Patience is not my virtue. [Ed. note: I want to comment, but appreciate my life.] Rolling out cookie dough and cutting out cookies with cookie cutters? No patience for it. Hell-o slice-and-bake simplicity!

These cookies are tender, lightly sweetened with honey, and swirled with cinnamon and spice–a perfect holiday cookie that travels and keeps well, perfect for gracing your Hanukkah dessert table, a cookie exchange, or to leave as a nice treat for Santa and his helpers. I have been known to have them for breakfast with coffee, or late afternoon pick-me-up with tea.

Winter is coming: let the holiday cookie season begin!

NOTE:  Although the glaze is delicious, I opted not to use it as I prefer it much better plain (plenty sweet for this household), and if you are going to ship it as a gift it's probably more practical to go glazeless. That said, if you're serving at a party or leaving for Santa, by all means glaze it up.

Adapted from: Marbled, Swirled, and Layered, by Irvin Lin
Number of servings: 48 cookies

Ingredients
Cookie Dough

• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 cup  (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Cinnamon Filling

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ½  teaspoon ground nutmeg

Glaze

• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½-¾  cup powdered sugar, sifted

Optional

• Ground cinnamon for dusting

Directions
Cookie Dough

1. Combine powdered sugar, butter, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. With a hand mixer, start mixing on low speed and slowly increase speed to medium until butter looks creamy and starts to cling to the sides of the bowl (about 2 minutes).
2. Add vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until incorporated. Add egg and beat until Incorporated. Add flour and mix on low speed, then slowly increase to medium speed until flour is incorporated and a dough forms. The dough will be soft.
3. Scrape the dough out onto a clean, floured surface and shape into a ball. Flatten into a circle and then square off the edges. Roll out dough into 13 x 14-inch rectangle with a long side facing you. (You will need to occasionally add more flour to the top and bottom of the dough so it doesn’t stick.)

Cinnamon Filling and Baking

1. In another bowl (use same bowl if you like), combine the butter, brown sugar, flour, honey, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat together until the filling is uniform in color, fluffy, and light (about 2 minutes). Scrape the filling out onto the rolled-out dough and spread to cover the entire surface (you may need to use your fingers for this, as the filling will need to be spread thinly). Tightly roll up the dough starting from the bottom edge (you may need to use a little more flour here again so the dough does not stick). Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and freeze for 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Remove dough from the freezer and unwrap. Carefully slice ¼-inch-thick cookie "disks" from the rolled log, slicing straight down (do not saw back and forth). Place on baking sheets, spacing the cookies about 1 ½ inches apart.
4. Bake until edges of the cookies start to turn golden brown (12 to 14 minutes). Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. NOTE: don't overbake!

Glaze

1. Combine honey, milk, vanilla and ½ cup powdered sugar in a bowl and stir together. If glaze looks too thin, add more powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it has thickened to the right consistency. Brush glaze onto cooled cookies with a pastry brush. Once glaze has settled, you can dust the cookies lightly with more ground cinnamon (optional).

NOTE:
Make sure the butter for cinnamon filling is truly at room temperature or even slightly warmer than that. It makes spreading the filling easier.
 
You can make and freeze this cookie dough for future baking. Once frozen for an hour, place the log in a labeled zip-top plastic bag. Slice and bake cookies at your convenience. Frozen dough should keep for up to 2 months.

There is no gray area with brussels sprouts. People love them or hate them. Luckily, I live in a house were brussels sprouts rule. The BF actually requests this cruciferous vegetable any chance he gets. 

The many health benefits of brussels sprouts are well documented. They're loaded with vitamin K (great for bone health), promote weight loss and lower cholesterol levels, are a great source of protein, and can even reduce cancer risk.

When cooking with them, can't stress this enough: buy good sprouts. They should feel firm and have tight, shiny-edged leaves. I like to buy medium-to-small ones, because I find the larger ones have a more bitter flavor (especially those gigantic, loose-leafed monstrosities). Never buy those.

Several thousand acres of sprouts are planted in coastal areas of San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Monterey counties of California (lucky to have this level of quality available locally), which offer an ideal combination of coastal fog year-round.

Roasting brussels sprouts (in the oven) was my way of winning over skeptics (like the BF), but this recipe works whether you steam them on a stove top or use the microwave. Those of you with one oven, like me, will appreciate not having to use it for multiple dishes, especially on Thanksgiving or other holidays.

This dish is delicious alongside any meat that typically graces the holiday table: beef, turkey, ham, lamb, pork, duck or sausage (second pic).

