BAKED! CHOCOLATE-CHIP BOURBON BANANA BREAD.

So, this banana bread was fully ready to begin its life as a vegan—and then I saw Joy the Baker's recipe for bourbon-spiked banana bread with chocolate chunks on A Cup of Jo, and all my good intentions flew right out the window.

Let me begin by saying that I always have a ton of overripe bananas laying around the house—I buy them in bunches, but because I prefer them on the green side, I never seem to be able to eat them before they get to the point where I don't like them anymore. (This is a decidedly first-world problem.) So when I have extra time, I like to make banana bread.

Awhile back, I found a recipe for a vegan, cake-like banana bread on Olivia's lovely blog that I remember thinking was really good, but when I sat down to make banana bread this week, I couldn't seem to find it again since the link to her original post was broken (and I never posted the full recipe in my own archives). And then I saw Joy's recipe, and, well, the rest is history.

This banana bread comes together so simply: Butter and sugar are creamed together, eggs are beaten in, and then bananas, bourbon and a little lemon juice are added. Once everything is combined, you add a couple cups of flour and fold in chocolate chips and walnuts, pour the batter into a prepared loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. You're going to want to have a piece of this as soon as it comes out of the oven, but trust me: Wait until it cools, or even let it sit out overnight so that the flavors have a chance to develop. It's perfect with a huge cup of coffee or chai tea.

Here's the full recipe if you'd like to try it yourself. I promise it will make you—and, if you do what I do and bring it into work, your colleagues—very happy.

P.S. For the complete index of Baked! recipes, click here.

Photo via A Cup of Jo

(Un)baked!: Banana bites.

I haven't been posting too many indulgent sweet treats lately because I've been trying to make healthier choices (and it's been working! Between a strict exercise regimen and, you know, not shoveling candy bars in my mouth, I've lost 11 pounds and my clothes are fitting like I want them to again and I feel really good, so yay for that).

But that being said, sometimes a girl needs something sweet. Particularly after dinner. Enter: Banana bites.

These are the easiest things in the world to make, and I am not joking. All you do is slice up a banana or two, spread some peanut butter on half the slices, and then make little peanut-butter-banana "sandwiches" with the other half. Put them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and stick it in the freezer for an hour, until they bananas are super firm. Meanwhile, melt some chocolate chips—I nuked half a bag for 30-second intervals until the chips were almost completely melted, then stirred them until totally smooth (you avoid burning the chocolate this way)—and then, when your banana sandwiches are chilled, roll them in the melted chocolate and put them back in the freezer until they're firm again (another 1-2 hours). The coolest part of the process is that, if you use chocolate chips like I did (Ghirardelli 60 percent forever!), whatever emulsifier is in the chocolate chips creates a sort of pseudo-Magic Shell when the warm chocolate hits the cold bananas. It's pretty cool. And pretty delicious. Let me know if you make them.

P.S. You can see the complete archive of Baked! posts right here.

Photo by Joy the Baker, because everyone seems to be discovering the power of chocolate covered bananas, and also her photograph is so much better than mine it's not even funny. Those suckers are tasty, but hard to take a good picture of.

(Un)Baked! Strawberries with coconut milk whipped cream.

So, if you follow me on Instagram you've probably already seen this picture, and heard (well, read) my exclamations about the joys of coconut milk whipped cream, but I hope you'll indulge me this post, anyway.

I've been trying really hard to work on my diet lately—I'm watching what I eat, yes, but more importantly, I'm trying to cut back on the not-so-great stuff for me—refined sugar*, white flour and the like—and eat way more fruits, veggies, fish, etc. It's an ongoing process, but so far it's working pretty well, and I feel much better than I have in a long time.

One of the benefits of eating more fruit is that I definitely crave way less sweet stuff, but hello—you've seen the Baked! archives; you know I'm a sweet tooth at heart and will never say no to a good dessert. So last week, I got the idea to cut up some fresh strawberries and make a small batch of whipped cream with leftover cream from when I last made this insane cake.

