A (Borrowed) Kitchen Keeper Original - Mustard and Rosemary Roasted Turkey with Pepper and Port Wine Gravy

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I couldn't share this recipe before the holiday because I had not yet tested it. I rarely make a dish for company unless I've tried it at least once, but I made an exception this Thanksgiving. I found the recipe for the turkey in Food and Wine magazine and I've had such good luck with their recipes that I didn't hesitate to serve it fresh off the chopping block on Turkey Day. I guess that means I'm less afraid of my friends judgement than I am yours. This is an exceptionally easy recipe, and now that it's been tested I can tell you it makes a great turkey for a small group of adventurous eaters. Please note, the rub is applied to the bird the day before it goes into the oven and once that is done the turkey is oven ready and can be forgotten. I do hope that those of you who serve turkey on Christmas Day will give some thought to this recipe. You won't be sorry. While I served it with garlic mashed potatoes, the next time I make it I think I'll serve it with a potato gratin. I love the port and pepper gravy, but I think it's better on the turkey than it is on potatoes. Here is how the turkey and gravy are made. Happy Holidays!

A Kitchen Keeper Original - Pumpkin Cheesecake with Orange Caramel Sauce

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I know that all families have holiday traditions. Ours are probably different than yours. While we'll be having turkey with all the trimmings this year, the bird has never been the focus of our Thanksgiving feast. Thanksgiving was, is, and probably always will be about dessert in this house. When the children were home, everyone got to pick the dessert they wanted to end the meal. There was always a pumpkin, an apple, a mincemeat and a lemon meringue pie sitting on the sideboard, and because they were so popular back in the day, you'd also find loaves of cranberry and pumpkin bead waiting to be sliced. This year I'm updating some of those traditional desserts, so I'm going to serve a luscious pumpkin and orange cheesecake instead of pumpkin pie. It's a bit of a pother to make, but one bite of this rich and creamy cake will have your socks going up and down. Despite what you may have heard, I do not have nerves of steel, so I make and freeze the cake the weekend before the holiday. I move it to the refrigerator to thaw the night before I want to serve it, so while it takes up valuable space, it makes the cook's life much easier come the big day. This cake has a lovely creamy texture and its faintly orange flavor is enhanced with a caramel sauce that is also orange flavored. It's a lovely riff on an old favorite and I know those of you who try the recipe will love the cake. Here is how it is made.

Pumpkin Pudding

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I've been known to joke that my house is always ready for company, except when it's not. A while back the phone rang at one of my most "not" moments and left me with about three hours to sanitize, beautify and cook for folks whose company we enjoy, but don't see often. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, a plan for an easy but festive meal came together. I fell back on my three fall P's of pork, potatoes and pumpkin. Years ago, I made an icebox cake that was always well received. While I had no time to make or set the cake portion of the dessert, I could make the filling and serve it as a creamy, almost mousse-like, pudding. I think you'll really like this one. It is a novel way to serve pumpkin, but it still is in keeping with the spirit of the season. I've used whole milk and heavy cream to make the dessert, but low-fat and non-dairy products can also be used. I love to serve this with my favorite Swedish gingersnaps. A crackling fire, great coffee and a brandy are also wonderful accompaniments. Here's the recipe.

Cranberry-Cormeal Skillet Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Long holiday weekends are wonderful, but for those who have friends and family dropping by, keeping the larder company ready can be difficult. Pumpkin and apple desserts are so ubiquitous at this time of year, that I try to bypass them once the big day itself has passed. This cake is one that I fall back on during the Thanksgiving season. It is child-like in its preparation, but when served warm with a scoop of good ice cream, it a welcoming dessert that will please all who gather at your table. The cake has a slight crunch due to the addition of cornmeal, and because fresh cranberries are used for flavor, it is a step above your average holiday cake. It will have a special appeal to those who enjoy desserts that are not overly sweet. The cake takes about 15 minutes to mix and it requires no special equipment to make. If you have a couple of bowls and a wooden spoon you can have the cake on the table in about an hour. If you like sweet and savory combinations, do give this recipe a try. Here is how the cake is made.

