For the Love of Food

This is going to be a loooong post, so brace yourself. If it gets too long for you, just skip to the “bottom” where all the recipes, with individual pictures, can be found.  Bellow (above the recipe section) are my individual thoughts on what I made this year.  Every year brings something new – even to “old” recipes.

I’d like to thank Foodbuzz for accepting me to the November 24, 24, 24 event. Because of them, I was able to make my Thanksgiving grander than ever. Thank you.

This is what the menu looked like:

Appetizers: Bacon Wrapped Date, Texas Deviled Eggs, and Rumaki
Main Dish: Rosemary & Lemon Turkey with American Cranberry Sauce
Side Dishes: Bread Stuffing, Rice with Mushroom & Noodles, Garlic Bread Rolls, Bacon Green Beans, French Mushrooms in Crème Frâiche, and a Seasonal Salad
Dessert: Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie, S’more Tart, and Whipped Cream

The bacon wrapped dates were a huge hit – as always.  Our guests ate them up pretty quickly.

The Texas deviled eggs were something I thought-up this summer.  The individual flavors really melded well with one another, and even though this was a spicy dish, they were gone before the meal started!

The Rumaki was something that my father-in-law recommended I make.  I thought it sounded disgusting, but it was so absolutely fantastic!  My guests had never heard of anything like it and everyone wanted the recipe!

This year I decided to try something completely new with my turkey. That is, I am taking my favorite recipe for chicken (Rosemary Lemon Chicken), and fitting it for a whole turkey. I have never been a big fan of turkey, so I attempted to make it taste better than “the usual”. And, the turkey came out juicier than ever.  The lemon acts as a tenderizer and really helped moisten the turkey, especially the breast meat.

The the stuffing, I used is my favorite stuffing that my mom has been making my entire childhood. This year, for the first time, in keeping with my “absolutely everything is homemade” for my Thanksgiving feast 2008, my husband made a large loaf of bread for our stuffing in advance.  This is a really big hit.  Many of our guests said that they had aways heard about this on TV, but could never imagine it.  We ended up sending many guest home with extra stuffing – always a good sign!

The cranberry sauce is my father-in-law’s recipe. And, this is the only part of our meal that we didn’t actually make ourselves. While we can find (expensive) cranberries here in Germany -yes, Ocean Spray to be exact – my father-in-law sent us some of his homemade cranberry sauce as a gift, and it would have been a shame not to use it – since it tastes so good. I did not grow-up eating cranberry sauce. I’m not sure how old I was the first time I tasted it – maybe I was already in college. So, I am not as “in love” with it as my husband is. Our guests enjoyed the sauce with their turkey, but, my husband, as usual, pulled out a spoon and finished it off after he finished his meal.

The rice with mushrooms & noodles is a take on a favorite recipe of mine that my aunt makes called Mushroom & Almond Rice.  Since I have a guest who is allergic to nuts this year, I have omitted nuts in all recipes possible, and, in the case of the rice, have substituted with dry soup noodles that soften when cooked.

The garlic rolls are my favorite roll recipe of all time.  It actually came about by accident and is a modified pizza dough recipe!  While cleaning up the house in the morning, I found my son had sneeked one and had the entire roll half way in his mouth.  When I caught him, he promptly pulled it out of his mouth and put it back in the muffin tin as if nothing had happened!  It was so cute.  Of course, I let him eat one ahead of time.  He loves the garlic rolls so much.

The French Mushrooms in Crème Frâiche is always everybody’s favorite dish and there’s never enough – no matter how many times I double and quadruple this recipe!  So, how did French Mushrooms become part of my yearly American holiday menu??  When I was in high school, in French class, we were all given the task of finding a French recipe, reproduce it, bring it to class, and share with one another.  I was so head-over-heels for this recipe that I asked my mom to let me make it at our next Thanksgiving meal, and it was such a hit…and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Bacon Green Beans are, in my opinion, a true southern staple in the US.  This year I decided not to make a green bean casserole since most of my German guests don’t like it.  So, instead, I made my favorite green bean dish.  They went over very well, and no one realized that I forgot to add the salt!

