Deliciously Juicy Thanksgiving Turkey

The first thanksgiving as a married couple that we spent without my family, my sister-in-law, Ana, and I set out to prepare our very first turkey. Now, my husband had not always been a fan of turkey and would have preferred a flavorful ham instead, but after he tried the results of our experiments, he has begged that I make this classic turkey every year. Let's just say the leftovers disappear much too quickly. So here I will share with you the tricks to preparing a deliciously juicy turkey. (The times and proportions are  for a 12-18 lb turkey). 

Trick #1: Brine your turkey!

The time and little effort that it takes to brine your turkey (soak it in a salt solution) will make a huge difference. If you are buying a frozen turkey, you'll need to plan for enough time to thaw it before brining. (A frozen turkey takes about 5 hours per pound to thaw in the refrigerator). After the turkey is thawed (or if you have purchased it fresh), remove the giblets and neck (found inside the chest cavity of the turkey). Prepare a solution of 1 cup salt to every gallon of water. (Yes, it's a concentrated solution, but you will rinse the excess salt off at the end). If your turkey has been infused with a solution, reduce the salt content and soak it.) Pour out the brining solution and rinse the turkey in the sink. (I've placed a rack in the sink and rinsed it on there). After the turkey has been rinsed, you must dry it. You can either place it on a rack in the refrigerator with a sheet pan beneath it (for 8 hours or overnight). Or, if you're pressed for time like I have been, I use a blowdryer on the cool setting (no heat) and blow it over the skin until it's dry. 

Trick #2: Prepare to roast

This next step helps add delicious herbed butter flavors into the meat. You will need approximately:

2 medium onions

2 ribs of celery

3-4 tablespoons of melted better

2 tablespoons thyme (or 2 sprigs fresh thyme)

1 or 2 limes

15-30 whole cloves

Preheat oven to 400°F. Chop onions and celery. Cover onions and celery in 1/2 of the melted butter. Mix in half of the thyme. Place mixture inside the cavity of the turkey making sure to rub the butter and herbs all over the inside cavity. With a steak knife, cut small openings into the skin of the lime. Place a clove in each opening (all over the lime). Place the clove-infused lime(s) into the middle of the chest cavity. 

Now, make sure to either tie up the loose ends and wings with twine tying a knot at the head of the turkey to hold everything in place or use the plastic piece that sometimes comes with the turkey (oven safe) to hold everything together. 

Place the turkey on a V-Rack breast side up and with the remaining butter and thyme, generously rub over the entire outside of the turkey, making sure not to miss any areas. The butter will help the thyme stick to the skin and will help give the skin a beautiful golden color in the end. Now turn the turkey breast side down and cover the back with butter/thyme as well. 

Trick #3: Begin the Roast Upside Down

Normally, turkeys are roasted breast side up to cook them at a slower rate, but by cooking it breast side down, you give the drumsticks and thighs the chance to be cooked at a higher temperature and remove any of the pink flesh. If you were to cook the turkey breast-side up from the beginning at the same high temperatures, it would become very dry. 

Roast the turkey breast side down for 1 hour and 15 minutes, pulling it out at the 45 minute mark to baste it with the juices that have fallen into the pan.  

 After 1 hour and 15 minutes, remove from oven and turn the turkey breast side up.

Trick #4: Inject juices
At this point, I like to take a marinade injector and inject the juices from the pan back into the turkey, especially in the breast area. This

Baste again and brush on the remaining butter.

Place the turkey back in the oven and roast again for another 30 minutes. After that, begin checking the turkey temperature every 10 minutes to check for doneness. The turkey is done when a thermometer thrust into the breast reads 165°F. The deepest part of the thigh should read between 170°F. to 175°F.

Remove the turkey and let it rest for 20-30 minutes.

