy – just bake the potatoes, whip the egg whites, and broil just before serving – and they capture the much-loved flavors of sweet potato casserole without as much added sugar or fat.

Whatever you’re serving tomorrow, I hope that all of you have a lovely, relaxing, and delicious Thanksgiving! Ours will be small and non-traditional this year – we’re having steak tips and stuffing and raspberry pie – but I’m looking forward to the long weekend, spending downtime with my family, and eating whatever turkey leftovers Trevor manages to salvage from his family’s dinner. Plus going to the movies at least twice. Have a great holiday!

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Baked Sweet Potatoes with Maple-Meringue Topping

Inspired by dinner at Au Pied de Cochon. Serves 4.

• 4 small sweet potatoes
• 2 egg whites
• pinch cream of tartar
• 1/2 c. maple syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Wash the potatoes and poke all over with a fork. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until tender, about 40 minutes to 1 hour depending on the size of the potato. Flip the potatoes halfway through, at about 25 minutes.
2. Remove the potatoes from the oven and let cool slightly. Cut a lengthwise slit into the tops of the potatoes, and scoop out a small amount of the potato flesh so that there is a shallow, circular hollow on top of each potato.
3. To prepare the meringue, beat the egg whites and the cream of tartar on high until soft peaks form. Set whites aside. Place the maple syrup in a small saucepan, and heat over medium heat until just simmering and the temperature is 235°F. While beating the egg whites on high, slowly drizzle the hot maple syrup into the whites, until the meringue is shiny and holds stiff peaks. Spoon or pipe the meringue on top of the sweet potatoes. Broil on high until meringue is golden brown, about 3-5 minutes, or use a pastry torch to cook the meringue only. Serve immediately.

The post Montreal Travelogue: Cabane A Sucre Au Pied de Cochon // Baked Sweet Potatoes with Maple-Meringue Topping appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that none of you have had any major kitchen or travel mishaps, and that you’re all getting ready/happily in the midst of/recovering from a relaxing day of family, friends, and delicious eating. We’re in the car on our way up to Maine to see Trevor’s family, but before we sit down to overindulge, I wanted to share our Thanksgiving submission to the Captain’s Table Challenge.

As I mentioned Monday, we’re part of a group of 15 bloggers that are teaming up with Captain Morgan to create delicious rum-based food and drink recipes for the holiday season. There’s a bit of a contest aspect to it as well, so I’m extra motivated to make these recipes top notch (there’s nothing like a little competition to get me going). For the Thanksgiving edition of the challenge, we decided to work with two classic November ingredients, sweet potatoes and cranberries, turning each into a rum-infused masterpiece. After a bit of group brainstorming at the wedding we were at last weekend, we decided that the only thing for the sweet potatoes was a souffle, and not just any souffle, but a light, fluffy, rum-scented souffle drizzled with a rum-raisin caramel sauce. There are a surprising number of sweet potato souffle recipes out there, but you’ll quickly notice that most of them are not actually souffles, but instead just mashed sweet potatoes buried under some form of sweet goo (I so enjoyed Sommer’s rant on this topic). What we were going for was a real souffle, with a classic roux-base, a bit of rum, and a hint of sweet potato flavor.

Creating our own recipe for souffles was a bit of a risky move, and it was a tense 30 minutes in the kitchen as we waited to take them out of the oven. We’ve made souffles before, but tweaking any baking recipe can be hit or miss, plus souffles are notoriously challenging and we did significantly more than tweak a base recipe. We did our research, though, and what came out of the oven was far more perfect than we expected – puffed up gracefully over the top of the ramekins, cooked through yet still creamy, light and sweet and everything you want a souffle to be. With the thick, syrupy-sweet rum raisin caramel drizzled on top, I am not ashamed to admit that we each had two of these, one after the other. And then we skipped dinner.

As for the cranberries, I knew I wanted to do a festive riff on Dark and Stormy’s, the classic ginger and dark rum cocktail that’s pretty much perfect any time of year. I wanted to incorporate cranberries, but I didn’t want the drink to be too sweet or cloying, so instead of using cranberry juice, I made a thick, almost jam-like cranberry-ginger syrup for the base of the drink. After reading an article in Bon Appetit about how we should be celebrating Thanksgiving with the new crop of artisanal hard ciders that wouldn’t have been out of place at early colonial celebrations, I decided to replace the traditional ginger beer with one of my favorite sparkling ciders, Bantam’s Wunderkind. The resulting drink was strong and slightly sweet, with hints of spice, cranberry and apple.

