Tag Archives: thanksgiving

Sausage & Mushroom Biscuit Stuffing

Thanksgiving, y’all. It’s happening in eight days. Are you ready? I know I am.

See, aside from taking a bus to Boston, there’s nothing I need to do. My parents are coming up to spend the holiday with my little sister and me, and we’ll be having the traditional turkey dinner at a restaurant in Brookline, Massachusetts. No muss, no fuss. All we need to do is dress nicely and show up. It’s pretty great, especially if the idea of making a huge dinner doesn’t appeal to you. But, as you may have gathered by my having a food blog, the marathon cooking very much appeals to me.

For years I’ve said that my idea of the perfect day is preparing a Thanksgiving dinner all by myself. I know–I’m insane. Hear me out though. I have been obsessively reading recipes for years and have catalogued an extensive collection of Thanksgiving recipes. Given the chance to host Thanksgiving, I know every detail from how I’d serve Artichoke Dip as an appetizer to how I’d dry brine the turkey to which of my mother’s sweet potato recipes I’d use and how many pies I’d make. And of course, I know what kind of stuffing I’d serve–one made with biscuits and studded with sausage and mushrooms. Since it doesn’t appear I’ll be preparing any large turkey dinners anytime soon, I went ahead and tried my ideal stuffing recipe on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. After eating four servings over the course of the day, I can safely say that the Sausage & Mushroom Biscuit Stuffing I’d been imagining for years is just as good as I had hoped. Crispy on top, moist in the middle, and made out of the perfect food (biscuits, duh), this is the stuffing of my dreams.

Sausage & Mushroom Biscuit Stuffing starts with a batch of cream biscuits. These biscuits require less work than their buttermilk-based counterparts and are just as delicious. They’re great with butter and jam or made into little sandwiches, but here they’re cut into small pieces after baking and left at room temperature until stale (12-48 hours). If you’re working on a tight deadline, I’ve written a shortcut for this step into the recipe.

Once the biscuit pieces are dried out, the stuffing assembly can begin. Brown some sausage. I like breakfast sausage because the sage flavor goes so well with other parts of the Thanksgiving meal, but use whichever variety you like.

Sauté some diced mushrooms, followed by onion and celery. Add the biscuits, sausage, and vegetables to a large mixing bowl. Toss in some herbs–parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (just as Simon & Garfunkel intended). Throw in a little salt and pepper and moisten everything with melted butter and chicken stock.

Pile it into a casserole dish (or your trusty cast iron skillet) and drizzle it with a bit more stock. Lay parchment and foil over the top to keep the stuffing moist, and bake for half an hour. Then remove the foil and parchment and bake for fifteen more minutes, just long enough for the top to get brown and crispy.

This stuffing, y’all. It’s freaking delicious. Deeply savory with tons of meaty sausage, earthy mushrooms, aromatics, herbs, and butter (always butter), it’ll be perfect alongside your turkey. The top is brown and crisp-crunchy, while the middle stays soft and moist. Oh my lord, is this good. Try it, and you will be wondering why we save this for one or two days per year. I know I am.

Sausage & Mushroom Biscuit Stuffing
biscuit recipe from Dinner with Julie
makes about 8-10 servings

Cream Biscuits:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
2 cups heavy cream

Stuffing:
1 recipe cream biscuits (or other good biscuits), cut into 1-inch pieces (about 8 cups)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb breakfast sausage, removed from casings
6 tablespoons butter, divided
8 ounces cremini or other mushrooms, diced
2 cups diced white onion (about one large onion)
2 cups diced celery (about 6-8 stalks)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1/2-1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
3 cups low-sodium chicken stock, divided (I like Better than Bouillon)

Make the biscuits. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to stir in heavy cream. Knead a few times to incorporate any extra dry ingredients. Press biscuit dough into prepared pan and score with a sharp chef’s knife (I usually score 20 rectangular biscuits). Bake 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through and starting to turn golden. Let cool in the pan on a rack until the biscuits reach room temperature.