Well, turns out the cream had spoiled (gross—I tasted it to make sure and that's an experience I never care to relive), but I still had a hankering for berries and cream. So after a little Googling, I ended up pulling out a can of coconut milk (I always have tons of it on hand for curry and the like), stuck it in the fridge until it was completely chilled, skimmed off the cream top, and put it in my mixer with a little sugar and vanilla extract. And you guys, it was so good. There's a definite coconut flavor to it—not super strong, but it's there—so if you don't like coconut, I wouldn't recommend making this. And actually, because of that flavor, I'd personally stick to serving this with fruit-based dishes. But if you want a non-dairy, vegan whipped cream replacement, this is an amazing one. In fact, I'll probably make coconut milk whipped cream way more than I will the dairy version from now on.

Here's how I made it—barely adapted from The Kitchn:

1 can full-fat organic coconut milk (I use Whole Foods' brand or Thai Kitchen)
1 Tbsp. sugar or sweetener of your choice, or more to taste (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

Put your can of coconut milk in the fridge and keep it there until it's thoroughly chilled, a few hours or even overnight. (Real talk: I was impatient and stuck mine in the freezer for awhile. Everything worked fine.) When it's cool, open the can and skim off the firm, almost waxy layer of cream on top. Do not include the watery liquid below it; you can save that for smoothies or drink it straight from the can, though. Place cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat, gradually increasing the speed, until soft peaks form. Add sweetener and vanilla to taste and mix in thoroughly; serve immediately atop fresh berries or the dessert of your choice.

*Yes, it's true: After my spiel about cutting back on white sugar, I totally used some for this recipe. But I bet coconut sugar—which is totally a thing!—would be fantastic here, and enhance the flavor of the coconut milk. If I try that, I'll let you know how it goes.

P.S. Before I made this, I was going to use my strawberries to make a version of these berry crumb bars; don't they look good?

Baked! (kinda): Chai coconut ice cream.

Awhile back, I mentioned that these Baked! posts were going to take more of a healthy, clean-eating bent—i.e., last week's almond butter cookies, which are gluten- and dairy-free. I want to talk more about the why behind that decision in a few weeks, but first I want to share with you this recipe for chai coconut ice cream.

Ice cream is probably my biggest weakness when it comes to dessert: I try not to keep it in the house because if I do, chances are you'll find me standing in front of the freezer at midnight, spoon hovering over the carton. And yet, here in Florida, it's practically summer already: We've got highs in the mid-80s, we're wearing shorts, we're thinking about beach barbecues and dips in the Gulf. It's hard to deprive yourself of anything that instantly cools you off, and come on, ice cream is the ultimate hot-weather treat. So needless to say, I'm glad I've found this healthy recipe.

OK, fine: Ice cream can't really ever be considered healthy, but this version does come close: It's full of spices and it's sugar-free, dairy-free, and egg-free (thank you, coconut milk and honey). I found the recipe over on Cookie + Kate, which is a wonderful blog—you should definitely check it out if you haven't already—and it couldn't be simpler: black tea and spices (ginger, cardamom, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla) are combined with coconut milk and honey, cooled and then put through an ice cream maker. Here's the recipe; the result is what you see above. It's creamy and delightfully spicy and just as good straight out of the ice cream maker (soft serve!) as it is if it's been frozen overnight. Yum. I have a feeling this is going to become a go-to very, very quickly.

Photo by Cookie + Kate

Baked! Almond butter cookies with sea salt.

I know some people hate Gwyneth Paltrow with an intense burning passion, but I am firmly in the Love Her camp (even when I'm rolling my eyes at some of the things she says). In fact, I'm even more firmly in the Love Her camp after seeing Iron Man 3 this weekend, because it was great.

But I digress.

A few weeks ago, when I read about the release of GP's cookbook, It's All Good, I was intrigued. After reading as much of the "Look Inside!" portion of the book as was available on Amazon and getting a decent feel for what all the recipes would be like thanks to the goop newsletter, I bit the bullet and bought it. And you know what? I'm can totally get behind the book's philosophy (clean, healthy eating; no gluten or refined sugar), and the recipes are legitimately tasty. I've tried the millet "falafel" and while I had some issues with the falafel staying together (I'll share the recipe once I've figured out how to make that part of it work), they were delicious. Same with these almond butter cookies, which have zero sugar in them—just almond butter, pure vanilla extract, maple syrup, gluten-free flour (I use Cup4Cup) and flaky sea salt. You don't even have to turn on the mixer, if you don't want to. I didn't.