Happy Thanksgiving!
​
NOTE: I make these in the microwave for convenience, but feel free to steam the sprouts on the stove top.

Number of servings: 4 (depending on how many other side dishes you offer)

Ingredients

• 1  pound brussels sprouts, small to medium size
• ½ pound red and black seedless grapes
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Flaked sea salt

Directions

1. Rinse and trim the brussels sprouts. Keep small sprouts whole and cut medium sprouts in half.
2. Rinse grapes. Cut approximately one handful in half. Leave the remaining grapes whole.
3. Place sprouts in a large glass or microwave-safe bowl. Pour ¼ cup water over sprouts. Cover with plastic wrap or a plate.
4. Heat on high for 2 minutes. Use a spoon or spatula and toss the sprouts. Place cover back on bowl and heat for another minute. Mine are usually done at this point. If yours need more time do 1-minute intervals at a time. Do not overcook.
5. Immediately add grapes and butter to bowl. Toss, cover with plastic wrap or a plate, and let sit for 1-2 minutes until grapes are heated through.  
6. Toss, sprinkle with flaked sea salt, and serve,

Latkes are not just for Hannukah.

Everyone has their own Thanksgiving traditions. Growing up in our family, the turkey was not the star of the show. We were all about appetizers. Once, I asked Mamala how this all started and she couldn't remember, but at some point two appetizers turned into 20 and it took on a life of its own. We used to stay up all night before Thanksgiving and make: chopped liver, herring in sour cream, herring in tomatoes, herring in vinegar, clam poppers, rumaki, stuffed mushrooms, deviled eggs, vegetable trays, three kinds of rye bread, Japanese pickled radish, olives, cornichons, stuffed celery, liptauer (an Austrian favorite), Boston brown bread, and a pistachio pudding-green jello-cottage cheese-fruit cocktail-mayo-7-UP mold (it was the '70s, believe it was called Watergate Salad). Of course, little-girl me disliked all the appetizers we made, except black olives. Thank goodness I was allowed to stick them on my fingers.

So much time. energy and stomach space was spent on appetizers that we rarely ate our turkey and sides on Thanksgiving. If we did, it was at 10:00pm or the next day.

We've had many memorable Thanksgivings. My brother Mike had an epic Thanksgiving-Hannukah reunion in 2004. My Chicago family has hosted many extraordinary Thanksgiving reunions. We also had a beautiful yet bittersweet Thanksgiving with family and friends two weeks before my Mamala passed away in 2011.

There is always that one Thanksgiving that my family always laughs at: 1979. My father passed away that September and it was the first holiday without him. I had recently started college and my older brother Mike, a sophomore at Oregon State, thought it would be a nice idea to invite a married foreign-exchange couple from Korea to a traditional American Thanksgiving.

Mamala and I decided that we would forgo the appetizers and focus on the traditional turkey dinner. We worked feverishly all week cleaning the house, shopping, cooking, and decorating. Thanksgiving morning I put a 25-pound turkey in the oven and got to work on the rest of the feast. Did I mention we had a dog (part wolf, unbeknownest to us at the time), at the time. His name was Blitz. 

[Ed. Note: Good lord I do not like where this is going.]

Mike arrived with the Korean couple around noon, and they arrived in the most gorgeous traditional Korean attire, a hanbok en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanbok. They looked spectacular, were polite and gracious beyond words, just downright lovely people. We spoke no Korean and they spoke no English, but we managed just fine.

Our holiday table was beautifully set with my Mamala's customary Thanksgiving cornucopia, complete with seasonal fruit, plus pilgrim and Native-American candles that she bought 16 years prior when my younger sister Julie was born.

The turkey was baking away. Intoxicating aroma. I might have even cut a little piece of crispy skin off the tail end and snacked on it. [Ed. Note: I'ma tell.] The kitchen and dining room were closed off. Guests were in the living room.

4:00pm, countdown to dinner. The turkey needs to rest for 20 minutes before carving, so that 25-pound bird was carefully placed on the counter, covered with foil, and I finally joined everyone else in the living room.

Suddenly, THUNK. Growling. Snarling. Chomping.

[Ed. Note: The horror. Slowly she turned, inch by inch, step by...]

My heart dropped. I raced into the kitchen with Mamala close behind. There was Blitz with the turkey on the floor, devouring a leg and starting on the precious white meat. He hissed, growled, and bared teeth as I tried to reach for the bird. I grabbed a broom handle and tried to grab what was left of the turkey. His jaw dripped with coveted turkey juices. It was a scene out of Cujo.

