Trifle, an Easy Christmas Dessert

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

What’s your favorite holiday dessert? In our house, it’s bûche de Noël or trifle. We alternate them from year to year. I love the French yule log cake but it’s much more time-consuming to make than the traditional English trifle.

Trifle is a fitting Special Fork recipe because it’s mostly assembly: layering prepared sponge cake, raspberry jam, macaroons and drizzling with homemade custard that seeps between the layers of cake to make a pudding. Then the whole thing is topped with a layer of toasted slivered almonds and clouds of whipped cream.

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French Onion Soup with a Twist

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

When it’s blisteringly cold outside and I’m running low on funds, a hearty soup is always the dish I go to first. And my favorite soup of all is French onion. The way the onions reduce to an almost meaty caramel and then get topped with cheesy bread –there’s nothing better.

I found myself without the usual dry sherry I use in making onion soup and in the spirit of changing up my routine, I grabbed the bottle of bourbon from my cupboard instead.

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Bacon, Onion and Kale Stuffing

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

I agree with the many millions who think the stuffing or dressing is the star and the turkey an accompaniment, with the gravy as the saucy bit (gilding the lily) that makes it all a very happy and tasty marriage.

Stuffing, although a humble dish, is not as easy to make as it looks. It’s a fine line between being too rich or too dry or too wet.

Not all stuffing recipes call for eggs. But eggs not only enrich the flavor, but they keep the stuffing moist and help the ingredients bind together.

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Nutella Fondue

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

Fondue was one of the special dinners I had growing up. I don’t remember what kind of an occasion prompted my folks to pull out the fondue pot, but it was fairly often. The first pot I remember actually used little cans of Sterno to heat the broth.

But then a new avocado green electric version showed up, evidently meaning the Hunter family had “made it!” My mom would heat broth, and sometimes oil, in the pot and surround it with meat and vegetables for cooking. But for truly special occasions, she would make rarebit (melted beer cheese with toasted bread) from her well-loved James Beard cookbook.

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Mediterranean Roast Chicken Thighs

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

Who doesn’t love a good roast chicken? The crispy skin…the delicious pan juices…what’s not to like?

During the week, cooking up a whole bird, although not hard to do, might just take a little too long. So I go with my favorite part, the thighs. I love thighs because of the juicy dark meat and ample skin that tops the bone-in version. Plus, it only takes about a fourth of the time to roast thighs, as compared to a whole bird.

Another win is that you can buy just the amount you need. (But who would roast just enough for one, when cooking for one takes just as much time as for three!) Leftovers will yield some killer roast chicken sandwiches or can be used to top a salad for lunch. Or, use it for a quick chicken noodle soup or pasta dish the second night for dinner.

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