Photo: Getty / Noam Galai / Contributor
Holiday meals generally involve large gatherings, travel and getting dressed up…or at least getting out of your PJs. But with health pros like Dr. Fauci and the experts at the CDC recommending that we celebrate in our own homes with our quaran-teams, it might be a good year to start some new traditions. We’ll miss seeing our friends and relatives, of course, it’s not all bad: you can add or eliminate any recipes you choose and you can spend the whole day in your robe, if you like. And you can spend it barefoot with THEquarantine queen,Barefoot ContessaIna Garten.
We’ve already taken inspiration from the Food Network star and have added this5-ingredient baked ricotta recipeto our Thanksgiving repertoire. Now, we’re taking notes from themenu she shared with Williams Sonomaas part of her virtual book tour forModern Comfort Foodand are trading traditional pecan, pumpkin and apple pies for some beautifully boozy desserts.
For herUltimate Pumpkin Pie with Rum Whipped Cream, Garten explains, “I’ve filled the prebaked crust with a lightly spiced pumpkin mixture that tastes more like a mousse than a dense custard. Dark rum and grated orange zest are my secret ingredients.”
With 2 tablespoons of dark rum hiding in the filling and 1 tablespoon of dark rum in the whipped cream, the spirit lends a lovely hint of complexity without making thispumpkin pie recipetoo overpowering.
As far as the rationale behind the 2 tablespoons of bourbon in the cake and 1 tablespoon of bourbon in the frosting of herApplesauce Cake with Bourbon Raisins, Garten says, “I love the earthiness of old-fashioned cakes but I often wish they had more flavor. Apples and raisins are great together in a cake, but I thought some bourbon would give it more depth, so I infused the raisins with bourbon before adding them to the batter. A splash of bourbon in the cream cheese frosting didn’t hurt either.”
We love how each of these use a common cocktail ingredient in a unique yet easy way—or without making you as tipsy as one of Garten’s supersized cosmos.
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