Happy Thanksgiving

Mmm. Thanksgiving.
Actually, it's really not the tastiest holiday. I don't really like turkey, or gravy.

But cranberries. I do love cranberries. And oranges. Cranberries with oranges.
CRANBERRY ORANGE RELISH!

Every since Mom first made this cranberry relish about 8 years ago, I've been wanting it every year. So, for the past four years, so ensure I get it, I've been making it.

But for some reason, I failed to double the recipe this year. Oops. I'll just have to make some more tomorrow. Leftover sweet potatoes are no good without cranberry relish on top.

The food isn't what I like about Thanksgiving though (relish aside). It's my family. And no, I'm not trying to be a Hallmark card. I'm serious. Especially after dinner when we play games. Last year we played Catchphrase. Hilarity ensued. But there's an odd number this year.


Cranberry Orange Relish
adapted from the November 2001 issue of Gourmet (I think Mom made the entire menu that year)
Makes about 2 cups

1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries
1 navel orange
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Place the cranberries, sugar, and cinnamon in the food processor. Zest the orange over the food processor, and then peel the orange and separate the segments from the pith and toss them into the food processor too (the segments, not the pith. That would be nasty.) Pulse until it's all chopped up.
Refrigerate for at least two hours to let flavor develop. And then hoard it.
Or be nice and serve it.

I'd recommend doubling this recipe if you have someone who relishes it as much as I do. Gourmet says it serves 10, but who are they kidding?

Chewy and Creamy Carrot Cake Sandwiches

I just can't seem to catch up. Maybe it's because instead of spending the time I'm online updating my blog, I spend it on facebook doing nothing of importance. (See Urban Dictionary for a glut of facebook related terms.)

And my poor little blog ends up neglected. Like with these ice cream sandwiches that I've been meaning to post for a week and a half now. That isn't that long of a time, but considering that I moved them to the top of my list of things to post, as unchronologically sound as that is, there is no excuse for this delay.

Other than neglect, that is.

I got the idea a couple months ago when I stumbled across Inside Out Carrot Cake Cookies from Gourmet. But I thought they'd be so much cooler if instead of a cream cheese frosting filling they had a cream cheese ice cream filling. But I didn't feel like making ice cream then and bookmarked the link.
Then the weather started to warm up, and looking through my bookmarks the week before memorial day, I saw the cookies and remembered the ice cream sandwich idea. I looked in the fridge, had everything for them, so instead of making lemon curd cupcakes like I'd been considering, I made these instead!

They were a hit. Next time, apparently, I need to make a double batch. Or make them larger.


Chewy and Creamy Carrot Cake Ice Cream Sandwiches
makes... I don't remember, somewhere between 18 and 24 sandwiches, I think
adapted from Gourmet and Bri's Ginger Cheesecake Ice Cream

For cookies:
1 1/8 cups (about 5 oz) all-purpose flour*
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup, 4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup (2 1/2 oz) packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup (2 3/4 oz) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (about 5 1/2 oz) coarsely grated carrots (2 medium)
1 scant cup (3 oz) walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup (2 1/2 oz) raisins, chopped if large

Preheat oven to 375F and place racks in top and bottom third. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone liners.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Beat together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in carrots, nuts, and raisins at low speed; add flour mixture and stir or beat until just combined.

Drop 1 tablespoon batter per cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheets and bake, switching position of baking sheets (top to bottom, front to back) halfway through baking, until cookies are lightly browned and springy to the touch; about 10 to 15 minutes.
Let cookies cool on pans 1 minute; transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

For Cream Cheese Ice Cream:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Beat in vanilla.

Heat the milk in a saucepan until bubbles just start forming around the edges. Slowly beat the hot milk into the cheese mixture. Stir in the cream and cover and refrigerate until chilled (about 4 hours) or overnight.

Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.


To assemble sandwiches:
Prepare lots of flat area in your freezer and some shallow plastic freezer-safe containers or plates.
Take 1 cookie and top with 1 to 2 tablespoons of cream cheese ice cream fresh from ice cream maker, or after being frozen and slightly softened. Top with another cookie and place in freezer immediately.
Repeat with remaining pairs of cookies.

Freeze 2 to 3 hours or until set. They thaw fairly quickly, so you don't want to remove them too soon from the freezer before serving.

Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookie

I originally saw this recipe last month browsing the December issue of Gourmet during breakfast. I changed it a bit, but barely, more to suit the ingredients I have and know how to get. Mine don't look nearly as square as the ones in the magazine picture, but I'm bad with shapes. They taste good (the batch that wasn't darkened, that is), and that's the important part.
I found it was easier to handle the dough taking only one bar out of the fridge at a time, I didn't have to worry about it softening too much that way.

Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies
from December 2006 Gourmet

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh orange zest
2 1/2 oz cup shelled pistachios (around 1/2 cup)
1 1/4 oz dried cranberries (around 1/3 cup)

1 large egg, lightly beaten
turbinado sugar


First make dough:
Stir together flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.

Beattogether butter, granulated sugar, and zest in bowl of an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until dough just clumps together; mix in pistachios and cranberries. Gather and press dough together, then divide into 2 equal pieces. Using a sheet of plastic wrap as an aid, form each piece of dough into a rectangular prism of a log with a base of approximately 1x1 inch.

-Approximately 2 hours to 3 days later slice and bake cookies:
Put oven racks in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Brush egg over 4 long sides of bars (but not ends). Sprinkle turbinado sugar on a separate sheet of parchment or wax paper and press bars into sugar, coating well (or press sugar into bars, which is a bit more effective).

Cut each bar crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices, rotating bar after cutting each slice to help keep square shape. Arrange cookies about 1/2 inch apart on lined baking sheets.

Bake sheets one at a time until edges are pale golden, about 9 to 15 minutes. Transfer cookies from parchment to racks using a spatula and cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Grasshopper Squares

Grasshopper Squares were part of the cover spread of the December 2005 issue of Gourmet, and I had to try them when I saw them.

I first made these last year, using Baker's chocolate and borrowed Creme de Menthe. This year, I put some creme de menthe in our cart at the liquor store and now have my very own bottle. We also upgraded to even fancier chocolate. The mint ganache turned out better using the Valrhona chocolate than it did with the Ghirardelli last year, but that's the only place I really noticed a difference.

Also, the brownie cooks through in less than 20 minutes, so I learned that last year too. My mint ganache set much quicker this year due to some changes I made in measurements, in addition to the change in ingredients, but since I'm not sure of the exact measurements, I don't want to modify the original recipe.