Thanksgiving Twist

Well here we are again, another Holiday season is upon us. I don’t know about you but this one crept up on me! I was looking back at other Thanksgiving posts and I said that a few times. Maybe I’m a procrastinator? Luckily I have been doing this blog for almost four years now so there’s plenty of recipes for you to use for the Holidays. Today I’m going to revisit one of my all time favorites, The Cranberry Walnut Upside Down Cake. The last time I wrote a post about it, the entire thing stuck to the skillet and came out looking like road kill. This time I wised up and made sure the skillet was seasoned properly and I might have used just a little extra butter. It’s the Holidays don’t skimp on the butter!

I found this recipe in Gourmet magazine about twenty five years ago. I have tweaked the ingredients a little bit from it’s original version and I encourage you to do the same. I think adding a little orange zest to the batter or the topping might be a nice addition. I wanted to add a little cinnamon (1/2tsp) with a touch of cayenne (1/4 tsp) to the topping because I think that would work out wonderfully with the walnuts and brown sugar. So, you can see what I mean , play around with recipes and make them your own. I hope you give this cake a try, it’s a nice twist from the traditional pumpkin or apple pies, then again, there’s no reason why you can’t make them all! Here’s a link to my very quick versions of pumpkin and sweet potato pies. As a bonus you’ll also find Pinto bean pie and you can have a chuckle at my attempt to create the Cranberry Walnut Cake I’m about to show you here. Stay tuned for more Thanksgiving ideas and recipes. Let’s get started!

• Upside Down Cranberry Walnut Cake
• ————-
• The Topping
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Butter the inside of a 9 inch well seasoned cast iron skillet
• 1/2 stick butter
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 3/4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries ,( do not thaw if frozen)
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts 
• Add the butter and sugar into the skillet and heat over medium heat until butter has melted and sugar has dissolved. Then toss in the walnuts and coat throughly. If adding cinnamon do it now ,1/2 tsp at most. Cook for a couple minutes then add Cranberries and cook another couple minutes stirring to coat the entire mixture in the butter and sugar. Remove from heat.
• ——————
• The Cake Batter
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.
• In a separate bowl cream together the butter and sugar and then add the eggs. Mix until incorporated then add the vanilla extract and buttermilk.
• Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and combine throughly.
• Pour the batter over the cranberry walnut mixture that is in the cast iron skillet. Spread batter evenly.
• Place the skillet into the pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes or until a fork stuck in the center comes out clean. Note: longer baking may be required
• Remove from oven and let sit for 15 min to cool, on a wire rack if you have one.
• Run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake.
• Place a plate big enough to hold the cake over the skillet and flip the cake over. Let it sit on a flat surface for a few minutes before lifting the skillet and see if it came out clean.
• Good luck! Usually it comes out perfect each time.

This cake is not only fun to make, but the flavors work so well together. Cranberry and walnut are opposites that attract. You can try toasting the walnuts before hand in a dry skillet for a couple minutes to bring out an even more pronounced nutty flavor. I also think using my cranberry apple sauce with walnuts would be another awesome upside down cake. Here’s the recipe for the applesauce. If you give this a try please let us know how it worked out. That applesauce recipe is one of my favorites and can be used on many dishes or just eaten alone for a sweet and tart burst of flavor. That’s about it for today, I’ll be posting a couple more ideas before the big turkey day so stay tuned. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comments area or email me and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Until next time, Boone Appétit!