Tipsy Turkey Cocktail Recipe

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! I've got Thanksgiving recipes for you, but if you need a break from all the cooking (or dealing with your relatives), I also have a fun Thanksgiving-themed cocktail I made up last year - the Tipsy Turkey (and no, it's not your father/mother-in-law/grandpa . . . )

Ingredients:

• 2 oz orange vodka
• 1 1/2 oz cranberry juice
• I like to use 100% cranberry juice - it tastes a lot better than the cranberry juice cocktail that's mixed with apple juice. 
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1/2 oz orgeat
• 1 cup crushed ice  

Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously.

Pour into a tiki mug (or any relative who won't shut up about politics) and enjoy!

Pecan Pie

Today I'm sharing the recipe for another one of my favorite Thanksgiving foods - pecan pie!  Pecan pie is my favorite - I look forward to it every year.  We use the same pie crust recipe as I posted for pumpkin pie, but I'm going to repeat it here.  

Ingredients:

• Pie Crust
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup Crisco
• 3 tbsp. water
• Pie Filling
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup dark Karo syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. flour
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted
• 3 cups pecans

Makes 1 10-inch pie.

To make the pie crust, sift together the flour and salt.  Take out 1/4 cup of the flour-salt mixture and mix with the water to make a paste. Add the Crisco to the remaining flour-salt mixture. Cut the Crisco in until the pieces are the size of small peas.

Add the flour paste to the Crisco-flour mixture.

Mix thoroughly until the dough comes together and can be shaped into a ball.

Roll the dough out about 1/8 inch thick.

Place the crust into the pie pan, pressing it to the sides and bottom.

You can shape the edges to make these look pretty - we chose to pinch together the edges to form points.

Mix the eggs, Karo syrup, sugar, flour, vanilla, and butter together.

Add 3 cups pecans and gently stir them in.

Pour into the pie crust.  Bake at 350ºF for 55-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the halfway between the edge and the center comes out clean.

We like to serve ours with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (Blue Bell's Homemade Vanilla is the preferred one here).

What's your favorite Thanksgiving dessert?

Homemade Rolls

One of my favorite Thanksgiving foods is our homemade rolls.  Unlike some of the other Thanksgiving dishes, we make these at other times too, but we always have them on Thanksgiving.  We use the recipe from the KitchenAid Stand Mixer Manual.

These are so good - I love them in the winter.  You need to have a stand mixer to make these.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 3 packages active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 5-6 cups flour

 Yield: 24 rolls

Place milk, sugar, salt, and butter in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.

Cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in the mixer bowl. Add the lukewarm milk mixture and 4 1/2 cups flour.

Attach bowl and dough hook to the mixer.  Turn to Speed 2 and beat for about 1 minute. Continue on Speed 2, adding the remaining flour a 1/2 cup at a time.  Mix for about 2 minutes, or until the dough clings to the hook and cleans the sides of the bowl.  Knead on Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, for about 15 minutes.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape as desired.  We rolled the dough into balls and then placed it a sprayed muffin tin. Cover and allow to rise for about 15 minutes.

Bake at 425ºF for 12 minutes - the rolls should be golden brown. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie

For Thanksgiving, we make two desserts - pumpkin pie and pecan pie.  They are both so tasty - my favorite is pecan, but I love the pumpkin too.

Ingredients:

• Pie Crust
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup Crisco
• 3 tbsp. water
• Pie Filling
• 3 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 15 oz. cans pumpkin
• 1 1/8 cups sugar
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp. ginger
• 3/8 tsp. cloves
• 2 1/2 cups evaporated milk
• Whipped Cream
• 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Makes 1 10-inch pie.

To make the pie crust, sift together the flour and salt.  Take out 1/4 cup of the flour-salt mixture and mix with the water to make a paste. Add the Crisco to the remaining flour-salt mixture. Cut the Crisco in until the pieces are the size of small peas.

Add the flour paste to the Crisco-flour mixture.

Mix thoroughly until the dough comes together and can be shaped into a ball.

Roll the dough out about 1/8 inch thick.

Place the crust into the pie pan, pressing it to the sides and bottom.

You can shape the edges to make these look pretty - we chose to pinch together the edges to form points.

Mix the pie filling ingredients together.

Pour into the pastry shell.  Bake at 425ºF for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350ºF and continue baking for 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

When you're ready to serve the pie, make the whipped cream by beating the heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form (about 1 minute).

Top the pie with whipped cream and serve!

What desserts do you make for Thanksgiving?

Cornbread Dressing

I'm continuing with sharing some of our Thanksgiving recipes - today's is for my family's cornbread dressing.  Unlike stuffing, this side dish is cooked outside the bird.

   

Ingredients

• Cornbread
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup bacon fat
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• about 1/2 loaf of white bread
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 eggs
• 4 tbsp. sage
• salt 
• pepper
• 1/2 cup milk
• turkey juice and giblet broth

To make the cornbread, mix all the ingredients above until well blended. 

Pour into a greased and floured 9-inch cake pan or muffin tins. 

Bake at 425ºF for 20 minutes.

Tear the bread into small pieces and drop into a large bowl.  Crumble the cornbread into the bowl.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together by hand.

The mixture should be very moist - add enough broth or turkey drippings to make it moist and stick together.

Press into a greased 13"x 9" pan and bake for one hour at 350ºF.

You can add more broth or turkey drippings as it cooks if you need to.  Serve with giblet gravy and enjoy!

Does your family make dressing or stuffing??