Thanksgiving Desserts!
In past years, the holidays were always consistently similar, my Dad’s sister hosted Thanksgiving and my parents hosted Christmas. We always were able to expect similar plans. Last year was nothing different. We went over to my Aunt’s for Thanksgiving (I ended up driving back home Thanksgiving night because I had work the next morning- restaurant industry at its finest), and my mom hosted Christmas a month later. Family members brought their unspoken designated dishes to both gatherings.
It’s MY First Time Hosting a Family Holiday
This year, we have some SLIGHT changes to our annual traditions due to me taking on a new work schedule for the holidays this year. My sister flew home a couple days before Thanksgiving for a long weekend back home, spending time with family and friends. Since I worked Thanksgiving day, my parents and her made the drive up to ME so I didn’t have to worry as much about my scheduling conflicts. I still get to see my family AND work instead of taking a good chunk of time off to go spend the weekend with them. AND It’s my first time hosting my family for a holiday- adulting moves!!
Earlier in the week, my mom and I spent a decent amount of time on the phone planning our celebration menu. →
Mom brought ingredients for the turkey (and the pan), stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. I had ingredients ready for my gramma’s sweet potatoes, homemade gravy, taco dip and some other snacks, AND desserts.
Since my work schedule takes up a good portion of the week, I spent Thanksgiving day testing some dessert recipes that I’ve been wanting to try all year and not working hours the rest of the week getting my apartment ready for my guests! Pretty much everything except desserts were prepared on Saturday when they got here. A fun day of preparing our meal together, we even got to play some board and card games, set up my Christmas tree and watch some Christmas movies too!
I’m in Charge of Desserts?!
While we were confirming our menu and travel plans, my mom said, “Since you’re the baker of the family I thought you could make the desserts” 😛 I’m excited to FINALLY get around to testing out some desserts that have been on my ‘try to make’ list all year long.
A couple months ago, I picked up a springform pan (cheesecake pan is what I like to call it) that matches my pots and pans collection AND I found ladyfingers for tiramisu from TJMAXX. PERFECT.
Swirled Caramel Cheesecake
Growing up, I never really got behind the hype of cheesecake, cheese danishes were always a WEIRD concept for me too. BUT at the beginning of this year, I got together with some of my friends for a girls weekend, and my friend Eden’s husband bought us a little sample platter of a variety of flavored cheesecake slices. YUM.
Throughout the year I’ve come across dozens of cheesecake recipes that I want to try making- blueberry crumble, raspberry, blackberry, apple crumble to name a few. I asked my parents what flavor they’d like to try and they’re pretty simple when it comes to flavor preferences and caramel was the winner. I immediately went to Pinterest to see how I could incorporate caramel into a cheesecake and found this Caramel Swirled Cheesecake recipe from Olivia on recipestasteful.com.
The recipe is laid out in a baker friendly way, separating ingredients based on the order of building the actual dessert- Crust ingredients, filling ingredients, and lastly the caramel sauce that is swirled on top.
The instructions also followed the similar layout, with preparing the crust to bake and moving along to the rest of the cheesecake while the crust bakes, all the way to cooling and refrigeration until the cheesecake is served.
Reading further down in the recipe, there are serving instructions, additional tips, AND swaps to make this recipe incredibly versatile. This recipe seems to be a foundational piece to creating multiple variations of cheesecake flavors. And with my experience in how it turned out- I will most definitely be adding this to my repeat collection for future uses!
Classic Italian Tiramisu
When I was working at Curious Pig in the UP, one of the cooks had a phenomenal tiramisu recipe that I got the pleasure of trying. So perfected, he has the recipe tattooed on himself. Strolling through TJ MAXX, I found the biggest bag of lady fingers I’ve ever seen and had to get some to try and attempt the decadent dessert for myself.
I’m obviously NOT a professional baker, but I WOULD consider myself a Pinterest recipe baker. My Cuisine Board is FILLED with recipes for beverages, sweet treats, soups, pastas, pizzas, appetizers, side dishes, comfort foods and so much more. When I want to try making a dish or dessert, my first action step is to run to my saved pins and search for whatever it is that I’m craving. Surprisingly enough, I did NOT have a Tiramisu recipe saved from previous scrolling endeavors. So I went on a hunt and found this Classic Italian Tiramisu Recipe from Lena on platejoys.com.
Tiramisu is an interesting recipe; layers upon layers, intricate steps, and patience are a few keys factors in taking on a recipe like this. Personally, I don’t think my first attempt turned out as fabulously as my cheesecake. BUT I do have a list of things I’d change if I were to attempt it again. I would definitely use a smaller storage container and / or make double the mascarpone filling. I would also do a little bit more research on soaking the lady fingers and maybe use a different coffee choice as well.
Overall, I’m claiming my FIRST family hosting experience one for the books. We all got to spend quality time together under one roof for longer than just a couple of hours. We spent time in the kitchen, maneuvering from one dish to the next, working together. We got to play card games and board games just like old times. Decorating for Christmas after our Thanksgiving meal was something I was really looking forward to this fall, and having family with me made it even more special. AND I found y new go-to cheesecake recipe for future dessert needs.