The Greek Salad was a hard choice for me this year.  I really wanted to make this from items that are only in season, and I really wanted to use my favorite homemade Greek salad dressing – which put me in quite of a pickle.  So, I decided to go with a Greek salad – however untraditional – because many of its ingredients can be found year-round and have no season (ie: feta cheese, olive, onions).

This year I decided to change dessert in a few ways.  I still served pumpkin and pecan pies, but I decided to make my pumpkin puré from scratch (this is so easy and quick you will barely believe it!), I decided to make a maple peacn pie instead as well as a s’more tart for the first times.  And, this year I also went ahead and made the pies a few weeks in advance, frozen them, and defrosted in the refrigerator so that I could have a more relaxing cooking day(s).  The pumpkin pie was a bigger hit this year than in previous years.  I guess this year I had pumpkin-lovers over!  The pecan pie was ok.  I felt that the new recipe had too strong of an alcohol tase to it and not enough of the traditional pecan pie flavor that I have grown to love.  And the s’more pie..don’t get me started on this!  It was a baking desaster when it came to the topping.  I think my egg whites were not stiff enough and I just endded up with a mess.  It was the most eated pie, but I really felt that it was not worth making.  Which is a shame since it looked like it was going to be so pretty and I hoped it would be a big highlight of the evening.

As I do every year, this year I made my whipped cream from scratch.  It’s so quick and easy – and tastes WAY WAY better than the store bought version.  This year I made 2 flavors: vanilla and almond.

The appetizers were a last minute idea..as always…I worry that my guests won’t have enough to eat- crazy huh?  And, as always, there was too much to eat.  This year we even have too many leftovers, which has never happened to me before.  6 of my guests ended up not showing!  So, there were only 11 of us.

We also did sugar cookie decorating in between the meal and the dessert.  The children really liked this.  I think nxt time I will have to hold Thanksgiving in the late afternoon instead of the evening.  It was too late for a lot of the kids.  The cookies tasted fantastic, and I loved the hint of almond in the recipe.  But, the icing was just way too sugary, and I like my cookies without.

On to the recipes:

Bacon Wrapped Dates
Ingredients:
1/3-1/2 strip of Bacon per Date (depending on size of Date)
Dates, seeded

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F). Wrap each date in bacon. Place the dates seam-side-down on a baking sheet that has been covered in baking paper or aluminum foil. Bake the dates for 20-40 minutes or until the bacon has completely cooked. The longer you cook the gooier the dates will become and the crispier the bacon.

I used about 100 small dates for my 17 guests – these go really quickly, so make enough!

Texas Deviled Eggs
Ingredients:
12 Boiled Eggs (these are great instructions on how to)
8 Tablespoons Mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Chipotle Chile Powder
4 teaspoons Lime Juice
8 teaspoons chopped Cilantro
Salt to taste
4 slices Pickled Jalapeño Peppers, minced
1/2 Guacamole Recipe (see recipe here)
Sour Cream
24 Black Olive Slices

Directions:
Peel eggs and discard skin.  Carefully halve each egg and remove the yolk to a separate bowl.  Placheree all the egg white halves hole-side-up on a dish and set aside.  Mash the yolks with a fork and set aside.

In a small bowl whisk together mayonnaise, chipotle chili powder, lime juice, and cilantro.  Mix this into the mashed egg yolks and season with salt to taste.  Mix in the minced pickled jalapeño peppers.

Place the egg yolk mixture into a piping bag and pipe into the egg white holes.  Pipe a small amount of the guacamole onto the egg yolk mixture and then pipe on a tiny dab of sour cream on that.  Top with 1 slice of black olive.

Makes 24 pieces.

Rumaki
Ingredients:
12 Chicken Livers, halved
24 slices Water Chest Nuts
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
4 Tablespoons Ketchup (see recipe here)
2 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 Pepper
4 cloves Garlic, crushed
12 slices Bacon, halved
Brown sugar for sprinkling (ca. 1/4 Cup)
Toothpicks

Directions:
Place chicken livers and water chestnuts in a large bowl. In a second bowl mix together oil, soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, pepper, and garlic. Pour mixture over livers and water chest nuts and mix. Let marinade for at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to broil/grill.