Use a sharp chef’s knife to cut the biscuits into 1-inch pieces. Place pieces in one layer on a baking sheet and leave uncovered for 12-48 hours, until stale. Alternatively, you may dry out the biscuit pieces by toasting them in a 350F oven for 30 minutes.

Make the stuffing. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a large casserole or other ovenproof pan. Set aside.

Place stale biscuit pieces in a large mixing bowl.

Place olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook until browned. Remove sausage to the mixing bowl that contains the biscuits.

Discard all but 1 tablespoon of sausage fat from the pan, and return to the heat. Add 2 tablespoons butter and melt. Sauté mushrooms 7-10 minutes, until cooked but not browned. Add them to the sausage and biscuit pieces.

Return pan to the heat and reduce heat to medium. Add celery and onion and sauté until translucent but not brown, about 10 minutes.

Add vegetables to the large mixing bowl, along with thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Toss all ingredients together. Pour in 2 cups of chicken stock and continue stirring until everything is moistened (there may be a bit of excess liquid–this is fine). Taste for salt and add 1/2 teaspoon more, if desired.

Press mixture into prepared casserole dish. Drizzle with an additional 1 cup chicken stock. Cover with a layer of parchment, followed by a layer of foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove parchment and foil. Bake an additional 15 minutes until browned and crispy. Serve immediately.

Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days.

Cranberry Crumb Pie

Salted Butterscotch Pie

Leave a reply

Did y’all watch the World Series? I did–I always do. I don’t care who’s playing (unless it’s the Texas Rangers), I just love baseball. Over the last month, I have watched nearly every single game that was broadcast. I’ve politely turned down invitations, ducked out early, and informed friends that I’d be back up for socializing just as soon as the World Champions were crowned. That’s not to say that I have been a hermit. My friend, Jody, and I have a running text chat for the duration of every postseason (check out his web comic here). And my pal, VJ, was brave enough to watch the last game of the NLDS with me. While I experienced the full range of human emotion over the first few innings, she said “Betsy,* watching you watch baseball is way more interesting than actual baseball.” Perhaps it’s a good thing that the postseason is over now 😬

*Yes, she calls me Betsy. Read the story on that here.

I’ve been a little slow to blog these past few weeks, but can you blame me? The Chicago Cubs were playing. And they WON after 108 years! I couldn’t miss that.

Now that all the baseball is suddenly over, I’ve got a bit of a postseason hangover: I kind of don’t know what to do with myself if I’m not watching a high-stakes game! Rest assured, it’ll pass. I’ve got plenty to do to distract myself–Thanksgiving is coming up in a few weeks! Here on E2 Bakes, that means it’s pie season. I’ll be sharing three new pie recipes leading up to Turkey Day.

First up? This Salted Butterscotch Pie. You read that right. Salted. Butterscotch. Pie. YUM!

This pie, y’all. It’s going to be a new favorite. Not only is it bursting with the buttery brown sugar flavor of butterscotch–it’s quick and easy to assemble and slices like a dream! The crust is my go-to Cream Cheese Pie Dough. It’s my favorite pie dough ever: there’s no guess work with the liquid, it never tears, and it is seriously flaky and delicious. Try it sometime!

Anyway, roll out your crust, fit it in a pie plate, and crimp it. Then throw it in the freezer. Freezing the shaped dough will help keep your pie crust from shrinking while baking. Since this pie’s filling is just liquid (and liquid moves when heated), there’s not a whole lot keeping it in place. Don’t skip this step!

The butterscotch filling is super easy to make. It’s mostly just whisking. Start with two cups of dark brown sugar and a bunch of eggs. There are four eggs and two egg yolks in this pie. That may seem like a lot, but they are a powerhouse in this filling. The eggs, along with the brown sugar, provide the smooth texture as well as richness and structure!

Once the dark brown sugar and eggs are combined, mix in milk, apple cider vinegar, vanilla, and melted butter. Lastly comes a little flour to thicken the filling, some cinnamon and nutmeg for depth, and salt. The filling will be soupy going into the oven, but once it bakes, it will become dense and custardy.