Cranberry Bread Pudding with Orange Hard Sauce - Thanksgiving Desserts

Cranberry Bread Pudding with Orange Hard Sauce

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I'm probably a member of the last generation raised in kitchens where nothing was wasted, including stale bread and leftover rice. Rice and bread puddings were fixtures of my childhood. Bread pudding, both sweet and savory, has a long history in the annals of cooking. It can be traced to peasant kitchens where frugal and often hungry cooks refused to discard stale bread. The earliest recipe for bread pudding can be traced to a book called "The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy" by Hannah Glasse. It was published in 1747. Her recipe, save for instructions written in old English, is quite similar to those in use today. She adds butter, eggs and milk to stale bread and steams (boils) her pudding to completion. I prefer to bake mine.

I have a sentimental attachment to Cranberry Bread Pudding. It is, of course, delicious, but it's also one of the first recipes I entered into amateur recipe competition. It didn't embarrass me and it's stood the test of time. I make the pudding several times a year and it has become a fixture on my holiday dinner table. While the original recipe was made with croissants, and I do, by the way, urge you to use them, other sweet breads can be used as a substitute. The pudding shown in today's post was made with a raisin sweet bread because that is what I had on hand. Pumpkin pie spice is used to keep the number of ingredients used in the recipe under control. That's important in competition recipes, but less so in the confines of your own kitchen. I'm inserting a list of spices within the recipe that can be used in case you don't keep pumpkin pie spice in your pantry. This pudding is packed with down-home flavor and it's a wonderful addition to the holiday dessert table. The hard sauce is to die for - really! You can find the recipe here.

                    

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                       Apple Oat Muffins                                           Pumpkin Sage and Sausage Rigatoni

                Three Years Ago Today:                                                  Four Years Ago Today: 

            Pumpkin Butterscotch Fudge                                                     Clam Fritters

Double Pork Loin Roast with Fennel and Sage

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I made a last minute change to our dinner menu on Thanksgiving Day. I originally planned to do a cider brined pork loin, but as the various elements of the supper came together I realized I didn't have the room to store or bake the apples that make the dish so special. Fortunately, pork is very forgiving, so I decided to go with a recipe for a fennel and sage rubbed loin that first appeared in Sunset magazine over a decade ago. Pork roasted in this manner is delicious, but I have a couple of suggestions to share with those of you who are adventurous enough to give this very simple recipe a try. I marinate pork roasts for at least 8 hours in a salt and sugar brine to assure the meat remains moist as it bakes. I've included instructions for making the brine with tonight's post, should you want to give it a try. I know from experience that it will enormously improve the taste and texture of the pork and guarantee a moist roast. I  highly recommend brining the loin prior to roasting. My other suggestion has to do with cooking time. My family likes their pork moist and pink, so I always cook it to 140 degrees and then remove it from the oven. I have found that the 2-1/4 hours recommended in this recipe will produce a dry roast. In order to avoid that, I begin to check the interior temperature of the meat when it has been in the oven for 1-3/4 hours. I strongly recommend you use a meat thermometer and pull the roast from the oven when its interior temperature  reaches 140 degrees. My holiday roast was a 6 pound double loin and it was ready in less than 2 hours. It is also important to tent the roast with foil and let it sit for 15 minutes before carving. The drippings from this roast are delicious, but they are not copious enough to make a gravy, so don't plan on serving gravy dependent sides with the roast. The rub for this roast has attitude and it will not appeal to peckish eaters, but those who love well seasoned meat will be in the foodie version of 7th heaven. Here is how the roast is made.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I've had these rolls in the freezer for a month now. My original plan was to serve them for breakfast on Thanksgiving Day, but unexpected guests depleted my freezer stash this morning. The good news is the rolls disappeared quickly, and that always is a sure sign that a recipe is good enough to share with you. The recipe was developed by Diane Rattray, a Southern cooking expert at about.com. I've worked with her recipes before, so I knew the rolls would be great. The recipe looks long and a bit complicated, but it is neither. The ingredient list contains a lot of common seasonal spices and several types of sugar that I suspect you already have in your pantry, and I'm happy to report the directions that come with the recipe, include instructions for making the rolls by hand, with a dough hook or in a bread machine. Unbaked rolls can be frozen for up to a month and those that are baked can also be frozen for that length of time if they are not frosted. I love to serve these warm and dripping with the cream cheese glaze, but there is no reason they can't be served at room temperature. If you are looking for a seasonal breakfast roll, you might want to give this one a try. Here is how the buns are made.

