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.
Crumble bars are my go-to treat when I need something straight forward, can be eaten out of hand and are easily shared. As you know by now, the base recipe is flour, sugar, melted butter and vanilla and then anything else goes — one fruit, one “add in” (nuts, mini-chocolate chis, even oatmeal). It being autumn and all, I thought that I would go with pears and walnuts this time. Do you think that is fall-esque enough? The pear jam had just a hint of cinnamon too.
As I mentioned the other day, autumn is for pie! As we head toward Thanksgiving in the US, here is another example of a pie that y’all could investigate for your own dessert tables: Crispin Wave Apple Pie, using Crispin Apples. To be honest, I am using more of a Pink Lady, Honey Crisp or even Granny Smith baker when it comes to pie, but I was pleasantly surprised by these Crispins. Held their shape; a little sweeter than most of my apple pies. The wave design sort of happens by itself as you pinwheel the narrow strips of pie dough around the top. Break out the vanilla ice cream!