The Bitten Word

Baked Apple Dumplings with Cider Sauce

Cook's Country (November 2009)

Thumbing through the most recent Cook's Country, we stopped dead in our tracks at the site of these Baked Apple Dumplings.  

Pieces of apple, enveloped in flaky dough, dusted in sugar and set in a pool of sweet cider sauce?  Adorable and mouth-watering.

They looked so old-fashioned, like something your great-grandmother would make to top off Sunday lunch. 

So we made them the first chance we got.

Thanksgiving 2009: Steamed Persimmon Pudding with Cinnamon Crème Anglaise

Bon Appétit (November 2009)

In selecting recipes to try out prior to Thanksgiving, we definitely wanted to choose some dishes that were outside our comfort zone. These could be either things we wouldn't typically make for a Thanksgiving meal, like an Oyster Casserole, or dishes that seemed challenging.

Well, we met our match with this recipe for Steamed Persimmon Pudding.

Truly, this may be a recipe worthy of MacGyver.

Thanksgiving 2009: Squash Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce

Saveur (November 2009)

One of the more unusual features in this year's crop of Thanksgiving magazines comes from Saveur. In it, Chef Susan Trilling, author of the cookbook Seasons of My Heart, tells about an annual Thanksgiving dinner she throws at her cooking school in Oaxaca, Mexico. 

Last year, 60 people attended the dinner and Trilling asked them to bring dishes that used ingredients native to the New World. It's not your typical holiday fare. The recipes that accompany the article are interesting spins on classic Thanksgiving dishes.

There's a Oaxacan stuffing with chiles, fennel, cumin and prunes, along with sweet potatoes in syrup with guava. We loved idea of these dishes, but the one that really caught our eye was this new spin on bread pudding that incorporates squash.

Thanksgiving 2009: Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake

Gourmet (November 2009)

Loyal Bitten Word readers are forgiven if they think they've stumbled onto the wrong food blog.

Yes, it's true that we're more likely to serve a Pork Chocolate Cheesecake than a vegan one.

But for some reason we were really drawn to this Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake in the final issue of Gourmet.

It looked simultaneously luscious and light, decadent but not too heavy. In short, it looked like an ideal Thanksgiving dessert.

Thanksgiving Guide 2009: What the Food Magazines Are Recommending

172 Recipes From 9 Leading Food Magazines

 

Thanksgiving is food magazines' time to shine. In years past, many of the food mags we read have used their November issues to really push the limits with innovative spins on Thanksgiving faves.

Sure, there are usually plenty of approachable standbys. But the classics usually sit alongside some really envelope-pushing ideas: Throw a Thanksgiving clambake! How about a Pacific Rim-fusion dinner? Truffle-laden turkey! Indian-spiced sweet potato gnocchi!! Vegan French-Vietnamese gluten-free stuffing!!!

Not so this year. From the looks of this year's crop of Thanksgiving food mags, 2009 is all about simplicity and basic, standard dishes. It's the Great Recession, and everybody just wants a big ol' piece of pumpkin pie.

Just look at what the magazines call out from the newsstands:

Martha Stewart Living: "Thanksgiving, simple and sensational"

Fine Cooking: "All the classics made easy"

Food Network: "Easy Thanksgiving"

Bon Appétit: "Thanksgiving made easy"

Everyday Food: "A Thanksgiving menu that's easy to make"

We have nine November issues in front of us, and nearly all of them are focused on "traditional" menus that are very straightforward.

The food magazines may have stuck to the classics this year, but that doesn't mean the options are limited. In the nine magazines we have, there are, in fact, 172 Thanksgiving recipes.

All those options can leave you more than a little stressed out. It's all too easy to get wrapped up in the idea that Thanksgiving has to be perfect and if you don't select the right stuffing recipe, your mother-in-law will break into tears at the table.

But fear not!  We've cataloged all 172 options below so that you, dear reader, can browse this year's recipes and make some selections for yourself. Over the next three weeks, we're going to be cooking and writing as many recipes as we can fit in. We'll post our photos and let you know how they turn out.

And as you're gearing up for the holiday, if you have questions, post them here and we'll do our best to answer them.

Okay, ready for the recipes?

Slow-Baked Honeycrisp Apples

Bon Appétit (October 2009)

 

We were in the mood for something warm, sweet and full of fall flavors.  And there is almost nothing we like more in autumn than a fresh Honeycrisp apple.

So we loved the idea of these Slow-Baked Honeycrisp Apples. Cozy, individual ramekins filled with soft apples scented with ginger and coriander, brightened by citrus -- what's not to love?

And don't they look inviting in this photo?  Don't they look like just the thing to warm you on a damp autumn evening?

Well, guess what, kids? Chicanery!

Chocolate Stout Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Happybirthdaytoyou.

Happybirthdaytoyou.

HappybirthdaydearZach.

Happybirthdaytoyou!

It's Zach's birthday this week and on Friday evening we threw a party for friends at our apartment. It was a fun evening, spent in the backyard (at least, when it wasn't raining). 

Here's a look at the food we made for the party, along with what may now be our all-time favorite cake.  If you're thinking of holding a gathering this fall, hopefully you'll find some inspiration here.

Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Cherries

Bon Appétit (September 2009)

We've mentioned before that our favorite cookie is of the chocolate-chip oatmeal variety. For us, it just hits all the right notes that a good cookie should.

So we were really excited to see these cookies in the September issue of Bon Appétit. It's our favorite go-to cookie with one special twist: dried cherries.

Flourless Double-Chocolate Cookies

Everyday Food (September 2009)

We tried to behave ourselves all summer -- we limited carbs, cut back on sweets and just said no to cookies.

But it's fall, and we're riding the cookie train from here to Christmas.

If you're looking for a sweet hit to get back on the junk, look no further than these Flourless Double-Chocolate Cookies.  Dark, rich and oh-so-chocolatey, they're perfect for kicking off your downward cookie spiral for fall.

(Plus, they're gluten-free, so you can pretend they're not as bad for you!)

Boozy Ice Pops

Fine Cooking (August/September 2009) & Gourmet (July 2009)

 

Nothing makes us more nostalgic for long, lazy childhood summers than the idea of a Popsicle. Opening the freezer and seeing a Technicolor array of bright, sugary ice pops is one of life's great pleasures. Unwrapping a Popsicle and then eating it -- while your tongue slowly turns unnatural hues of blue, green or red -- is one of the most refreshing and most quintessentially summer things there is.

This summer, we've been making our own ice pops, but with one great twist that's decidedly un-childlike: booze!

Whether you're a bourbon girl, a Bloody Mary guy or more of a margarita person, if you're looking for one last summer hurrah this weekend, look no further than these boozy ice pops.