When the pie comes out of the oven, sprinkle it with finishing salt. I am partial to Trader Joe’s Cypriot Pyramid Salt because of the big crunchy flakes, but use whatever salt you like. Gray salt and Fleur de Sel are good choices, but if you have some specialty salt in the back of your spice cabinet, feel free to use that. As the pie cools, the salt will adhere itself to the top, adding a little salty punch to every sweet butterscotch bite.

And speaking of cooling, this Salted Butterscotch Pie doesn’t require a long rest between baking and eating. The pie pictured was sliced just one hour after baking! It’s super structurally sound at any temperature and can be served warm, room temperature, or cold. It’s the dream. And if you have vanilla ice cream to go with it, all the better.

Looking for more Thanksgiving pie inspiration? Check out this Black Bottom Pear & Almond Pie and this light and fluffy Pumpkin Pie!

Salted Butterscotch Pie
makes one 9-inch standard pie

1/2 recipe Cream Cheese Pie Dough or other good crust
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs + 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1/2-1 teaspoon finishing salt, for topping
vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)

Roll out pie crust to a 12-inch diameter and fit it in a 9-inch standard pie plate. Trim the excess to 1/2-inch and crimp as desired. Freeze prepared crust for 15 minutes while you make the filling.

Position oven racks to the top and bottom positions. Preheat oven to 350F. Place dark brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in eggs and yolks one at a time until completely combined. Stir in milk, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla. While whisking constantly, drizzle in the melted butter until combined. Stir in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Let filling sit five minutes for any large bubbles to dissipate. Remove crust from the freezer and place it on a baking sheet. Pour filling into prepared crust (you may have a few tablespoons leftover).

Bake pie for 25 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven. Move pie to the top rack of the oven and tent loosely with foil. Bake 25-35 minutes, until filling is puffy. When the filling is done, it should jiggle just slightly when the pan is jostled and a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean. Once the filling deflates, sprinkle the pie with finishing salt. Let pie cool on a rack until it reaches room temperature. Serve in small slices with ice cream, if desired.

Pie will keep covered at room temperature for up to three days, or in the refrigerator for up to five.

Artichoke Dip

3 Replies

My family is weird when it comes to Thanksgiving. We have almost no traditions, food or otherwise. We just have never established any of those things.

We’ve tried. Oh, we’ve tried. We have hosted the big family Thanksgiving. We’ve gone to my aunt’s house for dinner. We’ve traveled (England was a highlight). We spent five or six years skiing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, our home away from home. My older sister has hosted a big dinner at her home in Austin, where she serves lamb rather than turkey. All of those Thanksgivings were fun, but none have created long-lasting traditions. Now that my sisters and I are adults, getting together for Turkey Day has become nearly impossible. With significant others, work, and living in different places, it’s hard for all of us to get together, so we usually just try for Christmas. Case in point: this year my older sister is hosting her lamb dinner in Austin, my parents and little sister are going to Marfa (because why not?), and Henry and I are going upstate to spend the holiday with his family. I’m not sure we’ll ever have a traditional Thanksgiving together again, but that’s okay as long as we have good cell phone service and my mom’s Artichoke Dip.

This dip is so, so good. It comes from a handwritten card in my mom’s holiday recipe box–a card so stained that you know the recipe has to be good. Hot, cheesy, creamy goodness that’s perfect for scooping up with tortilla chips and crackers. Plus, it’s so easy, it’s ridiculous. Stir together four ingredients, spread it in a small casserole dish, top with cheese and paprika, and bake until brown and bubbly. That’s it. Easy. It’s great for holidays and parties, and can be made up to two days in advance. You can either mix everything and bake when you’re ready to serve, or bake it, refrigerate, and reheat in the microwave. It’s totally perfect for those hectic holiday afternoons when you’re just trying to get something on the table. I have taken this Artichoke Dip to many Thanksgivings and holiday parties over the years, and people always go crazy for it. Be prepared: you will be bombarded with requests for this recipe.

