Yam and Marshmallow Whoopie Pies

Thanksgiving is already upon us. If you follow this blog then you know we’ve been making Thanksgiving inspired recipes all month and there’s no better way to end November than with something sweet. Yams with marshmallows are usually pretty delicious, but the yams turn out too soggy half the time. Instead of making those soggy tubers, make the stickiest damn cookies EVER. If you have kids I highly recommend giving them these cookies. They’ll be so sticky that you can just kind of stick them to a wall and not have to worry about them for a while. Or they’ll just make everything in your house sticky. Do whatever you want, they’re not my kids.

Despite being so sticky that NASA uses the filling to patch holes in the space station, these cookies are pretty damn good to be honest. They’re a nice break from the traditional pumpkin and pecan pie and they still feel extremely seasonal too. So now is the time to bust out this new recipe and finally show grandma who’s really in charge of the kitchen.

• 1 1/2 cup Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 cup pureed and cooked Yams
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 3 Eggs
• 1/4 cup Butter melted
• 1 tablespoon extra
• 1/4 cup Shortening 
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 3/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 package Big Marshmallows

1. After boiling your cubed yams in water, preheat your oven to 375°. 
2. Using a mixer mix the sugar, eggs, butter, shortening and vanilla together. Add the yams. Sift in the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Fold in all ingredients together with a rubber spatula.
3. Scoop the batter onto a baking tray using soup spoons. Don’t worry about making them perfectly circular, the stickiness of the marshmallows will distract any naysayers. 
4. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown slightly.
5. Let the cookies cool on a cooling rack while you make the marshmallow filling.
6. To make the marshmallow filling use a medium sized sauce pan. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Add all the marshmallows. Constantly stir until the marshmallows are just slightly melted. 
7. Spread on the bottom a cookie and then add another to the top. Dip in chocolate if you’re feeling ambitious.

Everyone enjoy their Thanksgiving and be sure to make all my Thanksgiving recipes this year! All delicious looking photos by Katy Weaver!

Thanksgiving Appetizers

Before we get into this week’s post I’d like to mention Sugpiaq Seafoods. They are a family seafood company that is centered in Portland. They sustainably catch all their seafood in Alaska. If you’re in the Portland area you should definitely check out their king crab dinner. They’re featuring sauces made by a local chef and a hand selected wine pairing. Can’t make it to the dinner? No problem – you can order your king crab directly from their website!

Keeping in the theme of the reimagined Thanksgiving dishes we present the appetizer versions of pumpkin pie and green bean casserole. The first is a Savory Pumpkin Tart with Sage Whipped Cream and the second is Tempura Green Beans & Onions w/ Cream of Mushroom Dipping Sauce. 

The focus on Thanksgiving has always been about the meal, but what about the pre-meal food? The appetizers are an important part of the Thanksgiving meal; they ensure that the post-dinner food coma will last until dessert is served.

No, that’s not gravel. That’s some black lava salt that is going to be available soon from GrubNW!

Sure, these appetizers may not be as healthy as your kale chips, but it’s been proven by scientists (I assume they work for NASA) that heavy whip cream makes everything taste magical and 125% better. Mix it up this year and make something better than just okay. Plus, new experiences make us better people, or at least more well-rounded. Especially with these heavy-cream-rich recipes, you’ll get round real quick! #Comedy!

Savory Pumpkin Tarts

Crust

• 2 cups Flour
• 1/3 cup Shortening 
• 1/3 cup Butter
• 5 tablespoons Cold Water
• 1 tablespoon Vinegar

1. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, mix in the butter, shortening and salt with a pastry blender. Blend until the bits of butter and shortening are about pea sized. Mix in the water and vinegar. 
2. Once the dough is in a ball like shape, roll it out on parchment paper. It  makes things a hundred times easier. Roll until you have a thin crust around 1/4 inch thick or so.
3. Spray a muffin pan with Pam, lots of Pam. Like too much Pam. Pam.
4. I used a glass Pyrex bowl to cut out the circle of dough that would go in the muffin pan. 
5. Place the dough circle in a cup of the muffin pan and crimp the extra dough around the edges to form the crust. 
6. Pre-bake the crusts at 375° for 5 minutes. 

