Cranberry-Pomegranate Mousse Pie For the Holidays

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The perfect ending to Thanksgiving.
The perfect ending to Thanksgiving.

Dessert Person.

That’s the name of the new cookbook by Claire Saffitz, a New York-based pastry chef and former Bon Appetit test kitchen on-air personality.

It’s also how I would very much define myself.

Yes, I am one of those people, the kind who wholeheartedly doesn’t think a meal is complete without dessert — even if 20 savory courses preceded it. So, even after a mega feast like on Thanksgiving, I always look forward most to the sweet finale.

“Cranberry-Pomegranate Mousse Pie” is worth that wait, too.

As Saffitz acknowledges in her “Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence” (Clarkson Potter), of which I received a review copy, after a groaning holiday meal, you don’t necessarily want something especially heavy at the end. Nope, now that is not the time for bread pudding or cheesecake. What you want is something a little lighter, a little brighter, yet still pleasingly indulgent.

This pie is all that.

This recipe includes the best tip for making a graham cracker crust, too.
This recipe includes the best tip for making a graham cracker crust, too.

It’s one of the more than 100 exceptionally detailed recipes in the cookbook, which are imminently doable, and beyond tempting.

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Condiments That Make You Weak In The Knees

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These hot sauces are sure to become a staple in your pantry.
These hot sauces are sure to become a staple in your pantry.

Weak Knees is the real name of a hot sauce line made by Brooklyn’s Bushwick Kitchen. And they are so good, they may very well knock you off your feet.

The company sources local ingredients from the Hudson Valley, the Catskill Mountains, and the Flushing neighborhood of Queens to make its products, which I had a chance to sample recently.

Weak Knees Gochujang Sriracha (10.5-ounce squeeze bottle for $10.99) has the sweet, fermented character of Chinese hoisin sauce combined with garlicky depth and a deep peppery kick from Korean gochujang. It’s spicy, but manageably so. Use it on scrambled eggs, Asian noodles, dumplings, or even in a grilled cheese.

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Really Good Pumpkin Bread

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The pumpkin bread of your dreams, complete with a cinnamon-y streusel topping.
The pumpkin bread of your dreams, complete with a cinnamon-y streusel topping.

It’s called “really good.”

But I think it’s actually “really great.”

“Really Good Pumpkin Bread” really is everything you want in this homespun, seasonal treat.

It’s from “Cook’s Illustrated Revolutionary Recipes: Groundbreaking Techniques. Compelling Voices. One-Of-A-Kind Recipes” by America’s Test Kitchen (2018), which features 180 of the magazine’s most innovative recipes.

It’s incredibly moist and tender. It’s full of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg — enough to add a lovely autumnal warmth, but not so much as to obscure the pumpkin taste.

The recipe makes enough for two loaves. If you think that's too much, you can always freeze one for later.
The recipe makes enough for two loaves. If you think that’s too much, you can always freeze one for later.

It also employs the convenience of canned pumpkin — but goes one better by briefly cooking it on the stovetop to concentrate its flavor and eliminate any characteristic metallic taste from the can. Moreover, it adds cream cheese for a subtle tang to bring out the pumpkin taste even more.

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Get Your Hands on One of the Best Butters in the World

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French butter -- in all its glory.
French butter — in all its glory.

Buttah.

Creamy, dense, complex, and so rich that a a tiny swipe on the tongue will fill your entire mouth with intense milky, fatty lushness.

That’s Le Beurre Bordier — a French butter beloved by the most discriminating chefs and pastry chefs.

Now, you can get your hands on some in the Bay Area easily, thanks to the Frenchery, a French online marketplace based in San Francisco, which starting offering it a few weeks ago.

While mass-produced butter takes less than a day to make, Le Beurre Bordier needs a full 72 hours. Jean Yves Bordier uses milk from local farmers in Brittany to make his small-batch butter. Unlike conventional butter, he allows the cream to culture, and thus develop a fuller flavor. He also kneads the butter with a wooden machine for as long as half an hour to expel water and create an especially silky product.

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Kimchi Mac and Cheese Ups the Game

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A delightfully crisp panko crust, along with kimchi and gochujang take this mac and cheese to another level.
A delightfully crisp panko crust, along with kimchi and gochujang take this mac and cheese to another level.

Get ready to raise your mac and cheese game.

All it takes is a little kimchi and gochujang.

“Kimchi Mac and Cheese” is from the new “The Honeysuckle Cookbook: 100 Healthy, Feel-Good Recipes to Live Deliciously”(Rodale), of which I received a review copy.

It’s by Dzung Lewis, a financial analyst in the Bay Area who moved to Los Angeles and pursued her real passion of cooking. Born to Vietnamese immigrants, she started the popular YouTube channel “Honeysuckle.”

Lewis’ forte is taking familiar dishes and adding a fun spin, such as in “Matcha-Almond Breakfast Loaf,” “Miso Udon Carbonara” and “Ginger-Cardamom Lemon Bars.”

Kimchi is a staple in my fridge, so I was eager to add it to mac and cheese. It did not disappoint, adding a touch of acidity and a real depth in the way that Dijon mustard often does in this classic.

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