On the Side - Cranberries with Port Wine, Vichy Carrots and Peppered Squash

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I did the shopping for our holiday meal this morning and then, as luck would have it, learned this afternoon that there will be more people at the table than I had planned or shopped for. At this point, I'm not about to run out and buy a larger roast or supplement it with a second meat entree, but I will add some additional side dishes to the groaning board. I've had my eye on the three recipes I'm featuring tonight for awhile now and the news was all the motivation I needed to give them a try. The first is a cranberry sauce that is made with a reduction of ruby port, and while it is not for children, those of you who are known to take a nip or two will love it. The sauce is great go-with for pork or turkey, but it would especially shine if served with fattier duck or goose. The second recipe is for Vichy carrots. The recipe gets its name from the sparkling water that the French originally used to prepare the dish. The lightly glazed carrots are simple, delicious and inexpensive to make. If you have no sparkling water, throw a pinch of baking soda into tap water and pretend you have the real thing. The last recipe is for winter squash, and, of the three side dishes, it is the most interesting. Bland squash is seasoned with fresh thyme and hot pepper that takes it up a notch or two or three. The best thing about this recipe is the the dish can be made early in the day and reheated come party time. I do hope you'll give these side dishes a try. The are all a new take on old holiday recipes and I really think you'll enjoy them. Here is how they are made.

Simple Sugar and Pumpkin Spice Cookies

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This cookie is one of my survival secrets. I bake our Thanksgiving pies the night before the holiday. Once they're in the oven I make myself a pumpkin latte and have 2 or 3 of these very old-fashioned cookies. They're basically sugar cookies that are made unique with a heavy dose of pumpkin pie spice. I originally found the recipe, here. As you might suspect, I need a little pick-me-up at that time of night and these cookies fill the bill. The cookies are simple to make and the finished biscuit has brown crisp edges and a soft chewy center. They are perfect with coffee or tea and they make a perfect treat at this time of year. If you are looking for a simple seasonal cookie you might want to give these a try. Here is how the cookies are made.

Cranberry Streusel Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...My honesty sometimes gets me in trouble. I hope this won't be one of those occasions. I began my Thanksgiving countdown with 2 pounds of cranberries and a determination to use them all before the holiday arrived. That determination led me to this recipe, and the fact that it used several cups of cranberries made it, from my perspective anyway, a perfect candidate candidate for the blog. I had no great expectations for the cake, as its appearance, even in the professional photo, lacked the allure that makes some recipes irresistible. I dutifully worked my way through the recipe, plopped the cake in the oven and got on with making the rolls that I planned to serve on Thanksgiving Day. Save for the fact that it took 15 minutes longer than expected to bake, the cake was trouble free and didn't look half-bad when I pulled it from the oven. I still had no expectations and was in no hurry for that first bite, but when that came 4 hours later I had to eat my words along with the cake. I really think you'll like this. The cake is buttery, the cranberries sweetly tart and the streusel appropriately other worldly. Those of you who enjoy barely sweet, European desserts are in for a real treat. What I thought would be acceptable, is instead, different, delightful and delicious and I highly recommend this cake to you. Here is how it's made.

Caramel Pumpkin Pie

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Some foods are so closely associated with the holidays that it seems crass to overlook them. Every time I try to retire one of our holiday pies, the ghosts of Thanksgiving past come back to haunt me. Mincemeat gained a permanent place at our table because it was Grandpa Andy's favorite, and despite the fact that no one eats it, everyone insists we have one for the holiday. I go through the same dance with pumpkin pie. It has never been anyone's favorite, but it's so much a part of Thanksgiving tradition that it, too, always appears on our table. I do have a confession to make. I play with pumpkin pie, as a matter of fact I shamelessly play with pumpkin pie, and every year I give a new recipe a try. This year I came across a version that uses hot caramel syrup to sweeten the pumpkin custard. Given my track record and the fact the recipe came from Food and Wine magazine, there was no question as to what this year's version of the pie would be. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised with the results. This pie is less spicy than most, but what could be bland pumpkin comes alive with notes of butterscotch flavoring the custard. I think you'll like this and those of you who enjoy butterscotch might even love it. Be sure to use a large saucepan when making the syrup. It will foam and bubble furiously when cream is added to it and you are going to want a pan large enough to contain it and prevent burns. This pie is a bit more involved to make than most, but if you are looking for a modern take on an old favorite, you might want to give this one a try. Here is how the pie is made.