Drain the marinade and wrap 1 chicken liver half and 1 water chestnut slice in 1 half piece of bacon and secure it with a toothpick. Repeat until all are used up. Roll each rumaki in brown sugar to coat.

Place on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet. Broil at the top of your oven for 10 minutes, or until the bacon is crisp.

Makes 24 pieces.

Lemon & Rosemary Turkey
Ingredients:
1 (whole) 7 kg Turkey
10 Tablespoons Olive Oil
10 large garlic cloves, crushed
6 Tablespoon of black Pepper
the peel from 5 untreated Lemons, finely grated
the juice of 5 Lemon
5 teaspoon of dry Thyme leaves
1 1/4  teaspoon of dry Rosemary powder
5 teaspoon of dry Oregano leaves
5 teaspoon of Salt
10 fresh Rosemary twigs (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 163°C (325°F).

Remove giblets from turkey, rinse turkey, pat dry, and then set aside. Combine all other ingredients (except for the rosemary twigs and turkey) in a bowl.

Place turkey breast-side-up in a large high-lipped casserole or baking dish. Stuff the turkey with homemade bread stuffing (see recipe bellow)

Pull up at much of the breast skin as possible without tearing it and rub* the lemon marinade under the skin as much as possible. With what’s left, pour over the turkey making sure to completely coat the it. Place the rosemary twigs along the edges of the casserole dish.

Cover the turkey with a loose tent of aluminum foil and roast for 3 hours. Then, remove the foil and continue to roast the turkey for 1 1/2 hours longer (or until the internal temperature has reached 74°C/165°F), basting with pan drippings every 15 minutes.

Carefully remove the turkey from the dish or pan it’s baking in and place it on the serving platter. Cover with aluminum foil and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Makes 14 servings.

*The marinating of the turkey can even be done the day before (before stuffing the turkey).

Homemade Bread Stuffing
Ingredients:
1 Cup Butter
2 medium Onions, chopped
4 stalks Celery, chopped
2 loaves of Homemade Wheat bread, cubed (see recipe bellow)
4 Tablespoons of Parsley
4 Tablespoons of Sage (dried)
2 teaspoons of Salt
1/2 teaspoon of Pepper
1/2 Cup of Broth (see recipe bellow)
1 Cup of sliced Mushrooms
1/2 Cup of chopped Walnuts

Directions:
Set cubed bread out in a bowl in a dry location 48-24 hours before making stuffing to let the bread go stale.

In a skillet over medium-high heat cook butter, onion, mushrooms, celery, and walnuts until tender. In a large bowl, combine bread cubes, parsley, sage, salt, and pepper. Mix well. Add broth and celery mixture. Mix.
Stuff in your turkey and cook according to turkey recipe. Or, place in a casserole dish with 1/4 cup of extra broth and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Homemade No Knead Bread

Ingredients:
6 Cups Flour (plus more for dusting)
14 grams Yeast
5 teaspoons Salt
3 Cups Water
Oil as needed

Directions:

Combine the flour, yeast and salt in a very very large bowl large bowl (at least 6 quarts).  Add the water and stir until blended.  Let the dough rest for 4 hours in a warm place (like next to the furnace or in a pre-heated to 50°C (122°F) oven that has been turned back off).

Lightly oil a work surface and place the dough on it; fold it a few times. Place the dough back in it’s container and let it sit in that warm place you picked out for another 30 minutes.

Place a heavy-duty covered pot (out of cast-iron or ceramic) with lid in your oven.

Set the oven to heat to 232°C (450°F) and let the pot heat up for 30 minutes.  Carefully, remove the pot from the oven.  Dust the inside of your pot with lots of flour.  Slide your dough in (seam-side-up), shake the pan a few times to evenly distribute the dough.  Cover with the lid of the pot and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and bake another 15-30 minutes, or until the loaf has turned a nice golden brown.  Remove from pot, flip over and knock on the bottom (it will be hot, so be careful!) – if it sounds hollow, it’s done.  Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting open.

