Baking Recommendations for the Holiday Season

Ian Burch, Staff Member • November 23, 2024

A wonderfully savory dish for anyone who prefers salt over sweet!

I do a lot of baking, and with the holidays fast approaching, that’s a great talent to have in my back pocket. If you’re bringing something to Thanksgiving but don’t have a recipe yet, here are some of my favorites for you to try. All of these recipes I got from somewhere else, but I have made my own adjustments to them that I wanted to share.

Autumn Baking Recipes

Thicky and soft cookies that crumble in all the right ways! (Sally McKenney)

Snickerdoodles

Like most things I make, I get my snickerdoodle recipe from sallysbakingaddiction.com. And, like most of her recipes, these cookies are amazing. Although it’s pretty hard to top what’s written, I have experimented a little.

I used to think that all cookies should be baked at 350 Fahrenheit for 8-12 minutes. I tried that; I regretted it. These cookies are meant to be super fluffy, but at 350, they came out flat. Every oven is different, of course, but I wouldn’t risk it, especially since one of the biggest factors that impacts oven variation is altitude.

Sometimes I have to bake for longer than the ten minutes she suggests, so I’ve definitely never had a batch finished in half an hour. The longest part, for me, is just forming the cookies before I put them in the oven. I like to scoop the dough with a cookie/ice cream scoop, roll it into a more spherical shape, then dip it into the cinnamon sugar; which takes a while when you have 20-24 cookies to shape. The recipe suggests pressing the back of a fork into the cookies when they’re done to make them prettier, but I, personally, really like the look of them when they’re just naturally out of the oven.

The amount of cinnamon sugar in the recipe makes enough to roll probably 50 cookies while there’s only enough dough for about two dozen. I like to roll the cookies each for a second time a few minutes after they come out of the oven. It’s best when they’re still warm but they’re firm enough to hold their shape. I don’t do this, but she recommends sprinkling extra sugar on top.

The rest of the recipe is pretty straightforward, except for cream of tartar. I hadn’t interacted with this for most of my life; I thought it was some type of milk product. It’s actually a chemical that looks a little like expired baking powder, but it’s perfectly safe and you can find it in any spice aisle. The biggest issue with it is that I have yet to find a grocery store that has a jar larger than two tablespoons. This recipe requires two teaspoons, and because of the clumpy-powder texture, it sticks to the sides and it’s hard to use all the cream of tartar.

A satisfyingly rich dessert that fulfills any chocolate addiction! (Sally McKenney)

Bread Pudding

This year, my Thanksgiving contribution is bread pudding, which also comes from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I’ll admit that I have the least experience with this recipe compared to the others I’ve mentioned, but my family is in love with this bread pudding.

The biggest problem I’ve encountered is remembering to leave the challah out to dry overnight. In fact, I think I’ve only ever remembered once out of all the times I’ve made this. Just chopping the bread into small pieces (it doesn’t have to be precise, just roughly 1-inch cubes) and putting them all in the toaster to dry them out has never failed me. I pull out the bread before it’s dark-golden is the farthest I’d take it. It won’t need too much time because there’s a lot of surface area.

Don’t worry, the bread itself doesn’t have to be the best of quality. My mom makes homemade challah often, but I’ve never used it for this recipe. I think the most important ingredient is chocolate (I use Ghirardelli mostly, but I prefer Guittard). Chocolate is the real star of the show, and its flavor will overpower almost anything. If you can only get one premium ingredient, go for that.

One thing I wasn’t prepared for is how much you have to dance with the milk and cream while they’re simmering. It’s hard to get dairy to a just-not-boiling temperature. My trick, honestly, is just to have my hand on the dial with my stove. If the milk gets too cold, I turn the heat to medium high. If it starts to boil, I put it on medium. Not the most noble of strategies, but it works.

Pudding requires a lot of bowls, and it’s ill-advised to use rubber or plastic bowls with hot liquids. It does depend on the container, but in general, it’s best to play it safe with glass or metal. Trust me, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking something being microwave safe means it’s okay for anything hot. My liquid measuring cup is plastic, and it’s technically microwave safe, but it can’t microwave sugar or fats. If you don’t have the instructions or the exact model of your kitchenware, please play it safe. This recipe cannot be made without at least two heat-proof vessels–one to mix and another to actually boil the milk and cream–even if you have to use a pot/pan as a mixing bowl. If you do, it’s best to have two separate pans, but I imagine it would still work to some degree with just one.

The recipe ends with a note that bread pudding is best served straight out of the oven. This is true, but only marginally. I’m making mine Wednesday night, letting it chill in the fridge, and baking it Thanksgiving morning; but I also don’t host Thanksgiving. If you do, there’s more flexibility, but my family will probably just let the custard warm up in the oven before dessert.

A beautiful, flaky pie crust to satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth! (Sally McKenney)

Pie Crust

My pie crust recipe is, of course, Sally’s Baking Addiction. I don’t have a whole lot to say other than to read it through and double-triple check that you have the right ratio of butter and Crisco/shortening.

