Ingredients

Donuts

• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
•  1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ganache

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 8 ounces local dark chocolate: our favorites are Ritual's Mid Mountain Blend, Amano's Dos Rios, or Solstice's Madagascar. You can pick these up from your local Harmons.

Decorations

• 12 cranberries
• 12 pretzels
• 24 candy eyes

Equipment

• donut pan
• 2 piping bags
• cooling rack

Directions

1. To make donuts: Preheat oven to 350°. Grease pan and set aside.
2. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together sour cream, melted butter, and sugars until combined. Stir in vanilla and one egg at a time.
4. Gently fold the flour mixture into wet ingredients and mix by hand just until combined.
5. Fill a piping bag with batter and fill donut pan 2/3 of the way full.
6. Bake for 12 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 3-5 minutes, then remove from pan.
7. To make the ganache: In a small saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir until smooth. Set aside for 15-20 minutes until ganache has cooled and thickened a bit.
8. To make the buttercream for decoration: In a mixing bowl, mix together butter and sugar, add milk and vanilla. Mix on high for 3 minutes. Put into a piping bag and cut a very small hole at the end. Set aside.
9. To assemble chocolate reindeer donuts: Dip donuts into the ganache, then place on a cooling rack until ganache sets.
10. Place eyes, and cranberry in the center as the nose.
11. Break/cut pretzels in half, length-wise for antlers.

Ingredients

• 1 recipe of your favorite cornbread (see ours here) Can be prepared up to 2 days in advance if desired.
• 12 oz chorizo sausage
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup diced shallots
• 1/2 cup diced wild mushrooms(oyster mushrooms are some of our favorite)
• 1/2 cup sliced leeks
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp fresh sage; chiffonade cut
• 1 cup chopped parsley
• 1 cup turkey or chicken stock (The giblets from your turkey boiled down make superb turkey stock!)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cut cornbread into 1" chunks and spread on greased sheet pan. Place in oven at 350° until toasted (about 30 minutes) stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
2. In a large skillet over high heat, cook chorizo until brown and cooked through. Using a slotted spoon, move chorizo to bowl and drain drippings.
3. In the same skillet melt butter and sauté celery, shallot, and leeks until soft. Stir in mushrooms, thyme, sage, and parsley. Turn off heat.
4. Stir in chorizo and toasted cornbread to celery mixture.
5. Add stock and gently mix until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Evenly coat a 12" cast iron pan in butter and place it into the oven for 5 minutes. *
7. Remove from oven and quickly pour stuffing into pan
8. Reduce oven heat to 350° and bake for 45 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 6 trout fillets
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (Redmond's REAL Salt is a CC favorite)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• scant 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)*

Directions

• In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, garlic, dill, salt, and pepper flakes.
• Pour mixture over your trout fillets and rub on all sides until evenly coated.
• Cover and refrigerate for 12-24 hours prior to grilling.
• Grill your fish over medium high heat to your desired doneness. Garnish as desired.**
• Enjoy immediately!

*Liquid smoke can be added to the wet rub mixture if you won't be grilling your fish, but still want that note of smoke flavor. Be careful adding this - a little goes a long way.

**Depending on your side dishes and personal tastes, your grilled fish can be perfect just as it comes off the grill. But you may wish to add a sauce or accoutrement as a finishing touch. Strawberry or peach salsas are both wonderful options, stewed and spiced tomatoes are fantastic, and this green apple chutney is our crowd favorite.

If you're new to grilling or otherwise intimiated by cooking with a live fire, check our Ryan's grilling 101 post with lots of helpful info, tips, and tricks .

Eat well.

Chicken Honfleur in a Miniature Sugar Pumpkin - Yield 10 servings

Ingredients

• 3 lbs of shredded turkey or chicken thighs
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• 8 oz shallots - finely diced
• 2 tsp garlic
• 2 ⅕ lbs mushrooms - sliced. You can use your favorite type of mushroom. We love wild mushroom varieties such hon shimeiji and chanterelles. Button mushrooms and portobellos are also great choices.
• 2 ½ apples - cored and sliced - you can use your favorite type of apples but Fuji and Green apples work really well
• 2 cups of brandy - we recommend Calvados apple brandy since it really brings out the apple flavor in this soup
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup fresh thyme
• 3-6 bay leaves
• 3 cups chicken stock

Directions

1. In large Saute pan, melt butter. If using chicken thighs, add chicken thighs and brown on both sides. Remove from pan and set aside. If using leftover turkey, add as directed later in the recipe. 
2. Add shallots to pan, saute until shallots appear translucent.
3. Add garlic, mushrooms, and apples. Sautee for 2-4 minutes all ingredients are softened and the apples have started to release some of their juice.  
4. Add brandy. This will deglaze your pan and incorporate all that flavor stuck to the bottom of your pan. 
5. Add thyme, bay leaves, chicken stock, and cream. Bring liquid to a simmer and continue to simmer until liquid is reduced by a third- about 10 minutes. 
6. Add chicken thighs and simmer 5-7 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Add that extra touch of fall!

Flavors of the Autumn Quinoa Salad

Autumn Quinoa Salad - Makes 4 cups

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Quinoa - cooked and cooled
• 1 1/2 cups Arugula
• 1 Cup Butternut squash - roasted and cut into 1" cubes
• ⅔ Cup Dried Cherries
• ⅓ Cup Roasted pepitas or pumpkin seeds
• To taste: Salt and Pepper

Directions

1. Combine everything in a bowl
2. Gently toss to mix evenly
3. Drizzle with vinaigrette
4. add some fresh minced parsley to the top for a beautiful garnish

Apple Cider Vinaigrette - Makes 1 cup

Ingredients

• ¼ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Slide Ridge Honey (Slide Ridge Honey is our favorite local honey. In the Beehive state though honey comes in abundance. So if you have another favorite you can always substitute.)
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• ½ Cup Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• To taste: Salt and Pepper

Directions

1. Combine everything but the oil in a blender (or in a bowl if you are using an immersion blender)
2. With the blender running, slowly add the oil until emulsified
3. Adjust seasonings as needed
4. Can be kept in your fridge for up to 3 months
5. Whisk well before serving

What is chutney?