[Ed. Note: Getting Stephen King's agent on the phone.]

By the time I could grab the turkey, it was mostly carcass with a little meat dangling on bone. What was once a meal for eight was soup stock. Mamala and I stared at the carcass, a beautiful turkey five minutes ago. We stared at the dog, who was beaming. Once our shock subsided we had no idea what to serve for dinner.

Meanwhile in the living room...Mike has said he never forgot the look on our guests' faces as they heard these psychotic masticating sounds emanating from the adjacent room. Like the proper Midwesterner my Mamala was raised to be, we of course never said a word to them about what transpired in the kitchen, and pretended like nothing happened.

Long story short, we ended up having all vegetarian side dishes for Thanksgiving that year. The Korean couple could not have been more gracious. They enjoyed the meal and we all had a blast. It was an unforgettable holiday and brings a smile to my face every time I think of it.

This Thanksgiving, consider making latkes for your vegetarian guests so they will not have to sustain their hunger on side dishes alone.

Adapted from: Food and Wine, November 2012
Number of servings: 4 dozen mini latkes

Ingredients

• One 1-pound butternut squash neck, peeled and coarsely shredded in a food processor or a large hole grater
• 1 ½ pounds russet potatoes, peeled and coarsely shredded in a food processor or a large hole grater
• ½ cup cornstarch
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup shredded onion
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• Cayenne pepper (I use a good 2 pinches)
• Peanut or vegetable oil, for frying
• Sour cream, hot pepper jelly, and chives, for garnish

Directions

1. Place the shredded potatoes in a dish towel or cheesecloth and squeeze all the water out.
2. In a bowl, combine the shredded squash and potatoes with the cornstarch, eggs and onion. Season with salt and cayenne.
3. In a large non-stick skillet, heat ⅛ inch of oil until shimmering. Add 2-tablespoon-size mounds of the mixture to the skillet, press down with back of spoon, and cook over moderate heat, turning once, until golden and cooked through (4-5 minutes).
4. Drain on paper towels and transfer to wire rack and repeat, adding more oil to the skillet as needed and wiping out the pan occasionally. Always place latkes on rack not a flat plate or they will get soggy.
5. Top latkes with sour cream, hot pepper jelly and chives. Serve hot.
6. NOTE: Latkes can be kept warm in oven for an hour or more. Cooked, they keep well in the fridge for two days, or well wrapped in the freezer for up to two weeks. Reheat in a single layer on a cookie sheet in a 400 °F oven until they're crisp again.

Birthday cakes. Everyone from 1-100 (and up!) should get a homemade one on their special day, and my BF is no exception. I always try to top the previous year's dessert, and for him it usually involves apples and/or caramel of some kind.

This year is no different, and oy this is a delicious cake. Adapted from my favorite baker boys of Baked Explorations, this is pure fall: moist, dense, lightly spiced, covered in caramel buttercream, and then drizzled with more caramel.

​Oh, did I mention that the BF is a Batman fan? [Ed. note: You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?]

The recipe below is for an 8-inch 3-layer cake, but for my small family I  make the smallest amount possible (in that case a 6-inch 3-layer cake, which is exactly one half of the recipe). I use Williams Sonoma salted caramel that was on hand, and made my own applesauce from my own recipe (I prefer the addition of boiled apple cider for an intense cider flavor), but feel free to save time and use store bought applesauce and/or caramel. No shame in that.
​
The list of ingredients may seem daunting, and yes there are many steps, but fear not, it is actually not as daunting as it seems. It's a cake you'll want in your fall rotation, perfect for a loved one whose birthday falls in the October-November time frame.

Adapted from: Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito
Number of servings: makes one 8-inch, 3-layer cake

Ingredients
Apple Cake

• ​4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, at room temperature
• 2 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 4 cups applesauce (see below for recipe or use store bought unsweetened applesauce)

Caramel Buttercream

• 1 ½ cups sugar
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• ⅓  cup heavy cream
• 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into small pieces
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup plus 2-4 tablespoons caramel sauce, at room temperature (Williams Sonoma Salted Caramel was used here)

Applesauce

• 6 fuji apples, peeled, cored and quartered
• ½ cup apple cider
• ¼ cup Boiled Apple cider www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/boiled-cider-1-pint
• 2 tablespoons Calvados (optional)
• Ground cinnamon, to taste

Directions
Applesauce

1. Place all ingredients in medium saucepan. Cover and cook for about 30 minutes. Uncover and mash as you would potatoes.
2. Chill sauce to room temperature before adding to cake batter.

