Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard.....Thanksgving Edition.....11/24/2011

In all my blondness, last Thursday I didn't realize that this Thursday was Thanksgiving. If so, I would have mentioned that I would do a Thanksgiving Edition of Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard. In this post I am posting what has been made or served for our Thanksgiving feast from our stored goods.

Appetizers:
Eggplant Caponata - canned - served with homemade toasted French bread
Cheddar Cookies - served with various homemade jellies & jams
Tapanata  - served with homemade toasted French bread

A couple of months ago I found this great recipe for Cheddar and Pepper Jelly Cookies here. We decided that these cookies would be great served with various jams & jellies as an appetizer for Thanksgiving.

Cheddar Cookies

• 8 oz (2 cups) Sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 6 TBL (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup flour

Directions:

1. Place cheese and butter in a food processor (could be creamed by hand or mixer); add flour and process until the mixture forms a soft dough. Gather up the dough and divide into two flat disks. Wrap in wax paper and freeze until chilled, about 45 minutes. (I made my dough ahead of time and put it in the frig.)
2. Position two racks in the center and top third of the oven and preheat to 400°. Line two baking sheets with parchment or use nonstick sheets.
3. Using 1 teaspoon dough for each, roll the dough into small balls and place 1 inch apart on the sheets. Bake 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and make an indentation in each cookie for the jelly.
4. At this point the original recipe states to put a dollop of jelly on each cookie and return to the oven. Since we are serving these with various jellies and jams, I just returned them to the oven and baked until done about 5-8 minutes for my oven.
5. Transfer to racks and cool completely. Recipe makes about 20 cookies. I made a double batch and made them a bit smaller.

The Feast:
Stuffing made with homemade bread & Herbs, Celery & Onions from the garden.
Mashed Potatoes - from the garden
Applesauce - canned

Desserts:
Pumpkin Pie - made with fresh cooked Long Island Cheese Squash from the garden
Cherry Pie - made with frozen local sour cherries

I think that this is going to be the best tasting pumkin pie that I have ever made. The squash batter tasted just wonderful before I cooked it!

Yum, yum.....Cherry Pie...my favorite!!

The rest of the feast was made with locally grown produce. I also made the Brown Bag Apple Pie.....yum! The locally grown Granny Smith Apples were the biggest, yugliest and best apples that I have ever had! I only used 5 apples for one big pie!

Isn't that just wonderful???

From our hearts to you.....Wishing each and every one of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Next Thursday I will do an update on the mustards and post the Horseradish Mustard recipe.

I may not have the time today to respond to all your comments or visit your blogs...since we still need to make the Living Room the Dining Room and the Dining Room the Living Room like we did last year.