use real butter

Recipe: baked pumpkin doughnuts

It’s that time again! People are traveling, buying groceries, preparing for The Big Dinner this Thursday – Thanksgiving. I’ll be honest with you, I have no idea what we’re going to eat on Thanksgiving Day mainly because our schedule is rather dynamic this week. What I CAN tell you is that we’ve been having healthy servings of skiing for the last few days (and hopefully the next several months). It’s been DELICIOUS.

opening day at eldora

a little backcountry in crested butte

plenty of stream crossings

We are in Crested Butte, taking care of a few house things and enjoying this version of November much more than the Front Range version of November. Despite it being early season, there has been a good bit of snowfall and stormy weather. Crested Butte has always charmed me in summer and fall, but it really is a true gem in winter.

starting to look a lot like… ski season!

crested butte, wreathed in clouds

And while we’re on the topic of the goodness of the season, let me get those doughnut pans out once again. They’re so much easier and less messy than fried doughnuts that I’m a little smitten with the whole idea of baked doughnuts. The first batch I tried was chocolate doughnuts with chocolate glaze because that’s what Jeremy loves most. This time, I made baked pumpkin doughnuts, because I love (real) pumpkin and Jeremy was out of town on travel.

butter the pans

olive oil, vanilla, applesauce, flour, sugar, pumpkin purée, salt, baking powder, eggs, ground cinnamon, grated nutmeg, ground allspice, ground ginger, ground cloves

mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together

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Recipe: cranberry pâte de fruits

A few weeks ago, I was picking up product from Robin Chocolates for a shoot. Whenever I go into the production room, Robin offers me samples of her latest masterpiece confections and I usually decline or ask to cut a tiny corner to taste. She always gives me this grin and announces to everyone, “Oh yeah, Jen doesn’t like chocolate!” I’m pretty sure Robin finds this both confounding and mildly amusing, but then she’ll grab a little bag and fill it with goodies for me to take to Jeremy (who is a chocolate fiend). This time, I tried the cranberry pâte de fruit with vodka-and-lime-soaked cranberry ganache, because I’m a sucker for fruit. “Robin, this is amazing,” I muttered into the air while I tried to spread all of the flavors out in my mouth to taste each and every one. I made a mental note that I needed to get in on that cranberry pâte de fruit action.

sugar, cranberries, water, lemon, liquid pectin

line a square pan with parchment paper

then line with another piece of parchment perpendicular to the first to cover the edges

The recipe I used looked so easy… too easy. A short list of ingredients and a few minutes of bubble time on the stove was most of the work. Sadly, my first batch never set and wound up becoming a sort of cranberry spread to distribute among willing recipients. It tasted great, but it was too runny to hold a shape. I really hate when a recipe doesn’t work – especially when I drop a pretty penny on something like organic cranberries. A little research on other pâte de fruits recipes identified the problem.

slice lemon and remove seeds

place cranberries and lemon in a food processor

add water

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Recipe: bacon-wrapped venison and garlic-herb butter

Last week it was unseasonably warm and sunny, so Kaweah spent a good bit of time on the deck as I worked inside. While I love spending time with my pup, she can really get underfoot when I’m shooting or cooking anything involving meat, or vegetables, or fruit, or cheese or peanut butter… Basically, anytime I work with food (which is all the time) she is my little shadow.

perfect weather for a kaweah

And I needed to get a lot done without constantly dodging the dog or worrying about tripping over her while carrying camera equipment, sharp knives, or fragile dishware. I was trying to get a jump on my work schedule which seemed to have blown up in the span of two days. That, and my folks arrived in Boulder last week. Even though I see them a lot more than I used to, it’s important to me to spend time with them. We just have to agree on things that we all enjoy because I loathe shopping (they are avid shoppers) and they don’t do the outdoor stuff that Jeremy and I like to do – especially anything in the cold.

picking them up at the bus station with roses for mom (because i’m a good chinese daughter!)

we took my folks to try some awesome korean barbecue at dae gee in westminster

One evening when I took rolled pistachio baklava to my neighbors, Ann went into the kitchen to retrieve a plate to return to me. She set a little package wrapped in butcher’s paper on top and told me Herb had returned from his hunting trip in the Midwest (he’s a bow hunter). It was venison. She asked if I’ve prepared venison before and I said only once – when I had no clue what I was doing and Google didn’t exist yet. I assured her that I would find a good recipe. The next day, I was chatting with Herb and Ann in the driveway when Herb rattled off a quick and simple recipe for the venison. It sounded amazing.

let’s start with the garlic-herb butter: butter, parsley, garlic

chop the parsley

grate the garlic

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