Bon Appetit -

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

by Emily

The Best Ever Pumpkin Cheesecake. Period.

Are you scrambling to figure out the perfect dessert recipe for your Thanksgiving? Your problem is about to be 100% solved.

Last year was my first Texan Thanksgiving and first holiday with my boyfriend Rob’s family. They make a gigantic feast (feeding 30+ people) full of Thanksgiving favorites and traditional southern treats. I wanted to contribute by using my culinary skills to make a statement. A delicious statement. A statement that can only be made by the best pumpkin dessert I have ever found: Pumpkin Cheesecake with Marshmallow-Sour Cream Topping and Gingersnap Crust.

I originally discovered this little slice of heaven through my food loving pal Chris, but it originated in Bon Appétit magazine a few years back. Usually I don’t like to share recipes I didn’t create myself, but there is no way I could top this cheesecake, so why bother? I promise it is the BEST. I’ve been making it for… oh, four years now, and every single person who tries it falls in love. People ask me about my pumpkin cheesecake year-round. Bring it to a holiday party and it will disappear before your eyes. Be warned, though, if you make this once, your friends and family will beg you to make it again and again every year.

And yes, that includes Rob’s mom, who asked me to bring the pumpkin cheesecake to Thanksgiving again this year. Stamp of approval from a Texan mother? Now that’s worth its weight in gold (or cream cheese).

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Marshmallow-Sour Cream Topping and Gingersnap Crust

by Russell Warnick

Besting Bon App: Double Grilled Salad

I rarely like to write about recipes I read in magazines. I tend to think that if it passed the editorial muster of print publication, my skills of improving upon it usually fail. However, once in a while I manage to get it right and when I do, I like to share. I’m a giver like that.

A couple of weeks ago I had a couple of friends over for dinner. One of them is a picky eater — yes, I sometimes think to myself, why do I bother to have these types of friends at all, let along invite them over to eat? I was cooking chicken and I wanted a simple, but fresh and summery side, and I came across this Bloody Mary Tomato Salad in July’s Bon Appetit. I made this salad to the letter, and it was delicious, my guests loved it. But there was something not right. I gave it some thought and decided to make it again, this time over July 4th. Again, I was hosting, so I increased portions and changed it up some. And again, my guests loved it, all 15 of them. To see what changes I made, keep reading.

in Recipe / Veggie 1 comments

by gansie

Open Thread: Thanksgiving Eats

Good god. Thanksgiving is a week away and I’ve yet to come up with some fresh ideas. Dad Gansie will take care of the bird, but I need to thrill our guests with sides.

Here are some recipes I’ve spied and might try. Please add in your favorites or new recipes you’re giving a spin around the stove this year.

Thanksgiving 2010 – Tryouts

Beet Carpaccio
Would make for a fab presentation.
[NYT/Minimalist]

Carrot, Olive and Feta Salad
Feta!
[Make It Naked]

Cauliflower and Parmesan Cake
I needed one egg dish in there.
[Smitten Kitchen]

Fried Brussel Sprouts
At least one dish wouldn’t use butter.
[The Food in my Beard]

in Holiday 12 comments

by gansie

Follow the Leader: It’s All in the Twirl

Last summer I snagged an invite to a Bon Appetit book signing party for their 770-page Fast Easy Fresh. While juggling Sweetgreen‘s froyo in one hand, a glass of wine in another, and this book in between my arm and my boob, I made my way over to Barbara Fairchild for a signature. We briefly chatted about my oven’s inability to keep heat and then I was off, lugging this book back to my apartment, wondering where to fit this thick, heavy dead tree.

And that was the last time I touched the book. Until Monday’s dinner. I pulled Bon App and Gourmet’s March 2009 mags, plus this monster.

I had one ingredient in mind: parsnips. Ever since my pizza laced with parsnips, I’ve been wanting to cook them myself. Fast Easy Fresh had one parsnip recipe. It was bullshit.

It told me to peel the parsnips, cut them, season with oil, salt and pepper and roast at 425 for 35 minutes. HOW IS THAT A RECIPE. That is crap. That is not interesting. That is not creative. It is not worthy of half a page. Bon App – I turn to you for inspiration. I could have found this on some generic Cooks.com site.

I roasted them anyway, cut in coins, with the addition of Herbs de Provence. But this was only part of my ad hoc meal. And actually the least important.

in Cheese / Recipe / Veggie 2 comments

by BS

Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

– Everyone has their own thoughts on the cookbooks/blogs/foodie magazines debate. Nicky:

I started out with Bon Appetit and Gourmet, but over the years I have fallen for Food and Wine and Fine Cooking. I absolutely love Fine Cooking. I can honestly say there isn’t an issue where I haven’t found a recipe to try. The last issue it was an amazing devil’s food cake. The extra cooking guides they did at the holidays were in my go to pile.

frani lieberman:

in Rants & Raves 0 comments

by gansie

To Browse the Bookshelf?

I left an ominous post earlier this month. I wanted to explain further.

I’m lazy. My subscriptions to Gourmet and Bon Appetit were due the month before Gourmet’s last printed issue. I bought Gourmet’s Thanksgiving ode in the super market. I didn’t buy Bon App. I have not since renewed.

I look at my kitchen-dedicated bookshelf: with one row dedicated to old food mags. I look at my bedroom bookshelf: with one row dedicated to old food mags. I look underneath my bed: one fat mess dedicated to old food mags.

You will also notice this trend with my clothes. They’re old and everywhere. But I’ve been *trying* to shop within my own closet this season. Create different combinations. Wear shirts with different skirts and different shoes and different rings.

Do I try this technique with my Cooks Illustrated June 2007? And my Cooking Light March 2009? The mags I never made it through, some still adorned in shrink wrap.

Or do I try a new publication? Food and Wine? Saveur? Cooking with Paula Deen?

Will I miss out on the hottest new ingredient or trend or city or restaurant or microbrew if I limit my food reading to dated pages?

I also have counted about 50 cookbooks around my apartment. Do I try the “shop your closet” with my bookshelf and cook a new dish every week? (Although how much fun could that be?)

I haven’t cooked a fucking thing this year. I need some inspiration.

(And yes, I’m in on the joke. I’m so lazy that I’m trying to make New Year’s resolutions a month into 2010.)

(Photo: Becca Nelson)

in Personal 7 comments

by BS

R.I.P. Gourmet Magazine: 1940 – 2009

Sad day for those of you who prefer your food journalism in dead tree form. Beleagured publishing giant Conde Nast has announced they’re pulling the plug on Gourmet magazine after nearly seven decades in print.

Gourmet’s impending doom had long been rumored, but highfalutin foodies held out hope that Conde Nast would shutter Gourmet’s more downmarket sibling Bon Appetit instead. Personally, I’m glad to see BA survive (at least for now), as it offers more content for run-of-the-mill food lovers while Gourmet was a little too focused on Paris wine bars for my taste. But it’s still sad to see such a longstanding food world authority fall by the wayside.

The November issue of Gourmet will be the magazine’s last. Fortunately, Gourmet’s recipes will live on via the Interwebs at Epicurious.

What say, you ESers? Will you mourn the death of Gourmet?

in Personal 12 comments