Thanksgiving Cookie Platter & November’s Funny Blogger Posts

by Lora Wiley-Lennartz

Really? A Thanksgiving cookie post? How lame am I? Don’t answer any of those questions. The month whizzed by with less and less time for blogging. It didn’t help I cooked a Thanksgiving feast for 10 people and hosted it in our cozy East Village apartment. It was crazy but I loved it and would do it over again in a heartbeat. Some of our guests were my husband’s colleagues from the UN and their spouses who had never experienced an American Thanksgiving before so the pressure was on!

Every year at Thanksgiving I use mostly other bloggers recipes for my menu. Once again I was too busing pulling off the mal to take proper pictures. So in case you are not totally over Thanksgiving recipe gawking/menu porn I’ve listed what I served below with links to the original recipes.

In addition to four other desserts., I made this cookie platter. I like to make big cookie platters for big holiday meals because it’s nice to send everyone home with a cookie assortment. The macaron flavors were  sparkly gold shells with persimmon buttercream and chocolate macarons with chocolate espresso ganache filling.

Also included were candied pecan biscotti  (peeping out from the back of the platter) and pumpkin pie spice rollout leaf shaped cookies with royal icing spattered with gold. For the decoration I used a technique from Sweet Sugarbelle.

My 2012 Thanksgiving menu:
Any recipe that is not linked is my own improvisation.
 
Welcome Cocktail:

 

Prosecco with pomegranate liqueur & Pomegranate seeds
Appetizers:

 

Homemade Fig & Walnut Flax crackers
Pecorino cheese with honey & Pistachios
Delicate Squash and Gruyere Dip
Pepper Sugar Walnuts
Bread:

 

Spiced Pumpkin Buttermilk Biscuits
Main Dish:

 

Brined Organic Turkey (16 pounder!)
Browned Butter, Sage & Mixed Nuts Stuffing
Maple Cinnamon Cranberry Sauce

 

Sides:

 

Caramelized Corn with Fresh Mint
Brown Butter Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Lemony Green Beans with Almond Bread Crumbs

 

Desserts:COOKIE PLATTER: Pretty Decorated Leaf shaped Cookies, Candied Pecan Biscotti, Chocolate Macarons with Chocolate Espresso Ganache filling, Golden Sparkly French Macarons with Caramelized Persimmon Buttercream.

 

 

Here are the November’s posts that provided some much-needed entertainment in the aftermath of Sandy:

Vanilla Garlic’s Some Updates and Blams

Cake Wrecks’ Thanksgiving Cakes to Make You Extra Thankful

Spabettie’s Dachs-Turkey

Endless Simmer’s A Response to Pete Wells From Guy Fieri

The David Blahg’s Not a Creature Was Stirring

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10 comments

Hazel - Chicken in a Cherry Sauce December 19, 2012 - 9:48 pm

What a feast! I love that cookie platter… the golden leaf cookies are stunning!

Reply
wendy@chezchloe December 14, 2012 - 4:49 am

I'm sure you completely WOWed your guests. And take home cookies? What a host. I love that.
I checked out the decorating too. Intricate but I'll give it a try… might be after the holidays though. cheers… x

Reply
Lauren December 5, 2012 - 8:45 pm

Sounds like you gave your guests an excellent first Thanksgiving! We go to my parents' house each year and this year Paul worked so late Wednesday that by the time we arrived most of the work had been done. I did a lot of sous-cheffing on Thursday but I didn't even have to do any dishes. It was pretty awesome! 🙂

I love all the gold on the cookie platter. Is there anything more festive than gold leaf?

Reply
Nina December 5, 2012 - 6:58 pm

These look stunning. Your guest must have been delighted.Great menu too:)

Reply
Laura December 4, 2012 - 5:58 pm

That's an incredible cookie platter, your guests were very lucky. I especially love the gold decoration, such a lovely technique. Your menu sounds amazing as well.

Reply
The Duo Dishes December 4, 2012 - 7:28 am

You went all out! How did you not have little elves helping you with all of this? The squash and gruyere dip sounds fantastic, along with that apple pie.

Reply
Paula December 4, 2012 - 4:42 am

You did not prepare a Thanksgiving dinner, you prepared a Thanksgiving feast! Your guests must have been blown away by your menu and your dessert tray is fabulous. With all that you have had on your plate I don't know how you find the time and inclination to create this wonderful meal and share it with others who have never experienced an American Thanksgiving. You have certainly set the bar.

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Shay Butta December 3, 2012 - 6:41 pm

The persimmon cookies are still on my tongue lol.. I can taste them still as im typing lol <3 Fabulous evening mama :*

Reply
Butter Hearts Sugar December 3, 2012 - 10:41 pm

October and November went so fast it feels like they hardly happened. Your thanks giving feast sounds awesome, i'm trying to imagine squeezing 10 people into my apartment for a feast and my mind explodes. The cookies and the macarons are both gorgeous, I love the technique you used for the gold.

Reply
Joanne December 3, 2012 - 2:48 pm

Girl your meal sounds AMAZING! And a cookie platter ANY day sounds good to me!!

Reply

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