Apple Cake

1. Preheat oven to 325 °F. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper, and butter the parchment. Dust the parchment with flour and knock out excess flour.
2. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, allspice and cloves together into a large bowl. Set aside.
3. In bowl of a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter until creamy, about 4 minutes. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, and beat until combined.
4. Add flour mixture to mixer bowl in three parts, alternating with the applesauce, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the bowl, then mix on low speed for a few more seconds.
5. Divide batter among prepared pans and smooth tops. Bake for 40-45 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking time, until a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean. Transfer pans to wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack, remove parchment and let cool completely.

Caramel Buttercream

1. In a medium, heavy bottomed saucepan, whisk sugar and flour together. Add milk and cream and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until mixture comes to a boil and has thickened, about 10-15 minutes.
2. Transfer mixture to bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until cool. Reduce speed to low and add butter and vanilla, mix until thoroughly incorporated. Increase speed to medium high and beat until frosting is light and fluffy.
3. Add ⅓ cup of caramel and continue mixing until combined. If frosting is too soft, put bowl in refrigerator to chill slightly, then beat again until proper consistency is achieved. If frosting is too firm, set bowl over a pot of simmering water and beat with a wooden spoon until it is the proper consistency.

Assembly

1. Place one cake layer on a serving platter. Trim the top to create a flat surface and evenly spread about 1 ¼ cups of frosting on top. Add next layer, trim and frost, then add third layer.
2. Spread a very thin layer of frosting over the sides and top of cake and put in refrigerator for about 15 minutes to firm up. (This is known as crumb coating and will help to keep loose cake crumbs under control when you frost the ouside of the cake.)
3. Frost sides and top with remaining frosting. Drizzle on a few swirls of caramel (I needed to warm it slightly) and refrigerate the finished cake for 15 minutes to firm it up before serving.
4. This cake will keep beautifully in a cake saver at room temperature for up to 3 days, as long as the weather is cool and humidity free. Otherwise, place cake in a cake saver and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Let chilled cake sit at room temperature for a least 2 hours before serving.

I'm writing this post on Halloween morning and it's the first cool day of fall (always pleased when it's sweater weather). Know you're seeing this the day after, and hope you had a fun evening with the trick or treaters.

Roasted yam wedges are common fare in our house, usually lightly slicked with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with salt, Aleppo pepper and coriander powder, and roasted until crispy like fries. Makes for a terrific side dish. Even "Supergirl" Marlowe (see pictures below) loves them.

However, this satisfying entree fits the bill for a meatless meal while having enough flavor, heft and protein to satisfy our carnivore tastes. It's also perfect for the cooler weather we have coming.

Servings: 2-3

Ingredients

• 2 large red-skinned orange-flesh Garnet yams

Crispy Tandoori Chickpeas

• 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas
• 1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• ¼  teaspoon curry
• ¾ teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika
• ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• Pinch or more cayenne pepper
• Kosher salt

Tahini Lime Sauce

• ½ cup Tahini
• ¼ cup warm water, or more if needed 
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1 small garlic clove, finely grated
• Salt & pepper

Toppings

• 2-3 scallions, green and white parts, minced
• 2 tablespoons cilantro
• Toasted sesame seeds and black sesame seeds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 °F. Scrub yams and dry. Poke a few holes in yam with a fork. Place yams on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake for approximately 40-60 minutes. Yams are done when knife penetrates easily. Keep warm and set aside. Keep oven on.
2. Rinse and drain chickpeas, then dry by rolling them around in a kitchen towel (very important that chickpeas are dry or they won't get crunchy). Combine the oil, curry, smoked paprika, cumin, turmeric, cayenne and salt in a large bowl. Add chickpeas and toss to coat evenly. Transfer chickpeas to a foil-lined baking sheet and spread out in a single layer. Bake until crispy, 25-35 minutes. For super crunchy chickpeas bake for 40 minutes. Shake tray every 10 minutes.
3. While chickpeas are baking, make the tahini sauce. Whisk tahini, ¼ cup warm water (or more if needed to make a drizzle sauce), 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, lime juice, grated garlic,  and salt and pepper (to taste) until well combined.
4. Cut yams in half. Spoon tandoori chickpeas over yam. Sprinkle with scallions, cilantro and sesame seeds. Drizzle with tahini sauce.