5 Years of

Turkey

Lots of desserts

Wine

More meat

Delicious side dishes

Too many desserts

Friends

Tradition

Much too many desserts

More food than one could imagine out of a NYC kitchen

More people than you’d usually fit in a 1-bedroom apartment

5 Years of Thanksgiving with Friends

Five years ago, in what started out as a “dinner club” with two other couples, Matt and I hosted our first mock Thanksgiving dinner with friends.  Four friends came to Matt’s apartment at the time for a turkey, sweet potato casserole, and some other dishes that aren’t memorable enough to stand out in my mind.  It was a fun night and such a success that in the years that followed, our intimate dinner party of six has turned into an annual event with almost twenty friends.  It gives us an opportunity to be in the kitchen together, share an evening with many of our closest friends, and show them how thankful we are for them through delicious food.

This year’s dinner was so much fun and full of many tasty traditional and non-traditional Thanksgiving dishes: Turkey, Brisket, Turkey Meatloaf, Salad, String Bean Casserole, Sweet Potato Casserole, Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Parmesan, Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce and Pumpkin Bread/Muffins

And of course, as you surely already know, lots of desserts

Cookie sandwiches: Red Velvet Cookie Sandwiches with White Chocolate Buttercream, Chocolate Chip Cookies with Mocha Ganache and Chewy Chocolate Cookies with Peanut Butter Filling

Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake bars

Cookie Dough Topped Brownies

Gooey Caramel Butter Bars

Chocolate Chunk Almond Butter Bars

Brownies with White Chocolate Buttercream and Mocha Ganache

I am excited about the recipes I have to share from the dinner party over the next few weeks!  There are definitely some new desserts that I know I’ll be making again

What is your favorite Thanksgiving-related tradition?

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Buttery Caramel Goodness

I am a chocolate lover.  It is rare that I’d pick a dessert on a menu that doesn’t have chocolate (it would have to be an extremely appealing warm fruit dessert option with ice cream).  However, I have to acknowledge that there are some people out there who don’t feel the same way, especially when I entertain.  The husband and I are planning a dinner party and I have a long list of desserts to include.  That list has been edited down from an even longer list, but it will probably be slightly overboard:-)  That is just how I do it.  Anyway, since I will be baking more than enough desserts for our friends, I realize I need to make sure that each dessert should serve its purpose with a unique set of flavors, textures and appearance.  When I flipped to the Gooey Caramel Butter Bars in my Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey cookbook, I knew I had to make them.  Layers of shortbread cookie dough and creamy decadent caramel?  What else could a non-chocolate lover want?

Luckily I found this recipe online so you can bake these at home.  It is always tough when I decide to bake from a cookbook because I know that I can’t reprint the recipe as is.  Luckily, someone else had it posted so you can refer there for measurement details.  I’ll point out the small changes I made to the original below.

These Gooey Caramel Butter Bars have several steps but are not difficult to make.  Just make sure you have a couple of hours because you need your crust to cool before layering on the caramel and topping.

For the shortbread you will need an entire pound of butter, granulated and confectioners’ sugars, vanilla, salt and all-purpose flour

You will need a sifter for your confectioners’ sugar

I used my make-shift version from last time

Then you will beat together all of the butter, granulated sugar and sifted confectioners’ sugar

Beat well until it is creamy and a little fluffy

Beat in your vanilla and salt and then set aside

Sift your flour as well

And then slowly add to the dough while mixer is on low

Combine just until a thick dough forms

Now you will set aside 2/3 of your dough

Flatten it out on seran wrap

Wrap it up and refrigerate until you need it as a topping

Your other third of the shortbread dough will go into a 9×13 pan sprayed with cooking spray

Use your hands to flatten out the dough

Then bake at 325 for about 25 minutes, or until lightly golden brown around the edges; allow to cool on a rack prior to adding additional layers

While the crust cools, it is time to make your caramel; you will need 1 bag of caramel candies, heavy whipping cream, vanilla, salt and the optional kick of dark rum (I used just a tablespoon and didn’t notice much effect on flavor)

Put all of the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl

And microwave the mixture for a minute, then small 30 second increments

Stir in-between microwave sessions

Your caramel will start to look like this

And then more like this

and this

then this

And then finally it will be smooth and creamy like this

When the shortbread crust is cooled to room temperature and the caramel is ready, spread it onto the crust

If you keep the caramel away from the edges, clean-up will be a lot easier

My “secret” ingredient

Sprinkle the sea salt lightly over caramel (next time I’ll use a little more than in the picture below)

Now get the rest of the dough out of the refrigerator to top your bars

Break it up into small pieces and pile them evenly on top of the caramel

Then bake again for about 30 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and the caramel is bubbling

Cut and serve!

Notice that you can see the grease marks on the cutting board, these really are buttery but as a result, they melt in your mouth in a very delicious way.

Are you a chocolate lover? What is your favorite non-chocolate dessert?

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Showing Almond Butter Some Love

Bars are such an easy thing to make and serve. Rather than dropping dozens of cookies onto several baking sheets and switching pans in and out of the oven, you can spread the batter into one large pan and bake it in one batch. Once they are done and cool, you just slice and serve. Pieces can be as big or small as you want.

Since I have a ton of baking to do over the next month or so, I have found a few recipes that are less time consuming to mix in with the more complicated desserts. Besides, as it turns out, sometimes the easiest desserts are the most popular! I am really excited about the recipes I will be making over the next several weeks, and I think you will enjoy them as well. This recipe is a good start to the holiday baking season but can be used year round. I was excited when I found it because it uses almond butter as a main ingredient. I haven’t baked with almond butter before, I am more of a die-hard peanut butter lover, but I do enjoy it for variety. This Food &Wine cookbook actually has a ton of great recipes and this recipe for Chocolate Chunk Almond Butter Bars is one of the more simple that I found.

For a change, I didn’t make any tweaks, and I don’t think it needs any. These crispy and chewy bars would be terrific with a glass of milk, but I’ll be serving them among a selection of many other desserts.

The details to the recipe can be found here.

For this recipe you will need a food processor and just a few ingredients

Side note: the hardest part of making these was getting my food processor down from the back corner of my top kitchen shelf

Chop your nuts and set aside

 

Then mix up the dough in the food processor (you don’t need to clean it between these steps)

Stir in chocolate chips (I used chunks) and chopped almonds.

Spread it out in your baking pan

Bake

Crispy, chewy, delicious

Have you baked with almond butter before?

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