Holiday Recipe Thread - Use Through New Years

[wawa]

Let's disassociate with some cheer.  What are we cooking this year for this winter holiday season?

[wawa]

We're frying the turkey's this year. Going with a simple dry brine, nothing crazy. Salt, pepper, thyme because it's MH's favorite herb. Done.
Making some turkey drippings and stock ahead of time with turkey wings to make gravy.
The usual taters, sweet taters, stuffing, cranberries, etc none of which have recipes.

My SIL usually makes mac n cheese and this year she floated the idea of cauliflower instead of macaroni but took pity when that made me sad and is making both.
(I feel like her grannie must have rolled right the fuck over in her grave at this...but if cruciferous veggies is what makes your heart sing, go to town.)

My new to our table this year is Ottolenghi's Miso Butter Onions because it sounds like it will go SO WELL with all the everything else, and have oodles of delicious umami goodness for the vegetarians at the table. food52.com/recipes/84162-miso-butter-onions-recipe

Pies I'm going for apple, pumpkin and blueberry. THIS YEAR is going to be the year I get the blueberry pie right. I've been trying for like 15 years. It never quite comes out right, every year I get closer (except for the years i totally lose track of what I'm doing and forget to add ingredients. 2022 looking at you) but I still haven't nailed it. I've made lots of tasty pies, but none of them are MH's idea of a perfect blueberry pie and it's become A Thing. He wants the texture of canned pie filling berries suspended in goo, but that actually tastes good and blueberryey. He keeps telling me to just buy the cans, and I keep telling him that I'm GOING TO GET IT. They're usually too juicy, except for the years I overcorrect and they're too dry.

SIL is doing buttermilk pie, and a citrus/cranberry situation.

[sugarbear1]

wawa, I just looked at that recipe and I am 100% making them. Even my kids will love them.

I am also making my great grandmother's raspberry pudding, which sounds and looks disgusting but is a family favorite. It's basically flour, butter, sugar, and a tablespoon of raspberry jam in a double boiler for hours. Served warm and topped with whipped cream. We only have it at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'll happily post the recipe later when I get home, if anyone is interested.

I think I will also do a whipped feta appetizer. Last family party, I did one with a cilantro pesto that got rave reviews.

[katfco]

We don't do turkey anymore; roast beef all the way.
I always use this recipe for stuffing: www.favfamilyrecipes.com/cranberry-sausage-stuffing/
I'm not a sweet potato fan, but MIL and DH are, so this year I'm trying a sweet potato tian that seems interesting. The spices have a Chinese flavor to them. 
For desserts I always make apple pie, chocolate chess pie, and orange cranberry cake. 

[underwaterrhymes]

sugarbear1 - I would love that recipe!

wawa - totally going to make those onions. I will be the only one to eat them, but they sound amazing.

[sugarbear1]

Raspberry Pudding.HEIC (121.98 KB)

underwaterrhymes, Hoping that works!

It is a very simple but fickle recipe. Even changes in altitude impact the consistency. I recommend putting all the ingredients into a blender and then adding to the double boiler.

ETA: why doesn't that actually show up as a photo?

[underwaterrhymes]

sugarbear1 - that worked perfectly! Thank you!

[rubytue]

H is super excited the burn ban was lifted and he gets to smoke his Turkey without arguing with me on whether his smoker is legal. I was trying to get him to do the tarragon butter bird if we had to go oven wapo.st/496mgk4

I always do a cornbread oyster stuffing and cardamom cranberry sauce. I think we are doing Brunel sprouts for green.

It’s always just the two of us. I will, once again, try to round up people but all my friends travel or have family nearby. We could do Friendsgiving, but never do.

Christmas will be sauerbraten, spaetzle, and red cabbage.

I could probably find my posts from the past 5 years and they say the same thing 🤣

My big holiday party will be epiphany. I’m doing a Tudor themed party, with a variety of Tudor era hand pie recipes, plus a venison roast.

[konapoppy]

These are some of my go-tos:

This is seriously sooo good: www.thekitchn.com/roasted-tomato-soup-cheesy-crouton-topper-recipe-23103114

Perfect for breakfast or brunch: www.bonappetit.com/recipe/cheesy-kale-and-mushroom-strata

White cheddar cranberry dip www.littlebroken.com/white-cheddar-cranberry-dip/ (this might have been posted here?)

