Category: Kitchen Basics

Classic Chunky Cranberry Sauce

Chunky cranberry sauce lovers, this one’s for you: with a thick and chunky texture and the perfect balance of tart and sweet (well, I think it’s perfect, but the beauty of this recipe is you can customize it to your personal tastes!) This tried-and-true recipe requires only a few ingredients, minimal prep, and under 15 […]

The post Classic Chunky Cranberry Sauce first appeared on Love and Olive Oil.

Chunky cranberry sauce lovers, this one’s for you: with a thick and chunky texture and the perfect balance of tart and sweet (well, I think it’s perfect, but the beauty of this recipe is you can customize it to your personal tastes!) This tried-and-true recipe requires only a few ingredients, minimal prep, and under 15 minutes of time from start to finish!

Make this classic recipe your go-to cranberry sauce, and use it as a foundation for your own inspired creation—a choose-your-own-adventure cranberry sauce if you will. The only limit is your imagination!

White bowl filled with a chunky cranberry sauce and two spoons on a white marble background.

Homemade cranberry sauce is one of my favorite parts of the holidays. The intense tartness is the perfect contrast to the rich, fatty flavors and textures on the rest of your plate. I like to get a bit of cranberry sauce with each and every bite.

Another thing I love about cranberries are their versatility: there are so many complementary flavors that go with this unique fruit, from savory winter spices to sweet summer berries, zesty citrus to spicy peppers and sultry liqueurs (just take a walk down the cranberry juice aisle in your local market and it will be obvious that cranberry goes with just about anything).

That means that I can make a different kind of cranberry sauce every year and never get bored.

But still, there’s something to be said for the classic, with the perfect balance of sweetness, and a hint of lemon to compliment the natural tannins in the cranberries.

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The question is: are you team chunky-homemade cranberry sauce or team jellied-from-the-can? Chances are your Thanksgiving table is probably split right down the middle, with both sides staunchly arguing for their candidate of choice. Such a heated debate has ruined many a Thanksgiving.

While this recipe is intended for the chunk-ocrats among us, if you happen to identify with the jelly-can party (or have dinner guests who do), don’t worry, I have a recipe for that too which you can find in my book, That’s My Jam. It’s a recipe that will please the canned-cran lovers but still bring that homemade touch to the table. Might I suggest making a batch of both?

If you’d rather not make two batches of sauce, you can follow this recipe but run the mostly-cooked cranberries through a food mill for a smoother, saucier texture (not quite jellied—it needs more pectin for that—but it might be the perfect compromise!) Return to the stovetop and cook a few minutes longer to thicken. You’ll end up with a batch of beautifully saucy, spoonable deliciousness that should please just about everyone!

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Cranberry Edition mini eBook cover mockups.
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How to Make The Best Gravy

Making gravy is so simple with this how-to guide! Turkey, chicken, or beef gravy always turns out perfectly flavorful with just a handful of ingredients.

Making gravy is so simple with this how-to guide! Turkey, chicken, or beef gravy always turns out perfectly flavorful with just a handful of ingredients.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream (with Lemon Curd + Other Flavor Variations!)

Creamy, fluffy, and silky smooth, Swiss meringue buttercream is perhaps the queen of all buttercream frostings. While it takes a little bit more time than your standard American buttercream, the result is rich and buttery frosting that is not cloyingly sweet. Swiss meringue buttercream is made by cooking egg whites with sugar and then beating […]

The post Swiss Meringue Buttercream (with Lemon Curd + Other Flavor Variations!) first appeared on Love and Olive Oil.

Creamy, fluffy, and silky smooth, Swiss meringue buttercream is perhaps the queen of all buttercream frostings. While it takes a little bit more time than your standard American buttercream, the result is rich and buttery frosting that is not cloyingly sweet.

Swiss meringue buttercream is made by cooking egg whites with sugar and then beating it into a fluffy, glossy meringue before adding butter (that’s right, you only need 3 ingredients to make it!) From there you can flavor it with simple vanilla, lemon curd, or any number of other fun flavor possibilities.

Bowl of Swiss Meringue Buttercream in a metal mixing bowl with white sprinkle spatula.

This recipe makes about 4 cups of buttercream, enough to frost and fill a 6-inch, three layer cake (like this gorgeous Triple Lemon Layer Cake). Double the recipe for an 8-inch layer cake, or triple for a multi-tiered cake (google ‘buttercream calculator’ and there are a ton of free tools to help you determine exactly how much buttercream you’ll need).

