Christmas | Adventures in Thyme

Christmas Dessert for Two

December 20, 2015 by Dan Leave a Comment

Pumpkin Spice Custard

We couldn’t stop with just Christmas dinner for two – there had to be a dessert! This is a milk free pumpkin spice custard, and a few candied pecans just for good measure.

Custard:

1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup White Sugar
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
2 large Eggs
1 1/2 cups unsweetened, vanilla Almond Milk
1/2 of a 15 oz. can of Pumpkin (about 2/3 of a cup)
3/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon Ginger
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Whipped topping, thawed (This can be real whipped cream or one of the alternatives that is either low in milk content or dairy free)

In a medium sauce pot, combine the sugar and cornstarch.

In a mixing bowl, beat the 2 eggs until they are uniformly yellow, but not to the point of being frothy. Whisk in the almond milk. Add the spices and whisk to combine. Add the pumpkin and whisk until it is also well combined with the other ingredients. Gently pour the wet mixture into the sauce pan with the sugar and cornstarch, stirring constantly. Heat over medium heat until the mixture starts to boil. Turn down to low and continue to stir for 3 or 4 minutes. The mixture should be thickened.

Remove from the heat and place the sauce pan in a large pan of ice water. Stir until the mixture is cool (10 to 15 minutes.) Spoon the mixture into a nice wine glass or parfait glass. Fill about 1/3 full. Add a layer of whipped topping to get the glass about half full. Spoon more custard on top of the whipped topping until the glass is about 2/3 full. Repeat for the second glass. (Depending on the size of your glass, this may make 2 or 3 servings.) Cover the top of the custard with plastic food wrap, right on top of the custard. (This will prevent the custard from forming a skin on top.) Chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator.

While the custard cools, make your candied pecans.

Candied Pecans:

1 tablespoon Water
1 Egg White
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Pecan Halves

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees F.

Combine the egg white and water in a medium bowl and whisk until frothy. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt, whisk until well combined and the sugar is dissolved. Add the pecans and stir until they are well coated. (If you’re careful, this recipe will actually do 1 1/2 to 2 cups of Pecans.)

Line a baking sheet with cooking parchment. Spread the nuts in a single layer, evenly on the parchment. Bake for 60 minutes, stirring them every 10 to 15 minutes (try to keep the nuts separated). Remove from the oven and let cool. Break up the nuts if they are stuck together. For the topping for this dessert, coarsely chop a few of the candied pecans.

To serve your dessert, remove the custard from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. Sprinkle with the chopped pecans, add a dollop of your whipped topping and sprinkle with a little cinnamon.

Enjoy.

Christmas Dinner for Two

December 14, 2015 by Dan Leave a Comment

Christmas Dinner for Two

Not every holiday dinner is meant for happy hordes of friends and family. Sometimes it’s just a quiet meal between two soulmates. This delightful little dinner is easy to prepare and perfect for an intimate evening of good food and conversation.

1 small, fully cooked HAM, about 2 pounds
1 can Pineapple Rings
Maraschino Cherries
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Pineapple Juice (from the canned pineapple)
pinch ground clove

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

If your ham is pre-sliced, use two metal skewers to hold it together, pushing them all the way through the ham.

Line a small baking pan with aluminum foil and place a small baking rack or cooling rack in the bottom of the pan. Place the ham on the rack. Top with pineapple rings, held in place with toothpicks. My ham took 4. Use a toothpick hold one maraschino cherry in the middle of each pineapple ring. Place the ham in the oven and back for 15 minutes.

While the ham cooks, combine 1/4 cup pineapple juice and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Add a pinch of ground clove. (If you like a mustard flavor, add 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder as well.) This is the glaze for the ham. Tip: Drops of glaze into the pan might cause some smoke as the sugar burns, adding some water into the bottom of your baking pan can prevent this.

Remove the ham from the oven and turn the oven up to 450 degrees F.

