Holidays
I came across this citrus dry brine recipe a couple years ago from Bonappetit and have been very happy with it! My turkey always comes out moist and well seasoned. I have tried other various types of brines and this one is by far my favorite! This can also be made up to three days in advance and with a ll the craziness of the holidays, that is a huge bonus!
INGREDIENTS
2 Tablespoons of black peppercorns
1 Tablespoon of Pink peppercorns
2 teaspoons of white peppercorns
2 teaspoon coriander seeds
6 bay leaves
1/2 cup Kosher salt
2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
1/4 cup lemon zest
2 Tablespoons orange zest
DIRECTIONS
Toss all of your peppercorns, coriander seeds and bay leaves in a skillet and heat over medium heat until fragrant. Let cool.
Remove the bay leaves and discard. Place the cooled peppercorns and coriander in a heavy duty Ziploc bag, While using a rolling pin or heavy skillet, crush the mixture. Take out of the bag and mix with the remaining ingredients. Store in an airtight container until ready to use. I apply this to my turkey the night before I am going to roast it. Cover completely and refrigerate.
In the morning remove the turkey that you have covered in the dry brine and rinse all of the brine off of your turkey. Pat dry and continue to prepare your turkey to roast.
Enjoy!
Well, if you follow my blog , even a little, you know I really, really dislike mushrooms A LOT! I have tried them and made them several ways and still don’t like them, but Mr. MCYM really likes them so every now and then I make him his own batch of stuffed mushrooms! These will make a great addition to any holiday table or party you may be having! I made these for a little appetizer while watching the Patriots game! Mr. MCYM was a very happy man!
INGREDIENTS
24 Large Cremini mushrooms (wipe with a clean damp cloth to clean.)
4 ounces sweet Italian sausage, ground
1/2 of a fennel bulb, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
red pepper flakes to taste
1 cup of Panko crumbs
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tablespoons of parsley
2 Tablespoons olive oil
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and finely chop them, set aside. In a bowl toss your mushrooms with olive oil and season with salt. Place the mushrooms on a sheet pan. Cook the sausage in a skillet with a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat breaking up the meat until no longer pink. Add the fennel and the mushroom stems cooking until tender. Add garlic and season with salt and red pepper flakes. Cook for one minute, remove from heat and let cool. Mix the breadcrumbs with the parsley and cheese and when the sausage mixture is cool, add the bread crumb mixture and mix well. Divide the stuffing between the mushroom caps and bake for 15-17 minutes. Let cool five minutes and serve warm.
Enjoy,
These pecan bars were delicious! I don’t like pecan pie but I loved these bars! I don’t like to keep this stuff around the house so I cut these bars up into small bite size pieces and put my taste tester’s at my day job to work! These were a huge hit and I was asked MANY times for the recipe that day! These would be a terrific addition to your holiday dessert table or a great gift to give around the holidays! I am not a baker, but I will be making these again!
INGREDIENTS
Crust
2 sticks of butter, softened
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Topping
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
2 cups chopped pecans
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 9 x13 inch pan with foil leaving a two inch over hang on all sides. Spray foil with non stick baking spray or use non-stick foil. First make the crust by creaming together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the flour and salt mixing until crumbly. Press the crust into your prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
While the crust bakes prepare the filling by combining the butter, brown sugar, honey and heavy cream in a saucepan stirring over medium heat . Simmer the mixture for one minute then stir in chopped pecans.Remove the crust from the oven and immediately pour the pecan filling over the hot crust spreading it over the crust covering the entire surface. Return the pan into the oven and bake an additional 20 minutes. Remove the pan from oven and allow the bars to fully cool in the pan. When cool, using the foil over hang, lift the bars out of the pan and transfer them to a cutting board. Removing them from the foil, slice into bars and serve.
Enjoy,
This recipe came from www.justataste.com
Fall is an amazing time of year in New England. It is filled with the best flavors! Apple cider being one of my most favorite! I received a bottle of King Arthur’s boiled cider that I had initially intended on making apple cider baked donuts with, but when I saw this recipe on the King Arthur website for Apple Cider Caramels, I knew this would be a fall treat to make that everyone would enjoy and boy was I right! I have a number of taste tester’s at my day job (our local high school). I handed out MANY of these little caramels and heard MANY compliments. I heard OUTSTANDING more than once , along with WOW and ” those are so good” ! So I think that sums it all up! These were so easy and I know I will be making these again! These will make great gifts to give at the holidays as well! These are very sweet, so I cut them in small pieces which is nice as it makes a lot and the best part is they will stay shelf stable for a long time. I did store mine in the refrigerator. The hardest part and the longest part of this was cutting them and individually wrapping in wax paper. For that job I recruited my two favorite boys, Jim and Robby. It took them both about one hour to cut and wrap each piece! They did an AWESOME job!
INGREDIENTS
2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream
1 cup light corn syrup
2 cups sugar
6 Tablespoons butter (I used unsalted but you could use salted)
1/2 cup boiled King Arthur Cider
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon apple pie spice
DIRECTIONS
Lightly grease an 8 x 8 baking dish and line with parchment paper leaving an over hang on opposite sides. Combine the cream, corn syrup, sugar, butter and boiled cider in a heavy bottom DEEP saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat to medium high heat and cook until the mixture reaches 242 degrees – 245 degrees using a candy thermometer. ( I used the directions for a soft caramel). This takes about 20 minutes depending on your stove. Remove pan from heat stir in salt and spice. Pour the mixture into prepared pan . Let it sit for 12-18 hours at room temperature before cutting into small squares. To wrap the caramels use six inch squares of wax paper. Place one caramel in the center of each square wrapping the caramel and twisting the edges.
Enjoy,
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