To carve the turkey:
Place the turkey breast side up on a cutting board. Cut the skin between the thigh and the body of the turkey. Cut in while using a fork to peel the leg away from the body.  Cut through the joint to remove the thigh and the drumstick. Place the leg flat on a cutting board. Separate the thigh from the drumstick by cutting through the joint. Cut the meat off the sides of the thigh bone. Cut the meat off the drumstick. Repeat on the other leg. Remove the wings by pulling them away from the body and and thrusting a knife through the joint to sever. One all the limbs have been removed, cut through the skin along the keel bone. Angle the blade out a little and cut down along the bone to remove the breast. Do the same on the other side. Cut the breast meat against the grain into thin slices.

What to do with leftovers?
Of course there's always turkey sandwiches with the delicious cranberry sauce or a turkey noodle soup, but we like to make these turkey taquitos for a twist on the traditional.

Classic Caramels for Christmas

I enjoyed unwrapping these delicious caramels my grandmother made every year as a child just as much as I enjoyed unwrapping the presents under the tree. This is one of those classics that falls under the label "Christmas isn't Christmas without these babies!" So before the season escapes me again, I thought I'd post the recipe. A special thanks to Aunt Tami who answers her phone while she's on the roof fixing Christmas lights. She informed me that the recipe was originally Aunt LaJean's who was Grandpa Lloyd's dad's sister. I hope you have that straight. Cause I almost do. wink. wink.

Ingredients:

2 cups white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup karo syrup

2 cups whipping cream

2 cubes butter

1 tsp vanilla

Mix all together and stir constantly, washing down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush in water very lightly until it boils. Once it boils, don't stir. Continue boiling until it reaches 234F on a candy thermometer.

Add vanilla. Mix slightly and pour into a buttered cookie sheet with sides. When it cools, cut into squares and wrap in wax paper.Try not to devour all in one sitting. These are a perfect addition to your Christmas platter of goodies. Share the joy.

To-Die-For Lime Cupcakes

Sometime last summer I had a sudden craving for lime cupcakes. Weird, I know. But I went recipe hunting and found a d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s one that I thought I'd share this month since it's green and St. Patrick's Day is coming up. And don't be alarmed by the amount of limes in the bowl . . . I was on a lime kick, you'll really only need 4 limes.

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup self-rising flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
1/4 teaspoon green food coloring
3/4 cup buttermilk*

Frosting Ingredients:

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
1 tablespoon lime juice

Step 1: Finely grate peel of 4 limes

Step 2: Preheat oven to 350 and line standard muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Whisk both flours in medium bowl. Beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar; beat to blend. Beat in eggs one at a time.

Step 3: Measure your finely grated lime.

Add lime juice, peel, and food coloring to batter. (batter may look curdled).

Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions. Spoon scant 1/3 cup batter into each liner. And if you have children around, give them the beaters and let them do the "washing."
Frosting Step 1: Measure powdered sugar and dump into bowl.

Frosting Step 2: Measure and add remaining ingredients. Beat until smooth and spread over cooled cupcakes.
I was in a festive mood and piped my icing on and used one of my extra limes to make small quarter-slices to place on top.
These cupcakes were super-moist and had a very creamy texture and a perfect sour bite with the lime. I do believe I will have to be whipping up a batch myself come the 17th.

Mantecaditos con Guayaba / Butter Cookies with Guava

The Pioneer Woman pointed me to a site the other day that I have fallen in love with: The Noshery. This girl has a Puerto Rican background and lives in the south. So she's got some great culinary background and I'm dying to try so many of her recipes. The one I found her through were these Mantecaditos con Guayaba (Butter Cookies with Guava) - a latin twist on a quite popular Christmas Cookie. I had just happened to buy a whole tub of guava paste and after we'd eaten a quarter of it with saltine crackers, I was wondering what to do with the rest of it. And plop, this recipe just fell into my blog reader. Perfect.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup guava paste, diced

Preheat oven to 350. Cream sugar, shortening, and butter in a large bowl. Mix in egg yolk and almond extract. Blend in flour a little at a time until well combined and chunky. Shape a tablespoon of dough into a ball. Repeat with remaining dough. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet. Using your thumb, press down on the center of the cookie. Fill the dimple with about 1 teaspoon of guava paste.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until light golden brown. Transfer to cooling rack and enjoy a little tropical twist on your Christmas classic.

