Cider Bourbon-Glazed Roast Turkey with Shallot Gravy


Turkey, Turkey, Turkey why do you give us so much trouble every year (the time is never right and neither is the temp on the thermometer)? This Thanksgiving we decided to use the Cider Bourbon glaze from Williams-Sonoma. The turkey, once finally done, came out delish and moist. We really loved the glaze. It was sweet with a hint of spice. We followed the directions from WS but skipped the brine and instead used butter, salt & pepper on the outside and stuffed the cavity with fresh herbs. We brined last year and it seemed like a lot of work without much added benefit. The gravy was tasty but not sure it was worth having to buy $29 demi-glace.

Recipe link

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Chocolate Ebelskivers


It was time to test the new chocolate ebelskiver mix from WS. We used three different fillings and they all turned out wicked awesome but the caramel was the best!

Nutella, Peanut Butter and Caramel Filled

If you want to see the full process of making an ebelskiver check out my Cinnamon-Bun Ebelskiver post.

The recipe for Chocolate Ebelskivers is on the mix if you buy it. If you don’t, I’ve attempted to give you a recipe below…

For the pancakes:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 Tbs. granulated sugar
  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 2 cups milk
  • 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for cooking
  • cocoa powder (if you want to make them chocolate)

For the filling:
We used Nutella, Peanut butter and Caramel sauce right out of the jars (placed them in the fridge for 10 minutes b4 so they would be easier to work with). You want it to be a paste like consistency not soft and runny.

Directions:
To make the pancakes, in a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and granulated sugar. In another bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks, then whisk in the milk and the 4 Tbs. melted butter. Whisk the egg yolk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined; the batter will be lumpy. Using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff but not dry peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter in two additions.

Put 1/8 tsp. melted butter in each well of a filled-pancake pan. Set over medium heat and heat until the butter begins to bubble. Pour 1 Tbs. batter into each well. Spoon 1 tsp. of the filling of your choice into the center of each pancake and top with 1 Tbs. batter. Cook until the bottoms are golden brown and crispy, about 3 minutes. Using 2 skewers, flip the pancakes over and cook until golden and crispy, about 3 minutes more. Transfer the pancakes to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter and filling. Dust with powdered sugar.

Makes 35 to 40.

More ebelskiver recipes:
Strawberry Blintz Ebelskivers
Cinnamon-Bun Ebelskiver

Chocolate Bouchons

chocbouchons

OMG! These are just like the real deal. I didn’t think Chef Keller would put his name on a product of poor quality. He teamed up with Williams- Sonoma to produce the iconic chocolate Bouchon mix and mold. The mix easily made 24 sensational corks.

bouchonmoldbouchonmold2

Tasty tip: If you want big Bouchons fill the molds to the top, if not fill them just a tad under the lip. The mold works great and the little bad boys slide right out.

Cinnamon-Bun Ebelskiver

ebelskiver

What is a Cinnamon-Bun Ebelskiver? It’s basically a cinnamon roll and a pancake rolled into one!

We received the Williams-Sonoma ebelskiver pan as a gift a few years back. Last weekend we whipped it out and made breakfast for the family before we went to cut down Christmas trees. Mike and I have made nutella, boysenberry and peanut butter filled ebelskivers in the past but these were by far the best. Each bite oozed cinnamon sugary goodness (don’t go light on the filling). The drizzle of cream cheese frosting was awesome. It was light, airy and melted in your mouth.

Recipe link

(click images for a closer look at the preparation)
ebelskiverstep1 ebelskiverstep2 ebelskiverstep3 ebelskiverstep4 ebelskiverstep5 ebelskiverstep6

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Red Velvet cupcakes

The Sprinkles cupcake shop is still not open in Palo Alto so I had to bake up a batch myself to hold me over. I picked up the red velvet mix from Williams-Sonoma. They turned out terrific… If I say so myself!

Get yourself some!

One-Pot Dinners

Williams-Sonoma in Los Gatos has a series of cooking technique classes on Sunday mornings before the store opens and guess what? They are FREE. Mike and I went to one entitled One-pot dinners last week. The class was about 45 minutes and the demo was for beef bourguignonne. Our instructor was Brad who had tons of personality. He kept us entertained and was well informed on the art of making food in a pot. The set up is not all that comfortable, you are standing in a group of 25+ people around a 5 foot cooking station but what can you expect for $0.00. They provide a handout with 4-5 recipes/tips and you get to sample the dish prepared. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday morning. If you stop by the store you can find the list of upcoming classes next to the register. Some of the other topics include souffles, spring pasta and grilling. You will see one of our attempts to prepare a one pot meal on a future post.

Our reason for wanting to take this class…

rachael ray dutch oven

Our new massive Rachael Ray 7 quart cast iron dutch oven

Oh, how was the beef? Super tender, great aroma and color but the sauce needed some more seasoning. It was a bit bland. Mike said he would use a Cabernet instead of a Pinot to give more flavor.

Get your Rachael Ray dutch oven

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