BEYOND PUMPKIN PIE: HOLIDAY DESSERTS

I was expecting out-of-town guests for Thanksgiving dinner this year (November 28) and started planning a festive menu. But somehow I had missed one of their messages, the one that said “arriving December 27.” Not November. Luckily I had not yet bought a turkey, but I had gone through my recipe files in search of a holiday dessert. 

I found lots of possibilities, from pumpkin desserts to date-filled turnovers, creamy walnut pudding to almond nougat mousse. Should you be looking for a holiday dessert that’s not pumpkin pie, here are some suggestions with links to the recipes. 

Pumpkin Pie Adjacent 

Here are several desserts made with pumpkin or squash in totally different permutations and none with that ubiquitous pumpkin pie spice!

Pie with no pumpkin, but an alternative squash.

Galician Tart with Angel's Hair and Almonds (Tarta Mondoñeda). The filling is a confiture called cabello de angel, or angel's hair. It's made by cooking strands of a kind of gourd with lots of sugar. An almond cream is spread on top and encased in puff pastry dough. You can buy the angel's hair in cans. Or substitute a pumpkin jam or any fruity jam such as apricot. The recipe is here.

Pumpkin pudding studded with nuts.

Pumpkin Pudding (Arnadí). This pudding from València is a little like pumpkin pie without the crust. Dairy-free, the pudding is thickened with almond flour and egg yolks, spiced with cinnamon, ginger and orange zest. Get the recipe here.

Pastry squares with pumpkin filling.

Pastry Squares with Pumpkin Custard Filling (Miguelitos). Use frozen puff pastry dough and an easy to prepare custard filling of pumpkin scented with cardamom. You could serve the squares with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream. See the recipe for Miguelitos.

Pumpkin doughnuts!

Pumpkin Puffs (Buñuelos de Calabaza). 

These doughnuts made with pureed squash would be nice for a Hanukkah party (first night of Hanukkah coincides with Christmas Eve this year) when it's traditional to eat fried foods. The yeast batter can be made in advance. The puffs—or doughnuts—are fried right before serving. Check out the recipe here.

Turnovers with pumpkin jam filling.

Turnovers with Pumpkin Jam Filling (Empanadillas con Calabaza).

Sort of like mini-pies, but these turnovers are not baked, they're fried. A very traditional Andalusian Christmas sweet, the filling can be made with "angel's hair" squash, pumpkin or sweet potato. The recipe for Fried Turnovers with Pumpkin Jam is here.

Holiday Puddings

Sweet potatoes for dessert!

Sweet Potato Flan (Flan de Batatas).

You could caramelize the flan molds, if desired, or just drizzle the flan with store-bought caramel syrup or, for a very traditional touch, miel de caña, molasses. This flan is made with eggs and cream cheese plus the mashed sweet potatoes. See two versions of the flan, one sweet and one savory, here., 

More festive holiday desserts with sweet potatoes: Sweet Potato Compote and Sweet Potato Parfait.

Almond Nougat Mousse (Mousse de Turrón).

Turrón—almond nougat candy—is essential at the Spanish Christmas table. Here it is whipped into a rich and foamy mousse and finished with grated chocolate. This dessert can be made days in advance of a dinner party. See the recipe here.

Creamy walnut pudding with chocolate.

Walnut Cream with Chocolate Sauce (Intxaursaltsa)

This is a fancy version of a very old-fashioned holiday pudding from the Basque country. It's easy to make—walnuts cooked in milk with sugar and cinnamon, then pureed. Chocolate and whipped cream turn it into a luxurious dessert. The recipe is here.

Prune-Sherry Ice Cream with Burnt Sugar Sauce (Helado de Ciruelas Pasas al Vino Jerez con Salsa de Caramelo).

This is a frozen pudding, another dessert that can be made well in advance of holiday dinners. A creamy burnt sugar sauce makes it very sophisticated. The recipe is here.

Cakes and Bars with Nuts and Dry Fruits

Dried apricots and almond bars.

Apricot-Almond Bars (Pan de Orejones y Almendras) 

This sweet is traditionally made with dried figs ground to a paste and mixed with almonds and sesame. The confection can be made with any dried fruit—apricots, figs, raisins, prune or a mixture of fruits. It typically contains a shot of anise-flavored liquor, aguardiente or anis seco. You can omit it or substitute a sweet wine such as PX or Málaga moscatel. 

This version with apricots contains flour to keep the mixture crumbly. It is finished in the oven to cook the flour.

Chewy date and nut bars made with olive oil.

Date Bars (Barritas con Dátiles)

When I was growing up, dates were a holiday treat when my mother made Date Bars, chewy squares, chock full of nuts and sweet dates. Her recipe called for butter and a cup of sugar. This version uses olive oil and no sugar. Here's the recipe for Date Bars and more about the Spain-Morocco date connection.

