IGA Item of the Week: Tom Cat Baguettes

Just yesterday I was loudly complaining about the $4.99 price of Tom Cat baguettes, and this morning I see that they are on sale for $3.99 at the IGA! I wonder if it is true, as my children say, that my voice carries all the way from Burke Street to Main Street.

Turkey Leftovers

Of the chocolate variety, my favorite kind. Get them while they last, at the Sag Harbor Variety Store.

Holiday Market a Good Place for Cupcakes, Gossip

For days now I've had my eye on the spot where workers are putting the finishing touches on the Mimi Yardley's and Margaret Wagner's Sag Harbor Baking Company (at 51 Division Street, right behind Tim's Prime Meats). This morning at the PTA Holiday Market in the Pierson gym I got the scoop on the grand opening--any day now! I also bought a couple of these delicious Baking Company cupcakes (we just ran out of apple pie at my house) and five raffle tickets. Now I'm waiting by the phone to see if I've won an assortment of Pantigo Farm jellies and jams.

Another Breakfast Option

If you can't get to Goldberg's for bagels, here's another Thanksgiving morning breakfast option, up on ZesterDaily: My recipe for Pumpkin Churros.

"Everything" for Sale at Goldberg's

Yesterday I drove to Goldberg's in East Hampton to pick up my Thanksgiving bagels. I'll freeze them until I need them on Thursday morning when my sister arrives with the lox. At checkout I noticed that they're selling jars of "everything" topping. Now, in addition to enjoying this delicacy by emptying the loose topping from the bottom of the bag directly into my mouth (What? You never do that after you've put away your bagels?), I can sprinkle it on homemade breadsticks or pizza dough whenever I want.

I Invest Everything in Gold

Assessing my cookie decorations as I am gearing up for some holiday baking, I notice that I'm heavily invested in metallic sanding sugar, nonpariels, and glitter. In fact, I think I might have a problem. I don't know anyone else who owns a canister of Dazzling Delights Gold Decorating Spray. Half of my household thought that spray paint on cookies was a good idea, but the other half recoiled at the idea. So when I made some Walnut and Brown Sugar cookies, I only sprayed half of them. But I sprinkled all of them with gold sanding sugar. Here is the recipe:

Walnut and Brown Sugar Cookies
Makes about thirty-six 3-inch cookies

3//4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups walnut pieces, toasted, cooled, and finely chopped
Gold decorating spray (optional)
1/2 cup milk, semisweet, and/or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon coarse gold sanding sugar (optional)

1. Combine butter, confectioners' sugar, and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg yolk and beat until smooth. Stir in flour, cinnamon, and salt until just incorporated. Stir in chopped nuts.
2. Divide dough into 2 equal portions, shape each one into a 5-inch disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. Working with one dough disk at a time, roll dough into a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured countertop. Turn the dough often, loosening it from the countertop with a large offset spatula, to prevent sticking.
5. Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough, rerolling scraps and re-cutting until all dough is used. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets, 1 inch apart. Bake until firm, 9 to 11 minutes. Slide cookies, still on parchment, onto wire racks to cool.
6. To decorate, lightly spray with decorating spray if desired. Dip tines of a fork in chocolate and wave over cookies to create a striped pattern. Sprinkle with sanding sugar so it adheres to melted chocolate if desired. Let stand until chocolate is set, about 30 minutes. Keep cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Come in and Have Some Turkey!

If you were walking by my house 10 days ago, you might have seen me at the front door with this spice-rubbed turkey. Photographer Doug Young wanted to take advantage of the early afternoon sun for the photos for today's Thanksgiving story in Newsday. So I set up my turkey dinner in the entryway.

The "Death" of Cookbooks and a Bargain Hunter's Dilemma

After reading a depressing story about the death of cookbooks in last week's New York Times, I walked over to BookHampton to reassure myself that cookbooks are not dead. While there, I paged through several that will make excellent holiday gifts, much better than a cooking app! BookHampton has always supported my own books (I even have my own page on their website), but more important to me is that it's right there on Main Street, next to the IGA, when I urgently need a book about root vegetables or Jewish holiday desserts. When I heard that BookHampton is offering 20% off of all online orders until the end of the month with free shipping on orders over $25, I pondered whether it would be silly to go home and place my order online.

IGA Item of the Week: Anniversary Edition

I reluctantly dragged myself through the rain and to the IGA this afternoon to buy ingredients for dinner. And I was rewarded with a free hot dog! Since raffles are as irresistible as hot dogs to me, I entered to win a $70 gift certificate to celebrate Schiavoni's 70 years in business. Wouldn't the announcement that I won make a great blog post?

Canned Pumpkin Recipes from Sag Harbor

My story on canned pumpkin, including recipes for pumpkin cornbread and pumpkin coffee cake, is up at Newsday.com. Thanks again to Doug Young for the pretty photos.

Organic Pumpkin from Oregon

Local pumpkins are scarce, but Farmer's Market-brand organic pumpkin puree is available in the baking aisle at King Kullen in Bridgehampton. Happy holiday baking!

Choices

If you like Brussels sprouts, maybe you'll be interested in my Gruyere and Brussels Sprouts Tart recipe, in today's Newsday. If you don't like them, you have a lot in common with the editors of The Sag Harbor Express, who chose the headline for my column this week.