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Roasted Kabocha Squash & Sunchoke Soup

December 27, 2012 | posted by Sarah | Leave a Comment

It’s actually embarrassing how little cooking I’ve done the past few weeks. I might have 2 pizza boxes out waiting for the trash man this very moment.

You can relate though, right? I mean you spend all this time before the holidays baking and planning the BIG dinner without really thinking about all the little meals in between. You come home, starving, look in the fridge and realize every time you’ve run to the grocery store in the last week it was for butter, heavy cream, another bag of flour, powdered sugar…

…and the pizza man’s phone rings.

But now it’s time. The Christmas cookies have been baked and (mostly) eaten, the big dinner is over. It’s time to break the cycle, time to erase the pizza delivery number from your recent call history. Time to get back to cooking real food. It’s time for soup.

Today it’s a velvety Kabocha squash and sunchoke soup. And it’s a good one. Really, really good even. It’s creamy and comforting with warm spices and a little sweet, nutty, can’t-quite-put-your-finger-on-it-yumminess from the roasted sunchokes.

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Salted Caramel & Espresso Crumb Bars

December 23, 2012 | posted by Sarah | 6 Comments

You may have noticed, when it comes to dessert, I deal mainly in not-too-sweet, fruity, nutty, and spiced rather than ooey, gooey, and over-the-top. Why? Well, I’m a selfish baker and it’s what I like. Plus it’s easier to rationalize eating a jam-filled cookie at 8 am than it is to explain why you’ve got caramel dripping from your chin and a chocolate mustache first thing in the morning.

Today is different though. I must’ve been hit upside the head with a bucket of Christmas spirit because I’ve decided to bake for tastes other than my own. We’re going all chewy and gooey with these Salted Caramel & Espresso Crumb Bars.

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Apricot & Raspberry Jam Turnovers

December 18, 2012 | posted by Sarah | 4 Comments

Being an avid cookbook reader is nothing new for me. As a kid, I used to pour over cookbooks for hours and hours. The first half of my year was spent analyzing the loose pages of my mom’s Cut-Up Cake Party Book, trying to decide which cake shape would make for a totally epic July birthday party. After my birthday had come and gone (and having the perfect cake had not suddenly made me the talk of the town), I got to switch my focus to my other favorite read, Ideals Christmas Cookbook.

This Christmas cookbook has always had a spell over me. It is full of very fancy, gourmet recipes- “French-Style Appetizer”, “Ham Balls”, “Beef Tingler”. It’s very, very 1970, but I would look at it and fantasize about the wonderful world of the adult holiday season: a never-ending string of dinner parties, cocktail dresses, waltzing, tiny appetizers, laughter echoing through glamorous ballrooms.

But this is real life and grown-up-dom isn’t exactly what I had imagined. No waltzing and most of the dinner parties I attend, I’m wearing a long white apron and passing the tiny appetizers. As for the off-the-shoulder black cocktail dress I bought at 19? It hangs in the basement, still wearing its price tag.

It’s fine, though. I probably wouldn’t even like being at the Ideals’ Christmas party anyway. I’d be grossed out upon realizing “French-Style Appetizer” is actually just a piece of toast with a slice of Spam on top. And knowing me, I’d probably spill the “Beef Tingler” all over my cute cocktail dress.

It’s fine because I have the one recipe from this book that stands the test of time, that you don’t need a party invite to enjoy. Tender, warm, buttery jam-filled turnovers will never go out of vogue and will never stop being my favorite Christmas cookie.

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Chocolate-Dipped Orange Shortbread Cookies

December 16, 2012 | posted by Sarah | 3 Comments

Every December my mom turns into a Christmas baking machine. Everyday for a month she’s getting butter out to soften, firing up the oven, and cranking out cookies. There are peanut butter balls, fudge, jam turn-overs, bittersweet chocolate and coconut shortbread, cherry bars, buttery cut-outs, snowballs, thumbprint cookies, and on and on.

It’s pretty amazing. It’s also a ton of work, lots of trips to the baking aisle of the supermarket, plenty of yelling at cookie dough-snitching kids/dogs/husbands, a few miscellaneous melt-downs along the way.

There is another way though. An easy way. You can arrive at your holiday gatherings with a kaleidoscope of cookies without baking for a solid month.

It’s called a cookie exchange. Most people are probably familiar with the concept, but it came as a revelation to me. You gather up a few friends (preferably amazing bakers) and everyone makes a big batch of one type of cookie to share with the group. You end up with a beautiful assortment of goodies after only one day of cookie baking. Plus, if you’re not a blabber-mouthed food blogger, you can bring your beautiful tray to Christmas, pass them all off as your own, and really impress your family and friends.

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Candied Kumquat & Mascarpone Tart

December 14, 2012 | posted by Sarah | 1 Comment

Candied Kumquats?!? Thought you were going to do something with all those candied orange peels…

I will, I will, but first let me tell you all about my candied kumquat tart. What can I say? I’m a big fan of citrus. Especially this time of year and especially when it is candied. Big fan.

Also, I’m a big fan of concocting desserts tailored specifically to my taste buds. Today we’re looking at a spiced chocolate crust filled with lightly sweetened mascarpone and topped with cinnamon ‘n clove glazed kumquat slices. This tart has my bases (and dessert biases) covered: just enough chocolate, creamy and decadent without being too rich, and bright with citrus. Added bonus, the kumquats are super shiny and I would bet if you parked this tart near a twinkling Christmas tree, it would positively sparkle.

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