So, if you’re looking for something to do with your leftover mashed sweet potatoes or that bag of cranberries you didn’t end up using? Try a souffle, or a cranberry-ginger cocktail, or maybe even both. And let me know what you think! Also, if there’s any flavor combinations or recipe types you’d like to see for our Christmas Captain Morgan challenge, leave a note in the comments – we’re looking for inspiration anywhere we can get it. Have a wonderful holiday!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Captain Morgan, who provided me with product samples and monetary compensation in exchange for my participation in this program. All opinions are honest and my own, as always.

Sweet Potato Souffles with Rum Raisin Sauce

Serves 5.

For the souffles:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 3 TBS butter plus extra for greasing the ramekins
• 3 TBS flour
• 3/4 c. warm milk
• 1/4 c. Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/4 c. sugar plus extra for preparing the ramekins
• 6 egg whites
• pinch cream of tartar

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Toss the sweet potato cubes with the olive oil and place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until very tender and almost falling apart. Stir the sweet potatoes once after 20 minutes. While still warm, add the sweet potato cubes to a blender and puree until smooth. Scrape the puree out of the blender and set aside.
2. Adjust the oven temperature to 350F. Butter five 6-oz. souffle dishes or ramekins, then sprinkle a bit of sugar into each. Tap the sugar around the edges of the dish, tapping out any excess. Set the prepared dishes aside.
3. In a wide frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture is a pale yellow and smells nutty. Add 1/4 c. of the warm milk to the roux and whisk until smooth, then slowly whisk in the remaining warm milk. Cook over medium-low heat until thick and smooth, about 1-2 minutes, then remove from the heat. Whisk in the rum, and let cool slightly.
4. Beat the egg yolks and the sugar together until thick and pale yellow. Quickly whisk into the roux, taking care that the roux is not hot enough to scramble the eggs. Then, whisk in 3/4 c. of the sweet potato puree, adding 1/4 c. at a time. When the mixture is smooth and evenly colored, set aside.
5. In a large, clean bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy. Sprinkle the cream of tartar over the top, and then beat until the egg whites are shiny and hold a stiff peak. Fold the sweet potato mixture gently into the egg whites until they are just combined. Spoon the souffle mixture carefully into the prepared dishes, filling them just shy of the brim. Place the ramekins in a larger baking dish, and fill the baking dish with hot water so that it reaches halfway up the sides of the souffle dishes. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until souffles are puffed up and set in the middle. Remove and serve immediately with the warm rum raisin sauce.

For the sauce:

• 1/2 c. Captain Morgan Black Spiced Rum
• 1/2 c. raisins
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. cream

1. Place the rum and the raisins in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until the rum just begins to steam, then immediately remove from heat and set aside. Let sit for at least 10 minutes to allow the raisins to plump up.
2. Pour the sugar into the bottom of a heavy-bottomed saucepan in an even layer. Place over medium heat, and melt sugar, whisking frequently. As you whisk, the sugar will clump up, but once melted, all the clumps should dissolve. As soon as all the sugar is melted, stop whisking but swirl slightly. Watch the sugar closely as it begins to darken. As soon as it reaches a golden caramel color, add the heavy cream all at once. Be careful, the caramel will bubble violently when you do this. Whisk until the mixture is even. Now add the rum and raisins all at once, again, being careful to avoid the bubbling up, and whisking until the mixture is even. As soon as the mixture is smooth and consistent. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Sauce should be served warm.

Cranberry-Ginger Sparkling Rum Cider

Serves 4.

• 3/4 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. water
• 1 1/2 c. fresh cranberries, rinsed (remove any squished/deflated berries)
• 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
• 6 oz. Captain Morgan Black Spiced rum
• ice cubes
• 2 c. sparkling cider (alcoholic)
• sugared cranberries, for garnish

1. Add the sugar and water to a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then add the cranberries and ginger. Simmer the mixture until thick and syrupy, about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the cranberries from foaming up, pressing the cranberries against the side of the pan to pop them.
2. Pour the cranberry mixture through a fine-mesh sieve and strain the liquid into a medium bowl. Press gently on the cranberries to extract more juice, but be warned that if you press too hard you may end up with more of a jelly than a syrup (still delicious!). Refrigerate the syrup until cold; save the berries for another use.
3. Add 1 to 2 TBS of the cranberry syrup to each of 4 glasses, then add 1 1/2 oz. (1 shot) of rum to each glass. Stir vigorously to mix. Add a few ice cubes to each glass, then top off with 1/2 c. of sparkling cider. Garnish with sugared cranberries and serve immediately.