Here's the recipe, if you'd like to try them yourself. They are seriously super-easy; plus, I actually ended up halving the recipe because I didn't have enough maple syrup and they still turned out great. One tip: Do not forego the sprinkle of coarse salt on top. It really puts these over the edge.

P.S. My favorite almond butter. 

Baked! Pink cookies.

This is really shameful, you guys, but I didn't take a single picture at the bridal shower on Sunday. Others did, I'm sure, but I was so busy setting up and then talking to people and doing other things that by the time I noticed this sad fact, it was too late. Ah, well.

Anyway, it all went fantastic—at least, I think so—and the decorations and the desserts turned out just as I'd hoped. So today, in lieu of photos, I thought I'd share with you the recipe for the pink cookies I made, because they're not only pretty, they're delicious. They key is to add just a little cherry extract or maraschino cherry juice to the frosting—not enough to make you think that you're eating cherry-frosted cookies, just enough so that the cookies taste pink.

(Oh, and full disclosure: Thanks to the butter and sugar I consumed over the weekend and the fact that I have a major work event and four days of wedding festivities this week, I'm on as much of a detox as I can be for the rest of the week. So I will not be eating any more of these pink cookies, although they really are a delicious treat and they are perfect for a party—especially a bridal shower, because you can cut them into heart shapes. Happy baking, friends.)

Bridal shower dessert menu.

My BFF Kate's bridal shower is the weekend, and her sister-in-law and I are putting the final touches on all the details. We're ordering most of the food, but I'm doing the desserts, so I thought I'd share what's on the menu here today in case you have a similar event coming up or are just looking for a delicious sweet treat to make:

• Salted caramel brownies
• "Pink" shortbread hearts
• Giant coconut cake

We're going to have fruit salad, so I don't feel bad about not having a lemon bar or the like, and a l though I was originally on the fence about making the brownies—why, I don't know—my boss's recent comment that they were "the best thing [she'd] ever put in her mouth" and my friend Jenn's assertion that everyone loves a brownie pushed me firmly into the "make them" category. (Not to mention that they're a Smitten Kitchen recipe, so they're inherently delicious.) Also, that coconut cake is a showstopper. I made it for a charity cake auction last year and it raised more than $600. It's the real deal.

In other food news, over the weekend I ordered Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook, It's All Good, which is focused on clean eating, and I'm looking forward to sharing how the treats in her cookbook stack up. Baked! with a healthy bent? Why not? (Full disclosure: This may be a controversial stance, but I am firmly a member of Team Gwyneth. I love her, even when I'm rolling my eyes at her. And this cookbook looks genuinely good.)

What's your favorite thing you've baked recently?

P.S. You can find an index of Baked! recipes right here, if you're so inclined. 

Photo by Olivia Rae James

Baked! Perfect buttermilk pancakes.

I'm not sure there's anything that says "weekend breakfast" better than fluffy buttermilk pancakes. Don't get me wrong, I love eggs—Benedict, scrambled, over easy, etc.—and I'll take a bagel with lox and cream cheese any day of the week. But Saturdays and Sundays are perfect for pancakes.

ACS loves pancakes more than anyone I know, and since I often hesitate to whip up an entire batch just for me (three-quarters of the batter inevitably ends up in the garbage), I jumped at the chance to make them when he was here this past weekend. I've experimented with buttermilk (and non-buttermilk) pancake recipes before, but after discovering Martha Stewart's this weekend, I think it's going to be my go-to from now on. The flavor is great, the pancakes are light and fluffy, and there's enough batter that you'll have some leftover for the next day. ACS and I both love plain pancakes, topped with butter and maple syrup, but you could easily add blueberries, chocolate chips or sliced bananas to this recipe and it'd be equally good. (In fact, I just may add walnuts and bananas next time.) Here's the recipe, if you'd like to make them, too. Happy breakfasting!

P.S. Dutch babies. And more breakfast Baked! posts here.

Photo by A Cozy Kitchen.

Baked! Salted caramel brownies a la Smitten Kitchen.

So, I caved and baked the Smitten Kitchen salted caramel brownies last week. I thought I had a salted caramel recipe brownie down pat (this one—which uses Deb's salted caramel sauce, actually), but nope: These are the ultimate. They take the, uh, cake. And they couldn't be easier to make, which is kind of dangerous.

