 Happy December!!! Let the Christmas baking begin!!! I decided the perfect way to kick off this season of sugar, butter and sprinkles is with a Pull Apart Cinnamon Star.💫 AKA: a cinnamon roll twisted into a star shape. I wouldn't exactly call mine a star. It turned out more like a really big, deliciously gooey, cinnamon oval. It may not have taken on the shape that I had intended but it was still delicious. 😋 The next time that I make this recipe, I'm going to divide the dough in half and make 2 separate Pull Apart Cinnamon Stars. ⭐️  I made this Cinnamon Star at the end of a long day and I accidentally left out the salt, I added 4 whole eggs (instead of the 2 whole and 2 egg yolks called for in the recipe) and I completely eliminated the cream cheese frosting because I ran out of energy.🤦🏻♀️ Thank goodness for recipes that are super forgiving.😂 Nobody who ate this complained that it was lacking salt or commented that it was too eggy or was missing the frosting.🤷🏻♀️ My own accidental version was actually quite tasty. Rest assured, I will make this again and next time I'll be fully awake and alert. 😅  Pull Apart Cinnamon Star 1 1⁄2 cups warm whole milk 4 1⁄2 teaspoon instant yeast 1⁄2 cup sugar 2 eggs + 2 egg yolks, room temp 1⁄2 cup melted butter 6 cups bread flour 1 teaspoon salt Filling: 1 cup brown sugar 3 Tablespoons cinnamon 1⁄2 cup softened butter Other: 1 egg beaten, for egg wash 1 teaspoon powdered sugar for dusting
 Bake 20 - 30 minutes.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
Ciao!
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 Merry Thanksgiving Eve!! Who is hard at work in the kitchen right now in preparation for the biggest meal of the year? 🙋🏻♀️ This is the point when I try to not dwell on on the fact that this meal takes hours and hours to prepare and is completely consumed by my family in under 30 minutes.🤦🏻♀️ Is it all worth it? One hundred percent. I actually find a lot of satisfaction in the food preparation process. A day spent in my kitchen with some fresh ingredients and a gas stove is a day well spent in my world. Now all I have to do is convince everyone in my house to do a turkey trot with me tomorrow morning and I'll be an even happier girl.🏃🏻♀️  If you happen to be on green bean casserole duty for tomorrows feast - I've got just the recipe for you. I promise you that this dish with fresh beans and a homemade mushroom cream sauce is far better than any canned version of this recipe that you may be accustomed to. Just be warned: If you bring this dish - you will be on green bean casserole duty for the rest of your life.😂  Green Bean Casserole Topping 2 slices white sandwich bread 2 Tablespoons butter, melted 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 cups fried onions Casserole 3 Tablespoons butter 10 ounces white mushrooms, sliced thin 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 6 garlic cloves, minced 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1/4 cup flour 1/2 cup dry white wine 1 1/2 cups chicken broth 1 1/2 cups heavy cream 2 pounds green beans, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces 1/4 cup cornstarch
 Remove foil. Sprinkle topping over casserole. Bake 8 minutes longer.
Ciao!  Do you know the most popular day to shop for Thanksgiving groceries? I have a suspicion that it was today - the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I went to the supermarket this afternoon and it was busier than I've ever seen it.😩 Overcrowded stores and impatient shoppers makes for a miserable shopping experience. I was trying to get to the bottom of a pile of frozen turkeys in search of the perfect 12 pound bird, when I found myself in the middle of a very awkward situation. A couple of irritated customers in the freezer aisle where I happened to be shopping at the time, got into a very heated argument. The altercation escalated until the manager was called over to intervene. And within minutes, the dispute escalated to the point that police officers showed up to mediate the disagreement! I wish I were kidding.🤦🏻♀️ I didn't stick around to see if or how a resolution was reached but I'm hoping that no one was hauled off to jail over a frozen pumpkin pie.😅  I love Fall baking --- Fall shopping - not so much.😅 Thankfully, despite the chaos that ensued in the freezer aisle at the grocery store today, I still managed to get all the ingredients that I needed to get my Thanksgiving preparations underway. Apple Crisp Cupcakes are on the menu for this week. These are one of my favorite treats to add to a Fall dessert table - including our Thanksgiving table. A lightly spiced vanilla cake with a sweet, caramel apple filling topped with a crisp, buttery streusel is absolutely irresistible no matter how much turkey you've eaten. 🤣  Apple Crisp Cupcakes 1 ¼ cups flour 1 ½ tsp baking powder 1 tsp cinnamon ½ tsp salt ¾ cup sugar ¼ cup butter, room temperature ¼ cup canola oil 1 egg, room temperature 2 Tbsp sour cream, room temperature 2 tsp vanilla ½ cup milk, room temperature Swiss Meringue Buttercream 1 tsp cinnamon Apple Cinnamon Filling 2 ½ cups apples, peeled and finely diced 2 Tbsp sugar ¼ cup water 1 Tbsp lemon juice 1 tsp cinnamon 1 Tbsp water 1 Tbsp cornstarch Crumble Topping ½ cup flour ¼ cup brown sugar ¼ tsp cinnamon 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
 Add crumble topping to each cupcake.  Ciao!