Fruity fig blondies.

Fig Brownies (Brownies con Higos sin Chocolate)

Like the date bars, these "brownies" (actually "blondies" as they have no chocolate) are chewy with nuts and dried fruit. They are made with olive oil instead of butter. Get the recipe here.

Bite-size pies with figs.

Fig and Date Turnovers (Empanadillas de Higos y Dátiles).

These fruit-filled turnovers will remind you of mince pies and fig newtons! The filling ingredients can be changed for raisins, prunes or dried apricots. See the recipe for a secret to making the pastry for the turnovers.

No-sugar cake with apples and raisins.

Apple Cake with Honey-Wine Syrup (Bizcocho de Manzana con Sirope de Miel y Vino Dulce).

This cake is sweet with no sugar, dairy-free and made with olive oil instead of butter. For guests who want more sweetness there is a separate pouring sauce of honey and fragrant sweet wine.

COOKING FOR A RAINY DAY

 

Pouring down rain.

Tuesday. I am getting a “red alert” for tomorrow on the weather notifications. We are likely to have a DANA (depresión aislada en niveles altos), a major weather event like the one that caused catastrophic flooding in the Valencia region two weeks ago, leaving more than 200 dead, some still missing, and incredible destruction of homes, businesses and cars. 

Hopefully, the storm front will move quickly past us. I’ll check the notice board again in the morning before I go out. Today I am cooking up a storm, getting ready for a rainy day. A cazuela of stuffed cabbage rolls and a big pot of lamb-barley-vegetable soup simmered from lamb bones stashed in the freezer.

Lamb-barley soup for a rainy day.

Update: Everything closed down on Wednesday—no school, no public transportation, markets closed. No aerobics. It rained a lot all day, sometimes in a torrential downpour. The heavy rain did not persist and, on our mountainside, we had no flooding. 

Málaga capital, where the Guadalhorce river flows into the Mediterranean, flooded. The TV news showed a well-known hypermarket with water running through the aisles beneath the Ibérico hams. A waterspout at sea came ashore as a tornado and caused some damage in a nearby coastal town.

Friday. The sun is shining. I'm off to town for shopping. 

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Rulos de Col Rellenos

Good rainy day project--stuff cabbage leaves and braise them in a savory sauce.

Cabbage rolls are even better reheated the second day.

Juicy pork is especially good in this recipe, but you could use ground beef, lamb, chicken or turkey as well. Or lentils for a vegetarian version.

You need about 16 of the outer leaves of a whole cabbage (see the recipe for how to remove them). Save the rest of the cabbage for another use. 

Tomato season past, use canned tomatoes for this recipe. Best are tomates triturados, whole tomatoes that have been pureed with their juice.

Remove leaves from a head of cabbage.

Serves 4.

1 medium cabbage

½ cup rice

10 ounces ground pork

1 cup finely chopped onions

2 cloves minced garlic

1/3 cup chopped green peppers

1/3 cup sliced olives

¼ cup chopped parsley

¼ teaspoon thyme

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon smoked pimentón (paprika)

Pinch of dried fennel or fennel seeds

3 tablespoons diced serrano ham (optional)

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup dry Sherry

1 cup tomate triturado

2 cups boiling water or hot stock

2 bay leaves

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cut off the stem of the cabbage and cut deeply around the core to loosen the leaves. Very carefully lower the whole cabbage into the water, stem end up. Cook 2 minutes. Use two large spoons to carefully turn the cabbage over. Cook 3 minutes. Remove the cabbage to a colander and let it drain.

Place the rice in a heat-proof bowl. Ladle 1 cup of the boiling cabbage water over the rice and let it set 10 minutes. (Discard the cabbage water or use it to cook the cabbage rolls, if desired.) Drain the rice.

When the cabbage is cool enough to handle, gently separate about 16 of the outer leaves. Use a knife or kitchen scissors to trim away their hard stems. (Cabbage leaves can be prepared a day before filling them. Pat them dry and refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.) 

Place the meat in a mixing bowl. Add the drained rice, onions, garlic, peppers, olives, parsley, thyme, cumin, pimentón, fennel and ham, if using. Mix with a wooden spoon. Season with 1 ½ teaspoons of salt and pepper. Combine well. 

Roll cabbage around meat.

Spread the oil in a braise pan or deep skillet. Place a layer of torn cabbage leaves on the bottom of the pan.

Spread open a cabbage leaf on a work surface. Place a spoonful of the meat mixture near the stem end of the leaf. Fold over the sides of the leaf. Roll the leaf up from the stem end. Place it in the prepared pan. 

Continue rolling all the leaves. If there is more meat filling than leaves, make meatballs with it and tuck them around the cabbage rolls.