Unsweetened chocolate and butter are melted together, then whisked into granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Flour (but only 2/3 of a cup) is stirred in, then chunks of faux salted caramel candy (basically salted caramel that's been poured onto a parchment-lined plate, tossed in the freezer for 20-30 minutes to solidify, then chopped into one-inch squares) are folded into the batter and the whole thing is baked for about 30 minutes (closer to 40 if you're using my terrible oven).

The result is totally addicting—a pan of brownies that it would be easy to wolf down in no time, the kind of brownies that make me glad I have hungry coworkers who will take them off my hands. I always say baking is just as much about the creative process as it is about actually eating what I've made—I'm fascinated by the things that butter and sugar and flour and sometimes chocolate can make—but that doesn't mean I don't snack on them if I have them laying around. So thanks, work buddies.

Anyway, these brownies are the real deal. Make them. You won't be sorry.

P.S. If you're in the mood for blondies instead, here you go. And (new feature!) you can find the Baked! recipe index right here.

Photo by Smitten Kitchen 

Baked! Two-ingredient cookies.

You guys, I love cookies. Love. Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite, and that recipe from The New York Times a few years ago is my go-to (they're especially great for ice cream sandwiches, too). But I love sugar cookies, gingersnaps, peanut butter cookies, sandwich cookies--basically any kind of cookie, with the exception of those with dried fruit (ick!).

Now obviously, those kinds of cookies, especially when consumed in multiples, are not particularly healthy. So I was thrilled to discover these two-ingredient cookies on The Burlap Bag via Cup of Jo. All you need to make them is two old bananas and a cup (maybe a little more) of oatmeal--and that's it. I added a handful of chocolate chips to mine, but they're still really healthy and they're irresistible, especially right out of the oven. Yum.

All you have to do is mash the bananas and oats together, then stir in whatever add-ins you like (walnuts would be good, and next time I'm going to add some cinnamon and a dash of salt to take the flavor up a notch). Bake for 10-12 minute and boom: Delicious, healthy cookies that you don't have to feel bad about eating. Now that I can get behind.

Photo by The Burlap Bag

Baked! Lemon-yogurt cake.

Even though I've lived in Florida, a.k.a orange capital of the U.S., my entire life, lemon is by far my favorite citrus. I love the smell (so clean!), the taste—everything. I will add lemon zest to pretty much anything, and I'll never turn down a lemon dessert, be it lemon ice cream, lemon meringue pie, lemon bars and, now, this lemon-yogurt cake from Ina Garten.

The cake couldn't be simpler or more foolproof to make—it comes together so quickly, and if you like lemon like I do, you're in luck, because you not only pour lemon simple syrup over the top of it when it's still warm, when it cools down a bit, you slather it with lemon glaze. It's tangy and bright-flavored and just sweet enough. Make it.

A note: I actually used gluten-free flour in my cake, because even though I don't have gluten sensitivity, some people I love do and I figure it's never a bad idea to cut back a bit on my wheat intake. So I picked up a bag of Cup4Cup flour at Williams-Sonoma a few weeks ago, and although I was a little hesitant about the texture of the batter while I was stirring everything together (it seemed a bit gummy), it baked up really well. That said, Cup4Cup is pricey, so if you're not wanting to spend the money, I also saw gluten-free flour at Trader Joe's last week, although I can't vouch for how well it works.

P.S. Lemon bars, yum. And for more citrus: An amazingly delicious chocolate/orange cream cheese pound cake.

Photo: My own.

Baked (sort of): Cardamom quinoa porridge.

Cardamom is one of those spices that just warms the soul. I love it; it's totally the reason I like those Starbucks vanilla spice lattes so much, and I'm always happy to use it in various baking projects. So when I came across a recipe for cardamom quinoa porridge in the January issue of Whole Living (which, as I'm sure you all know, is closing—sadness), I knew I had to make it.

The whole thing couldn't be easier: Combine almond milk, water, cardamom, vanilla and a touch of salt in a pan, bring to a boil, simmer the quinoa until its cooked, fluff with a fork and top with slivered toasted almonds and sliced pear (and if you need a little more sweetness, a touch of agave would be good, too). It's delicious and filling and it's good for you. Win-win-win. Yay.

