Butternut Squash & Sage Dinner Rolls

Posted on November 23, 2011 by carey

Super last-minute Thanksgiving idea, right here!

Unless you procrastinate as much as I do, these probably won’t make it onto your Thanksgiving table on Thursday. Despite hosting again this year, I am lucky enough to have many food contributors on the guest list, and I’m reveling in the laziness it has afforded me. I’ll just be wrestling a turkey out of its brine bath and into the oven, mashing up some potatoes, and warming up these yummy guys. That’s it for the major stuff, which leaves time for fun side tasks, like making butter and ginger ale.

But hey, all is not lost, because these rolls are great whenever. This is a nice way to use up leftover butternut squash (or pumpkin, or sweet potato) purée, and they can always be frozen and reheated at a later date. These might not be replacing my go-to dinner roll recipe just yet (which has clearly influenced my methods here as well), but they’re a really nice, seasonal alternative. The flavor of the squash comes through subtly, and I certainly can’t imagine a situation where sage and goat cheese make something worse, can you?

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Posted in appetizers, bread, squash | Leave a comment

Apple & Cheddar Crust Hand Pies

Posted on November 20, 2011 by carey

Prior to this, I had never made an apple pie. I don’t know why, but the mood just never struck me. That was until I came across these little guys on Alexandra’s Kitchen, anyway. I’m not sure if it was the cheese in the crust or the thought of many, tiny pies, but I was smitten! Now, I’d seen pictures of cheese melted right on top of apple pie before and hadn’t found it to be all that appealing. But there was something about the idea of putting it right into the crust that made me say, “YES, these are so happening.”

Unfortunately, these pies and I did not get off on the right foot. The peeling and coring of apples instantly filled me with irritation, and I spent the next ten minutes cursing the stupid dessert and whomever had been bored enough to create it in the first place. But once I finished all of the tedious work and mixed in the sugar and spices, I immediately withdrew my harsh criticisms. I’m sorry, apple pie! Please forgive me. You smell freaking awesome.

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Posted in apples, cheese, dessert, pie, snacks | 7 Comments

Homemade Egg Bagels

Posted on November 13, 2011 by carey

Do you want to know what keeps me from going on perpetual meringue benders? It’s not the thought of a rapidly expanding waist line, nor a fear of all my teeth rotting away to nothing. Oh no, none of that could keep me away from those brightly-colored macarons, or angel food cake covered in strawberries and whipped cream. Pavlovas. Baked Alaska. Noooooommm. The thing that holds me back: all those pesky, leftover egg yolks.

See, things like multitasking and planning hurt my head. I envy those of you who will throw together an angel food cake, pop it in the oven, then whip up a batch of lemon curd while it bakes. It’s one thing at a time for me. Otherwise my cake will burn, or I’ll accidentally put salt in the lemon curd instead of sugar—seriously, it’s too much. But then what to do with all those egg yolks? Luckily, I discovered that they can be covered with water and refrigerated in an air-tight container for a couple days. That gives me just enough time to collect myself and prepare for my next kitchen adventure.

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Posted in bread, breakfast, eggs | 4 Comments

Pumpkin & Sage Ravioli

Posted on November 6, 2011 by carey

I finally did it. I put pumpkin in something that isn’t a cookie. Or a muffin. Or a cinnamon roll. It’s taken over a year, but can you blame me? With so many other dinner-friendly varieties of squash out there, the adorable little pumpkin begs to be lovingly cradled from the store all the way to the kitchen, then turned into delectable treats. (I refuse to believe that I’m the only person who carefully searches the pumpkin pile until I’m sure I’ve found the cutest one, then proudly parades it around the store.)

This was my second attempt at a savory pumpkin dish. The first, sadly, was not a success. I made pumpkin gnudi that were more like boiled pumpkin paste blobs than pasta. (As I started to make the dough, it quickly became apparent to me that my pumpkin purée was too watery. I attempted to compensate by adding more egg, cheese, and flour, but it did not do the trick.) Luckily, I did not give up on pumpkin for dinner! And these ravioli were far better. I have since seen a few pumpkin gnocchi/gnudi dishes kicking around the gawkerverse, so I will definitely be giving that one a try again. (I will not be outdone!) ;)

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Posted in dinner, herbs, pasta, pumkpin | 12 Comments

Chai-Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Posted on October 31, 2011 by carey

I’d like to take a moment to talk to you about a serious addiction I had many, many years ago. Absurd amounts of money went towards supporting my habit. I would indulge at least once—and sometimes twice—a day. I’d sneak away during lunch breaks to get a fix. I even tried to drag my friends and co-workers into my world of obsession.

My addiction: Starbucks Pumpkin Chai Lattes. I know everyone is all about the pumpkin espresso lattes as soon as fall hits, but I’m telling you, pumpkin chai lattes are where it’s at. Imagine drinking a warm cup of extra-spicy pumpkin panna cotta—it’s that good. I’m going to stop myself right here before I go full throttle on the latte love, because this post is about cookies, not lattes!

Point is, I’ve become quite the coffee and tea snob since I moved to Vermont a few years ago. I turn my nose up at coffee that isn’t roasted locally. I want nothing to do with chai that comes from a box. I know, I know—groan if you must, but it’s an unavoidable side effect of having a barista brother who also roasts coffee at a local shop, and a boyfriend who manages the café at another. (I even feel the need to put the acute accent on the “e” in “café”—it’s that bad.) If it’s any consolation, I still load my coffee up with cream and sugar, so there’s hope that I may not become completely insufferable!

