Cornucopia

A bonus Thanksgiving post. Actually this is for a contest on another blog asking for recipes for cranberries and for sweet potatoes.

Yesterday, we had Thanksgiving dinner at the in-laws. I made these desserts from the Everyday Food cookbook. I used to have a subscription to the magazine. Great stuff, simple, fast, everything found in a normal grocery store. When the cookbook came out, I bought it immediately.

CRANBERRY UPSIDE DOWN CAKE
8 TBSP unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup sugar (separated)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1 3/4 cup cranberries
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rub the bottom and sides of an 8" cake pan with 2 TBSP butter. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of sugar, the cinnamon and the allspice. Sprinkle mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan; arrange cranberries in a single layer on top.

2. With an electric mixer, cream remaining 6 TBSP of butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until well combined. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the milk, until well combined.

3. Spoon the batter over the cranberries in the pan, smoothing the top. Place the pan on a baking sheet; bake the cake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean - 30-35 minutes. Let cool on wire rack about 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake and invert onto a rimmed platter. Serve with whipped cream.

I've made this cake twice and both times when I inverted it, some of the cranberry topping stayed stuck to the pan. You'd think with 2 Tablespoons of butter that wouldn't happen. Next time I'm going to first spray the pan with non-stick spray and see if that helps.

PEAR CUSTARD PIE
1/4 cup unsalted butter plus more for the pie dish
3 ripe but firm Comice or Bartlett pears, peeled halved and cored
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
2 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
Confectioner's sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees; butter a 9" pie dish. Slice the pears 1/4" thick lengthwise and layer in pie plate, slightly overlapping

2. In blender, process the rest of the ingredients (except confectioner's sugar) until smooth. I had to scrape the sides a few times.

3. Pour the batter over the pears ; bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, 40-45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature dusted with powdered sugar. They aren't kidding about the warm part. I took a bite later last evening when it was cold. Not so good. But when warm - spectacular! Also, I had about 1/4 cup of extra cranberries left over from making the cake so I threw those in after step one. Soooooo tasty!

The last one is a favorite but I'm tired of typing so I'll just link to it. My MIL has gotten both of us lifetime subscriptions to Taste of Home. Excellent mag. There's little to no advertising - it's all recipes and all sent in by readers. This is out of that mag. It's Sweet Potatoes with Apples.

Eat well, Ruth!