The post Captain’s Table Thanksgiving // Sweet Potato Souffles with Rum Raisin Sauce + Cranberry-Ginger Sparkling Rum Cider appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The Book: If you’re looking to update your go-to dessert recipes to something more elegant, modern, and seasonal, you are going to want to pick up a copy of Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season. There’s nothing run of the mill here – the recipes are unique and impressive but still uncomplicated. I love the emphasis on produce and seasonality – every recipe is firmly anchored to a time of year, which is something I’m glad to see, given that there seems to have been less emphasis on this in pastry than in main courses during the whole farm-to-table/seasonal/local movement. Although, I will say that Jenny’s “spring” recipes are definitely more like late July recipes for New England, given the inclusion of blueberries and lavender. As far as design goes, the whole book has a classy, subdued aesthetic that I very much like, with muted tones, botanical prints, and sedate, full-page pictures for most recipes. This will definitely be a book that I turn to for every future dinner party I plan.

The Food: The fact that some of the pages are already stuck together with sugar spills is a good sign, right? I tested this book out by making two pumpkin desserts  to celebrate October – a Pumpkin-Maple Ice Cream, and this Pumpkin Pie with a Gingersnap Crust and Milk Chocolate Ganache. I actually haven’t tried the ice cream yet (I made it right before I left on this trip and stuck it straight in the freezer as a treat for when I get back), but the base tasted delicious. This pie, however, I did taste, and it’s quite good. The pumpkin custard is a fairly typical pumpkin pie filling, although I love that it’s made with fresh pumpkin puree. But the two twists – a spicy, buttery gingersnap crust and a rich chocolate ganache – make this pie something special. If my mom gives up her pie-making rights, maybe I’ll bring it to Thanksgiving this year.

Recipe Shortlist: Honey-Roasted Pear Sorbet; Chestnut-Chocolate Layer Cake; Butterscotch Budino with Creme Fraiche; Cocoa-Lavender Cream Puffs; Peach and Sweet Corn Ice Cream Cake; Plum-Poppy Seed Kolache

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season free of charge from Rizzoli, but was not otherwise compensated for writing this review.

Pumpkin Milk Chocolate Pie with a Gingersnap Crust

Recipe from Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season. Serves 8-10.

• nonstick cooking spray
• 1 1/2 c. (about 6 oz.) gingersnap cookie crumbs
• 2 TBS plus 1/2 cup light brown sugar, divided
• 3/4 tsp fine sea salt, divided
• 5 TBS unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 c. Roasted Sugar Pumpkin and Kabocha Squash (recipe below)
• 4 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 c. plus 3 TBS heavy cream, divided
• 1 TBS molasses
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 c. (3 oz.) milk chocolate chips
• 1 TBS light corn syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Stir together the gingersnap crumbs, 2 TBS of the brown sugar, 1/4 tsp of the sea salt, and the melted butter. (If you are using whole gingersnaps, you can crush them and combine with the other ingredients by blending everything in a food processor.) Stir until the mixture has the consistency of wet sand, then pour into the pie plate and pack very firmly and evenly against the bottom and sides of the pan. Bake for about 8 minutes, or until the crust is slightly puffed and a bit darker in color. Let cool at room temperature for 5 minutes, then freeze until ready to use.
3. Change the oven temperature to 325°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 c. brown sugar, the remaining 1/2 tsp salt, the roasted pumpkin, the whole eggs, the egg yolk, 3/4 c. of the heavy cream, molasses, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg until completely smooth. Pour the custard into the pre-baked pie crust. Carefully transfer to oven, and bake until custard is set in the center when the pie is slightly jiggled, about 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set.
4. About 25 minutes before you are ready to serve the pie, prepare the milk chocolate ganache. Place the chocolate chips in a large heatproof bowl and set aside. Place the remaining 3 TBS of heavy cream and the corn syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour over the chocolate, let stand for 2 minutes, then gently whisk the ganache until smooth. Spread the ganache over the center of the pie, leaving a slight gap between the crust and the chocolate. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to set the ganache. Serve chilled, with whipped cream.

