DB Cannoli

Cannolipoleon with pumpkin and homemade ricotta chocolate chip filling

DB: Cannoli

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

The filling's in the fridge, and the fried cannoli are cooling on a plate. Are you drooling yet? Photos to follow.

Thanksgiving

I didn't make the turkey this year. If we had eaten at home, I don't know if I would have made the turkey. But for our feast with friends, I had a few things to contribute. We brought:
Pecan and Goat Cheese Marbles


Brussels Sprout Slaw



Oreo Turkeys (which didn't stay together this well)

Puff Pastry Pepperoni Pinwheels

and Creamed Onions from the Joy of Cooking. We didn't eat creamed onions at the holiday table when I was a kid, and we certainly didn't eat brussels sprouts. But after our decade in St. Louis, sharing Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle, I wouldn't have it any other way. Kiki always made this recipe, which might be as native to St.L as toasted ravioli. My one shortcut in this recipe is to use frozen, peeled onions.

Creamed Onions adapted from The Joy of Cooking

Boil water in large saucepan. Add 1 lb frozen baby onions and cook until just tender. Drain and set aside
In second saucepan, melt 1 1/2 tbsp butter. When butter has melted, stir in 1 1/2 tbsp flour and cook until lightly brown. Stir in 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 cups milk ( I used skim) and 1 cup evaporated skim milk. Whisk over medium heat until sauce thickens.

Put onions in shallow casserole dish. Cover with sauce. Top with 1 cup shredded Swiss Cheese.
Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes -- until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.

Thanks to epicurious and thrifyfun for the photos!

TWD: Holiday fruit cake

I love to give gifts, but only when I have found the right gift for the giftee. And sadly, it doesn't always line up with the gift-giving demands of the calendar and more often, with my budget. So right now, I'm all geeked about Nudo. That's right, it's open in my browser window right now as I ponder the fact that it's over my gift giving budget. But I digress.

My parents have always been gift givers. Christmas was, and still is, a big deal. For years, my dad baked loaves of bread for all of the neighbors and friends, and we'd head out on Christmas Eve to deliver them. When his schedule became too full, my mom would bake muffins, or make jam. And the reciprocity -- there were bottles of wine, and boxes of fruit and cheese, and poinsettias, from friends and associates. It's those tastes of the season that I remember -- and that have made me a loyal customer of Harry & David pears year after year. It brings a holiday giddiness that I have a hard time explaining.

I grew up not far Claxton, GA, which might be the fruit cake capital of the world. Claxton Fruit Cakes, too arrived many Christmas', bricks, or doorstops of a pound cake, loaded with red and green maraschino cherries and nuts. They took their place on the piano with chocolates and bottles of scotch. I imagine the shelf life of a fruitcake to be infinite, and honestly, I couldn't ever bring myself to take a bite.

Honestly, I wasn't psyched to see that Dorie had included a fruit cake recipe, but I whipped it up anyways. Added the maple syrup glaze, and send 3/4 of it off to work with A. I kept a wedge on the counter, thinking I take a picture. But with spur of the moment dessert guests, the cake was served. And enjoyed. I didn't want to tease you with a picture of the empty plate.

Drunken Beans

I've been ordering beans from Rancho Gordo for about a year and a half. They're so much tastier than grocery store varieties, which are often old and lack the texture and flavor of the heirloom beans. Every few months, I hop over to the website and order a half dozen or bags of beans. Yesterday, I simmered a pound of Yellow Indian Woman, planning to make them into a bean cakes for dinner.

As the day got away from me, however, my dish became a bit more streamlined. I dumped a can of beer in the pot of beans after they were cooked and let them simmer away. I sauteed some mushrooms, onions, and garlic in bacon grease. I whipped up a bit of guacamole with lime juice, smoked paprika, and aleppo pepper.

Layered in bowls, the beans were delicious. Meaty, full of flavor and with the added smokiness from the bacon fat and paprika they were just the thing on a November evening.

TWD: Sugar Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

My apologies to Mitch Albom, as it's been Wednesdays with Dorie around here lately. I know that I've spread myself a little bit thin when I run out of cinnamon. Seriously, now, I. Ran. Out. Of. Cinnamon. In the fall. It's one of my favorite spices, or really one of my favorite flavors, and I use multiple 8 oz Penzey's bags each year. So imagine my surprise when I went to make this recipe and found myself scraping the jar and raiding the cinnamon/sugar container to finish.

These gingersnaps were delicious. They were quick to make, and I stored half the dough in the fridge for more than a week before baking a second mini-batch. As everyone was eating them, dunked in cups of milk, I realized that I ought to take a picture. So here are the last three cookies, which hung around mere minutes after their photo shoot.

TWD: Cran-Apple Crisp

Love Crisp. Don't have the right dishes to make individual servings, so I made the giant crisp. It was delicious. We're fighting over the last bit now...