I recently partnered with Wisconsin Cheese to create a dessert highlighting their mascarpone cheese and then film the recipe. I went with my all-time favorite: a berry crumble.
For me, making crumbles is a windows-open-music-on-life-is-good sort of experience. They’re impossible to mess up and they always satisfy. Check out the full recipe plus the video Blake and I shot (and Wisconsin Cheese edited) here.
I have a tiny family: my parents, one sister, two grandparents, a handful of aunts and uncles and one first cousin. One. Consequently, our holidays are incredibly low-key. No spreadsheets, no planning weeks in advance, no last-minute disasters. My mom usually throws Thanksgiving dinner together day-of and it’s always perfect.
There aren’t a lot of duties to go around, so I try to really perfect the one dish I’m in charge of — this year, pumpkin pie. There are a thousand recipes for it and too often it turns out very meh. This is not a quick-and-easy pie but I promise you, this is a pie worth making. Homemade gingersnap cookies turn into a homemade pie crust, filled with a not-too-sweet pumpkin filling and topped with a thick bourbon whipped cream. (Homemade whipped cream is my favorite food.)
Gingersnap Pumpkin Pie with Bourbon Whipped Cream
Inspired by Joy the Baker and Mark Bittman.
Gingersnap Crust
1 1/2 cups crumbled gingersnap cookies
4 tablespoons butter
Pumpkin Filling
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
1 1/4 cups milk or cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
pinch salt
Bourbon Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon bourbon
First, make gingersnap cookies. I prefer Deb's recipe.
Once the gingersnaps are completely cooled, mix gingersnap crumbs with butter using a food processor. If all the crumbs aren't coated in butter, use more as needed. Assemble the crust in a shallow 8-inch tart pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool completely.
Combine pumpkin, milk, sugar, eggs, and spices for the filling. Pour into cooled crust and bake for another 35-40 minutes.
For the whipped cream, it's best to use an electric mixer. Mix heavy whipping cream, maple syrup, and bourbon on high for at least 5 minutes, until whipped cream is thick. Serve and enjoy. Finish for breakfast the next day.
I received my Sprouted Kitchen cookbook in the mail yesterday and promptly read it cover to cover. Simply said, it is perfection. With an emphasis on fresh, wholesome foods, Sara cooks in a way that is healthy and decadent, modest and flavorful.
Sara’s recipes are elegant and understated. She understands that dinner party guests don’t want boring hippy food, providing vegan/vegetarian/raw/gluten-free recipes that you would never know are such. She writes about her affinity for sweets, but how catering to her sweet tooth often means whipping up something like grilled peaches or goat cheese panna cotta instead of a hot fudge sundae filled with a mile-long list of unpronounceable ingredients. She’s “looking out for both of us.”
Her introductions and words throughout the book aren’t just space-fillers, they’re captivating personal stories that bring each recipe to life. Her warmth comes across easily; she feels like a friend you’d want to be around just for the company. And not to mention the gorgeous photography by her husband Hugh — it is truly magic.
Sara and Hugh’s blog has already provided a few staples around here (these pancakes on Sundays, and this soup at least twice a week) and now I want to pull a Julie & Julia and attempt every recipe in the book. But more than anything, this book provides endless inspiration beyond the recipes. Exactly how a cookbook should.
I spent a morning last week with Isa of Marmalade Magazine. We drank tea and ate plum cake in my super sunny living room. It was wonderful. Every time Isa and I are together, we start talking and all of the sudden realize it’s two and a half hours later.
This plum cake is the bomb. I made one for Isa and I to munch on and I made another one the following morning for Blake to take to work. It looks pretty, tastes great, and took two seconds to throw together. It would be a perfect excuse to invite some friends over this weekend and have a lazy, chatty, Saturday morning. Find Isa’s article about our morning here.
Plum Breakfast Cake
(adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 cup cane sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
Zest of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6-8 plums
Mix wet ingredients together, leaving out the butter (sugar, eggs, oils, vanilla). Fold in dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon). Cut the butter into small pieces and mix in last with a fork or pastry cutter. Pour into a non-stick sprayed or parchment paper-lined 8 inch round pan. Place plum slices, cut side up, on top of the cake. Sprinkle with a little sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, or until slightly browned.
Carrot cake has been my cake of choice since my first birthday party, where my parents let me eat a giant piece and smear the icing all over my face.
With this recipe, the cake itself is not overly sweet but the cream cheese icing adds the necessary amount of decadence. While I’m used to (and almost expect) cakes to fail (exhibit A), this recipe is guaranteed tragedy-free. The cake slipped out of the pan effortlessly and and we iced it the next morning, just in time for breakfast. Perfect.
Classic Carrot Cake
2 cups preferred flour
1 1/2 cups vegetable or coconut oil
1 1/2 cups cane sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup shredded apples
8 oz light cream cheese
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
about 3 cups powdered sugar
Mix together wet ingredients (sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla) then add dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt). Fold shredded carrots and apples in last. For the icing, let cream cheese and butter reach room temperature. Mix (with a whisk or an electric mixer) cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract. Fold in sifted powdered sugar until icing reaches desired consistency (about three cups). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until inserted knife or toothpick comes out clean.