If using this bread for stuffing:
After it is completely cooled, slice the bread into thin slices and lay on the counter top in a single layer for a few days to become stale.  Then, cube with a bread knife.

Makes 10 Cups Bread Cubes.

Homemade Broth for Stuffing
Ingredients:
Giblets from turkey
1 teaspoon Sage
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
1 Stalk Celery with leaves
1 Onion with peel
Water

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a small sauce pan and cover with water – bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes. Strain and discard all ingredients – keep the liquid. Use liquid in Stuffing recipe or to make gravy by adding some corn starch.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients:
255ml (8 oz) Water
200 grams 8 oz) Sugar
340 grams (12 oz) Fresh Cranberries, rinsed and drained*
340 grams (12 oz) Red Raspberries or Baking Apples (McIntosh or Granny Smith
apples work best) – if using apples, peel and chop or dice

Directions:
In a large stock pot with a lid, over high heat, bring the water to a boil. Add sugar and stir until dissolved and boiling. Add the cranberries and keep boiling until most of the berries have popped. Keep mixing the berries; crush the split berries against the side of the pan.

When nearly all berries have popped add raspberries or apples. Continue to cook on medium heat stirring constantly for another two minutes, and then remove from heat.

Place in prepared canning jars and cap while hot. Let cool, unmoved, to room temperature, and then chill in the refrigerator prior to serving.

(Ounces are by volume not weigh)t.

*When washing cranberries, it is best to do this is a large bowl filled with water. Any cranberries that don’t float or are damaged need to be discarded. Drain in a colander.

Makes about 1kg (36 oz) worth of sauce.

Rice With Mushrooms & Noodles
Ingredients:
6 Cups Cooked Rice (from 3 Cups dry Rice
450 grams fresh Mushrooms (Champignons), sliced
1 Cup dry thin Soup Noodles
4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
6 Tablespoons Butter

Directions:
Sauté the dry noodles and sliced in 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat until completely cooked and liquid has evaporated.  Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and mix well.  Sauté sliced mushrooms in 2 more tablespoons of butter, and then add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and mix well.
Combine rice with mushrooms and noodles. Simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes to blend flavors.

Makes approximately 12-15 servings.

Garlic Rolls
Ingredients:
dough:
2 2/3 Cups Flour
7 grams (1 packet) of Yeast
1/2 teaspoon of Salt
1 teaspoon of Garlic powder
7 ounces of Milk
2 + 1 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
2 teaspoons of Sugar

sauce:
4 large cloves of Garlic, pressed through a garlic press
1/3 Cup of Olive Oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 95°C(200°F) then turn off.
In a large mixer bowl, stir together the flour, garlic powder, salt, and yeast.
In a small sauce pan, heat up milk, but do not let it boil. Stir in the sugar and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Mix together with the flour mixture and knead in your mixer with a dough hook for 5 minutes on medium speed.
Grease a bowl with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Shape the dough into a ball, place in greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the warm oven to rise for 30 minutes.

In the mean while mix the sauce ingredients together and set aside.

In a muffin form for 12 muffins, use half of the garlic oil to grease the forms. Roll the dough into small balls (each about the size of a €2 coin) and place them in sets of 3 into each form. Repeat this process until all forms have been filled. Then, brush the rest of the garlic and oil onto the rolls.

Place in a preheated oven at 205°C (400°F) and bake for 20 minutes.

Makes 12 rolls.

French Mushrooms
Ingredients:
1 kg sliced Mushrooms (Champignons)
1/2 Cup minced Green Onion
2 Cups of Crème Frâiche (see recipe bellow or use ready made from store)
6 Tablespoons minced Parsley
Salt to taste

Directions:
In a wide frying pan (non-stick is best) over medium-high heat, simmer mushrooms, green onion, and crème frâiche, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until mushrooms start to give up juices.
Then turn heat to high and boil, uncovered, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes or until liquids reduce to a shiny sauce and bubbles begin to form. Stir in parsley and salt. Serve immediately.

Makes 12 servings.