Fillin’

• 2 cups Pumpkin Puree
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Molasses
• 2 teaspoons Paprika
• 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 1 teaspoon Coarse Salt (I used GrubNW’s soon-to-be-released black lava salt)
• plus extra

1. Mix everything together in a big bowl. 
2. Pour into pre-baked tart crusts.
3. Top with the coarse salt before baking.
4. Bake at 375° until the edges of the crust turn golden brown, should be about 10 minutes depending on your oven. Let pastries cool before adding the whipped cream.

Sage Whipped Cream

• 12 Fresh Large Sage Leaves minced
• 2 tablespoons Butter
• 1 cup Whipped Cream
• 1 Egg White
• 1 Ziplock Bag
1. Melt the butter in a skillet. Add the sage. Sautee until your kitchen smells of sage.
2. Pour the sagey butter into a metal bowl. Add the whipped cream and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Time depends on your mixer, but be sure to avoid over beating it!
3. Use a spatula to scoop the whip cream into the ziplock bag. Place in fridge until you’re ready to use it. Cut the tip of the corner of the bag to use it as a pastry bag.

Tempura Green Beans & Onions w/ Cream of Mushroom Dipping Sauce

Tempura

• Tempura Mix
• Water
• Green Beans
• Onion sliced
• Oil (enough to fry the vegetables in 2 inches of oil) 

1. I don’t have a good tempura recipe, I’m not a recipe machine people! By the way, don’t miss our Holiday Original Recipe Spectacular next month featuring 10 new recipes!
2. Heat oil in skillet or wok over medium high heat.
3. Dip the green beans and onion slices in batter and fry until golden brown. This shouldn’t long. Also watch out for those green beans, they might pop while being bathed in the hot oil.

Cream of Mushroom Dipping Sauce

• 3 Shiitake Mushrooms
• 1/2 Medium Yellow Onion minced
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Chicken Stock
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion. Stir occasionally until the onions are slightly browned add the mushrooms and let them brown slightly too. Add the chicken stock. Let the mushrooms absorb the liquid.
2. Add the cream. Heat and stir until it starts simmering.
3. Remove from heat and carefully pour into a blender. Blend until there’s no more mushroom chunks.
4. Serve with the tempura green beans and onions.

So, don’t make that casserole with canned beans and canned soup this year, make something better and different! You should probably still make that pumpkin pie in addition to these tarts though, because I mean come on it’s pumpkin pie! Don’t forget to share these recipes if you like them! Enjoy!

Katy outdid herself with these amazing photos! Check out her website!

Turkey Cakes with Potato Spätzle and Gravy

Before we get into this week’s post I’d like to mention Sugpiaq Seafoods. They are a family seafood company that is centered in Portland. They sustainably catch all their seafood in Alaska. If you’re in Portland on Nov. 20th you should definitely check out their king crab dinner. They’re featuring sauces made by a local chef and a hand selected wine pairing. Can’t make it to the dinner? No problem – you can order your king crab directly from their website! 

Now for a recipe completely unrelated to seafood. As we all know Thanksgiving is coming up at the end of the month, unless you’re Canadian and you celebrated your “Thanksgiving” back in October for some reason. So this month we’re featuring Thanksgiving themed food! It’s basically all the fun of Thanksgiving, without having to deal with your family. And the nice thing about this recipe is, it can be adapted to turn those leftovers into Thanksgiving 2: Leftovers of Vengeance. 

Turkey Cakes

• 2 Turkey Breasts baked
• 3 oz. Ground Pork cooked
• 5 Stalks of Celery chopped
• 1 Medium Yellow Onion diced
• 4 cups Bread Cubes (Stuffing Mix)
• 1 cup Cornbread crumbled (You can use this recipe if you’d like)
• 2 small sprigs of Parsley minced
• 1/2 package (2 teaspoons worth) Stuffing Seasoning Mix (if your bread didn’t come with one of these just use some Sage and Thyme to season the mix)
• 2 cups Chicken Stock
• 1 Egg whisked
• Oil for frying (I use canola oil)

