Thanksgiving

I was too tired this year filling last minute orders to even think of cooking anything for Thanksgiving. Luckily our gracious friends are hosting us and I whipped up some raw cranberry relish because I couldn't bear coming to the party empty handed. This recipe is a delicious, tart way to cut the richness of the traditional Thanksgiving fare. It's is also super good on sandwiches the next day.

Also, if you are still looking for pie recipes, Cook's Illustrated has never let me down.

Raw Cranberry Relish

1 1/2c raw cranberries, washed
1 tart apple, peeled, cored, cut into big hunks
1/2 seedless orange, including peel, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 c sugar

Add the first three ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped, but not ground. Add the chopped mixture to a bowl and stir in the sugar, let sit at room temperature for a few minutes until the sugar dissolves and then store in the fridge until you're ready to eat it.

Rugelach with Cranberries, Pecans, and Apple Butter

It's time for another recipe don't you think? Thank you for all of your kind words about my shop. Keep checking back because I have some exciting announcements just around the bend, but for now let's talk cookies.

Rugelach are awesome for a lot of reasons, but my #1 favorite thing about them is that they taste like little bites of pie, and if you read the Dining Section of the NYTimes you know that pie is so hot right now. These cookies are made from a flaky cream cheese dough and can be filled with everything from apricot preserves and almonds to raspberry jam and chocolate chips, or any combo of dried fruit, nuts, and jam you have lying around. I'm a big fan of raspberry preserves with chopped walnuts and a bit of orange zest.

For this batch, I used some of my apple butter and upped the autumn ante and added dried cranberries and chopped pecans.

Dough
1 stick butter, cut into cubes
4 oz cream cheese, cut into cubish pieces
1 cup flour

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until a ball forms. Alternately, mix 'em all together with your hands, just move quickly so the butter doesn't get melty.
Divide the dough in half, form 2 disks, wrap them in plastic and chill for 30 min.

Filling
1/4 cup apple butter (or any other jam)
1/2 cup chopped, toasted pecans (or any other nuts)
2T chopped, dried cranberries (or any other dried fruit or chocolate)

Topping
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup sugar+1T cinnamon, mixed together

To Assemble the cookies
Preheat oven to 350
Remove the dough from the fridge and roll one disk into a skinny rectangle, about 4''x12''
Spread 1/2 of the apple butter onto the dough in a thin layer, then sprinkle half of the pecans and cranberries onto the surface. Roll the whole mess into a long, skinny log
Brush the log with the beaten egg and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar
Cut the log into 1-1 1/2'' pieces and place seam side down onto a parchment lined baking sheet
Repeat with other dough disk
Bake the cookies for about 20min, or until golden brown, don't worry if they slump and ooze a bit. The caramelized jammy parts are my favorite.

This recipe makes 20-24 pieces and they'll last a few days at room temp in a sealed container.

(Really) Small Batch Grape Jelly

Have you ever eaten a concord grape? I had never given them a second thought (aside from Welch's commercials) until I moved to New York four years ago and started reading fancy restaurant dessert menus for fun. As soon as fall rolled around, the concord grapes rolled in everywhere, as gelee served with foie gras, as sorbet served with peanut butter ice cream, in pie? Obviously, I had to have some for myself and let me tell you, concord grapes are serious business. Forget about those red and green things they sell in the grocery store, these are Grapes with a capital G. They are sweet, tart, musky, rich, and dare I say they taste a lot like "grape flavored" candy without that cloying artificial finish. They are awesome eaten as is if you don't mind seeds, their juice is incredible on it's own or in a cocktail, but I couldn't resist making jelly with mine.

I try not to use any pectin in my jam making, but sometimes you need just a bit to make sure it sets, especially when making jelly. I love using Pomona's Universal Pectin for projects like this, you can find it in health food stores. It is activated by calcium rather than sugar which means you can use as much or little sweetener as you like and you can even use alternatives like honey, agave, and maple syrup.

Grape Jelly, adapted from Pomona's Universal Pectin
yield 1 8oz jar

1 lb concord grapes, destemmed
2T water
2T lemon juice
3T honey or 1/4-3/4c sugar (or agave or any other sweetener you like)
1/2t Pomona's universal pectin powder
1/2t calcium water, prepared with package directions

1. In a heavy bottomed pot combine the grapes, water and lemon juice. Mash with a potato masher, I used a ladle, whatever works. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 min.
2. Pour into a jelly bag or cheesecloth lined strainer and let drip until the juice stops, about one cup. If you don't mind if your jelly isn't perfectly clear you can give the bag a gentle squeeze, but not too hard, you don't want any pulp to escape. At this point Pomona's suggests letting the juice sit overnight so any sediment settles to the bottom. I didn't do it and I didn't notice any crystallization in my jelly.
3. Add the juice and prepared amount of calcium water to a clean pot. Measure your sweetener into a separate bowl and mix in the pectin powder.
4. Bring juice to a boil, add sweetener and pectin and stir constantly until the pectin dissolves (1-2 minutes). Remove from heat.
5. Fill prepared jar to 1/4'' below the rim, wipe off rim, screw on the lid and process in a boiling water bath for 10 min. Store jar in a cool dry spot and refrigerate when opened.

This recipe makes a pretty small amount of jelly so if you find yourself with a surplus of grapes you can multiply as needed.

Best eaten on wheat toast with peanut butter. Or you can be totally wild and serve it on a cheese plate with a nice blue cheese and water crackers.