Dessert Evolution: Beyond Pumpkin Pie

Once the final mouthful of stuffing is consumed and the table is now strewn with empty wine bottles and dirty dishes, how will you entertain your Thanksgiving guests after dinner?  Perhaps all will join together in a communal collapse on the couch for a football game or a family classic film?  Or maybe the girls will begin strategically plotting coordinates for the next day’s Black Friday expedition, sending the guys to flee to a game of poker in the other room.  Whatever the evening’s destination may be, there are sure to be desserts in the equation.

Typically, Thanksgiving Day desserts are relegated to a couple of hours post-dinner, in the hopes that the gastronomic overindulgences and the tryptophan-induced daze will lift.  The excitement of a touchdown, or of a hoard of flying monkeys for that matter, will tend to whet appetites once again.

Thanksgiving desserts have spanned far beyond the ubiquitous pumpkin pie.  Even the humble pumpkin pie has now evolved to incorporate cheesecake batter, mousse, meringue toppings, streusel crumb toppings and, sometimes, not even a pie at all.  Pumpkin parfaits, pumpkin ice cream, dessert breads and pumpkin roulades have now joined the lineup that celebrates the autumnal gourd.

What were once simple apple pies now add a pop of color, thanks to the addition of seasonal cranberries within the shroud of pastry crust.  Apples also now nestle peacefully with pears under the cover of a crispy crumb blanket.  Today’s caramel craze has led to heavy drizzles of caramel over a topless apple pie.

If you’re seeking a unique twist for a Thanksgiving dessert, look no further than your family’s year around favorites.  The dessert police will be too occupied with gobbling up their own pumpkin doughnuts to haul you away in handcuffs because you opted out of the pumpkin pie tradition.  If your family consists of shameless chocoholics, run with it.  A chocolate torte can be made festive for Thanksgiving by spreading orange hued frosting between the layers as well as on top of the cake, followed by a finishing touch of fall colored candies or casting sugars.  In fact, one of the most ideal flavor pairings is that of dark chocolate and orange, so try incorporating some orange flavor as well as color into that frosting.  Candy making hobbyists can get creative by making some chocolate cornucopias – molds can be purchased in craft stores that sell chocolate making and baking supplies – and then filling them with homemade truffles.  Pecan pie is so much more decadent when chocolate is incorporated into the filling.  If your family is nuts about nuts, try making a chocolate pecan pie with a mix of nutty favorites, whether that list includes cashews, pistachios, almonds, walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts or all of the above to cover all bases.  Go with lightly salted nuts, as the flavor combination of sweet and salty is deliciously satisfying.

Cheesecake is another perpetual favorite.  While last Easter’s strawberry-covered cheesecake may seem out of place on an end-of-harvest feast, the topping can be switched up to highlight autumn’s cranberries instead of spring and summer varieties of berries.   Below is a recipe that I have come up with that I will be using this Thanksgiving to crown a Coeur a la Crème, a super easy French dessert that resembles a rich and creamy soft cheesecake.  In fact, the generosity of the holiday season is coming over me; I’ll share the whole dessert.  However, if you prefer to use a traditional cheesecake, this topping will work on that too, as well as over a pumpkin pie or vanilla ice cream.

Coeur a La Crème with Cranberry-Port-Hazelnut Topping

Ingredients:

1 ½ 8-ounce blocks cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar

2 ½ cups heavy cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon finely grated orange zest

Place the cream cheese and sugar in a mixer bowl.  Using the paddle attachment, beat on high speed until thoroughly combined.  Change from the paddle attachment to the whisk attachment.  Add the remaining ingredients and beat until the mixture is well blended and thickened.

Line a large, fine-meshed sieve with cheesecloth and hang the sieve over a large bowl, making sure that the bottom of the sieve is suspended above, not against, the bottom of the bowl.  Pour the cream cheese mixture into the sieve and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.  Fold the overhanging cheesecloth to rest gently over the top.  Place in the refrigerator overnight.

