10 Recipes for Thanksgiving

Sweet Potato Biscuits with Honey Butter

I'm really excited about this Thanksgiving!  I'm a traditionalist when it comes to the menu, so I've got to have my roast turkey, gravy, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and stuffing.  And lots of apple cider.  The vegetables and desserts can change.   One odd tradition my family has is fried shrimp.  That's right, batter-fried shrimp, on Thanksgiving.  I once asked my mom where the recipe came from, and she said she heard it on a Chinese-language radio program.  You know, back in the old days when folks  used the radio for entertainment.  But my siblings and I demand the shrimp.  And I always make an effort to watch the parade.  The Macy's parade in New York, of course!

Cranberry-Apple Relish recipe follows jump

One other tradition is what my twin sis and I called "Dinner Number Two" as kids, long before I heard of Second Breakfast.  My mom used to insist on serving dinner at 2 p.m. so she could clean up and enjoy the rest of Thanksgiving.  Weird, I know.  By the time night came, sis and I were hungry again.  We would eagerly reheat another plate full of Thanksgiving dinner and eat it in front of the TV, in the later years with reruns of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Ah, good times.  These days Joe isn't really up for a second dinner with Fresh Prince reruns, but we still make all our favorite dishes.  What are some of your quirky Thanksgiving traditions?

But you came for the recipes, not to listen to my babble.  Here are a few I've blogged, and a few tried and true that I recommend.  They're not terribly fancy, since I like the classics.  Happy eatins'.

1. Maple-Glazed Apple Crostata. For apple pie goodness that's quicker to throw together.

2. Pumpkin Cupcakes with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting. Seasonal and lightly spiced.

3. Chocolate-Covered Pecan Bars. When you're feeling super indulgent.

4. Sweet Potato Biscuits with Honey Butter. Don't skip the honey butter. You'll be sorry you did.

5. Pecan Tassies. Not as eye-catching as the pecan bars, but way better and lighter.

6. Dry-Brined Turkey. I'm not a fan of finding a vat big enough to hold a turkey and gallons of liquid. And refrigerator space is prime real estate on Turkey Day. This dry brining from the LA Times is much easier and gives you a flavorful, moist bird.
7. Country Bread and Sage Dressing. I've made this Bobby Flay recipe on a few Thanksgivings. The sausage gives it nice flavor, but I've also omitted the sausage and swapped the chicken stock for vegetable stock for vegetarians. I like to add a diced Golden delicious apple, and toast the bread briefly in the oven first before proceeding with the recipe.
8. Dorie's Pumpkin Pie (or Tart). I haven't had the chance to do a new photo for this one, but don't be put off by my awful photography from 2008. This is my all-time favorite pumpkin pie, and I've made it many times. My mom prefers it warmed in the oven, but I like it cold from the fridge and dolloped with whipped cream. You decide.
9. Foolproof Turkey Gravy. It sounds so simple to make, but gravy is also easy to mess up.  This Mad Hungry recipe helps you get it right.
10. Linda's Cranberry Apple Relish.  I'll admit it.  I love canned cranberry sauce.  Previous attempts at homemade cranberry sauce didn't wow me, but this relish is good enough to eat alone by the spoonful.  Recipe after the jump!

Pecan Tassies

These are what I've been looking for.  The Pecan Bars I posted a few weeks ago got a lot of attention, but they weren't right.  They were expensive to make, and had too much sugar and fat.  Remember, nine sticks of butter total??  Sure, they were tasty -- hard not to be with butter, sugar, pecans, and chocolate -- but food should leave you craving a little more, not feeling weighed down and in need of a cleansing fast.  These tassies are little bites of pecan pie.  What appeals to you more?  The plentitude of big bars dipped in chocolate, or petite one-bite tassies?  In terms of taste, the tassies win hands-down and more closely resemble pecan pie.

Mini-muffin tin on the left, and fluted tartlet pan on the right.

The crust is great, flaky and just slightly tangy due to the cream cheese.  Like all mini-tarts, they take a little bit of time to put together rather than one large tart or pie.  I used a mini-muffin pan, and also a fluted square tartlet pan (the push-up bottoms make for easy removal).  The square wells are a little bigger than the recipe calls for, so I cut the dough into nine squares instead of a dozen for that pan.  The baking times stay the same.  The filling is whipped up in a flash.  I top each tassie with a whole pecan for garnish, and for more crunch and pecan flavor.  This version, it's a keeper.

Pecan Bars

I spent almost my whole life thinking I didn't like pecan pie.  I love pies filled with fruit, or chocolate cream, or pumpkin, but nuts in gooey caramel?  Didn't sound like my thing.  But when I finally tasted pecan pie for the first time last year, I was hooked.  I learned the error of my ways.  The deep, smooth sugary filling combined with the pecans was irresistible.

Don't bother decorating the top with nuts. They fell off after baking, even though I pushed them into the filling.

When I got the idea to try pecan pie in bar form, this Barefoot Contessa recipe popped up first in my online search and had hundreds of raving reviews.  But the endorsements also had complaints about messes in the oven, the cost, and the fat.  Nine sticks combined for the shortbread and filling??!  And I wish someone had spelled out the cost.  The pecans were about $15 a pound and two pounds were needed, but thankfully I found them for $8 a pound in the bulk bin at another store.  The many positive reviewers said the cost was worth it -- or maybe just as a splurge for the holidays.

To avoid  the spillage and mess that people described, I used two taller baking pans instead -- 10½ by 7 by 2 inches, and 12¾ by 8 by 3 inches.  The baking times stay about the same.  My sheet pans did not have the required 1 inch in height, and I correctly estimated that 1 inch could not possibly hold all the bubbling filling.  I also lined the pans with foil and then parchment.

Clockwise from top left: Woman in a hoopskirt outside Fort Warren on Georges Island; girls manning the fort walls; a powder magazine; these hobbit hole-looking structures opened out to a view of the ocean on the other side.

So, that health factor?  There's a healthier chocolate pecan bar recipe from The New York Times.  I wasn't happy with a recipe I tried from the column once and figured if you're going to have a pecan bar, have a pecan bar -- and then give away most of them.  I brought them to my book club's outing to Fort Warren at Georges Island.  The Civil War fort matched up with our read for the month, Gone With the Wind, and the pecan bars seemed to fit the southern theme.  My friends loved them, and were amazed at the weight of each square.  It was like carrying a brick.  I enjoyed them also, but I thought they tasted more like toffee bars and less like pecan pie.  It wasn't quite what I had been looking for, and it was also very rich.  Maybe pecan pie is next on my baking list.