Orange Cookies

There's something about Christmas that reminds me of oranges. Perhaps it goes back to the visits from Santa Claus at our annual church Christmas party where he would make an appearance and bring a bag of goodies for all of the children. The contents were the same year after year: an orange, a handful of whole peanuts and old fashioned hard candy. The other day I was in a citrusy Christmas mood and decided to whip up a batch of my grandmother Leann's yummy orange cookies.

Cookie Ingredients:

2/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons finely grated orange rind
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix shortening, sugar, and eggs. Stir in orange juice and rind. Stir dry ingredients together and blend in other mixture. Drop by teaspoon 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes or until delicately brown.

Orange Butter Icing:

2 1/2 tablespoons soft butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons finely grated orange rind

Mix all ingredients together and beat until well blended. Frost cookies while still warm.

Makes 4 dozen.

Gram's Chocolate Nut Dessert

I've never really known if this dessert has a name. I just jotted it down as "Gram's Chocolate Nut Dessert" in my recipe book years ago and that's what it's been. I don't know why, but I associate this dessert with Christmas for some reason. And that's when I usually make it, but Armando requested I take it to a church gathering a week or so ago and so I snapped a picture before we stepped out the door.


This is a simple recipe and it'd delish. However, I am trying to eat healthier. So I'm going to dump a bunch of unhealthy recipes out there for the rest of you to try and then when I'm through I plan to share a couple healthy ones I've been enjoying lately. Now for the recipe:

The crust*:
1 c flour
1/2 c butter
1/2 c nuts (walnuts or pecans)

*When I make this in a larger dish, I double the crust ingredients. This is my favorite part of the dish. No sugar. Nuts and butter. It's the perfect blend with the sweet chocolate and creamy cheese.

Mix together and press into 9 x 13 baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes at 350. Remove from oven and let cool.

1st Layer:
1 c powdered sugar
1 c cool whip (I usually am generous with this cup)
8 oz cream cheese

Beat together until smooth and spread over cooled crust.

2nd Layer:
1 large pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 large pkg instant chocolate pudding
3 cups milk
You'll notice that a normal pudding recipe will call for more milk - this is meant to be quite firm.

Top Layer:
Top with remainder of cool whip and sprinkle with nuts or chocolate shavings to garnish. Keep refrigerated. Serve cool.

Christmas Meltaways

This is one I'm definitely adding to my plate of goodies this year! A cookie that literally melts in your mouth. I first tasted it about 3 years ago - a coworker shared it with us and it was an office favorite.

Ingredients: 

½ lb butter, creamed

¾ C. cornstarch (yes, that is correct 3/4 cup!)

1/3 C powdered sugar

1 C flour

Mix together and beat until creamy. Roll (flour on hands helps) in round teaspoons. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Frost with:

1 tsp vanilla, 3 oz cream cheese (or substitute with butter), 1 c powdered sugar (add food coloring if desired). Dip top of cookies into frosting. Makes about 4 dozen.

You don't want to overcook these cookies - and they don't burn so pull them out as soon as the time is up. Also, I frost them when they are cool and using an icing bag might be the best trick because they are so fragile. Whenever I touch them to frost them, a few end up breaking, of course they go directly to my mouth, so I don't mind, but . . .

Cranberry Nut Dessert

A coworker shared this recipe with me a few years back and it's one I love! There's a perfect balance between the tartness of the cranberries; the sweet, almond-flavored bread; and the crunchy walnuts. This is a super-quick and easy recipe.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Whipped cream or ice cream, optional

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add cranberries and nuts; toss to coat. Stir in the butter, eggs and extract (mixture will be very thick if using frozen berries). Spread into a greased 9-in. pie plate (I just use a round cake pan). Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream if desired. Yield: 8 servings.


* I've never seen frozen cranberries stocked in a grocery store. I like to buy an extra bag or two and freeze them so that when you can't find them, I can still make this yummy treat to brighten the long, less-festive days of January. The cranberries freeze and keep very well.