The next morning, make the topping.

Ingredients:

½ tablespoon water

½ teaspoon unflavored gelatin powder

½ cup sugar

½ cup ruby Port

1 tablespoon Cointreau

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup fresh cranberries

½ cup chopped, toasted hazelnuts

Place the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin powder over it.  Set aside.  In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together the sugar, Port, Cointreau, cinnamon and cloves.  Continue to stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Stir in the cranberries and reduce the heat.  Allow to simmer until at least half of the cranberries have popped.  Transfer a ladle full of the hot mixture to the bowl containing the gelatin.  Stir to combine.  Now transfer the contents of the bowl into the remaining cranberry mixture in the saucepan and stir until combined.  Remove from heat and set aside.  Allow to cool to room temperature.

Remove the sieve from the refrigerator.  There should be liquid accumulated in the bottom of the bowl.  Discard the liquid.  Peel back the cheesecloth that was folded over the top of the cream cheese mixture.  Place a serving plate upside down on top of the sieve.  Invert, turning out the mixture onto the plate.  Remove the sieve and gentle peel off the cheesecloth.  With an empty, clean ladle, gently press down on the center of the dessert, creating a well.  Ladle the cranberry topping into the well, allowing it to overflow and trickle down the sides.  Sprinkle with hazelnuts and serve.

• Traditionally, this dessert was so named because it is made in a porcelain dish with tiny holes in the bottom.  A coeur, meaning ‘heart,’ is the shape of this dish.  However, as most households may not possess such a dish, a large, fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth works just as well.

Whatever dessert you choose, traditional or nouveau, the sweet mouthfuls will comfort all with the perfect, happy ending to this family holiday.  Be sure to accompany dessert not only with coffee or tea, but consider also offering espresso, cordial liqueurs such as Frangelico for an autumn nutty flavor, Port, a warmed spice wine, or a sweet dessert wine such as moscato.

Food for Thought

If you need further inspirational reading for Thanksgiving menu planning, read all about potatoes, flavorful vegetable dishes such as braised fennel or Brussels sprouts, cranberries, pumpkins, desserts and even a comforting way to use up that leftover turkey! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Autumn Berry

Throughout the summer we have enjoyed a variety of boldly colored berries.  A perfect summer dessert is the berry fruit salad, comprised of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries, topped with a dollop of mascarpone whipped cream.  With summer's conclusion, we no longer find those luscious jewels in the farm stand baskets.  Oh, but if we are patient for just another month, what's this?  What's this I spy in the produce department?  Ah yes, autumn has officially arrived, signaled by the grand entrance of the cranberry.  Typically sold pre-packaged in twelve-ounce plastic bags, these ruby-red little gems rich in vitamin C are what spurn the imagination into sprinkling the perfect finish over salads and sides, baking simultaneously sweet and tart desserts and preparing a creative accompanying condiment for the Thanksgiving turkey.


Cranberries grow wild in northern bogs of North America.  They are also cultivated in Washington state, Oregon, Wisconsin,Massachusetts, New Jersey and on Long Island. Yes, Long Island.  In fact, at one time Suffolk County was the third largest producer of cranberries in the United States.  There are several cranberry bogs along the Walking Dunes of Montauk.  The East Hampton Trails Preservation Society leads hikes along the bogs of Napeague throughout November.  Cranberries are harvested between Labor Day and Halloween, hitting the markets for their peak marketing season in October through December.   Cranberries release more sugar after the first frost, thus providing us with sweeter berries.


Just in time for fall baking projects, they are used in dessert breads, cobblers and pies.  Many baking recipes call for a secondary fruit, such as apples or pears, whose sweetness provides the perfect counterpoint to the cranberry's tart bite.  Cranberry-orange-pecan bread is a seasonal favorite in my family.  Every fall I also joyously extract baked cranberry-walnut clafoutis and cranberry-white chocolate bars from the oven.


