Happy Friday Happy Weekend Breakfast Planning.

I’m spending the weekend working/maybe some home organization shopping because I’m a mature 27 year old but also I love to procrastinate.

These waffles have been something I’ve been wanting to throw together for a while now. I’ve got the ricotta waffles from the book on here that are actually really really good, but they require the having of ricotta in the fridge and unless you’re a Giada you probably have to run to the grocery store to grab that, not a good look for a waffle emergency.

I had a bunch of leftover hard cider from the holidays so I wanted to utilize it for something that wasn’t drinking 4 by yourself while watching tv, and I landed on waffles. If you can make waffles with club soda and beer then cider is an obvious answer to the equation.

The carbonation helps give some air that you’d normally get from whipping egg whites and the cider itself lends a nice yeasty flavor you’d normally get from a belgian waffle. The waffle your left with has a nice crispy exterior and a fluffy inside and it has for me the sign of a waffle that gives good waffle with the little bubbly outside like you can see above. More syrup pores which is a gross thought but if you don’t think about it too hard and just eat the waffle you’ll be happy about them.

The even better news is that even if you don’t have the hard cider you could easily use a nice light beer or if you’re doing the no drinking for january just for funsies you can do any club soda or seltzer water, godspeed.

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Happy Holidays from one procrastinator to another, where I’m just putting together a post to help us both out with last minute gifts for co-workers, neighbors, and family that don’t need another tin of popcorn.

Last year I went the peppermint rocky road route with zero regrets and I figured this year we could take the white chocolate highway to what might be better than the semisweet peppermint route.

I love the idea of rocky road because it’s stupid easy and it’s something grandmas make. The idea of updating it with a very in flavor right now is great because then we get to go and share the update with people that have been making it the exact same way for years and years. This is how my brain works when recipes are sort of given in parts instead of very technical measurements, I tweak shit.

This recipe makes a good amount of candy and it doesn’t require any thermometers or special equipment so it’s perfect to throw together right now and bag up later today for gifting. Make a batch and save me some please because I’ve eaten all that I set aside for myself because I have zero self control when it comes to candy in general, especially when it comes to this fight combo.

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You bet your ass we’re double dutying that batch of marmalade we made earlier this week.

I originally wanted to make a drink called the lady marmalade before we took a dive into marmaladeland so when the bag of clementines presented itself to me I just said why not make my life more difficult.

The drink is actually just a twist on a classic bourbon punch with a bright hit from the marmalade and a splash of the fizz from my spirit La Croix. You really could use your favorite spirit in here though. I tried both vodka and rum along side the bourbon and the main thing that helped the bourbon cross that finish line was it’s ability to pull out more of the orange flavor from the marmalade like a wizard.

If you’ve got a party this weekend that needs a big bowl of social anxiety cures then I’ve also got you covered with this, it scales easily. I’ll probably be making a pitcher to accompany my binge watching of the new Leah Remini Scientology Show as a party of one.

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‘Tis the season for making a huge batch of something in plans to give it as gifts then put it in the fridge and forget about it for a couple weeks.

Nobody else just me?

Oh okay cool.I actually ended up making this because I bought a 5 lb bag of clementines at the store because they were on sale and then once I got home I really realized how much 5 lbs of clementines was and if I ate them just like they were all by myself the acid would eat my teeth.

So I made a couple batches of this then gave the rest to Steve who landed on a margarita also with the hibiscus combo without knowing that was my route and here we are: loads of marmalade and some alcohol to wash it all down.

The method from this is actually from Nigella Lawson and it makes the whole marmalade process a thousand times better. No overnight soaking, no 4 hour cook times,  barely any hands on time with my food processor decision. You just hot tub the citrus for a little bit then blitz it all in a food processor and cook it down with enough sugar to power a small cruise ship.

The result is a perfect marmalade, super bright orange flavor with a nice tint from the hibiscus, and a slight bitter chew from the peel. I’m usually not crazy about the classic orange marmalade because the flavor usually screams artificial orange blossom to me and if there’s any sort of orange blossom situation she better be using her best inside voice.Each batch makes a good quart and then some so it’s perfect for gifting in smaller jars. I would 100% suggest doing it with these biscuits and some tea or coffee as a thank you to anyone hosting you this month because everyone’s going to bring a bottle of wine and you can only have so much of that for breakfast before needing something to soak it up.

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Happy Thanksgiving Stress Extravaganza Eve!

Hopefully you’re all squared away with only one more trip to the grocery store, everything’s planned out, you’ve got your game plan for when someone says why they voted for who they voted for, and there’s a big batch cocktail hiding out in a cold place.

Steve and I are actually not doing a single thing for Thanksgiving this year, minus a turkey that Steve randomly brought home yesterday. I’ll probably spatchcock that in the morning and buy some Thai food or Pizza for dinner and just try and relax. Usually I’m full cooking mode but I’ve been working for a few weeks now on a recipe development job and the last thing I want to do is cook a bunch of food. I didn’t do any sort of Thanksgiving dinner and part of me feels sad but then there’s a larger part of me that is v okay with it and will help heal the other part with half a pumpkin pie.

If I did have to make anything though, for any sort of friendsgiving potluck situation it would be a double batch of this dip.

The recipe comes from Julia Turshen’s Book, Small Victories, which is a great book because it covers a whole bunch of basics with recipes, then almost every recipe has variations within it so it’s like a buy 1 get 3 free deal.

I love a good deal I love a good dip I love a good scallion.

This dip gives french onion 2.0 vibes and it’s perfect for potato chips (or celery if you want to kid yourself tomorrow) and can easily be made today and stored until the festivities tomorrow.

On a note above all that I teamed up with Julia and the team at Chronicle Books to spread the word about the friendsgiving Julia’s got going on with No Kid Hungry. Nearly 1 in every 5 kids doesn’t have the access to the food they need to thrive and I love having some sort of platform to help with awareness. If you’ve got anything extra to give, then donate (Julia reached her goal but it would be great to go as far we can), and if you have anyone you think might not have a thanksgiving tomorrow and you’ve got the space then shoot them an invite, let them know they’ve got somewhere to go.
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Now announcing a pie for those of us with latticephobia.

Now announcing a pie that has a mountain of triple sec spiked whipped cream.

Now announcing a pie that I might have already eaten half of by myself.

This pie comes from Sarah Kieffer‘s insanely awesome new cookbook, The Vanilla Bean Baking Book. If you have anyone you need a gift for that enjoys baking even just a little baby bit this is the book for them. There’s so many recipes, so many good base classics, so many fun ones. I’ll definitely be baking from it all. the. time.

I had originally made the no-churn pumpkin ice cream and was going to shoot and share it the week of the election but then I literally ate more than half of it on said election night like I’m sure most of you did with anything you could get your hands on. When I realized what had happened in my black out rage I figured I could call it an opportunity to just have to make something else from the book.

I like a nice reveal so I figured this would be the perfect thing to take to the thanksgiving where your drumpf loving aunt expects you to bring a pumpkin pie and you show up with this. You know they can’t say shit because it’s not what they wanted but it negates them mentioning how the rest of us are not okay with the fact that there’s a remake of indian in the cupboard with a bunch of nazis that takes place in the kitchen with an old leather handbag as the lead so now it’ll casually be called nazis in the cabinet.

Make this pie, impress your family, take a pumpkin for the ones that you love, and hopefully have a good stress free thanksgiving. And if it’s not stress free hopefully you teach someone something, and if that doesn’t happen take the pie and run but also be safe and I luv u.

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