Photo by Bryan Gardner for Whole Living

Sweeteeth.

You guys, I'm going to get straight to the point here: Sweeteeth Chocolate's "Sea is for Caramel" is the most amazing chocolate bar I've ever eaten. Period, hands-down, done.

Read more about Charleston-based Sweeteeth here; shop (they deliver, and the other flavors sound amazing, too) here.

P.S. This post on Sweeteeth's Johnny Battles is fun, too.
P.P.S. My favorite salted caramel recipe.

Photo: My own.

The Short Giraffe.

My friend Leigh just opened up the sweetest little bakery in downtown Sarasota: The Short Giraffe, featuring  her own mouthwatering mini desserts and confections. I've been a fan of Leigh's baking ever since she let me try one of her dessert shooters when she was shooting this feature for The Everygirl a few months ago; since then, I've also sampled her cookie cups, cupcakes, brown butter Rice Krispie treats and—maybe my favorite—her salted caramel shortbread. Leigh's branding is perfection (yellow and gray! That giraffe!) and her treats are seriously tasty; if you're local or happen to be visiting, get thee to her shop immediately. She's at 1247 First St., West Unit, Sarasota.

P.S. Last week she had peanut butter bourbon bacon chip cookies and Bailey's Irish Cream pumpkin tortes on the menu. Come on.

P.P.S. Leigh also serves coffee and espresso—notably a cupcake latte, which I'm holding above and which is delicious.

Photos: My own.

What are you doing this weekend?

Happy Friday, friends! We made it to the weekend—yay! What are your plans for the next few days? I'm going to whip up my famous coconut cake for a friend tonight (and tomorrow, since it takes two days), work on organizing my apartment, read my new book—This Is How You Lose Her, by Junot Diaz, one of my favorite authors—and enjoy the cold front we're having (sweater and boot weather, yay!).

And some other exciting news: My mom and I are planning a trip to Charleston at the end of the month, and I would love any recommendations you might have for things to see, do and eat. We're 95 percent on our hotel, so we're good there, but I haven't been to Charleston in years (and even then it was only briefly), and I don't think my mom ever has. So yes, any tips are much appreciated. I'm really looking forward to this trip; the last vacation Mom and I took was to Savannah a year and a half ago, and it was a blast.

Oh, and last but not least, here are three good reads from around the web, if you're interested:

10 books to read now that Girls is back. (The Millions)

10 varying reactions to Jodie Foster's Golden Globes speech. I like Frank Bruni's best. (Vanity Fair)

The end of courtship? (An interesting read on modern-day dating by Joanna's husband Alex Williams.) (The New York Times)

Happy weekend! See you back here on Monday. xoxo

Camellia photo: My own.

Baked! Puffed pancakes (aka Dutch babies).

Have you ever made puffed pancakes, or Dutch babies? I love them. They are so easy to make, they taste so good (the flavor is kind of like a crepe and a pancake got married) and they are so fun to watch as they puff up in the oven. Even better: The customization options are endless. You can top Dutch babies with butter and maple syrup, like you would a traditional pancake; or confectioners' sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice; or slices of fresh strawberries and bananas (my fave)—whatever your little heart desires.

New Year's Day (and my mild hangover, ahem) seemed like the perfect excuse for a lazy breakfast filled with these pillowy treats, so I whipped up a batch and was so glad I did. Here's my recipe, which is a mish-mash of a bunch of others I've seen online, in case you want to make a Dutch baby yourself:

2 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp good vanilla extract
Dash of salt
Dash of cinnamon
1 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. While the oven is preheating, melt butter in a nine-inch cake pan, glass pie plate or cast-iron skillet. Remove from oven when butter is melted.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon. Pour batter into the pan with the melted butter and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until pancake has puffed and the edges begin to turn golden brown. Serve immediately with the topping of your choice. Makes one pancake.

Photo: My own.

2012 Favorites: Taste.

As this month winds down, I'd like to share some of my favorite things from 2012—things that range from music to books to tastes to those little moments that have stuck with me. Today it's all about taste.

Similar to how I feel about the amount of reading I did this year, I also feel like I baked a bit less than normal, too (or maybe this feeling is just amplified because, thanks to being sick for the past two weeks, I totally neglected my usual Christmas cookie frenzy). But I really liked what I did bake, so there's that, right?