Pour over the Sherry and the tomato. Add the boiling water or stock. If using water, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Add pepper and bay leaves. Place on high heat. When the liquid begins to bubble, cover the pan and turn the heat down to a simmer.

Cook the cabbage rolls until the meat is cooked through and the rice very tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Let the cabbage rolls settle 10 minutes before serving or cool and refrigerate them, covered, until the following day.

Variations on stuffed cabbage:

Stuffed Cabbage.

Cabbage Roll-Ups with Spicy Brava Sauce.

The soup pictured at the top was made with  Lamb Bone Broth. with vegetables (onions, carrots and spinach), chickpeas and barley. 

SWEETBREADS ARE OFFALY GOOD

 

Sweetbreads cook in a luscious Sherry sauce with mushrooms. 

I hadn’t cooked nor eaten sweetbreads in maybe 25 years. Then, in a single week, they entered my consciousness several times, online and at a restaurant where they were an off-menu special.  And, there they were in the casquería (offal or organ meat) section of my supermarket!  

Sweetbreads (mollejas in Spanish) are animal glands, both the thymus and pancreas of beef, veal and lamb. Raw, they look like pale blobs, they feel squishy. They have specks of blood and membrane clinging to them. Once thoroughly cleaned and blanched, sweetbreads are white and firm. Sweetbreads are tender and mild in flavor. They readily take on the taste of the sauce in which they cook. Sweetbreads are considered a delicacy. 

Soaking in lightly acidulated water makes cleaning sweetbreads easy. After cleaning, a quick blanching in boiling water firms them up. Use a knife or kitchen scissors to cut them into pieces. Finish cooking them in a savory sauce. 

It’s still International Sherry Week, so I’m cooking sweetbreads in a savory Sherry sauce. Best are amontillado, palo cortado and oloroso seco, but you could use a dry fino or even a sweet Sherry. 

Serve the sweetbreads with a side of mashed potatoes, rice or noodles.

Sweetbreads are tender and mild in flavor.

Sweetbreads and Mushrooms in Sherry Sauce

Mollejas y Setas con Salsa de Vino de Jerez

Prep this dish at least 4 hours before cooking so the sweetbreads have time to soak.

Serves 2-3.

Sweetbreads before soaking and blanching.

14-16 ounces sweetbreads

Salt

Lemon juice

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 + 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 shallots, chopped (¼ cup)

½ carrot, finely diced (¼ cup)

1 clove garlic, minced

3 ounces mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup Sherry

½ cup meat stock or water

Freshly ground black pepper

½ ounce diced serrano ham

Chopped parsley

Blanched sweetbreads.

Wash the sweetbreads under running water. Place them in a bowl and cover them with ice water. Add a spoonful of salt and a few drops of lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours (or as long as overnight). Drain and wash well, removing all bits of blood and veins. Remove loose membrane. With a knife or kitchen scissors cut the sweetbreads into more or less same-sized pieces, about the size of a walnut. 

Bring a pan of water to a boil with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Lower heat and add the sweetbreads. Poach them 5 minutes. Drain and plunge in ice water. Drain again and pat the sweetbreads dry.

Spread them on a plate and sift the cornstarch over them, lightly coating the pieces on all sides.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a heavy skillet and brown the sweetbreads on medium-high. When browned on all sides remove them to a paper towel to drain. 

Finish sweetbreads in sauce.

Add 2 tablespoons of oil to the skillet and sauté the shallots, carrots, garlic and mushrooms. Moderate the heat so shallots don’t burn. Cook them about 5 minutes. Add the Sherry, raise the heat and cook 1 minute to cook off the alcohol. Add the stock, pepper and additional salt, if needed. Return the sweetbreads to the skillet. Cook them gently 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the diced ham at the end.

Serve the sweetbreads and sauce sprinkled with parsley.

More recipes with offal:

Lamb's Liver with Onion Sauce.

Lamb Kidney Kebabs.

Kidneys in Sherry Sauce.

Andalusian Tripe Stew with Chickpeas.

Braised Tongue in Almond Sauce.

AUTUMN IN A BASKET

 

Create an autumnal meal with these fruits, nuts and vegetables.

Roasted chestnuts and sweet potatoes; huesos de santo (saints’ bones, a sweet made of almond paste); pine-nutty panellets from Catalonia, and buñuelos, puffy fritters—all are symbols of the autumn holidays of Todos los Santos (All Saints, Nov. 1) and Fieles Difuntos (Day of the Dead, Nov. 2). 

It’s also the season of the saffron harvest in La Mancha and of newly pressed extra virgin olive oil from my local mill. Coming Nov. 4-10 is International Sherry Week. Also in my autumnal basket are pretty pomegranates, knobbly quince and mushrooms. I’m going to put them all in a pot to celebrate the season.

