I didn’t think that I would be a mincemeat person. I mean, I like raisins and dried fruit on the whole — and my recipe has raisins, sultanas, dates, apples and even a bit of dried apricot in addition to the candied lemon and orange — but I didn’t think that I would like it as much as I do. The reasons are two fold: I added candied pecans (crushed to powder in the MagiMix) to add a amazing nutty note to the crust, but 2. most importantly, serving it was gingerbread ice cream. That definitely cut the sweetness and made this the perfect Christmas dessert.
It’s snowing here, whilst I am up in Maine for the weekend, and given that it is November, I am ok with that. It also means that it is coming right up on Thanksgiving. As many longtime followers will know, pretty much every year, I try a new take on Cranberry Sauce. Some years, it been with champagne or port wine, some years, I have added other fruit, which is where we are today: Roasted Cranberry Peach Chutney. A bit of late summer sunshine (the peaches), tilted to fall. A bit of late summer sunshine (the peaches), tilted to fall with those tart, crisp cranberries.
Thought that I would try something a little different today and decided to make cookies using hot honey. What is “hot honey”, you ask? Well, apparently it is becoming all the rage to serve with such things as cheese and on charcuterie boards. It’s chili-infused honey. I’ve seen a number of brands, and the one that I have comes from Italy. It is quite spicy when served with cheese and such, but the cookies just taste more like “cinnamon with a kick”. Still delicious though.
Last summer, I make these super-crispy roast fingerling potatoes. They were so good, in fact, that I pretty much ate the entire dish in one sitting. Crispy, golden outside, fluffy and delicious on the inside. As I am often known to do, once I find a recipe that I really like, I try variations on them and that it what this is: Garlic and Herb Roasted Fingerlings. Also delicious, but you definitely have to be careful to no sog out the potatoes with the garlic herb butter.