As I was looking back through the archives, though, there was one recipe that I thought about for months after I made it, and that is the pumpkin cinnamon rolls from Smitten Kitchen, pictured above. Dear Deb: I can't thank you enough for posting this recipe; the mere thought of those sticky, pumpkin-y, soft, just-sweet-enough buns is enough to make my mouth start watering. Plus, I've figured out that if you really beat the cream cheese frosting for a good long while, it gets even tastier and creamier—as close to that iconic Cinnabon frosting as the home cook can get, I think.

Here's my original post, which has a link to the recipe; if you make these buns, I think you'll see why they're my favorite taste of 2012 (and why I'll be dreaming up reasons to make them well into 2013).

P.S. My favorite book of 2012, and my favorite album, too.

Salted caramel sauce.

I don't know about you, but salted caramel and I have a very intense relationship. As in, I make it, I use it for baking (salted caramel brownies, for example, or a doomed salted caramel banana cream pie), and then I slowly, over the course of several days, eat the rest of it by sneaking into the fridge, spoon in hand, and dipping into the jar. I'm planning on making an apple pie with salted caramel for Christmas dinner this year (my first apple pie ever; I'm a little scared!), and I already can't wait to make the caramel sauce.

If you're looking for a great recipe, I use Deb's, and it is perfect. Melt sugar until it's copper-colored, add good-quality salted butter (Kerrygold works well, I find), whisk in cream and stir until smooth. Oh, man. Yum. 

P.S. Salted caramel—poured into a Ball jar and packaged with pretty gift tag tied with baker's twine, maybe?—would make a great gift, too, for the holidays or for anytime. Also, for the next week or two, I'll tag posts like these—that would double as fun gifts—as "gift guide 2012," in case you're looking for ideas.

P.P.S. This post was totally an excuse to talk about salted caramel sauce.

Photo credit 

Buttered toast with honey.

Sadly, there was no brioche or orange gingerbread with cream cheese frosting to be made this weekend. No, after attending a fun benefit on Friday night (to which I got to wear a black sparkly dress I'd been hoarding for a year), I came home and discovered that my ears and throat were in a lot of pain, and I spent Saturday morning feeling super-congested, nauseated for a period of time and then, finally, just exhausted. The idea of trying to leave the house was totally overwhelming, so I didn't; instead, I let my little cat Zadie snuggle with me (she's a good nurse), slept for hours and ate a lot of toast and tea.

I love toast when I'm sick because it reminds me of my mom; whenever my brother and I weren't feeling well growing up, she'd stick a couple slices of bread in the toaster, let them get brown, then lightly butter them, cut them into strips and serve them to us. Comfort food at its best, I say.

So I did much the same this weekend, only at some point I was inspired to add a drizzle of honey to the buttered toast, and I don't know if it's just my fuzzy head talking or what, but you guys, it was so delicious. The crunchiness of the toasted bread, the creaminess of the butter and the sweet smoothness of the honey are perfect together, and I know the last thing you need is a recipe for toast, of all things, but you should try this. Really. And not just when you're sick.

Photo: Dimity Jones for Simply Breakfast

Thanksgiving baking.

Last week, I sent out a worried tweet:

"Fretting over whether I have time to make Thanksgiving dessert Thurs. morning if I go to my parents' then instead of Wed. #firstworldproblem"

(When I called my mom to vocalize this thought, she replied, "That's so funny; I was just thinking about that." The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.)

Anyway, you'll be happy to know that I've decided to bake my dessert—a pumpkin cheesecake featured on the cover of November's Saveur, which will satisfy the pumpkin lovers in my family (my mom and me) and the cheesecake lovers (my dad)—on Wednesday night, then cart it to my parents' house on Thursday morning, along with a chocolate cream pie from Yoder's (remind me to blog about the pie lines sometime soon). I'm really excited for Thanksgiving; we're having a super-small one this year, since my brother will be in California, but with all that's been happening lately, it'll be nice to unplug, relax and eat a lot of really good food. 

What are your Thanksgiving plans?

P.S. These Parker House rolls from the November Bon Appetit will also be making an appearance. Yum.

Photo by Beth Rooney for Saveur.