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Posted in cookies, dessert, pumkpin | 29 Comments

Candy Corn Cake: Failure

Posted on October 26, 2011 by carey

Have you ever had an idea that you wanted to work so badly, you managed to drown out all the very logical reasons it might go wrong with one single thought: Man, this is going to be awesome! Allow me to introduce you to my idea: Candy Corn Cake.

Me and Candy Corn Cake, we were destined for greatness. It all started with a spree of cake successes. An epic rainbow cake. A festive German flag cake. A 6-layer pumpkin and chocolate cake with chai buttercream frosting (no picture available, due to me making it for my own birthday party, then dropping the majority of it on the floor after a few too many vodka tonics). I got greedy. I needed more pretty cakes! With Halloween just around the corner, candy corn was the perfect choice. I’d get me a bundt pan, divide a white cake batter into thirds, dye one yellow and one orange, then layer them all—white, orange, yellow—in the pan. For the first two layers, I’d stick the pan in the freezer, just to get the batter to stiffen up enough to keep the following layer from displacing it. Then I’d bring it back to room temperature, pop it in the oven, and an hour later, out would come Candy Corn Cake! Maybe I’d even go all out and cut it down into a more triangular shape before frosting. And then . . . then . . . I’d reveal Candy Corn Cake to the world! Fellow cake-lovers would marvel. Babies would squeal with delight. Even the grumpiest of old men would stoically nod and declare, “now that’s a cake.”

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Posted in cake, chocolate, dessert, learning | 14 Comments

Homemade Cheez-Its

Posted on October 16, 2011 by carey

I think it’s a widely agreed-upon fact that the typical “office-job” environment fosters terrible eating habits. The four years I spent working in an office could serve as a prime example of how someone should not treat their body. At my craziest, I was working between 50–60 hours a week, and allowing no time in my morning routine to eat breakfast or pack lunch. By 7:00 a.m., I’d be at my desk, mainlining coffee and grumbling out responses to emails as I typed them. Around 10:00 a.m., I’d take a break to chat with coworkers and devour an ungodly amount of cheese and crackers. (My department was never without several boxes of crackers and a block of cheese—a modus operandi I still live by, but practice on a slightly more subdued scale.) At least once a week, we’d take a trip to Panera for lunch and I’d justify buying a loaf of tomato basil bread to “take home,” which would then turn into a half hallowed-out bread shell before the day was done. And since I’d be working at least an hour or two late, 3:00 p.m. meant diet Coke and snack time. And any snack machine pro knows it’s worth it to spend the extra quarter on the Cheez-Its, because those 20%-snack/80%-air bags of chips and popcorn are for suckers.

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Posted in appetizers, cheese, easy-peasy, snacks | 23 Comments

German Flag Layer Cake

Posted on October 1, 2011 by carey

I spent two weeks in Germany just over a decade ago. (Let’s pause for a moment so I can get over how old that sentence made me feel.) I had been to Europe the year before with a group from my high school, which was kind of a blur—an awesome, fun-filled blur—due to the amount of standard sight-seeing we had to cram in after some travel delays (which involved a night spent in Newark airport, a missed connection in London, and a severely jet-lagged me browsing through duty free shops like a zombie). To this day, the best $2 I have ever spent was on a shower in the London-Heathrow airport. But traveling to Germany on my own to visit friends who lived there was a completely different, uninsulated experience that allowed me to take in much more of what was going on around me. Why is all of this water fizzy? What is this delicious chocolate spread you eat for breakfast? How can something called “grey bread” be so good? Why does this beer go down like water? To this day, it baffles me when someone gives a hefeweizen the “yick” face and says it tastes like bananas. Whatever, man, more banana beer for me.

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Posted in cake, chocolate, dessert, party fun | 12 Comments

Scallion & Cheese Buns

Posted on September 26, 2011 by carey

When the folks from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board contacted me about doing a guest post on their Wisconsin Cheese Talk blog, I was totally psyched (and surprised!). Despite the fact that I’ve been doing this for over a year (PK turned 1 on the 9th!), it still amazes me that there are people besides my mom and a few loyal friends who actually read and follow what I do here. A zillion thanks and lots of Xs and Os to you all! I had some reservations about joining the blog world, but you’ve all shown me that it’s a great place to be. :)

And what better way to celebrate one year of existence than with some bread and cheese? This dinner roll recipe on its own is amazing. Fill it with scallions, parm, and smokey cheddar, and you’ve got a real show-stealer on your hands. So head on over to Wisconsin Cheese Talk and check ‘em out. Ogle, drool, then make!

Posted in bread, cheese, ramblings | 6 Comments

Roasted Tomato & Pesto Pizza, for one!

Posted on September 20, 2011 by carey

Q: What’s better than a big ol’ yummy pizza?
A: A small yummy pizza, just for you!

Despite how often I make them, this is the first one to actually make it on PK. Sadly, my preference for natural light in my photos directly conflicts with the fact that I make most of my pizzas in the evening, and the few leftover slices don’t exactly make for good pictures. I’ve considered dragging out the lighting equipment, but the kitchen chaos that occurs while making pizza isn’t exactly a welcome environment for large, in-the-way things, and the whole thing would likely end in me poking an eye out on an umbrella tip. And while I do think I could seriously rock an eye patch, my already-poor depth perception could not handle such a major blow. And thus, the majority of my creations have gone undocumented.

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Posted in bachelorette food, cheese, dinner, pesto, pizza, tomatoes | 1 Comment