Entries Tagged 'Cooking' ↓

This Holiday, whether your baking up your famous chocolate chip cookies or fudge, offer loved ones treats wrapped in paper that echoes your heartfelt sentiments with homemade wax paper. Fold a piece of tissue paper in half three times, forming eight layers. Using a heart, Christmas tree, star of David or a circle hole punch, cut out your desired shapes.

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Mini German Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Milk
• 6 Eggs
• 1 Cup Flour
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 1 tsp. Orange Zest (optional)
• 1/4 Cup Butter (Melted)
• Powder Sugar

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Pumpkin Doughnuts

This recipe does call for 2 doughnut pan, they can be found here. If you don’t want to invest in a doughnut pan you can use 2 standard muffin pans instead for Pumpkin Cinnamon Muffins.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon plus a heaping 1/4 tsp each ground nutmeg & ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) Unbleached all purpose flour
• Cinnamon Sugar

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Pumpkin Bread (Gluten Free)

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 1 3/4 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Here are my plan-ahead tips that make this special Thursday completely stress-free in my house:

Start Now:

• Use a calendar and write in what you are going to do when.  It makes it easier to stay on task.
• Create your guest list. Get an idea of how many people are going to come, just so you can start figuring out the quantity you need.
• Order your turkey. This way I don’t have to panic and worry about finding the right size and type (organic, free-range, etc.) the week of.
• Make your pie dough. If you make pie dough using a stand mixer or food processor, it comes together in minutes, and you can enjoy delicious homemade crust for your Thanksgiving pies without having to stress the week of Thanksgiving. I find the best way to store the dough is to form individual pie discs, vacuum seal each in its own bag and freeze. Then you simply to defrost in the fridge overnight. And I always make a few extra discs of dough for Turkey Pot Pie with our leftovers!
• Go through linens and serving pieces. Make sure you have everything you need. I also send all my linens to be dry-cleaned and pressed, if they haven’t been already. And I always have pressed a “fancy” apron (you know the kind – frilly bottom or seasonal print) to put on once my guests start arriving and it’s time to take off the stained grungy one! I make a list of serving pieces I need to buy. I like to buy them a few weeks before Thanksgiving, mainly to help spread the cost from the big week but also to make sure I get the pieces I want instead of what is left.