A slow-cooked stew of pork cheeks with mushrooms and chestnuts in a savory sauce of pomegranate and Sherry with sweet potato fries on the side.

Pork Cheeks with Chestnuts

Carrilladas de Cerdo con Castañas

Pork cheeks are perfect for slow-cooked stews but you could substitute any stew meat in this recipe. 

Pink pomegranate is sweet.

Not all pomegranates have ruby-red kernels. You may have ripe fruit with pale pink arils. They are wonderfully sweet but a disappointment to a food stylist looking for that pop of color to finish a dish. Red pomegranate juice, by the way, cooks to a brownish color. 

A small pomegranate will yield about ¼ cup of juice. If pomegranate is not available substitute grated tomato pulp.

Slit chestnuts and microwave.

A microwave works fine for “roasting” the chestnuts in order to peel them. Cut a slit in the shells across the pointy end of each. Place them, about 6 at a time, on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave on High until the chestnuts begin to hiss as they release steam, 1 to 2 minutes. The slits should open slightly. Wrap the very hot chestnuts in a clean towel. While they are still warm, remove the shells, keeping them whole, if possible. The brown inner skins should come off with the shells. If necessary, scrape off the skins. 

By all means use autumn wild mushrooms such as boletus and níscalo (saffron milk cap) if available. Otherwise meaty portobellos or shitakes are a good stand-in.

Chocolate in a meat sauce? Yes, it’s typical in some Galician and Catalan recipes. And, besides, this week is the first international Chocolate and Cacao Week (Guadalcao) which is being celebrated in Sevilla. Add chocolate to the autumnal basket.

Serves 2

8 ounces (12-14) chestnuts (to make 1 cup chestnut meats)

1 small pomegranate

4 pork cheeks (about 4 ounces each)

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Flour for dusting the meat

3 tablespoons olive oil + more to fry the sweet potatoes

1 cup chopped onion

1 clove chopped garlic

½ cup diced carrot

3 tablespoons chopped apple or quince

4 large mushrooms, cut in half

3 tablespoons Brandy de Jerez

¼ cup pomegranate juice

1/3 cup fino or oloroso seco Sherry

1 cup water or meat stock + more as needed

Sprig rosemary + more to garnish

Sprig of fennel

Pinch of saffron (optional)

½ ounce dark chocolate, chopped (optional)

2 medium sweet potatoes (14-16 ounces)

Microwave the chestnuts and remove their shells as described above. 

Peel the pomegranate and separate the arils (kernels) from the membrane. Set aside a few of the kernels for garnish. Place the rest in a blender and grind them. Sieve the pulp, pressing on the seeds to extract all the juice. 

Trim pork cheeks.

Use the tip of a knife to remove most of the membrane that covers one side of the pork cheeks. Sprinkle the cheeks with salt and pepper and dust them lightly with flour. Heat the oil in a heavy pan and brown them on both sides. Remove the meat.

Add the onion, garlic, carrot and apple to the oil and sauté them on medium until lightly browned, 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms. Add the brandy and cook off the alcohol, 1 minute. Add the pomegranate juice and Sherry and cook them 1 minute. Add the water. Return the pork cheeks to the pan. Season with salt, pepper, rosemary, fennel and saffron, if desired. When liquid begins to simmer, cover the pan and cook 30 minutes.

Turn the pork cheeks and add the chestnuts to the pan. Cover and cook 30 minutes more. 

Fry cubed sweet potatoes in olive oil.

While the meat is cooking, prepare the sweet potatoes. Peel and cut them into ¾-inch cubes. Place oil to a depth of ½ inch in a small skillet and heat. Add the sweet potatoes and fry them on medium-high until they are lightly browned and tender, about 5 minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle the sweet potatoes with salt.

Sauce after blending.

Test the meat for doneness. If not completely tender, cook it 30 minutes longer. When it is fork-tender, remove the pan from the heat. Remove the meat, whole chestnuts (leave any crumbled chestnuts in the pan) and mushrooms. Discard the sprigs of herbs. Scrape the cooking liquid and vegetables into a blender container. Add the chocolate, if using. Blend until the sauce is smooth. Return the sauce to the pan with additional water or stock as needed to make a pouring gravy. Return the meat to the pan to reheat.

Serve the pork cheeks, sauce and fried sweet potatoes garnished with sprigs of rosemary and reserved pomegranate kernels.

A bouquet of fall flowers and a hearty red wine to accompany the autumn flavors.

More recipes with autumn flavor:

Wild Mushroom and Potato Stew.

Savory Sweet Potato Flan.

Spiced Quince Sauce for Meat.

Roast Spareribs with Chestnuts.

Coleslaw with Pomegranate.