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Meyer Lemon Curd (Extra Thick!)

This tart and tangy Meyer lemon curd is extra thick (thanks to the extra thickening power of cornstarch), with a smooth and creamy mouthfeel and a perfect balance of tart and sweet. There are few things more satisfying than a classic lemon curd. Whether you use it as cake filling, ice cream flavoring, or morning […]

The post Meyer Lemon Curd (Extra Thick!) first appeared on Love and Olive Oil.

This tart and tangy Meyer lemon curd is extra thick (thanks to the extra thickening power of cornstarch), with a smooth and creamy mouthfeel and a perfect balance of tart and sweet.

There are few things more satisfying than a classic lemon curd. Whether you use it as cake filling, ice cream flavoring, or morning yogurt enhancer, this bright lemon curd is as easy to prepare as it is delicious, no double boiler needed! The addition of cornstarch ensures it’ll set up perfectly thick every time.

Glass bowl filled with Meyer Lemon Curd on a marble surface, with a spoonful of lemon curd in the foreground and a few fresh Meyer lemons out of focus in the background.

Lemon curd is absolutely lovely on its own eaten by the spoonful (no judgement here!) but also makes for a divine component of myriad other desserts, from cake to cupcakes to ice cream and more (scroll to the bottom of this post for more ideas!)

My favorite lemon curd is made with Meyer lemons for a bright and tangy flavor that’s sweeter and more complex than typical lemon curd, with notes of vanilla, mandarin and orange blossom. I may be biased, but I think Meyer lemons are far superior to regular lemons in almost all cases.

Extracting as much flavor as possible from the whole lemons means using both the zest and the juice, the zest is massaged into the granulated sugar which draws out the flavorful oils from the peels. This, even more than the juice, is what gives this lemon curd its ultra bright flavor.

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How to soften hard brown sugar

You’re all set to bake a batch of your favorite cookies, only to discover that your brown sugar is hard…
The post How to soften hard brown sugar appeared first on Southern Food and Fun.

You’re all set to bake a batch of your favorite cookies, only to discover that your brown sugar is hard…

The post How to soften hard brown sugar appeared first on Southern Food and Fun.

Everything You Need to Know About Roasted Garlic

Garlic lovers, are you ready to experience this everyday ingredient in a whole new way? Roasting garlic unlocks a wonderful…
The post Everything You Need to Know About Roasted Garlic appeared first on Southern Food and Fun.

Garlic lovers, are you ready to experience this everyday ingredient in a whole new way? Roasting garlic unlocks a wonderful…

The post Everything You Need to Know About Roasted Garlic appeared first on Southern Food and Fun.

Our Favorite 15 Min Busy Weeknight Bite!

A BLT is the PERFECT 15 minute dinner for busy nights! Crisp fresh lettuce, juicy tomatoes & thick-cut bacon on toast, it is a hearty and delicious lunch or weeknight meal!

A BLT is the PERFECT 15 minute dinner for busy nights! Crisp fresh lettuce, juicy tomatoes & thick-cut bacon on toast, it is a hearty and delicious lunch or weeknight meal!

Homemade Pistachio Flour

Pistachio flour provides a nutty flavor and lovely green color in cakes, cookies, and other baked goods and desserts. Making it from scratch is easier than you’d think: all you need are fresh pistachios (and a little bit of time and patience). Pistachio flour is basically just very finely ground pistachio nuts (sometimes it’s called […]

The post Homemade Pistachio Flour first appeared on Love and Olive Oil.

Pistachio flour provides a nutty flavor and lovely green color in cakes, cookies, and other baked goods and desserts. Making it from scratch is easier than you’d think: all you need are fresh pistachios (and a little bit of time and patience).

Pistachio flour is basically just very finely ground pistachio nuts (sometimes it’s called pistachio meal). You can use pistachio flour in baked goods the same way you would almond flour (and can easily substitute it 1:1 in any recipe that calls for almond flour, like amaretti cookies or macarons).

Rough rectangle of homemade pistachio flour with a squiggle dragged through the middle showing the marble background underneath.

I’ve shared more than one recipe that uses pistachio flour, and up until now I’ve always just bought it.

But the thing is, store-bought pistachio flour, despite being a rather pricey ingredient, is frankly, just not very pretty, usually a yellowish green sort of color that doesn’t exactly show up well in baked goods.

Making pistachio flour yourself allows you to source the freshest, highest quality nuts you can find (fresher nuts are going to be greener no matter what kind they are, not to mention have a brighter, fresher pistachio flavor).

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