Roasted Sugar Pumpkin and Kabocha Squash

Recipe from Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season. Makes 8 cups of puree.

• One 4-lb sugar pumpkin
• One 4-lb kabocha squash

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the pumpkin and squash into eighths, then remove and discard the seeds. Place the pumpkin and squash pieces in a large baking dish, fill with about 1/4 inch of water, and cover with aluminum foil. Roast for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the flesh is fork tender.
2. When the pumpkin and squash pieces are cool enough to handle, use a large spoon to scrape the flesh out of the skins, discarding the skins. Puree the pumpkin and squash flesh in a food processor or blender until totally smooth (don’t skip this! It makes a big difference in the consistency of your baked goods). Let cool to room temperature before using in a recipe. You can freeze any leftover puree for up to 3 months.

The post Book Club: Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Every new situation in life comes with potential pitfalls to your health habits. Going away to college? Erratic sleep schedules and frequent hangover binges. Summer vacation with the family? Your dad handing you a margarita every night at 5 on the dot. Breakup with your boyfriend?  Pity pints of Ben & Jerry’s and many bottles of Merlot. First job? That dratted chocolate box, free “bonding” dinners, and sitting in one spot all day.

The result? Pounds creep on. Crash diets are picked up, then dropped. We try to make sweeping changes to our lifestyles and it’s hard, even unrealistic. Changing a bunch of habits at once is a real mental challenge, which is why I’m trying something new. Smaller. Make one resolution each week and write it down – a specific, easy to follow resolution with no loopholes or room to argue with yourself. Stick to it all week. The next week, if you were successful, add one more resolution, and try to keep the old one, too. If you were unsuccessful, try the first one again. And try not to worry about everything else! If you said “no chocolate” this week, don’t eat chocolate, but don’t also try to give up everything sweet or indulgent – it’ll be so much easier to defeat yourself if you try for too much all at once! Taking small steps towards forming the best habits will eventually add up.

I started this out last week with the most troubling problem in my health-at-work life – the chocolate box. Now, I’m not ever going to give up chocolate. But the constantly full chocolate box located approximately 5 feet from my desk is a real self-control issue for me. I hear everyone open and close the box, unwrap their chocolate, and it’s like a little bomb goes off in my brain, exclaiming “chocolate time!” And once I’ve had the first piece, I go back maybe 4, 5, 6 times before stopping. Something about the combination of there being an unlimited supply and being constantly reminded that it’s there by everyone else really does a number on my willpower. And 6 pieces of chocolate a day is no laughing matter!

So week one’s resolution was “no chocolate from the chocolate box at work.” And I was successful! Wednesday afternoon was hard, but I managed to power through and stick it out for the whole week. I’m going to try and stick with it this week, and add a resolution for week two – walking the extra mile to the red line at least once per day. To recap:

1. Week one: No chocolate from the chocolate box at work – Success!
2. Week two: Walk to or from Park St. to work at least once each day

Anyone want to join me and make a small resolution for this week? The more the merrier! And, if you get through the whole week without lapsing, you should then join me in a little homemade celebratory indulgence – like this cranberry-pear crisp. The not-too-sweet cranberry filling and crispy sugary crust made a pretty good reward for going all week without chocolate. It might also be the perfect dessert for Thanksgiving, if you’re looking for alternatives to the classics – festive and bright, palate-cleansing and not too heavy, any Thanksgiving table would benefit from the addition of this crisp!

Cranberry-Pear Crisp

Adapted from The Preservation Kitchen. Serves 4-6. If you’re making for a crowd, double the recipe and the pan size!

• 2 pears, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 1/2 c. cranberries, washed and picked over
• 3/4 c. plus 1/3 c. sugar, divided
• 3/4 c. flour
• 6 TBS cold salted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Layer half of the pear slices on the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan. Cover with the cranberries, and sprinkle 1/3 c. sugar over the berries. Layer the remaining pear slices on top of the cranberries.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, the remaining 3/4 c. sugar, and the ground ginger. Use a pastry cutter or a fork to cut the cold butter into the flour, until a crumbly mixture with chunks no larger than a pea is formed. Sprinkle the crumble mixture on top of the fruit.
3. Place the pie pan on a baking sheet to catch any drips, and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until the top of the crisp is golden brown and the fruit is bubbly. Serve warm or at room temperature, topped with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

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