Thanksgiving
The trick to this pie is cutting the sugared and spiced granny smith apples into thin slices and spiraling them in the deep-dish pie shell. Then they’re topped w/ a crumb topping and baked.

“great!”

Permalink at: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Pumpkin-Cake-Roll-4
Nutritional Facts
1 slice equals 285 calories, 12 g fat (7 g saturated fat), 94 mg cholesterol, 261 mg sodium, 41 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 5 g protein.

Serves 16

It’s worth using good-quality caramel sauce, such as Fat Toad Farm Goat’s Milk Caramel. If your blender doesn’t hold 2 quarts, process the flan in two batches. The cake needs to chill for at least 8 hours before you can unmold it.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
This hybrid dessert has a layer of chocolate cake and a layer of caramel-coated flan that “magically” switch places as they bake. For ease, we started with a simple dump-and-stir chocolate cake recipe. At first, the flan added too much moisture to the cake, making it soggy. A drier cake was key, and removing some of the buttermilk and sugar did the trick. To help our flan stand tall rather than slump when sliced, we use whole eggs (instead of just yolks) and add cream cheese as a stabilizer. We opted for store-bought caramel sauce to top it all off—much easier than homemade.

Makes 2 loaves
The test kitchen’s preferred loaf pan measures 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches; if using a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, start checking for doneness five minutes early.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Canned pumpkin puree often lends a raw, metallic flavor to pumpkin bread. We cook down the puree to eliminate those off-putting flavors. Instead of dirtying more dishes, we mix the quick bread right in the pot, adding cream cheese and buttermilk for their tangy flavor. A quick-to-assemble topping adds texture and keeps the loaf from getting soggy the next day.

MAKES 32 TO 40 PIECES

A straight-sided traditional (not nonstick) metal baking pan works best for making baklava; the straight sides ensure that the pieces will have nicely shaped edges, and the surface of a traditional pan will not be marred by the knife during cutting, as would a nonstick surface. If you don’t have this type of pan, a glass baking dish will work. Make sure that the phyllo is fully thawed before use; leave it in the refrigerator overnight or on the countertop for four to five hours. When assembling, use the nicest, most intact phyllo sheets for the bottom and top layers; use sheets with tears or ones that are smaller than the size of the pan in the middle layers, where their imperfections will go unnoticed. If, after assembly, you have remaining clarified butter, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator; it can be used for sautéing.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We wanted our baklava recipe to produce crisp, flaky, buttery lozenges, light yet rich, filled with fragrant nuts and spices, and sweetened just assertively enough to pair with a Turkish coffee. To achieve this goal, we sprinkled store-bought phyllo dough with three separate layers of nuts (a combination of almonds and walnuts) flavored with cinnamon and cloves. We clarified the butter for even browning. We found that cutting the baklava rather than just scoring it before baking helped it absorb the sugar syrup. Finally, allowing the baklava to sit overnight before serving improved itsthe flavor of our baklava recipe and was worth the wait.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2012/10/secrets-to-better-baklava/

MAKES 64 ONE-INCH BROWNIES

Either Dutch-processed or natural cocoa works well in this recipe. These brownies are very rich, so we prefer to cut them into small squares for serving.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To develop a rich, deep chocolate flavor for our fudgy brownie recipe, we ultimately found it necessary to use three types of chocolate: unsweetened chocolate laid a solid, intense foundation; semisweet chocolate provided a mellow, even, somewhat sweet flavor; and cocoa smoothed out any rough edges introduced by the unsweetened chocolate (which can contribute a sour, acrid flavor) and added complexity to what can be the bland flavor of semisweet chocolate. We focused on flour, butter, and eggs to arrive at the chewy texture we wanted in our brownie recipe. Too little flour meant the batter was goopy; too much made the brownies dry and muted the chocolate flavor.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/cooking-science/2012/11/we-prove-it-gentle-folding-stops-tough-quick-breads/

Want a coffee cake that’s sure to impress houseguests? Put a ring on it.

Makes 2 rings, each serving 6

A single tube of almond paste makes enough filling for two coffee cakes; bake both at the same time or freeze one and bake it up to one month later.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Why buy inferior boxed versions when you can make a better coffee cake at home—one with buttery layers of dough, a sweet almond filling, and a smooth glaze of white frosting? To achieve our ultimate recipe, we mixed almond paste with cream cheese for an intense, nutty filling that didn’t leak out of the dough when baked. We also used honey in place of sugar to sweeten our dough and keep it moist. It also lent our Almond Ring Coffee Cake recipe a slight caramel flavor.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2012/11/the-secrets-to-ring-shaped-coffee-cake/