Ten years ago, when my mom put me to work making this recipe for our holiday parties, I had no idea that it would become my tradition. I didn’t know that I would soon have it committed to memory, or that I would take it to Thanksgivings all over the northeast. Some people have holiday food memories with pie or cookies or Great Grandma’s stuffing, but for me it’s this dip. Making this puts me back in my mom’s Texas kitchen, at least for a second. That’s a good enough tradition for me.

Artichoke Dip
recipe from my mom’s holiday recipe box
makes one small casserole dish or pie plate

1 14oz can artichoke hearts in water, drained
1 4oz can chopped green chilies, drained
1 cup mayonnaise (I use Hellmann’s)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling
paprika, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a small casserole dish or pie plate. Set aside.

Chop artichoke hearts into small pieces. Place them in a large mixing bowl. Add green chilies, Parmesan cheese, and mayonnaise. Stir to combine. Scrape the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan and dust with paprika. Bake for 30 minutes, until browned and bubbly. Let cool five minutes before serving with tortilla chips or crackers.

Note:

Artichoke Dip can be made up to two days in advance. You can mix together the mayonnaise, artichoke hearts, chopped green chilies, and cheese, and refrigerate, and then bake immediately before serving. Alternatively, after baking, let the dip cool to room temperature for an hour. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate. When you are ready to serve, reheat in the microwave.

Cranberry Apple Pie

2 Replies

Updated 11/14/2020 to add better photos, and adjust the baking temperature and time. The pie was originally made with Cream Cheese Pie Dough, but the current photos are All-Butter Pie Dough. They are both linked in the recipe.Welcome back to pie season! In the last couple of weeks I’ve posted my go-to Cream Cheese Pie Dough, a Pumpkin Pie that is super light and fluffy thanks to the addition of whipped egg whites, and a showstopper Black Bottom Pear & Almond Pie. Yum! Make sure to check them out while you’re writing your Thanksgiving menu! Today, I’m bringing you a pie that is sweet and tart thanks to a mixture of apples and juicy fresh cranberries. Apples, cranberries, orange, and spices? Sign. me. up. Cranberry Apple Pie This recipe starts out like most do, by rolling out pie dough. Fit it in a pie plate, and trim the edges to 1-inch. Since this is a double crust pie, we need extra long edges for a good crimp. Put the bottom crust in the fridge to chill while we make the filling.

Peel some apples. In this pie, I used two Granny Smith, two Honey Crisp, and one Golden Delicious. In a regular apple pie, I’d use more tart apples (like Granny Smith), than sweet, but as we’re adding all those tart cranberries, I figured it was better to go sweet. Dice the apples into 1/2-inch pieces and set them in a large mixing bowl. In a traditional apple pie, I would slice the apples, but here I recommend chunking them so that they are similar in size and shape to the cranberries–this promotes even baking. Rinse some fresh cranberries and pick over them to remove any that aren’t in great shape. Place the cranberries in the bowl with the apples. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and arrowroot powder. I use arrowroot powder as the thickener in my fruit pies, but if you don’t have any, use an equal volume of cornstarch or instant tapioca. Zest and juice an orange. Pour your sugar and spice mixture, orange zest and juice into the bowl with the apples and cranberries. Use your clean hands to toss everything together.Let the filling sit at room temperature for thirty minutes to release some excess liquid. If we put the filling into the crust without letting some of the liquid drain off, our filling will seep out of the crust while the pie bakes and bake/burn itself onto the bottom of the oven. No thank you! Also, our filling will shrink down below the top crust, leaving a huge gap between the top crust and the bottom. Again, no thank you! So, once the filling has sat for a while, drain off the excess liquid (there will be a lot!) before putting the filling in the prepared bottom crust. Dot the filling with butter (I forgot and had to dot with butter after the top crust was on 😁). Put the filled pie plate back in the refrigerator and roll out the top crust.