1. Bake the turkey breasts, however you like. Don’t worry if you do it wrong, you’ll only lose everything you’ve ever loved in life. SAVE THE GREASE!
2. Cook the pork with some garlic salt, pepper, and paprika. Cook until browned. SAVE THE GREASE!! (Will be used for the gravy later.)
3. In a separate pan heat enough oil to pan fry the fritters.
4.  Grab the biggest bowl you have, no not that one, the other one. Mix everything together with your hands. Make sure all the bread has gotten wet and everything else is well mixed.
5. Form small 2 inch wide patties. Place in the hot oil. Cook until golden brown. Place on wire rack with a paper towel underneath to drain excess oil.
6. Top with cranberry sauce. 

Cranberry Sauce

• 1 pack of Fresh Cranberries
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Water

1. Throw everything in a pot and cook over high heat until the berries break down. Be sure to stir the mixture to avoid burning. This should take about 10 minutes or so.
2. Take off heat and chill. Use to top the turkey cakes or anything really. 

Potato Spätzle and Gravy

• 1 Russet Potato peeled, diced, boiled, and mashed
• 1 3/4 cup Flour
• 1/3 cup Milk
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil

Gravy-

• Leftover “drippins” from the turkey and pork
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• 1/3 cup Flour
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup Water

1. After you’ve prepared the potato mix all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Place in refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
2. Grab a colander with large holes and a rubber spatula. Portion out about 1/3 of the dough and push it through the colander with the spatula into boiling salt water. Once the spätzle floats, that means it’s done.
3. In a skillet heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat and sautee the spätzle until golden brown. 
4. To make the gravy, brown the drippins’ and butter. Add the flour and brown that as well. Mix in the milk and water. 
5. Acquire a taste for cholesterol medication, because you’ll need it.

Enjoy these Thanksgiving themed recipes and photos! All photos taken by Katy Weaver! Check out her website!

Spiced Apple Cider and Butternut Squash Snickerdoodles

Once again, you should really check out Braised Marketing’s website. Know someone with a food-based company? Braised works with restaurants, food product producers, chefs, wineries, breweries, just about anyone with a passion for food. Mention this blog post and get 10% off your first month of services! Tell everyone you know about Braised Marketing!

I’m not going to write a post about how things change with the seasons. It’s been done too many times (we get it Ben Gibbard, you’re sad). Instead, just enjoy these fun and easy seasonal recipes. If you don’t enjoy them, you probably read the recipes wrong. These recipes are like hugs while wearing your favorite sweater… or that warm feeling could just be glucose rushing to your brain.

Spiced Apple Cider

• 1 quart Apple Juice/Cider 
• 2 Cinnamon Stick
• 5 Whole Cloves
• 1/3 cup Dark Spiced Rum (Kraken of kourse)
• 1 Fuji Apple sliced
• 1 1 in. Orange zest

1. Heat everything in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat until the liquid comes to a simmer and your entire house smells like autumn. 
2. Serve in fancy mugs or mason jars and garnish with an apple slice. Then drink to keep the cold weather at bay.

Butternut Squash Snickerdoodles

• 2 3/4 cup A.P. Flour
• 2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 2 Eggs
• 1/4 cup Butter
• 1/4 cup Shortening
• 1 3/4 cup Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon ground
• 1 teaspoon Baking soda
• 1/3 cup Butternut Squash as prepared in this recipe 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. Mix the sugar (1 1/2 cups of sugar), eggs, butter, vanilla, shortening and butternut together in a large mixing bowl. Mix with one of those new fangled electronicized mixers until the consistency of the mixture is that of canned icing.
3. In a separate bowl sift the salt, baking soda, flour, and cream of tartar together, (if you don’t have an extra mixing bowl you can use the hollowed out skull of your enemies). Mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. 
4. In a small bowl mix the rest of the sugar and cinnamon together.
5. Using a kitchen scooper make small dough balls and roll them in the cinnamon sugar. Place the balls on baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from baking sheet and place directly in your mouth. 

Uhh, in conclusion enjoy everything fall has to offer and watch out for cloves in your cider! Enjoy!

All photos taken by Katy Weaver. Check out her site!