Thanksgiving Pie

I know that Thanksgiving is a foodie's favorite holiday since the entire celebration revolves around food. However, it's probably one of my least favorites because it's not something my family really celebrated all out when I was growing up. Lately, I also feel as though much of the preparation and cooking lands on my shoulders, and turkeys and mashed potatoes are really not my thing.
So this year, we ordered dinner. Really. Purdue University's dining services makes turkeys along with all the trimmings to order. So for $30, we got enough turkey, gravy, stuffing, organic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with pecans, sweet corn souffle, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and dinner rolls to feed 3 people for 3 days. And it was all very good.

You'll notice that the list of food does not include desert. You can order desert if you like, but baking is definitely a joy of mine, so I thought I would make apple pie.

I even got help peeling the apples! I sliced them nice and thin, maybe 1/8 of an inch thick? Maybe thinner.

Mixed them in a bowl with about 1/3 cup of dark brown sugar, a pinch of salt, a pinch of nutmeg, and a pinch of allspice (my husband does not like cinnamon, and I do feel it's overused myself) and about a tablespoon of cornstarch. I let them sit for at least an hour until they're soft and pliable. I pull out the ready made pie dough, stick it in the pie place, and start laying out the apple slices.


I save the thinnest, softest slices for the middle because I roll up a single slice up on itself.

Then dot the pie with butter (two tablespoons is all you need) and it goes in the oven at 400 F for about 20 minutes.

Ta da! Desert is ready. But after the huge dinner we had, we only had enough room for tiny little slivers. With ice cream, of course.

Almond Update

In the search for a mightily almondy cake, I stopped by David Lebovitz' blog which includes a lovely and simple almond cake recipe.

It includes almond paste, which I was worried I would not be able to find in the middle of the Midwest. Since I moved to Indiana, there are many little things that are harder to find, so I typically assume the worst. Lo and behold, Meijer super-stores offer Solo almond paste, right in the baking isle along with all those other pre-made pie fillings. I have never used one of those, but I assume they're terrible (there I go with the worst, again).

In any case, I tried making his recipe with cake flour in a 9-inch layer pan instead of a cake pan, so I had enough left-over batter for 10-cupcakes.

Did I say ten? I meant eight. Just ignore that open wrapper at the top there. I also only baked the cupcakes for about 45 minutes, and the cake for 55 minutes. I think I could have left the layer cake in for longer.

The actual cake did "sigh" as David so nicely puts it. Maybe "totally collapsed into itself" would be more accurate.

Mind you, this thing had domed up about twice as high as it is in this picture. Ah well. I filled in the sad crevice with chocolate butter-cream frosting, so it was a happy crevice. Unfortunately, we ate the entire thing before I could take a picture. Here are the remaining cupcakes.

Overall, the flavor is very almondy. The texture is pretty light, though, totally unlike a pound cake. So the search for an almond pound cake recipe is still on. Let me know if you find one!

Almond Cake Recipe

Adapted from David Lebovitz

265g white granulated sugar

1 - 8 oz can almond paste

140g unbleached cake flour (David's recipe calls for one cup of flour. I measured my 140g, and found that I had between 1/2 and 3/4 cup of flour. So that's what I used.)

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cubed and brought to room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

6 large eggs, at room temperature

1. Pre-heat oven to 325ºF. Grease, flour, and line with parchment a 9" layer cake pan. Put paper liners in muffin tin.

2. In food processor, process the sugar, almond paste, and 1/4 cup of flour. Process for about 15 seconds, until the texture is sandy.

3. Add butter and extracts, and process until the texture is fluffy, about 30 seconds.

4. Add eggs one at a time, incorporating each egg before adding the next.

5. In a small bowl, combine rest of the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add half this mixture to food processor, and use short bursts to incorporate it, making sure not to overmix.

6. Add rest of flour mixture, and again use short bursts to incorporate flour.

7. Pour about 2/3 of batter into prepared cake pan. Place about 1/3 cup of batter into each prepared cupcake liner.

8. Bake cupcakes for about 45 minutes, and cake for 50 to 60 minutes.

9. Let cool on rack. (I removed the cupcakes immediately, but let the cake cool in its pan for about an hour or more.)

Chocolate Butter-cream Frosting

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

1/3 cup of white granulated sugar

6 tablespoons of egg whites (I use leftovers, but it's about 2 large egg whites)

pinch table salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1.5 sticks (6 oz) butter, cubed and brought to room temperature

6 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (I used Trader Joe's 72% dark chocolate)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

[Note: You can do triple use with a pot of boiling water. First use it to melt the chocolate double boiler style. Then use it to warm up the egg whites while whipping. Then, cook your linguine with kale in there for dinner. Num. Don't forget the garlic!]

1. Combine egg whites, sugar, salt and lemon juice in stand mixer bowl. (The salt and lemon juice stabilize the egg whites and help them fluff up)

2. Over a pot of simmering water, whisk the ingredients constantly for about 3 minutes until egg whites are all frothy (and the temp is about 150ºF).

3. Place the bowl back in your stand mixer with whisk attachment, and and beat mixture on medium (I used level 6 out of 10) for about 2 minutes, or until it's fluffy. America's test kitchen says like shaving foam, but I have never seen shaving foam look like my egg whites do. More importantly, the egg whites should have cooled so when you touch your bowl it's warm rather than hot.

4. Add the room temp butter, one piece at a time.

5. Add vanilla extract.

6. Add melted chocolate.

[Note: Make sure to keep scraping the sides of the bowl down as you keep adding ingredients.]

7. Increase mixer speed to medium-high (I went all the way up to 8/10) and mix until light and fluffy. This took mine a few minutes. Actually, I stuck the whole thing in the fridge for about a half hour, and then beat it again. My chocolate was not completely cooled though, so you might not have to do that.

Finally, assemble your cake/cupcakes by slathering as much frosting as you can on each baked good. By the way, this frosting is very creamy, but not very sweet, so piling it on tastes lovely without hurting your teeth.