Roll out the top crust dough to a 12-inch diameter. From here, you can either place the whole crust over the top of the pie or get a little fancier. For a full top crust, lay the rolled dough over the filling, trim and crimp the edges, and cut a few vents (lest you have an exploding pie) before proceeding. If you want to do something a little more exciting, cut your dough into 1/2-inch strips. Lattice crusts are classic and simple to weave. Deb Perelman has written a great tutorial, if that’s the route you’d like to take.I have been into braided top crusts lately. To achieve a braided top, take three strips at a time and lay them on a floured surface. Gently (very gently) braid the strips together. Set the finished braids aside while you complete the rest of them (I made five). Lay the braids (or the lattice) on top of the pie and trim the ends.

Remember those extra long edges we left on the bottom crust? Fold them in toward the filling, effectively enveloping the ends of your decorative top crust. Once this is finished, crimp the edges and brush the exposed crust with cream before sprinkling with additional sugar. Put the pie in the fridge while you preheat the oven. Bake the pie for 45 minutes to an hour, until the apples are tender, the cranberries are bursting, and the crust is golden brown. If the crust starts to get too dark during baking, loosely tent it in foil.

Let the pie cool for at least four hours before slicing and serving. I know warm pie is tempting, but the pie needs to be room temperature or cold to slice nicely. Each slice can be quickly warmed in the microwave, if you’re not into cold pie. I don’t know about you, but I am into pie at any temperature.Cranberry Apple Pie is fantastic with whipped cream. Or a la mode. Or with caramel sauce. Or with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar. Or plain. Or with yogurt for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving. What?! There’s fruit in there! It’s totally breakfast-appropriate. Trust me.

Cranberry Apple Pie
makes one 9″ pie

1 recipe Cream Cheese Pie Dough or All-Butter Pie Dough
2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
5 cups peeled, 1/2-inch diced baking apples (about 5 large apples)
1 cup fresh cranberries
juice and zest of one large orange
3-4 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot powder*
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
Cream or milk, for brushing

On a floured surface, roll 1 disc of cream cheese pie dough so that it is 12 inches in diameter. Fit it in a standard pie plate, and trim the overhang to 1 inch. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, cinnamon, spices, salt, and arrowroot powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the sliced apples and fresh cranberries. Toss with sugar/spice mixture and orange juice and zest. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for about thirty minutes to release excess liquid. When the time is up, dispose of the excess liquid. Transfer the filling to the bottom pie crust. Dot with butter and refrigerate.

Roll out the second crust to a 12-inch diameter. Slice the dough into 1/2-inch thick strips. Lay them on the top of the pie in a decorative pattern.* Fold the bottom crust overhang over the ends of your strips so that the edges are about 1/2 inch all the way around. Crimp the edges. Brush the exposed crust with milk or cream, and sprinkle with sugar. Refrigerate the pie while the oven preheats.

Place a rimmed baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the pie on the top rack and bake for 65-75 minutes, until the cranberries are bursting, the apples are tender, and the crust is cooked. If the top crust starts to get too dark at any point, loosely cover the top of the pie with foil for the remainder of the baking time.

Let pie cool on a rack for at least three hours before slicing and serving. Pie will keep covered at room temperature for up to three days or in the refrigerator for up to four days.

Notes:

1. I prefer my Cream Cheese Pie Dough or All-Butter Pie Dough, but any good pie crust will do.
2. I use a combination of sweet and tart apples, the majority being sweet. I recommend Honey Crisp, Macintosh, or Golden Delicious for the sweet variety, and Granny Smith for the tart. See more information on baking apples here.
3. If you do not have or do not want to use cornstarch or arrowroot powder, I recommend an equal volume of instant tapioca. Looking for arrowroot in Brooklyn? Take a trip to Sahadi’s.
4. I have linked to a lattice top tutorial in the content above. If you would like to braid your crust, braid three strips at a time and lay them over the filling before proceeding.

e2 bakes brooklyn

sweets & sass from a baking brooklynite.