 My husband and I have very different Wal Mart experiences. I get stopped at the door by a receipt checker every single time I leave the store --- without fail. It doesn't matter if I have 2 items in my cart or if I'm toting 6 dozen eggs, a case of cream cheese and a half ton of sugar out of the store, I always get asked to show proof of purchase before exiting the store. My husband, on the other hand, has never been asked for a receipt before leaving Wal Mart. And I mean never. We used to joke about the fact that he could walk out of the store with literally anything so one day we decided to test our theory. My very honest looking husband literally walked straight out of the front door of the store carrying a flat screen tv under his arm (which we did indeed purchase) and no one even gave him a second glance. 👀🤣  A few days after the TV incident I was exiting the same store and as expected, I was asked to produce a receipt for the 4 items that I were in my cart. I innocently handed my reciept over to the Wal Mart employee and patiently waited for him to look it over and hand it back to me so I could be on my way. To my horror, instead of placing the receipt back into my hand, he held it high in the air, pointed firmly in the direction of the self check out lane and then announced, loudly, to me and the rest of the customers in the vicinity, that I indeed had a stray box of spaghetti in my cart that I had NOT paid for. Confused about how the rogue spaghetti box in question actually slipped behind the top basket without being seen and humiliated by my oversight, I did the walk of shame back to the self check out line and payed the 81 cents for the stolen pasta.😆 I was so embarrassed about accidentally trying to shoplift a box of pasta but even more than that, I was mad. Mad that Wal Mart's door profiling efforts had worked!!🤣👩🏻🍳 Now I'm convinced that my picture is up on a wall in some sort of surveillance room with the words "known pasta smuggler" under it. 😅🤦🏻♀️ I avoid the pasta aisle at Wal Mart now.🤣 It's better for everyone involved. From now on, I'll be making my pasta at home. 🍝 That's not really true because dried pasta is so convenient that I rely on it for quick meals quite often. If you've ever tasted homemade pasta though - you know that the dried pasta doesn't even compare to the flavor and texture of homemade. It's definitely one of my top 10 favorite meals. I made a batch of these raviolis this week and put them in the freezer for Christmas. The plan is to pull them out for a quick dinner while my family is visiting over the holidays. The recipe is long but don't get caught up in the details. There are a lot of steps but the process is easy and it's well worth the effort.  Homemade Ravioli Dough 300 g 00 Flour 3 large eggs 1 large egg yolk Olive oil Semolina flour, for dusting
Lobster and Crab Filling 1⁄4 pound salmon, skin and bones removed 1 egg white 1 heaping cup cooked lobster meat (4 tails) 1 Tablespoon fresh basil Zest and juice of 1 lemon
 Stir in basil, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Refrigerate 10 minutes. Italian Sausage Filling 1 pound mild Italian sausage 1 yellow onion, diced 1 garlic clove, minced 15 oz strained ricotta 1/4 C parmesan 1/4 C chopped fresh parsley 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning 1/4 tsp sage 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper
 Add remaining filling ingredients. Refrigerate. Cheese Filling 1/2 cup drained whole milk ricotta 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese 1/4 cup chopped basil leaves 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1 egg Salt & Pepper, to taste  Combine filling ingredients. Cover and refrigerate.
 Serve ravioli with the sauce of your choice. And cheese of course.
Ciao!
November is a divisive month. There are those that launch into full blown Christmas mode as soon as the trick or treaters retreat.🎄 And there are others who prefer to savor the spirit of Fall until all of the turkey leftovers are finished.🦃 I'm not here to judge you either way. I believe that you should do what makes you happy this month. But... if you're still in your Fall feels - these Streusel Topped Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins will make your November even sweeter. 🍁🍂  November for me is usually a bit of a mixed bag. I'm trying to use up the last couple of cans of pumpkin in the pantry and the half full jug of apple cider in the refrigerator and at the same time, I'm stocking up my freezer with Christmas desserts like tiramisu and gingerbread. You can catch me baking a pumpkin pie while simultaneously assembling reindeer themed hot chocolate bombs in my kitchen this month.🤣  Streusel Topped Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins Streusel 1/3 cup sugar 3 Tablespoons flour 2 Tablespoons butter, melted Muffins 1 1/2 cups flour 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ginger 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon cloves 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup pumpkin puree 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup canola oil 1/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature 2 large eggs, at room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
 Ciao!
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