The pie filling is actually from allrecipes.com. I saved a screenshot of it two and a half years ago, and it’s what I’ve been using since. I tried to find the link for this article, but that recipe is gone. I searched every single apple pie recipe on that website, and it is not there. However, I do make it a little differently from the original, anyway, so here is what I do:

¼ cup white sugar
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 pie crust sheets (homemade or store bought; the linked recipe makes two)
5 Granny Smith apples
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl and set aside.

Peel the apples and cut into small pieces, less than a 1-inch cube, but they don’t have to be the same size. Put the apples in a very large bowl–it’s a lot of apples–and add the maple syrup and vanilla. I sometimes add a squeeze of honey and a lot of other recipes recommend a bit of lemon. It’s a pie; it’s not that serious. Add in the sugar mixture.

Press one sheet of pie crust into your pie dish and up the sides. Add your apples on top of the crust. It probably won’t be perfectly even–that’s fine, it’s still just pie. Add the crust in your favorite pattern (the easiest way is to press it into the edges of the other pastry sheet and cut little petals in the top).

Sprinkle some coarse sugar, if desired, and bake until the crust has gone golden brown (about an hour; just make sure to keep an eye on it).

A crunchy and spicy treat that pairs perfectly with coffee and tea! (Amy Johnson)

Gingerbread Biscotti

I only ever make biscotti around the holidays, but every year, I wonder why I don’t make it more often. My mom found this recipe on SheWearsManyHats.com, and she, and other adults in general, like to add cut up two cups of crystallized ginger to the dough before baking. I do not. What we can agree on, though, is adding white chocolate ganache to the top of the cookies when baked.

White chocolate ganache, specifically, can be tricky. A common misconception about white chocolate is that there’s no cocoa at all, but there are two types of cocoa: powder (which is dark brown) and butter (which is off-white). Most chocolate has both; white only has butter–at least 10% in the US– or it can’t be advertised as chocolate. When you shop for chocolate, make sure it doesn’t say “baking chips” or “white chips.” These mean that there isn’t enough cocoa butter for it to be sold as chocolate, and it won’t taste as good. In fact, neither Ghiridelli or Guittard, my go-to chocolate brands, have real chocolate. Guittard does have a little cocoa butter in it, though, so that’s what I prefer to use.

Honesty, I don’t have much of a ganache recipe. I melt some chocolate and add enough cream (or milk or half and half. Whatever we have on hand) until it’s the right texture. The ratio of white chocolate to cream should be around 3:1 ounces, by weight. You can melt the chocolate over a double boiler on the stove, but I just put it in the microwave for 20 seconds, stir, repeat for 10 seconds, and stir until it’s melted. I add cream and mix like crazy until it’s fully incorporated. It can solidify pretty quickly if you don’t use it immediately, but if you make it before you need it, stirring occasionally can prevent that.

To apply, I just dip the flat/cut side of each cookie in the chocolate (for the ends, I do the round side so I can stand them up to dry) but that can get crumbs in the ganache, and it doesn’t look as pretty. To prevent it, you can drizzle the ganache over the biscotti with a spoon.

To make biscotti, you have to shape the dough into a mound first and bake a log of dough. Be warned, the dough is very sticky, and your skin will be covered in dough if you don’t use grease, flour, or gloves when you shape. After it’s baked, you have to take the dough out of the oven, let it sit briefly until you can touch it without burning yourself. Then, cut them along the short side of the log to roughly the same thickness as each other and put them back in the oven.

A wonderfully savory dish for anyone who prefers salt over sweet! (Ian Burch)

Knish

My last recipe is a bit different. First, potatoes are indeed savory and not sweet. Second, this isn’t a real food. It looks like a unique take on mashed potatoes, but it’s actually the filling of a niche European snack called a knish (the k is not silent). Knishes are supposed to be potatoes and fried onions baked in bread, but my mom bakes the potatoes on their own. Her recipe comes from a cookbook called Spice and Spirit.

6 medium russet potatoes
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large yellow onions, diced
2-3 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp pepper
2 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Boil unpeeled potatoes in a large pot of salted water. Cook until tender, but not as tender as mashed potatoes–there’s a second baking stage, and you don’t want to overcook them. While still warm, peel and mash. Again, don’t mash as thoroughly as you would with normal mashed potatoes, there should be some visible chunks.

Heat oil in a 7-inch skillet and saute onions until golden and soft.

Add onions to potatoes. Add seasonings and beaten eggs.

Put the potatoes in a 1 ½ quart casserole dish and cover with foil. Bake for around 35 minutes before taking off the foil. Let bake for another 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are browned.

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About the Contributor

Ian Burch

Ian Burch is a sophomore at TWHS. This is their first year doing newspaper, but they've been an avid writer their whole life. They love baking, occasionally showing up to school with an entire batch of brownies for seemingly no reason.