Pumpkin tres leches - thewoksoflife.com/pumpkin-tres-leches-cake/

[rubytue]

Last year, I invited a good friend who has no family nearby, and he reacted kind of weirdly (nope nope nope! I want to play video games all day. It’s just a day everyone is busy and I want yo spend it alone!). So this year, I didn’t even mention it. But H just asked me if T was coming for dinner. So I passed on the ask and he said yes. This kind of surprised me, but yay! He calls me his second mom, and H is like the step dad that is cool enough. H and I just joked that our son is coming home for the holiday 🤣

I need to decide on a bread or roll. Any suggestions?

edit: spending the day alone is totally ok. But it was like a violent no. 🤷‍♀️

[wawa]

Nov 23, 2024 22:58:32 GMT -5 rubytue said:

H is super excited the burn ban was lifted and he gets to smoke his Turkey without arguing with me on whether his smoker is legal. I was trying to get him to do the tarragon butter bird if we had to go oven wapo.st/496mgk4

I always do a cornbread oyster stuffing and cardamom cranberry sauce. I think we are doing Brunel sprouts for green.

It’s always just the two of us. I will, once again, try to round up people but all my friends travel or have family nearby. We could do Friendsgiving, but never do.

Christmas will be sauerbraten, spaetzle, and red cabbage.

I could probably find my posts from the past 5 years and they say the same thing 🤣

My big holiday party will be epiphany. I’m doing a Tudor themed party, with a variety of Tudor era hand pie recipes, plus a venison roast.

thank you for this.  I made a spiced cranberry syrup for spritzes last night and added cardamom thanks to this.  It came out quite tasty. 

side note - fancy syrups have become a total must have for all festive occasions. They make for fun non-alcoholic beverages with sprite or seltzer or you can make a whole assortment of cocktails with them.  This year we did spiced cranberry and plain blackberry.  Just simmer some fruit and whatever else (herbs, spices) with a simple syrup till the fruit is squishy.  Strain it, pressing the fruit to get all the juice out, and done!  I got some mason jar lids with pour spouts, which work nicely.  

I took the leftover blackberry solids and dumped them into a chia seed "pudding", cranberry solids were basically a jam since cranberries LOVE to gel so I just threw those in a jar and we'll put them out with the cheese tray before dinner, so it all felt very thrifty.

[rubytue]

wawa, H’s grandmother was Swedish and *very* matriarchal. So the cardamom runs deep with the holidays. And I love it so I’m fine with adopting it. And I put it in everything now.

[jinkies]

I need advice on how to make a yellow cake with chocolate icing feel Thanksgiving-like.

Backstory: it turns out that Thanksgiving day is just going to be my family of 4 and my MIL. She asked me to bring dessert. I asked my family, and H asked for yellow cake with chocolate icing. No one else had suggestions or cared.

This is like the most boring possible dessert I can think of, but I was unlikely to eat dessert anyway, so I'm going to give the people what they want.

I think there is a way to take a box mix and add a few extra ingredients (like I think an extra egg, and something else?) to taste like a bakery cake. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I'd prefer to do a cake from scratch, but again, I know my audience, and H and his mom both strongly prefer boxed/ bakery cakes.

Any advice? Maybe a way to decorate it to look fall-like?

[picksthemusic]

I did a trial run of the famous Tini (on TikTok) mac and cheese last night - and wow, it was so good! I didn't use her exact combo of cheeses (I basically threw together bits and pieces I had in my fridge to use them up), but it was still a really amazing dish. The whole family liked it. Not sure if I'll make it for Thanksgiving (I'm in charge of mashed potatoes), but it'll be in my rotation now for sure.

[sent]

jinkies, if they like the taste of box cakes (I get it, sometimes I like that too), then I'd just decorate it with some fall stuff. Yellow cake + chocolate frosting is one of my preferred combinations. Maybe some fall leaves? Write "Happy Thanksgiving" on the top? Precut the pieces and serve it in a fall-themed platter? I'd probably do the last one because I'm so crushed on time this year.

[shauni27]

I make an onion and noodle kugel every year either for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It is labor intensive but soooooooooo good.

[shauni27]

jinkies, you could try to use a king arthur cake mix and maybe that will feel more...fancy or special?

Decorate the top like a turkey and you are good!