Brown Sugar and Sweet Potato Bundt Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I would so love to tell you that I'm set for the upcoming holiday, but that would be a stretch of such magnitude that even Old Nick would blush. Truth is, I still have no idea how many people will be seated at my table, much less what I'm going to feed them, and until that gets sorted out my motto is going to be "Let them eat cake." Fortunately, I've been experimenting with a handful of cakes that are so good you could make a meal out of them. This one would actually contribute to the vegetable component of the meal. The recipe comes from The Washington Post and those of you who give it a try will really be delighted. I happen to love this cake and it will be making repeated appearances on my fall and winter table. It is a well-spiced cake that gets its moisture from pureed sweet potatoes or pumpkin. While I have never seen pureed sweet potatoes in markets around here, I wanted to follow the recipe as it was written, so I boiled and pureed the potatoes needed to make the cake rather than use canned pumpkin puree. The cake has a moist crumb and a slightly crisped crust that gives it fabulous texture. It is a good keeper, and while it might be too heavy to serve at the end of a big meal, it would make a perfect company or snack cake for the remainder of the holiday weekend. I really hope you'll try this one. While I can't tell you the cake is good for you, I can tell you that sweet potatoes were once the main source of nourishment for homesteaders and soldiers during the Revolutionary War. That has to count for something. Here is how the cake is made.

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Yesterday afternoon, I chanced to comment that the sky, which had grayed considerably, looked like the Thanksgiving sky of my Chicago childhood. Well, this morning we were greeted with the remains of an early storm that left a very Midwestern mix of hail, sleet and snow lightly covering the ground. Unfortunately, that pristine cover weighed far more heavily on the fir trees whose boughs were bent under the weight of ice that had accumulated on them. Ice on our shallow rooted fir trees is a bit like a troubled marriage that cracks under stress. As an outsider, you want to avoid the drama and sound affects that are associated with its demise. You especially want to avoid proximity to those limbs, who signal with an eerie echoing crack, that gravity has triumphed and they are coming down. Sensible folks stay inside until the sun begins the melt that will set everything back in order. That also means that those sensible folks who have food blogs get some extra time to search out a new recipe or two. The days when apple, pumpkin and mincemeat pies were the must-have desserts for Thanksgiving Day are long gone, and the need for something new or different has become the order of the day. I found several new recipes for holiday desserts this morning and this upside-down cake is the first I want to share with you. The cake has a lovely crumb and I think you will enjoy the slightly tart cranberry layer that tops it. The recipe for the cake is based on one that was developed by Lindsey Shere and it was originally featured in the Williams-Sonoma, Winter Seasonal Celebration Series. It is not difficult to make and it would be a perfect addition to your holiday brunch or dessert table. Here is how this pretty jewel-toned cake is made.

Pumpkin and Chocolate Bundt Cake with Bittersweet Chocloate Glaze

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I don't want you to think I've forgotten about Thanksgiving Day. I plan to devote this week, save for Tuesday, when I'll be featuring a new Table for Two recipe, to cakes and desserts that are perfect for the holiday. I wanted to start with this very simple bundt cake because it is just that. Very Simple. I believe the recipe first appeared in Eating Well magazine, but it has so proliferated that I can't state that as an absolute fact. The cake uses pureed pumpkin to replace much of the oil that's used to make a standard bundt cake, so it is a bit healthier for you than most. It also makes the cake incredibly moist and lends a holiday touch to what would otherwise be just another chocolate cake. I've made this cake several times and have come to the conclusion that it really needs the added flavor that a bittersweet chocolate glaze provides. The cake was originally made with a simple sugar glaze and topped with miniature chocolate chips. It was good, but my family prefers strong flavors and the version made with bittersweet chocolate was their hands down favorite. The cake stays fresh for days and it transports really well. It also makes a terrific base for "Death by Chocolate" type dessert. I hope you'll give this recipe a try. It would make a great addition to your holiday dessert table. Here is how the cake is made.