Hello! It's been a while. We joined a local food kit service a while ago and that has brought some interesting food into our lives without the need to cook. But here I am, same dilettante, same restricted skill set, same willingness to take shortcuts, same interest in delicious food, same intense dislike of broccoli.
This Thanksgiving, I made Ina Garten's Thanksgiving bread pudding with mushrooms, which I picked because I was intrigued by the shortcut ingredient of cubed stuffing, which I had never purchased before in my life.
The link goes to the New York Times cooking section and should not be restricted, I used the new "gift recipe" feature. So, no need to copy the recipe here, just some pictures and impressions.
First things first, the bread pudding was delicious -- cheesy and mushroomy.
The whole recipe was about making things easier for oneself by buying premade ingredients, and I'm a big fan of buying onions already chopped (available at Trader Joe's). We didn't have sherry, so I just left that out. There was no overnight soaking and the whole thing came together in 1.5 hours, including 50 minutes of baking, slicing the mushrooms, and grating the cheese myself. (We ate it with salmon and a deviled eggs appetizer not prepared by me.)
Would I make it again? Absolutely, although there is quite a bit of shopping required and it is a dish much richer than what I normally eat. One thing that was not ideal was that the stuffing I got at Wholefoods (purchased on Thanksgiving, so not much of a selection left) wasn't actually cubed, so the pudding was perhaps a tad softer than I would have liked. But it was nice and firm and sliceable for a late breakfast on Friday, so there's that.
As a bonus, here's a picture of a cookie I glazed at a cookie glazing workshop, not something I'm good at at all, but, unlike the winner of the most recent British Bakeoff show, I know what 'feathering' means.
Rolled Sugar Cookies
Total Time: 15 minutes to assemble dough + 1 - 24 hours, including chilling time
Makes about 2 dozen 4-inch cookies
Source: Marthastewart.com
INGREDIENTS
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for surface and more if needed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
METHOD
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Turn out the dough, and divide in half. Flatten each half into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 325℉, with racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Let one disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to just under 1/4-inch thick, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 30 minutes. Cut out cookies using desired cutters or templates. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets as you work. Roll out scraps, and repeat once. Repeat with the remaining disk of dough. Chill cookies in the freezer until very firm, about 15 minutes.
Bake cookies, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until edges turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Decorate with Royal Icing.
Glossy Royal Icing
Total Time: 20 mins
Makes 2 -1/2 cups
Source: Allrecipes.com
INGREDIENTS
¼ cup warm water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon almond extract, or your favorite extract or flavoring [we used almond in the workshop and it was very nice]
3 cups confectioners' sugar, or more as needed
METHOD
Stir warm water, corn syrup, and almond extract together in a small bowl until corn syrup and extract have dissolved. Place confectioners' sugar into a separate bowl and add liquid ingredients. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until royal icing is smooth. Store in a lidded container for up to a week; stir thoroughly before using.
Notes:
For thick icing, which you will need for outlining and details, add more sugar until the icing is quite thick. Icing can be thinned with a few drops of water to make a glaze for filling in outlines or dipping cookies.
Icing hardens into a shiny glaze quickly. Keep stirring your bowl of icing as you work with it.