Dried cranberries are widely available throughout the year, and make a nice addition to your fall salads.  They also add a nice pop of color and flavor when tossed with prepared vegetables and sides, such as roasted butternut squash or sweet potatoes, or with steamed brussels sprouts.  They may also be used in baked goods in place of raisins for a bit of scarlet autumn dazzle.


As the Thanksgiving holiday begins its rapid approach, no turkey feast is complete without the requisite cranberry sauce.  It so happens that November 22nd is in fact National Cranberry Sauce Day.  At some point in our lives we have all seen the ubiquitous canned cranberry sauce.  These cans are stacked in twelve-foot walls every November in every supermarket and put on sale at ridiculously low prices.  When opened, the contents must be extruded from these cylindrical containers.  Just as it is about to strike the awaiting serving dish, it threatens to bounce off of the rim and roll off of the counter, either onto the floor where it will bounce some more or into the eager dog's open-in-waiting jowls.  Even at a cursory glance, deep indents from the grooves of the can are observed encircling this gelatinous glob.  My point?  This is one perfect example of canned good which is never an acceptable substitute for homemade cranberry sauce at your Thanksgiving table.  Make your own, it really is just as easy.


Cranberry sauce requires little more than depositing some cranberries into a pot with some liquid and sugar, adding a few spices and simmering the ingredients until most of the cranberries have popped.  That's it, voila, cranberry sauce.  Did you blink?  Then you probably missed it.  You can be as creative as you like, by changing up the spices used, adding flavor enhancements of liqueur, or adding some additional sweet or savory ingredients such as a second fruit or some chopped shallots, for instance.  It all depends on which flavor sensation your taste buds tend to gravitate toward, whether your have a sweet tooth like myself, or if you like to tease your palate with a peppery spice.  Anything goes, I have seen recipes that call not only for the typical fall baking spices, but also for cardamom or even cayenne pepper.  If it's heat you crave, the addition of a little jalepeno jelly might do the trick perfectly.  If you begin creating a new cranberry sauce recipe each year, you can easily come up with a new combination every year for the rest of your life.  Conversely, you just might churn out one combination that, upon sampling a taste just spooned from the pot, completely blows you away; and the result of this impromptu culinary experiment becomes the new tradition for every Thanksgiving thereafter.  This is exactly what I experienced four years ago, and now my citrus cranberry sauce with port is an annual tradition; why mess with perfection, right?




Citrus-Cranberry Sauce with Port (6 servings)
Ingredients:  
1 cup sugar
½ cup ruby Port
½ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons Cointreau
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 ounces fresh cranberries
2 oranges, peeled and cut into chunks


Stir the sugar, Port, orange juice and Cointreau in a pot over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves.  Stir in ground cinnamon.  Bring mixture to a boil.  Stir in cranberries, reduce heat and simmer until about three-quarters of the cranberries have popped, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.  Stir in orange chunks.  Can be served immediately; or can be made up to one week ahead, store in a tight container in the refrigerator.


If you want to change things up in this recipe, try substituting six dried figs, each cut into quarters, instead of the oranges.  What to do with leftover cranberry sauce?  It makes an excellent topper for roasting meats or fish.  Spoon a layer over pork chops or salmon fillets and then roast, you'll have a simple weekday entree that's packed with flavor.  You can even doctor your leftover cranberry sauce by adding some savory ingredients, such as sauteed chopped shallots, a spoonful of dijon mustard or some fresh thyme or rosemary.


Once you set out a winning cranberry sauce at your Thanksgiving table, and realize how quick and effortless it was to prepare, you will never look a can of cranberry sauce in the eye again.  Let them remain in the supermarket's warehouses, continuing to collect dust. If you already purchased a can, well perhaps it will serve you well as the occasional doorstop or paperweight.  Thanksgiving dinner is about bounty and harvest, which usually invokes images of freshly gathered vegetables and fruits, thus the embossed prints of filled cornucopias which grace many a Thanksgiving greeting card.  Maintain that imagery throughout your holiday meal by using only fresh ingredients, including that gorgeous crimson jewel, the cranberry.