Bake or Break

Classic Apple Pie

Jennifer had her hands full this Thanksgiving as she had taken on the majority of the cooking for 16 people. I was able to take off Wednesday to lend a hand as needed with her numerous concoctions and to work on three of my own. Of course, given my favorite baker’s aversion to raw meat, the turkey was all mine (this year, anyway, as I was not struck down by some wretched little bug). I also made a focaccia seasoned to compliment the dressing Jennifer made (which, unfortunately, never made it in front of a camera). My third contribution was an apple pie. I’ve been itching to make a pie since watching Alton Brown’s pie episode, Crust Never Sleeps, so I based my pie on his method. The crust preparation was discussed at length in another post, so I’ll move right on to the filling.

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Alton Brown’s Pie Crust

Jennifer and I have a strong personal attachment to pies. Sure, it’s more the mathematical π variety, but I’m certainly not one to turn down a pretty piece of pie. Considering that the crust is literally and figuratively the foundation of a good pie, when I was tasked with making an apple pie for our Thanksgiving festivities, I naturally turned to our chief food engineer, Alton Brown. Actually, I’d seen his episode Crust Never Sleeps ages ago and have been yearning to try out his techniques ever since.

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Chocolate Bread Pudding

View more photos I really wanted to make something chocolate-y for Thanksgiving, but I had a hard time figuring out what to make. I had thought about a chocolate cake, but that just seemed boring. The day before Thanksgiving, I remembered seeing this recipe from Paula Deen. I looked it over and decided it was [...]

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Pecan Pie Cheesecake

View more photos As I told you earlier in the week, one of our Thanksgiving desserts was this cheesecake recipe I’ve been waiting rather impatiently to make. It takes two of my very favorite things – pecan pie and cheesecake – and makes one fantastic dessert.

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Brown Sugar Cinnamon Biscotti

View a printable recipe or more photos I was tasked this week with baking something that Quinn’s parents could take with them to St. Louis for Thanksgiving. I started thinking about what kind of baked good would be most likely to survive an airplane ride, and decided that biscotti would be just the thing. I [...]

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Corn Bread Bites

View a printable recipe or more photos One of our fall-back dinners, especially in cooler weather, is a very simple bowl of chili. Usually, we have corn bread with our chili, provided we have the time and energy to make it. My go-to recipe for corn bread is a nice, just-sweet-enough version that I’ve been [...]

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