Christmas Tamale Stuffing

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

When I was little I thought stuffing was gross because it was, you know, the guts. My big brother Tony convinced me by whispering, “Yep, Mom really does serve us guts, but don’t tell her I told you!”

Then one Thanksgiving, when Tony was at his girlfriend’s house, I had a revelation … and the truth was miraculously delicious. Since then I’ve made all sorts of stuffings with oysters and figs, roasted shallots and pancetta, sausage, leeks, fennel and roasted peppers, but never with gizzards.

Click to read more ...

Let it Snow!

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

I adore Christmas but am not a fan of shopping at this time of the year. Crowds and long lines are just not my kind of fun. So I like to get into the holiday spirit by baking small gifts for others.

Last year, I made some cookies, small breads and individual bread puddings. However, this year is different because I just moved back to my house in the Hudson Valley from Pennsylvania this past week. Being surrounded by pillars of boxes that seem to not want to go away doesn’t exactly encourage one to spend days baking!

Click to read more ...

A Simple Gingerbread Cake

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

This time of year, even folks who’ve never touched a skillet get the baking itch. And how can you resist? The smells of cinnamon, gingerbread, chocolate and everything pumpkin spice wafting in the air instantly make us happier and eager to fill our own homes with that feeling.

In that spirit of conviviality, I wanted to leave you newbie cooks with a ridiculously simple, exponentially more satisfying, and comforting cake for the holidays. I’m hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t love gingerbread, but maybe rolling out cookies or the heavy molasses flavor of dark gingerbreads isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

Click to read more ...

Trifle, an Easy Christmas Dessert

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

What’s your favorite holiday dessert? In our house, it’s bûche de Noël or trifle. We alternate them from year to year. I love the French yule log cake but it’s much more time-consuming to make than the traditional English trifle.

Trifle is a fitting Special Fork recipe because it’s mostly assembly: layering prepared sponge cake, raspberry jam, macaroons and drizzling with homemade custard that seeps between the layers of cake to make a pudding. Then the whole thing is topped with a layer of toasted slivered almonds and clouds of whipped cream.

Click to read more ...

Make Glögg to Serve or a Mix to Give as Gifts

By Sandy Hu
A new video for Video Friday

All this week, Special Fork bloggers have been featuring some of their favorite holiday entertaining recipes. Today’s recipe doubles as a fragrant and warming drink to serve at your holiday party or to give as a gift if you’re going to a party.

Glögg is a Scandinavian mulled wine drink; we’re preparing the seasoning mix. The recipe was developed when I was a PR representative for the California Raisin Advisory Board in the heyday of the Dancing Raisins campaign.

Click to read more ...