[circa1978]

jinkies I think you are looking for a yellow WASC: search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cakecentral.com%2Fforum%2Ft%2F609641%2Fwasc-with-yellow-cake-mix-how-many-whole-eggs&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl1%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4

Lots of bakers/bakeries use cake mix as a base - I personally use a WASC version for most of my layered cakes. Be aware it makes a lot of cake because it doubles or triples what you'd get from a mix but that's fine if you want a 3 layer cake and cupcakes or something. I would decorate it to look like a tree stump. Very fall!

[jinkies]

Thank you all! circa1978 that is exactly what I was looking for-- I'm going to try it.

shauni27 any chance you'd share your kugel recipe?

[Jalapeñomel]

Can someone post a great green bean recipe? (not the casserole)

[picksthemusic]

Nov 25, 2024 10:49:36 GMT -5 jinkies said:

I need advice on how to make a yellow cake with chocolate icing feel Thanksgiving-like.

Backstory: it turns out that Thanksgiving day is just going to be my family of 4 and my MIL. She asked me to bring dessert. I asked my family, and H asked for yellow cake with chocolate icing. No one else had suggestions or cared.

This is like the most boring possible dessert I can think of, but I was unlikely to eat dessert anyway, so I'm going to give the people what they want.

I think there is a way to take a box mix and add a few extra ingredients (like I think an extra egg, and something else?) to taste like a bakery cake. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I'd prefer to do a cake from scratch, but again, I know my audience, and H and his mom both strongly prefer boxed/ bakery cakes.

Any advice? Maybe a way to decorate it to look fall-like?

I think there are online directions about adding a packet of vanilla pudding mix? I can't recall what the other steps are, however.

Maybe try your hand at decorating it like a turkey? I'd say do 2 round cake pans and then pipe the icing (do the whole thing chocolate icing but then make some vanilla and color it in different colors - red, orange, yellow) to draw a turkey on top. That's what I'd do.

[shauni27]

jinkies, sure! This is my bubbie's recipe and things are measured in estimates, lol. This is also for a very large pan that can easily feed 15 people, so it is pretty big.

1 bag of yellow onions, roughly chopped, sauteed in a boatload of canola oil. Cook on low, stirring every few minutes, for approximately an hour. This is the worst part; it takes forever. You want them to almost dissolve into the oil and be a golden mush.

Toss that with 1-2 bags of wide egg noodles. Mix in a few whisked eggs, lots of salt and then pour into a greased pan for the oven. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or so, until the top edges are crispy.

**notes: this is not a healthy recipe. I find that to make this a bit easier, I shred all of onions in the foot processor to save myself from chopping 10 onions. I also wear my ski goggles until most of the onions are cooked down because of how intense 10 raw onions are, lol.

[turbo]

Nov 25, 2024 11:34:45 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

I did a trial run of the famous Tini (on TikTok) mac and cheese last night - and wow, it was so good! I didn't use her exact combo of cheeses (I basically threw together bits and pieces I had in my fridge to use them up), but it was still a really amazing dish. The whole family liked it. Not sure if I'll make it for Thanksgiving (I'm in charge of mashed potatoes), but it'll be in my rotation now for sure.

For those of us too old to figure out TikTok, can you share the recipe or link? Thanks if you can!

[turbo]

Nov 25, 2024 14:35:37 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

Nov 25, 2024 10:49:36 GMT -5 jinkies said:

I need advice on how to make a yellow cake with chocolate icing feel Thanksgiving-like.

Backstory: it turns out that Thanksgiving day is just going to be my family of 4 and my MIL. She asked me to bring dessert. I asked my family, and H asked for yellow cake with chocolate icing. No one else had suggestions or cared.

This is like the most boring possible dessert I can think of, but I was unlikely to eat dessert anyway, so I'm going to give the people what they want.

I think there is a way to take a box mix and add a few extra ingredients (like I think an extra egg, and something else?) to taste like a bakery cake. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I'd prefer to do a cake from scratch, but again, I know my audience, and H and his mom both strongly prefer boxed/ bakery cakes.

Any advice? Maybe a way to decorate it to look fall-like?

I think there are online directions about adding a packet of vanilla pudding mix? I can't recall what the other steps are, however.