While the oven heats up glaze the ham by carefully pouring the glaze over the ham so it covers all of the top and sides. Place it back in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until the glaze begins to brown. The ham should be heated through. Test with a kitchen thermometer to be sure it has reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. When heated through, remove from the oven and serve.

You can serve this with baked beans, a salad, mashed potatoes, bread or whatever sides you like. A simple tomato salad can be made by slicing a tomato per person. Place the sliced tomatoes on a serving plate, top with crumble goat cheese or goat feta and drizzle with a bit of good balsamic vinegar.

Christmas Oatmeal Cookies

January 1, 2015 by Dan Leave a Comment

oatmeal cookies

If you’re reading this post you’ve survived the holidays, congratulations! We have emerged from our food comas too to share with you one of our Christmas family traditions – baking a “goodie”. We bake lots of goodies going into the Christmas season, and this one is a favorite that combines healthy oats with dried fruits and nuts. Oh there’s chocolate of course, what would it be without that?!

Our recipe started as Quaker Oats “Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies” recipe at http://www.quakeroats.com/cooking-and-recipe/vanishing-oatmeal-raisin-cookies.aspx , we tweaked it a bit to put a little tingle in your kingle. Enjoy!

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) Butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed Dark Brown Sugar
1 cup Granulated Sugar
4 Eggs
2 teaspoons Real Vanilla Extract
3 cups All-purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Salt
6 cups Quick Quaker® Oats
2 cups Dried Cranberries
1 10 oz package Dark Chocolate Chips
1 12 oz package Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
2 cups chopped Pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Use your mixer to cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs (1 at a time) and then the vanilla. Beat until well combined.

In a separate bowl, mix well the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. (You can also sift this together if you like.)

Slowly, a little at a time, add the dry ingredients to your wet ingredients. (At this point, the batch was too big for our mixer, so we had to move to a large metal mixing bowl and finish mixing by hand).

Now add the oats, cranberries, chocolate chips and pecans. Mix until evenly combined. (This part took both of us, one to hold the bowl and one to mix.)

Drop by round teaspoonsful onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Use your fingers or a spoon to press them into flat disks. These will not flatten out on their own. Bake until golden, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or two. Move to a cooling rack and let cool.

We made just over 10 dozen small cookies with this recipe – enough to hand out for unexpected guests and of course a few to leave for Santa Claus.

Pumpkin Pie

November 26, 2014 by Dan Leave a Comment

Pumpkin Pie

Tonight’s recipe is all about getting the kids to eat their vegetables. You shouldn’t have much trouble – pumpkin pie is so deliciously silky and spiced with the flavors of Fall – cinnamon and nutmeg. Okay, so we’re kidding ourselves if we think it’s “healthy” but it IS a vegetable. Let’s make some pie!

This recipe makes two deep 9 inch pies or three shallow 9 inch pies or three deep 8 inch pies.

2 cups Sugar
1 tablespoon Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon ground Ginger
1 tablespoon ground Cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground Nutmeg
1 quart Milk (or substitute – almond milk, soy creamer, etc.)
1 large can Pumpkin (about 3 cups)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3 tablespoons melted Butter
4 eggs

Pie crust for two 9 inch pies (three for shallow 9 inch or deep 8 inch pans)

Preheat your oven to 350 to 400 degrees F. (For my oven it needs to be 400.)

Mix together the dry ingredients; sugar, flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In a large mixing bowl, beat 4 eggs. Combine the dry ingredients, pumpkin and wet ingredients by alternating their addition into a mixing bowl. Specifically by starting and ending with dry ingredients, about a quarter of each ingredient with each addition. Stir together well as you add each part. Once the ingredients are well mixed, add the vanilla and butter.

Place your crust in the pie pans. Fill each pie with the filling, keep the filling about equal so they will cook evenly.

Cook on the middle rack of your oven until the custard is set in the middle. Start checking at about 60 minutes. On my oven it takes about 80 minutes for the deep 9 inch pies to cook.

Serve with whipped cream.