Holiday Food | TheGrubDaily

Tag Archives: Holiday Food

March 30, 2012 · 1:29 PM

{ Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies }

I was really sad about missing Thanksgiving dinner this year. Sad to the point where I dreamt about rosemary-infused stuffing, cranberry condiments, and golden-glazed turkey long after the holiday had passed. These thanksgiving “accruciaments” (as Tony Soprano would say) are all obsolete in Argentina, a country that is recognized for both its prized bovine and lack of importation. The only cans of cranberry sauce and pumpkin puree to be found, were in the possession of foreign service agents that had “special postal privileges.” There was literally a black market among BA expats for gravy starter and Sarah Lee products. Unfortunately, my measly teaching salary did not afford me one of these luxury canned items (I will never look at a food-drive the same way again), and so I resorted to a chicken stir-fry on Thanksgiving evening.

For a foodie like myself, this is a crime because Thanksgiving is unequivocally the best day of the year–a day where we are finally accompanied by family and friends in our passion for food and the desire to consume exorbitant amounts of it. So to miss such a momentous event…well, it’s downright depressing. So my family decided to have Thanksgiving round #2. They say it was just for me, but how many people really keep a spare Butterball in their freezer?!? A 16 pound one no less…

We made all of our Thanksgiving family favorites; starting with a juicy Lemon-Herb Roasted Turkey, accompanied by Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Lemon-Scented Broccoli, Rosemary and Sage Infused Stuffing, Corn, and my mom’s delicious Homemade Gravy!

But it wouldn’t be a proper Thanksgiving feast without some sort of pumpkin-flavored dessert, so my sister and I decided to try out Paula Deen’s recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (although we made some modifications, as one must with Paula Deen’s butter rich recipes!).

Overall, I thought the cookies had a really great flavor but they were more cake-like than cookie in composition. If you are a fan of soft cookies, then you will love these!! I would probably opt for my Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting in the future though, because I like crunchy cookies instead.

{ Ingredients }

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups (1 12-ounce bag) semisweet chocolate chips
Nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper

{ To Make the Cookies } Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or nonstick spray.

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the sugar, whisking until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs 1 at a time, then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, until everything is well combined.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture in 3 parts, and continue to mix on a low speed until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and drop cookies onto prepared cookie sheet. NOTE: I like to use a small ice cream scoop so that the cookie batter is evenly distributed!

Place the cookie sheet into the oven and allow to bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Allow to cool and serve!

{ Pecan Tassies }

As I have mentioned several times on blog, I am not particularly keen on sweets. Given the option, I would always prefer to gorge more “real” food, rather that save myself for a dessert. This being said, I am a major proponent of one-bite desserts that let you have a little taste without a full dessert commitment. Something small that you can just pop in your mouth and be done with in seconds (not an obnoxious slice of cake that you have to try to pawn off to everyone around you, before finally stashing it under a pile of napkins in the hostess’s garbage can….hey, we’ve all done it).

These pecan tassies are a perfect dessert for holiday meals, because you can always find room for at least one, no matter how much you have already eaten. My mom makes this recipe every year, and finds that they are always well received at the annual cookie exchange (a nice switch-up from the santa sugar cookie cutouts!).

This recipe is low cost, straight forward, and delicious. Try it out this Christmas!

{ Ingredients }

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 ounces cream cheese
2 cups all-purpose flour (King Arthur is best)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 tbsp. melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla extract (Madagascar is best!)
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 tsp. honey
dash of salt

{ To Make the Dough Cups } Using an electric hand mixer on medium speed, cream together the 2 sticks of butter and the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Then mix in the flour, until well combined.

Using your hands, roll the dough into about 48 small balls. Place the balls into a small, lightly greased muffin pan. Create small wells in the dough, using the pressure of your thumb (remember, the well must be large enough to contain the pecan filling).

{ To Make the Pecan Filling } Combine the brown sugar, melted butter, honey, vanilla extract, salt and eggs. Stir until well combined. Add the chopped pecans and mix to coat.

{ To Assemble the Tassies } Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Spoon the pecan filling into the wells of the dough cups, until all of the filling has been used up.

Bake the tastes at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and then reduce the heat 250 for the final 10 minutes of baking.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving!