- Hi, guys, welcome back to my channel, and welcome to my very special "Thanksgiving in Quarantine
Menu" series. (laughs) I know, I think that we just need to do things a little
bit different this year. We typically have anywhere from 20 to 25 people sitting outside. We make a big feast, we have
friends, we have family, and it's so much fun. And this year, we're
gonna be the four of us. For this Thanksgiving menu that is going to focus
on small quantities. So thanks to the poll that we did, it looks like the majority
of you guys are only having about four people for dinner. So I figure we'll do quantities for six. That way you get to have
a little bit of leftovers. And they're gonna be budget-friendly because I'm sensitive to the fact that a lot of you may be
out of work right now, and so I wanted to have a menu that wasn't going to break the bank. And they're gonna be easy
because, let's face it, we have all been home for the last seven months
cooking and cleaning, so I didn't wanna have a menu that was gonna be more
cooking and cleaning. I wanted to have it be
as easy as possible. (upbeat jazz music) I wanted to show you how to
make a fantastic cocktail nibble in the form of my cheddar cheese coins. First thing you wanna do in
the bowl of a food processor is add 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour. And then we're also
gonna add 1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of salt. And then for a little kick, you wanna add a few
shakes of cayenne pepper. Okay, then you wanna put the top on and just give it a pulse to
combine all the ingredients. (food processor pulses) Then once everything is combined, you're going to add 1/4 cup
of butter and pulse as you go. (food processor pulses) You're gonna remove the top
and 1/2 a cup of cheddar cheese that's been shredded. If you have a choice at the store between mild or sharp
cheddar, get the sharp cheddar 'cause you'll just get
more flavor that way. Pulse until it's really,
really finely combined. So you don't want any
shredded cheese in it. It should just, again,
look like a coarse meal. Then we're gonna add one egg yolk. Then you're just gonna pulse this up, and it does take a few minutes or so because we need that butter and the cheese and the egg to combine just
until it's nice and crumbly and the crumb sticks together. So here's the texture you wanna go for. See how it's really crumbly? But if I pinch it with my
fingers, it sticks together. That's what you want. Okay, now we are going
to just form this first into a rough log, okay. And just keep pressing it together. As you're turning it into a log, you can kinda roll it around
and get the excess crumbs. (laughs) Resist the temptation
to add water to this because then you're gonna lose that melt-in-your-mouth quality which makes these so delicious. So don't worry, between
the butter and the cheese and the egg yolk, it'll
totally stick together. Then once you have a rough
little log like this, kinda stamp it on the bottom like that, just so that you can get flat edges and equal edges of the circle. So you're really looking
for a one-inch diameter log. You just don't wanna roll too much 'cause it is crumbly dough. We're looking for a four-inch log. We are going to then wrap this
up in some parchment paper. And you can totally do
this the day before. You could do it several
days before, in fact. You can roll it up. It does need to chill
for at least an hour, so if you were making these right away, make sure you factor that in. And then just give it
a twist on both sides. Kinda like cookie dough. (laughs) And while you're at it, why not make another log for Christmas? And you could pop that in the freezer. I would probably, in that case, wrap it in parchment paper and foil, just so it doesn't get freezer burn. And you could leave it in your
freezer for up to a month. Then to bake, we are gonna unwrap these from the parchment paper. See, and we have our beautiful log here. And then you just wanna slice
it about 1/4 of an inch thick. So you should get about 16 slices. Place them on a baking sheet that's been lined with parchment paper. If you're cooking for four or five people, this is plenty because these
are really rich. (laughs) So two to three per person
probably does the trick. But if you wanted a few other appetizers to round out the mix, I
will link to a video below of my three easy holiday
appetizers from last year. Any of those would be great with these. And then you are gonna bake
at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes. I give you that range
because depending upon how long you refrigerated the dough for, they could take either less or more time. Okay, and when they come out of the oven, they'll look like this. They'll be set in the center and golden brown around the edges. And it is so hard to not just grab one and pop it in your mouth. (laughs) And then once they have completely cooled, you can go ahead and just
put them in a container and keep them on your countertop. Because they're such a simple appetizer, I like to put them in
something fancy, (laughs) like one of these
silver-plated candy dishes. These are actually my grandmother's, but I have seen them on Etsy, and I've also seen them in a
lot of vintage stores as well. I really like to serve appetizers in them because I think it takes something that's really basic
like these cheese coins and elevates the whole experience. And serve them with either a little glass of port is delicious or a
glass of red wine, white wine, whatever your drink of choice might be. (gentle music) Now, what is gonna make
this turkey dinner so easy is we are going to roast everything except for the stuffing on a sheet pan. And then you can set it and forget it, which allows you time to
visit with your family, have a glass of wine and
some cocktail nibbles. So the first thing we wanna do is create our garlic herb butter that's going to go under
the skin of our turkey. So in this pitcher, I have three tablespoons
of unsalted butter. And then to that, I'm gonna
add 1/2 a teaspoon of salt, a little freshly cracked
pepper, and two garlic cloves. So now I have about a
tablespoon of chopped rosemary. In it goes. There, and that's all we have to do for our delicious garlic rosemary butter. All right, let's talk turkey now. So I have got a double
breast turkey breast. So the way that you
find this in the market, it'll probably say
turkey breast with ribs. That means it actually has the bone in it. I like the double breast if you're going for three people to six people. Now, if you're cooking for one or two, then I would say buy the
split breast and just buy one. So we wanna position our
turkey in the center, and then you also wanna make sure that your butter has been cooled so that we're not gonna actually start to cook the turkey (laughs)
before we're ready. And then if you've never done this before, don't be squeamish. This is part of being anointed
as the Thanksgiving cook. You really wanna get in
there under the skin, and you'll see there's a pocket. See that pocket? That actually needs to be loosened, either with your fingertips or a spoon, because the pocket is where we are going to put our delicious herb butter. So in it goes. And don't worry if it
goes all over the turkey or all over the pan. That actually is totally fine. It is just gonna add more
flavor everywhere it goes. And then, see, you can take the skin and kind of push out your spoon and then massage all that
delicious garlic butter inside. And the other thing you wanna do to get a nice crispy skin
is just drizzle a little bit of olive oil on top and then brush your
turkey with the olive oil. And this will create a
really nice crispy skin that won't burn. And then you also can add
a little bit of pepper and a little bit of salt. Okay, so now we are
gonna fill in both side with the vegetables. And when thinking about what were the most
cost-effective vegetables, I come back to my two
favorites, potatoes and carrots. They are the cheapest
vegetables out there. But not to worry, we're
gonna gussy them up for this special occasion and make them look totally
elegant and fabulous. Okay, so first for the potatoes, I have some Dutch baby potatoes here, but we're gonna do something
extra special to them. We're gonna create little slits to create mini Hasselback potatoes, which nothing screams holiday more like a Hasselback potato, right? And you wanna slice so that you're doing maybe
1/8 of an inch incisions. But one thing you wanna do is just make sure you don't
cut all the way through when you're making your slices. These incisions will open up, (laughs) which would be really delicious. The only other thing we wanna do to them at this stage is just drizzle with a little bit of olive oil. This is what's gonna help the potato skin get really nice and crispy as it roasts. And then you can also add a little bit of salt and pepper on top. So how easy was that? One side dish done. Now, if you're cooking for one, you could just add one potato.
You could add two potato. Really just add however many you think
you're gonna need per person, knowing that you can get at least six, maybe seven or eight on the tray. Okay, so now we're going
to add the carrots. So you can really up
your game a little bit by looking for what they
call rainbow carrots. So rainbow carrots look like this. They come in different colors. The ones I have here are
orange, yellow, and a white. It almost looks like a parsnip. But I think you wanna
factor in, I don't know, four to five carrots per person. I just basically peeled
them, chopped off the tops. And if the thickness of
the carrot was bigger than, say, a nickel, then I
would cut it in half like this. If they're smaller than a
nickel, more like a dime, then I would just leave
them whole like that. One thing we are gonna
do is glaze our carrots with a little bit of maple syrup. So in a large bowl, we're going to add a
tablespoon of olive oil, a tablespoon of maple
syrup, a little bit of salt, little bit of pepper. So I have about a tablespoon
of thyme going in. And that's just gonna be a
really lovely counterbalance to the sweetness of the carrots, to have a little bit of
something savory like the thyme. Okay, then we're gonna
toss our carrots in. And then with some tongs, you
can just give them a toss. Okay, now we're gonna go
back to our tray here, and we're going to put
this on the other side. And look, we just made a
turkey and two side dishes in a matter of minutes. Then we're gonna place this tray in a 375-degree Fahrenheit oven
for an hour and 30 minutes. But really the best way to know when your turkey is done
is with a meat thermometer. I like to take turkey out at about 160, 162 degrees Fahrenheit, let it rest for 15
minutes, cover it in foil, and then it will come up
to the proper temperature, which should be 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Okay, let's talk about cranberry sauce. So normally I am a homemade, by scratch cranberry
sauce person, (laughs) especially if I'm having a
big crowd of 20 plus people. But I get that this year
with only four of us, I might not go down that road. So I wanted to show you how you can make canned cranberry sauce taste a little bit more
gourmet and homemade. When you take it out of
the can, don't be alarmed 'cause it's gonna look like that. (laughs) But that's okay, it's
not gonna stay like that. When you begin to press
it down with a fork, you'll see some of the whole cranberries. Okay, so now what we wanna
do is just peel some orange into our cranberry sauce. So I'm using just a mandarin because you don't probably
wanna waste a whole orange 'cause we don't need very much. So I would do probably, I don't
know, three or four peels. And you can do this the day before, and in fact it's even
better the day before because then all of
these flavors will marry. Then you can go ahead and cut
this little mandarin in half and add the juice as well. Then you wanna add 1/8 of a
teaspoon of ground cloves. That's gonna give it a
delicious warming flavor. And then the other thing I like
to add is some fresh ginger. And you're looking for anywhere between 1/2 a teaspoon to a teaspoon. I tend to go the full teaspoon, just because I think
it adds so much flavor to the cranberry sauce with the orange. It's such a great flavor combination. And then to heighten all these flavors, we're also just gonna
add a little bit of salt. There, and that's all you have to do. And then you can stir this all together, and no one will know
the difference. (laughs) Now, your turkey dinner
would be perfectly lovely with just the carrots and
the potatoes and the turkey, but if you wanna kick it up a
notch, I say add the stuffing. I don't know, I'm a real
stuffing person at Thanksgiving. It's a bit of a deal-breaker if I don't have the stuffing. (laughs) And the nice thing about
this stuffing recipe is we are gonna making it in a muffin tin. The muffin tin also
slides in really easily with the turkey on the lower rack, so it makes cooking this whole
meal together super simple. Okay, so for the stuffing,
we're gonna make this real easy and work with pre-sliced sourdough bread. Cut it into small little chunk. So tell me, what is your
deal-breaker at Thanksgiving? Is it the stuffing? Is it the gravy? Is it the pumpkin pie? It's funny, every family has their sort of deal-breaking moment where
if it's not on the table people get upset, they get mad. One year, I don't know what
my parents were thinking, but they actually served
a ham for Thanksgiving. Oh, did my parents hear about it. (laughs) Nobody wanted the ham. It usually only happens once. (laughs) Now, another thing we wanna do is actually pop these
bread cubes in the oven, just for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. And what that will do is dry out the bread to make a better stuffing because if we just worked
with this the way it is, we would end up with
a bread ball. (laughs) You really need dried out
bread to retain its shape. Then for the vegetables for your stuffing, you're going to melt
some butter in the pan. Then you're gonna add
1/2 a cup of white onion, 1/2 a cup of diced celery, and
1/2 a cup of diced carrots. Then you can saute those up
until they're nice and fragrant. Season with salt and pepper. And then you're gonna add a tablespoon of fresh sage and fresh thyme and two tablespoons of a dry
white wine, like a chardonnay. Okay, now to bind our stuffing together, in a large bowl, we're
going to add two eggs and two cups of chicken broth. And this is gonna help
prevent our stuffing from being too dry inside. It'll become more soft and
sort of almost custardy inside. Then we're gonna add our
dried up bread cubes. So they can go right on top. We wanna put the bread cubes in first so that we can stir them
around and make sure that they soak up all of that
chicken breath and the egg. And then we can add our
delicious sauteed veggies that we just cooked. I would make sure they're
a little bit cooled, just so that you don't cook that egg. So if this is the basic stuffing recipe, you really can add two to
three different mix-ins that you like. For me, that would be two
tablespoons of dried cranberries, and then I'm also gonna
add two tablespoons of chopped pecans. And then I also like to add
two tablespoons of diced apple, skins and all. And now we can put it in our muffin tin. So I'm gonna be using a jumbo muffin tin, just because I find that the
serving size is really nice. If you didn't have a jumbo tin, you could also do this in a 12-cup tin and maybe give everybody two. But you do wanna spray it first with a little bit of baking
spray, just like that, just so that they don't stick. Okay, and then all you have to
do is fill up your muffin tin with your stuffing, and
probably about two scoops per muffin is what it'll take. I don't like to pack it down too much because I think the lighter the stuffing, the lighter your stuffing
will actually be. It also will preserve the bread cubes so that you'll get some
nice crispiness on top. Then if you pack it in, you may lose some of that definition. And then the final step
is just to spray each one with a little bit of olive oil. And this will assure you'll get that really beautiful
golden brown crispy top. Now, if you were making this a day ahead, I would just cover this with
foil and pop it in your fridge. And then about 40 minutes
before your turkey is ready, go ahead and put it
down in the bottom rack. Move the turkey pan a
little bit to the right so that it has some more space so that heat can get down in through it. So after the stuffing goes in, then you can get your
garlic herb butter ready for the potatoes. (laughs) Now, you don't have to do this step. I know we've used a lot of
butter and calories so far. But this really does
set them over the edge. Okay, so I have some melted butter here that I am just going to put
in to a little Pyrex pitcher. See, it doesn't take much because those potatoes are so small. And then you're going to add
a teaspoon of the fresh sage. You could use thyme or
rosemary if you prefer that. And then we're also going
to add one clove of garlic. And then we're just gonna mix
this up with a pastry brush. And every so often as you're checking
doneness of your turkey, then you can go in there
and just brush the tops of the potatoes. And you'll see the butter and the garlic and the herbs will just seep down into those slices of the
potato, and it is so delicious. While your turkey is resting, you can keep your vegetables warm by placing them in the
oven with the stuffing. Then to carve a bird like this, the simplest thing to do is just to cut it down the breastbone
and then cut along the side. This will release the breast meat and allow you to cut nice slices. Now, as your turkey is roasting, you'll notice a beautiful
pan sauce will develop. You can use that to baste the turkey with, or you can also reserve it to drizzle it on top of
the turkey once it's done. (upbeat jazz music) (gentle music) And now it is time for
some homemade bread. If you've never made homemade focaccia, you are in for a treat. It uses basic ingredients,
it's affordable, and you can make a small batch of it. And making a small batch will provide you with some leftovers to make a fantastic
Thanksgiving leftover sandwich the next day with your leftover turkey. Okay, so the first step
is to get our yeast going. So in this pitcher, I have
a cup and 3/4 of warm water. Now, the temperature of
the water is important. It needs to be anywhere
from 110 degrees Fahrenheit to about 115 degrees Fahrenheit. If it's too cold, the
yeast won't activate. And if it's too hot, you
can actually kill the yeast. So you wanna be somewhere
around that range. And it looks like I'm at about
112, so we're good to go. Then we're gonna add
two teaspoons of sugar. And the sugar is important because this is what is going to feed the yeast. So yeast likes to feed
on things like sugar, or you could even use honey as well. And then we are going to add a full packet of active dry yeast. Here in the States, we get
them in little packets. If you're outside of the
States, it's seven grams. And then you just wanna stir this up. And you'll see it'll start
activating right away. It'll turn cloudy. And that over time, that
cloudiness will start to turn into foaminess. Then you wanna get out a large bowl, and you're going to add 3
3/4 cup of all-purpose flour. And then we're also going to
add two teaspoons of salt. Then you can just stir that up, and then we are ready
for our yeast mixture. So you can see how foamy is is right now. And I am just gonna pour that in there. And then you can use a dough whisk, or you can use a wooden spoon. Go ahead and just combine
the liquid with the flour. And then just continue to mix it together until it forms a nice dough ball. Then you wanna get a good
amount of flour on your board, about a tablespoon or so, just like that. And then take your dough ball and kinda knead it around in the bowl, just to make it easier to handle and so it doesn't stick
too much on your board. And then go ahead and just
knead it for a few minutes, three or four minutes should do the trick, making sure that you're
getting enough flour. Now, the next thing we wanna
do is take a cleaned out bowl and then add about a tablespoon
of olive oil in the bottom. And go in with the olive oil and kind of grease the
bowl with your hands, just to make sure that when
we put our dough in here, it's not going to stick. And then another thing I like to do is just kind of bathe it in the olive oil. You'll find that focaccia
bread really needs a lot of olive oil in different stages, just to really make sure that you're locking in the flavor. This looks good. Then all we have to do is
cover it with a dish towel and put it in a sunny
place to rise for one hour. And you will see just
after an hour's time, you will have the most
beautiful, lovely risen dough, just like this. It should really triple in volume. Okay, so I think the best pan for something like this would
be a square brownie pan. If you can get one that has
a removable bottom like this, it's even better because we are gonna be putting
our caramelized shallots on top of this bread, and if you were to flip
it over upside down, some of those shallots
might actually fall off. You can put 'em back on again. So if it's all you have, it's okay. Or another thing you could
do would be a cheesecake pan. So because it has a springform release, that would also preserve
your shallots as well. Then you wanna grease
the bottom of your pan with some olive oil. You want a good amount,
about a tablespoon or so, because this is gonna also help the bottom get really nice and crispy. And then I also like to use
a pastry brush to make sure that it's being distributed
into all the corners. Then you wanna make sure
that you flour your board. I put a lot of flour down, just because the olive oil can
make the dough pretty sticky. And then you can just plop it right out. There, (laughs) just like that. You can put a little bit more flour, just a dusting on the top. Make sure your hands are nice and floured. And then give it a good knead for about three to four minutes or so. You just wanna make sure
that you have a really nice, elastic, soft dough ball. Then at this stage, get
out your rolling pin, and just sort of flatten it out. It doesn't need to be perfect because we're actually just
gonna press it into our tin, but it'll just help you get
kind of a rough square shape, something like that. Okay, now back to our
pan that we have oiled. We are all ready to go. We're just gonna plop
it in just like that. And then go ahead and just press it down. You wanna make sure that it's traveling into the corners here, okay. Now we are ready for our second rising, but not to worry, this is only
gonna take about 20 minutes. And it times out perfectly
because during that time, that's when you'll make
your caramelized shallots. Now, if you wanted to, you could totally cook the
shallots the day before and then just transfer them to a bowl and pop them in the fridge. Then they would be all ready to go right before you bake your focaccia. Okay, so for our shallots, you're going to want
at least a cup's worth of thinly sliced shallots, so something like this, almost paper-thin. And this will create a really
nice thin-sliced shallot which will caramelize beautifully
and look really pretty once it's on top of our focaccia bread. So this time of year, I love
cooking with fresh thyme. And the flavor combination of fresh thyme and caramelized shallots
just cannot be beat. Then we are going to add a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet. And then you can go ahead
and add your shallots, give 'em a shake, and start the cooking. And then you're gonna add
a little salt and pepper just to taste. Then at this stage, I really
love to use a little bit of balsamic vinegar. Now, if you don't have it on
hand, you can totally skip it 'cause it can be expensive. But if you have it sitting in the cabinet, now would be a good
time to use it. (laughs) So we're gonna do about 1/2 a teaspoon. And go ahead and give that a stir. And see, it gives them a
beautiful color too, I think. So then at this stage, what I like to do is add maybe
half the amount of the thyme, just to give these shallots a little bit more flavor as well, and then save the other half
for on top of the focaccia. Okay, these look good. Now, we want these to cool down 'cause we don't wanna
put these hot shallots on our rising dough. We wanna make sure that
they're at room temperature. So now that our dough has
been rising in our pan, we can lift this up. And you can see it'll be nice and puffy. So the next thing we wanna
do is just with our hands, go in and make little
indentations in the dough. And these are these little indentations that are so associated with focaccia. You do need to get in there and
really stick your fingers in 'cause it will kinda rise up a little bit, just to get the right
indentation, kinda like this. And then the other thing I like to add is a good pinch of flaky sea salt, just to put it on the top. And it'll also sort of fall down into those little crevices, just to give a nice salty crunch to the top of our focaccia bread. All right, then you can go ahead and just sprinkle on this
delicious shallot mixture all over the top. Then we can add the rest of our thyme. There, it should look like
this, all ready for the oven. Then we are gonna place this in a 400-degree Fahrenheit
oven for 25 minutes. But at the 20-minute mark, you wanna go in there
with a little pastry brush and some olive oil and
just brush the top of it. That will help it get golden
brown and a little bit shiny, as well as just put additional
flavor into this bread. Okay, I think the best
way to slice this is with a bread knife. And we're gonna get nine slices out of it. Basically, cut it like brownies. Now you have two ways to go. You can either serve it like this. I mean, look at this gorgeous
springiness and thickness. But with everything else going on, this might be a hefty portion. I like to keep these large squares for sandwiches the next day. So if you're only cooking for four people, maybe save half of it for sandwiches and then serve the other
half at the dinner. And then to do that, what I
would do is take these squares and cut them into little triangles. So you can just kinda
go halfway like that. The little shallots do fall off, so you have to be careful. (laughs) Just kinda plop 'em back on there. There we go. See, and I think that's
a really lovely serving to just do little corners
because it's so thick. (gentle music) So if you didn't wanna make
a full apple pie this year if it's just the four of you, maybe you'd consider
making some apple crepes. You still get the same familiar flavors of the cinnamon apples, the ice cream, and then of course that
sort of starchy goodness of the crepes, but I think
they're way easier to make. You can make them all ahead of time. And it makes a holiday like
a quarantine Thanksgiving just feel a little
extra special and fancy. So we're gonna start with
3/4 cup of all-purpose flour, two tablespoons of white sugar,
and a little pinch of salt. Then we are gonna whisk this up. Now, I've made crepes
before on this channel. And in fact, if you want a larger quantity if you were serving eight or
more, I'll link to that below, and you can look at that recipe. This recipe is scaled down for six. Then we're gonna add 1 3/4 cup of milk. You can use whole milk.
You can use 2% milk. Either one'll work. So you really wanna get
this part going first because this is what's going
to create a crepe batter that doesn't have a lot of lumps in it. And then we can add one egg. In it goes. Have any of you made
my crepe recipe before? I'm curious. You can put it
in the comments or the chat. It's a recipe that I typically get a lot of new people to my channel, so it's sometimes the first way that people discover my channel, either that or the French
macaron video. (laughs) It's usually one or the
other, or the banana bread. So let me know, how did
you discover my channel? I'd be curious to know what
video brought you here. And then we're also going
to add two tablespoons of melted better. Okay, so you probably have
all these ingredients, right? Easy peasy, that's all we have to do. It's all done. Okay, before we start making the crepes, there's one thing I wanted to show you which will help you package
them up once we're done. So I have just a plain plate here. On the plate, I'm gonna put a
piece of aluminum foil down. On top of that, I'm gonna put another piece
going just the opposite way. This way, we'll be able
to package them up, and the won't dry out. And then to make it easy to microwave when we wanna heat them up later, we're going to just put a
piece of paper towel here. And then we're gonna stack our crepes all going the same direction
on the paper towel. If you stack them in
alternating directions, they'll stick to each other. So stacking them going the
same way helps to prevent that. Okay, so tip number one
is to use a nonstick pan. So I have a 10-inch pan here. We are gonna be using a ladle
of batter for each crepe, and one ladleful fits
perfectly for one crepe. So if you have a pan that's too big, your crepe will be too thin. As it's heating up, you wanna grease it
with a little bit of oil and a paper towel. So I use grapeseed oil, but you could also use vegetable oil. And make sure you grease
not only the bottom, but the sides as well. And then the other thing
you wanna have ready is some sort of thin spatula. I think these work best for just kind of getting under the crepe. If you didn't have a spatula, you could also use a butter knife as well. Okay, I think our pan
is looking pretty good. So I am going to take a ladle of batter and just put it in the center. And then you wanna work pretty quickly, so you don't wanna let
it sit here too long. You wanna just take and
give it a good swirl. And if you feel like you're
coming up a little bit short, oopsie, you can just give
it a little bit more batter and just keep swirling. That's the secret, to keep swirling. And you don't actually
wanna use too much batter because you wanna make
sure you have enough for your six crepes if six is the number
you're trying to get to. If you're only wanting four, then I've given you one to
mess up on and one to taste. Okay, then what will happen is
the crepe will start to set. And as you start to see it
get golden brown like this around the edges, that's when you wanna
go in with your spatula and just loosen it a little bit. This is why I really like the spatula. Sometimes the knife is not thin enough to get in under there. But it certainly will work
if that's all you have. Okay, then I go in with my hands, and I just give it a flip, just like that. And you can see how beautiful
and golden brown it is. Easy, right? Okay, and then you only
need not even a minute on the other side because
it cooks pretty quickly. And then don't even worry
about trying to take it out. The easiest thing to do, I'm just gonna turn off my flame here so I don't catch this on fire, (laughs) is take our little storage situation here, but you just slide it off. See, just like that. And then we're gonna stack
them all going this way. All right, so I'm gonna whip up the batch. (bright accordion music) Okay, we have our six crepes here, and then we are going to
just put the paper towel on top like that. Then you can put one sheet
of the foil like that and one sheet of the foil like this. There, and then you are all set. So you're gonna just
pop this in the fridge until it's time to serve. And I'm gonna show you what
to do with that in a minute. So now for the salted caramel sauce. It's so easy. Wait till
you see how easy this is. Okay, so we are gonna start with 2/3 cup of just plain white sugar. And you're gonna put that in a pot. You wanna have a pot
that's similar to this in that it has a nice high profile, you'll see why in a minute,
and that it's not too skinny because the larger surface
you have to melt the sugar, the quicker this will go. And then this is the patient part. You don't want to touch it. So resist the temptation to get in there with a spoon or a fork and
start to stir it around. Sugar melts best into
caramel by not touching it and doing more of the
swirling, lifting technique. It's just one of the tricky
things about making caramel. I don't know, car-mel,
car-a-mel, which one? (laughs) I got back and forth. It's like to-may-to,
to-mah-to, pee-can, pee-con. Tell me in the chat.
Tell me in the comments. Which one do you say, car-a-mel? It's probably my American accent, car-mel. We seem to abbreviate everything. Then you wanna swish it around. If at any time it starts to smoke, like what it's kinda doing like this, then you wanna turn the flame
off because the residual heat from the hot caramel will
melt the rest of the sugar. So don't worry about that. So you can kinda see.
See how it's melting? If you have a little bit of sugar in the bottom at this stage, see how it's basically all melted, then you can go in with, I like
these little nonstick whisks because it just makes it
easier for you to clean, and you can whisk it together. And see, now I've got this
beautiful amber color caramel, made just from the white sugar. So how easy is that? Okay, now we're gonna do the next step. The next step, and this is why we wanted
our high-profile pot, I'm going to add 2/3 cup
of warmed heavy cream. So it just shouldn't
be cold from the fridge because it's hitting this very hot liquid, and it'll just be easier. But see how that will start
to kinda foam up there? There, can you guys see?
See what's happening? Then we're gonna add a
tablespoon of butter. I would probably use unsalted butter and then maybe add a little bit more salt because we're gonna do that too. And this is what's gonna give the caramel that really great bite,
the salted caramel. You wanna make sure... I would say a good pinch is like that, almost 1/8 of a teaspoon. Taste it after you add that, but be careful 'cause
it's gonna be really hot. You wanna taste the salt because what makes this so delicious is that sort of salted caramel flavor. And that's all we have to
do. Our sauce is ready to go. So you can totally do this the day before. We're gonna store it in
this little Pyrex pitcher, and then all we have to do
is microwave it the day of. (bright accordion music) Okay, now for the apples. So the apples are actually something that I do the day of just before serving. And I find after Thanksgiving, people need a little bit of a break before they get to the
dessert anyway, (laughs) so it'll give you something to do while people are just sort of
milling about at the table. So I have my pan on a medium-high flame. To that, I'm gonna add
two tablespoons of butter. Then once the butter looks like this and it's nice and melted, then I'm going to add two
tablespoons of plain white sugar. And then I'm also gonna add
1/4 of a teaspoon of cinnamon. Okay, then we are going to add our apples. So I have a cup and 1/2 of Gala apples. I like the Galas because
they're really sweet. They're not too tart. Cover them with the sugar. I have them cut into 1/4-inch slices. And then we're also going to add about a teaspoon or so of lemon
juice, maybe two teaspoons. But one thing I do like to do, just to help the apples
cook a little bit better, is add about a tablespoon or so of water. I'll do a tablespoon of it and 1/2. You have to kind of eyeball it and see how much liquid
you think you need. I'd start with about a tablespoon and 1/2. Then once everything is coated, you can hit the whole thing
with just a little bit of salt, just a pinch, just to
heighten all the flavors. And then we are going to cover it and let this simmer for
about eight minutes, depending on how tender
you like your apples. Because most of this
dessert is really soft, we've got the soft crepe, we've got the caramel and the ice cream, I like to have them be not too soft, just to have a little bit of texture. So I keep them a little bit firm, but you do what's right for you. Okay, so these apples
are looking fantastic. You can see they're nice and caramelized and gooey and delicious. So another tip is after they steam for about five or eight minutes, turn the flame off and keep the lid on, and then they will just get nice and brown and syrupy like this just from the heat that's left over from the pan. That's how I got this beautiful color. Then when it comes time to serve, you can take your little
paper towel crepe packet (laughs) and put it in the microwave for about a minute, a minute 30. You just want them to be warm. They don't need to be smoking hot. And then I also heated
up the caramel sauce. So I did about a minute
in the microwave as well. Then let me show you how to serve these like they do in France. (laughs) So take your crepe, underside facing out, and then just fold it in half, and then fold it in half again, and that's all there is to it. And I think it looks really pretty if you can get yourself an oblong platter. And we're going to just display
them all up the platter. Then we can dust them ever so gently with a little bit of powdered sugar, just because it is the holidays after all, and it does make it look pretty. And then we're gonna add our apples. And then of course, let's not forget our delicious
salted caramel sauce (laughs) over the top. If you wanna put a little
drizzle on the plate, I think that's also pretty too. And there you have it, and you can bring this
beautiful platter to the table and serve each of your guests
a crepe with some apples and of course a big scoop
of vanilla ice cream. And don't forget the extra caramel sauce, which of course you have to
drizzle right over the top. All right, so if you are up for making my full Thanksgiving
menu, here's your game plan. All right, up to three days
before, do all your shopping. The grocery store is the worst place to be the day before Thanksgiving. The nice thing about this menu is everything can be purchased
at least three days ahead. The vegetables hardy, so are the herbs, so nothing is going to spoil. And you will thank yourself
day before Thanksgiving when all you have to do
is prep a few things. Then two days before Thanksgiving, you can get the caramel sauce
for the apple crepes done. Pour it in a Pyrex pitcher,
cover and refrigerate. That way when it comes time to heat it up, you already have it in a heat-safe vessel, and all you have to do is microwave. You can also make the
cranberry sauce ahead of time. This cranberry sauce is even better if you make it two days ahead because the flavors of the orange peel, the cloves, and the ginger just will become all the more pronounced. You can also prep the appetizers. So make your cheddar cheese
coin dough ahead of time. Wrap it in the parchment paper
and pop it in the fridge, and then all you have to do the day of is just slice and bake. You can also cook off the shallots and get them all nice and caramelized, transfer to a bowl,
cover, and refrigerate, and then that way all you have to do is actually make the
dough for the focaccia, and your shallots are all ready to do. You can also prep the stuffing cups because, remember, we have
to toast those bread cubes. You can put them in the muffin
tin, cover and refrigerate, and they will be all ready to go. Okay, the morning of,
countdown to kickoff, here's what you're gonna do. Make your focaccia break in the morning. That way it'll give you enough time to let the dough rise twice, pop on those shallots, and bake it off. Once it's fully baked, allow it to cool just at room temperature, and keep it in the tin. That way when it comes time to reheat it, you're all ready to go, and you can just pop it in the oven. Three hours before you
plan to serve dinner, you can slice your cheese
coins and bake them in the oven because, remember, our oven's
gonna be pretty occupied soon, and we wanna get this
part done ahead of time. Then allow them to cool on your cooktop. And once they are completely cool, you can transfer them to a container and just let them sit
out on the countertop. Okay, then two hours before
you plan to serve dinner, this is go time. (laughs) So you wanna get yourself
into the kitchen, grab a buddy if you need it, and get your turkey prepped
with the garlic butter, toss those carrots in the maple glaze, put them on the sheet pan, and prep your Hasselback potatoes. And then go ahead and get
that dinner in the oven. And then now you can sit down and relax, knowing that your Thanksgiving
dinner is roasting away. And this will give you time
to enjoy your cheese coins. Okay, then 40 minutes before your turkey is ready to be done, go ahead and pop in those stuffing cups. And then once your turkey
reaches 162 degrees Fahrenheit, go ahead and take it out. You can transfer it to a carving board and then cover it with foil. It needs to rest at least 15 minutes, during which it will come up
to the appropriate temperature, which is 165 degrees Fahrenheit. But then go ahead and
take those vegetables and pop them back in the
oven with the stuffing cups. And you wanna reduce the oven, I think, to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, which will just keep everything warm. And this is the perfect time
to pop in that focaccia bread. Then you can carve your turkey
and assemble your plates. And at the same time, enlist a helper to slice
the focaccia bread, and pop it into a bread basket. Then after dinner when everybody's sort of
milling around the table, ask somebody to help you clear the plates so that you can get started on the apple sauce for the crepes. Once the apple sauce is good to go, then go ahead and reheat the
caramel sauce in the microwave, and you can reheat your crepes. Then all you have to
do is fold the crepes, top with that delicious apple sauce, and don't forget to
bring the caramel sauce to the table as well because
it is so delicious drizzled over the vanilla ice cream. All right, you guys, I hope
you give this menu a try and that it proves to be easy, delicious, and won't break the bank. All right, you guys, I'll
see you back here next week. Until then, bye.