How does Culinary Crafts serve Granny Smith Apple Chutney?

Granny Smith Apple Chutney - Makes 5 cups

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp Olive oil
• 1½ cups Red onion, minced
• 2 lbs Granny Smith apples, ¼-½” diced
• 2 tsp Allspice
• ½ tsp Curry powder
• 1 cup Brown sugar
• ½ cup Rice wine vinegar
• ½ cup White wine
• 6 Tbsp Major Grey's Mango Chutney
• ⅓ cup Red bell pepper, minced
• ½ cup Dried cranberries
• ¼ cup Sliced green onions

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Sautee onions until they become translucent and begin to soften.
2. Add the diced Granny Smith apples, Allspice, and curry in the saucepan. Mix well.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and add the brown sugar. Stir until the sugar begins to melt and coats the apples evenly.
4. Add rice wine vinegar, Major Grey's Mango Chutney, and minced red bell pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Add the dried cranberries and continue simmering for an additional 15 minutes, or until sauce begins to thicken and the cranberries have plumped up.
6. Spread the chutney on sheet pans and cool in the refrigerator.
7. Sprinkle the green onions over the top when putting in an appropriate-sized container for serving.

Enjoy this timeless Culinary Crafts recipe!

Candy making can seem daunting especially if you’ve tried and failed in the past. Whether this is your first time making caramel apples or if you’re ready to try again, you’ll love Meagan Crafts-Price’s tips and tricks to making the perfect caramel apple this fall season!

Caramel Apples

INGREDIENTS

2 cups light corn syrup 1/2 cup water 2 cups sugar pinch of baking soda 1/2 cup butter- cut into 1" cubes 1 12oz. can evaporated milk

Directions, Tips & Techniques

Having your thermometer correctly calibrated is more important than the  particular candy thermometer you use because having your caramel at the perfect temperature for dipping is the key to success. 

Calibrating your candy thermometer

Start by boiling a cup of water in a 1 quart sauce pan. Clip your candy thermometer to the side. If your thermometer reads 212ºF when the   water starts to boil, congratulations that was pretty easy! If it doesn’t, don’t despair. The reading could be off because you aren’t at sea level or your thermometer isn’t calibrated - or probably a bit of both. Here are two ways you can compensate for any discrepancy in the  calibration. My favorite way is to slide the glass tube up or down accordingly until it reads 212ºF in boiling water. If you can’t figure out how to move the glass tube, you can make the adjustment mathematically. To account for the discrepancy in your temperature reading when the water started boiling, simply calculate a new goal temperature in your recipe. For example, if you need to cook your candy to 242ºF, and your thermometer read 210ºF when the water boiled, you know your calibration is off by 2 degrees. So lower the goal temperature in the instructions by 2 degrees, from 242º to 240ºF.

Now that you have a calibrated thermometer, keep your pot of boiling water on the stove; you will use it later on. 

In a heavy 4 quart sauce pan combine corn syrup, water and sugar over medium heat. Stirring occasionally with a spatula until mixture comes to a boil. Add in the pinch of soda. The mixture will start to bubble rapidly. This will leave bits of  crystalized sugar on the side of the pan. Take a pastry brush and dip it into your pan of boiling water and wash down the sides of the pan so you don’t get gritty caramel. Clip your calibrated thermometer to your pan of caramel, add butter and stir   until incorporated. Then stir constantly while adding the evaporated milk. You will want to keep the mixture moving so the caramel doesn’t scorch. Continue stirring until your mixture reaches 242ºF (or the adjusted temp for your thermometer). 

Remove from heat and cool until the mixture is 220ºF. This is a key step for dipping! If your caramel is too hot it will just slide off your apples. If it is too cold you won’t be able to get your apples completely coated because the caramel is too thick. While the caramel is cooling, wash 8 apples and insert wooden skewer or popsicle stick about 2” into the apple. Tilt the pan to give you a nice pool of caramel to start dipping. Dip apples into your caramel and turn to coat thoroughly. Drag across the lip of your pan to get off excess caramel, then turn upside down and hold it upside down for about 30 seconds. This helps minimize the foot of caramel that appears at the bottom of the apple when cooling. Place on a piece of parchment paper to cool. You can then dip your apples in chocolate and roll in nuts or candy pieces as desired!

Once you have gotten your 8 apples dipped you might notice there is still caramel in your pan sticking to the sides and such. Don't scrap down your pan with a spatula and continue dipping. The caramel that is sticking to the sides of your pan have still been cooking quite a bit as you have dipped and will be a different consistency than the caramel in the mass. This extra caramel is great to scrap right onto your counter and eat as a snack while you are waiting for your delicious apples to be done!!

Raspberry Gelée

• 3 sheets gelatin (available in specialty stores)*
• 1 cup water (to soak the gelatin)
• 1¾ cups Chambord liqueur (for a no-alcohol substitute, melt equal amount of seedless raspberry jam)
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 to 2 baskets of raspberries, some are for garnish

White Chocolate Panna Cotta

• 5 sheets gelatin (available in specialty stores)
• ¼ cup milk
• 4 cups heavy cream
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 3 ½ ounces chopped white chocolate

Raspberry Coulis

• ½ cup water
• ½ cup Chambord liqueur (for a no-alcohol substitute, melt equal amount of seedless raspberry jam)
• 2 tablespoons sugar

TO ASSEMBLE