Maybe try your hand at decorating it like a turkey? I'd say do 2 round cake pans and then pipe the icing (do the whole thing chocolate icing but then make some vanilla and color it in different colors - red, orange, yellow) to draw a turkey on top. That's what I'd do.

If I knew how to post pictures, I made a turkey cake a few years ago from Thanksgiving using the penis cake mold I have. It was epic and the older parents in attendance didn’t even realize it was a dick. 😆

[shauni27]

Nov 25, 2024 15:20:00 GMT -5 turbo said:

Nov 25, 2024 11:34:45 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

I did a trial run of the famous Tini (on TikTok) mac and cheese last night - and wow, it was so good! I didn't use her exact combo of cheeses (I basically threw together bits and pieces I had in my fridge to use them up), but it was still a really amazing dish. The whole family liked it. Not sure if I'll make it for Thanksgiving (I'm in charge of mashed potatoes), but it'll be in my rotation now for sure.

For those of us too old to figure out TikTok, can you share the recipe or link? Thanks if you can!

cheftineke.substack.com/p/tinis-famous-mac-and-cheese

[shauni27]

Nov 25, 2024 15:22:21 GMT -5 turbo said:

Nov 25, 2024 14:35:37 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

I think there are online directions about adding a packet of vanilla pudding mix? I can't recall what the other steps are, however.

Maybe try your hand at decorating it like a turkey? I'd say do 2 round cake pans and then pipe the icing (do the whole thing chocolate icing but then make some vanilla and color it in different colors - red, orange, yellow) to draw a turkey on top. That's what I'd do.

If I knew how to post pictures, I made a turkey cake a few years ago from Thanksgiving using the penis cake mold I have. It was epic and the older parents in attendance didn’t even realize it was a dick. 😆

shut up this is the best thing ever.

[jinkies]

shauni27, thank you! That sounds amazing! I am going to give it a try in December.

[picksthemusic]

Nov 25, 2024 15:20:00 GMT -5 turbo said:

Nov 25, 2024 11:34:45 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

I did a trial run of the famous Tini (on TikTok) mac and cheese last night - and wow, it was so good! I didn't use her exact combo of cheeses (I basically threw together bits and pieces I had in my fridge to use them up), but it was still a really amazing dish. The whole family liked it. Not sure if I'll make it for Thanksgiving (I'm in charge of mashed potatoes), but it'll be in my rotation now for sure.

For those of us too old to figure out TikTok, can you share the recipe or link? Thanks if you can!

www.sugarandsoul.co/tinis-mac-and-cheese/

This is the recipe (though it's from a different food blogger). I also HIGHLY recommend shredding your own cheese (I have a rotary grater, which made it a very easy process, if time consuming). I feel like the evaporated milk made a difference as well, so if you don't have it, get it to make this recipe. Also, blooming half the spices in the butter you use for the roux is a step I wouldn't skip - it made the cheese sauce incredibly flavorful and robust. You add the remainder of the spices once the heavy cream is incorporated, and before you add the cheese.

The noodles need to be pretty al dente - my box of De Cecco Cavatappi called for 6 minutes at the low end of the cooking time on the box, and it was perfect.

I did add some processed cheese (Land O Lakes white American from the deli, not Velveeta or Kraft), roughly 8oz or so - used in place of the mozzarella. I feel like this helped keep things cohesive and also kept the other cheeses from breaking during baking or becoming overly oily.

Also - DO NOT BUTTER YOUR BAKING DISH. I didn't and nothing stuck.

Keep an eye on it while it's baking - my oven runs hot, so I lessened the time baking to 25 min and only broiled for about 3 min on high. The parsley she mentions is just for garnish on top after it's done, but Tini uses chives, not parsley. It's completely optional, and I did not garnish mine.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

[turbo]

Nov 25, 2024 15:37:20 GMT -5 shauni27 said:

Nov 25, 2024 15:20:00 GMT -5 turbo said:

For those of us too old to figure out TikTok, can you share the recipe or link? Thanks if you can!

cheftineke.substack.com/p/tinis-famous-mac-and-cheese

I have made a turkey, a pilgrim, and a fall scene with it as a tree. I’ve also made Santa, a rainbow, a unicorn, an alligator, a wizard… and a few other ones.

It’s like a running joke in my circle of friends that if I offer to back you a cake, it will be dick-shaped, but will be designed to “look like” something else.