Crème Frâiche
Ingredients:
2 Cup Whipping Cream
2 Tablespoon of Sour cream

Directions:
In a small sauce pan, warm whipping cream just until it starts to boil. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream, blending well.
Cover and let stand at room temperature for 12-16 hours or until it begins to thicken.
Chill at least 24 hours before using to allow acid flavor to develop and cream to thicken further. Cream should then be almost spreadable consistency. Store in refrigerator up to 2 weeks or as long as taste is tangy but fresh. Makes 1 cup of Creme Fraiche.

Bacon Green Beans
Ingredients:
1 kg Green Beans, ends removed
6 slices of Bacon, chopped
3-4 dashes of Salt

Directions:
Place green beans in a pressure cooker with bacon and enough water to cover the bottom – this will depend on how wide or narrow your pressure cooker is. You may add salt at this point, or after they’re done. Both ways taste just fine.

Seals the lid on the pressure cooker and cook on high heat until the pressure is at maximum. Cook at high pressure for 1-3 minutes. One minute will give you nice soft green beans, 3 minutes and they will be somewhere close to melt-in-your-mouth – it all depends on what you like.

Carefully press the pressure release to allow the steam to escape quickly – make sure it’s pointed AWAY from you and others since the steam will come out quickly and be very hot. Once you are certain that all pressure has been expelled, open the lid and serve.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Greek Salad
Ingredients:
Salad:
1 head Romaine Lettuce, washed and torn
1/2 half red onion, sliced into thin rings
1 English Cucumber, peeled and sliced
1 cup Black Olives
1 cup Feta Cheese, crumbled

Dressing:
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
3 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Oregano
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 dash Pepper

Directions:

Mix all the dressing ingredients together in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake vigorously until combined.
Place torn lettuce into a large bowl and toss with half of the dressing.  Top the salad with the remaining ingredients and drizzle with the remaining dressing.

Makes 10 servings.

Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients:
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground Ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground Cloves
2 large Eggs
500 grams Pumpkin Puré (see recipe bellow)
1 can (12 fl. oz.) Evaporated Milk
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell (See unbaked pie crust recipe bellow)
Directions:
Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin puré and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.  Pour into pie shell.

Bake in preheated 218°C (425°F) oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 177°C (350°F); bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.

Pumpkin Puré
Ingredients:
600-650 grams Pumpkin (this weight is including peel and seeds)
300 grams Water (slightly less than 3/4th Cup)
1 Tablespoon + 1/4 teaspoon Vegetable or Peanut Oil* (low flavored oil is best)
Directions: (see step-by-step picture instructions here)
Cut the ends off of the pumpkin, peel with a potato peeler, then cut in half.  Scoop out the seeds and discard or save for further use in another recipe.  Slice the pumpkin into strips, and then chop.  Heat oil over high heat in a pot with a tight fitting lid.  Add the pumpkin and stir until all the pumpkin is coated in oil.
Pour in the water, and give it a stir.  Place the lid on the pot and let it cook for 10 minutes.  After 3 minutes of cooking on high, you can lower the heat to medium-high heat.  After 10 minutes of cooking the pumpkin should be really soft when pierced with a fork and easily mash as well.
Strain the liquid from the pumpkin.  Discard or save for a vegetable soup later on.  Once the liquid has been discarded, puré the pumpkin with a food processor or by hand with a fork.  Because the initial puré, even if done in a food processor, leaves tiny lumps and pieces, it is important to press it through a sieve.  Just press it through with a fork, and don’t forget to scrape the majority of it off the bottom of the sieve.  You will be left with about 17 ounces or about 500 grams of pumpkin puré.

Pie Dough (for 2 pies)
Ingredients:
2 1/2 Cups Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Butter, chilled, and cut into small cubes
1/4 Cup Cold Water

Directions:

In a large bowl whisk together flour and salt for a few seconds.  Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a fork or pastry cutter until really really tiny fine crumbs have formed – takes about 5 minutes of cutting.  Add water and kneed by hand until dough has formed into an easy to work mass.

Split the dough in half and form 2 balls.  Place each ball of dough into its own piece of plastic wrap and seal and flatten dough slightly.  Refrigerate 45 minutes.

Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out about 13 inches on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin.  Carefully fold the round in half, then in half again so you have a sort of triangle.  Lift the tringle of dough carefully and place the point on the center of the pie dish and unfold.  Any over-hanging edges can be tucked under neither and the edges can be shaped at will.

Maple Pecan Pie

from Good Housekeeping
Ingredients:
1 Pie Crust in Dish (recipe above)
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup Corn Syrup
3 Tablespoons Butter
1 Tablespoon Rum
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups chopped Pecans

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 204°C (400°F).

Cover the pie dough in dish with aluminum foil and then weigh down with pie weight. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the pie is baked. Remove the foil and weights and bake 5 minutes longer until the shell is golden. If the shell bubbles up during baking, press the bubble down with the back of a spoon. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the sugar, maple syrup, corn syrup, butter, rum, vanilla, and eggs. Stir in the pecans.

The the filling into the hot pie shell and bake for 35 minutes. Cover the rim of the pie shell with a special cover or aluminum foil so that it doesn’t burn. If you do so, remove it 15 minutes before baking is complete so that it has a chance to brown.

Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack (this may take a few hours!!).

S’More Tart

Recipe from The Boastful Baker
Ingredients:
Graham Crust:
1/3 Box graham crackers (that’s 13.5 crackers), crushed
1/2 Cup Butter, cut into chunks
1/2 Cup Flour
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg, beaten

Chocolate Filling:
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
7 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/2 Cup Butter, melted
2 Eggs
2/3 Cup Evaporated Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Marshmallow Meringue Topping:
1 7-oz  jar Marshmallow Creme
3 Egg Whites
1/8 teaspoon Salt
1/4 Cup Sugar

Directions:

For the crust:
Preheat oven to 163°C (325°F).

Mix the graham crackers, flour, sugar, and brown sugar together in medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut the  butter into the dry mixture until it turns into tiny grainy crumbs. Stir in the egg.

Press the crust into an 11″ tart pan and set aside.

For the filling:
Using a mixer, whisk together the sugar and cocoa powder until there are no more lumps. Whisk all remaining ingredients for chocolate filling in the order listed.

Pour the filling into the prepared tart pan and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool to room temperature, and refrigerated overnight before adding marshmallow meringue topping.

For the topping:
Preheat oven to 204°C (400°F).

Scrape the marshmallow creme into large bowl.

In a large mixer bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt in until foamy. Add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time and beat until stiff and glossy peaks have formed.

Add 1/2 cup of the beaten egg whites to the marshmallow creme and stir-in with a rubber spatula until just incorporated. Fold in the remaining egg whites 1/2 a cup at a time until just incorporated. Pipe meringue over the top of the cold pie using a piping bag.

Bake the pie just until peaks and ridges of meringue have lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Let stand at room temperature until meringue is cool, about 20 minutes.

Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
200 grams Whipping Cream (cold)
1-2 Tablespoons powdered Sugar (I use 1T since I don’t like it as sweet)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (or be adventurous and try it with Almond Extract)

Directions:
In a tall container whip your cream with a whisk (electric is faster) until soft peaks form.

Add all other ingredients and whisk until hard peaks form. Be careful not to over-whip at this stage or you will end up with butter!!

Makes about 2 Cups worth.

Mary’s Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Cup Butter
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract
2 1/2 Cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar

Directions:
In a large mixer bowl beat together the sugar and butter until creamy.  Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract and mix thoroughly.

In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.  Whisk with a hand whisk for a short time to loosen any clumps.

Mix the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients and beat until combined.  If too dry, mix by hand.

Gather dough into a large ball and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 191°C (375°F).

Remove from refrigerator, roll out dough and cut into shapes with cookie cutters.

place parchment paper on baking sheets.  Place cut cookie dough on baking sheets and bake for 7-8 minutes or until delicately brown.

Once cooled, pipe with icing (see recipe bellow).

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Icing (from Better Homes & Gardens)

Ingredients:
3 Cups Powdered Sugar
3 Tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Liquid Food Coloring in various colors

Directions:
Stir together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. Divide the icing into smaller bowls (1 bowl per desired color) and tint portions with a few drops of food coloring – mix. Spoon into piping bags.

Makes about 2 cups.

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