Thanksgiving Archives - A Calculated Whisk

Mini Sweet Potato Gratins

November 23, 2016 By Becky 2 Comments

Mini Sweet Potato Gratins (Gluten free)

These mini sweet potato gratins are a perfect gluten-free and vegetarian holiday appetizer or side. They’re full of flavor thanks to a rich sweet onion cream sauce.

Happy day before Thanksgiving! I know I may be getting you these mini sweet potato gratins a bit too late for them to be part of tomorrow’s spread, but they’re delicious and fun anytime. They’d be great with Christmas dinner or as part of an appetizer table for a New Year’s party. Who doesn’t love their own little stack of sweet potatoes baked in a creamy sauce with a little cheese?

Mini Sweet Potato Gratins (Gluten free)

This gratin gets its unique flavor from a sauce made with sweet onions simmered slowly in butter, then blended with cream, sour cream, and a little bit of spice. The sauce is tossed with thinly sliced sweet potatoes, which are then stacked in muffin tins with a little bit of parmesan cheese. Everything is baked until nice and golden and bubbly, and that’s it! These take a little while and you’ll use your food processor three times if you let it do the slicing (which I highly recommend!), but they’re worth it. I may or may not have had almost half a dozen of these for lunch the other day…

20 Unique Gluten-free Thanksgiving Desserts

November 17, 2016 By Becky 2 Comments

20 Unique Gluten-free Thanksgiving Desserts

It’s time to think outside the pie! Here are 20 deliciously unique gluten-free Thanksgiving desserts that are may not be traditional, but are still packed with seasonal ingredients. If you’re tasked with bringing a dessert to Thanksgiving this year, why not surprise everyone with something new they likely haven’t tried before? Especially if others have the old classics covered, these offbeat gluten-free treats will be a refreshing contrast. We’ve got pumpkins, cranberries, apples, pears, and more. Which one appeals to you most?

Pumpkin Creme Brulee Pie Bars may be my single most-dreamt-of dessert. They’re like pumpkin pie and creme brulee put together with a little chocolate in the crust for good measure.

Baked Pumpkin Custards with Maple Mascarpone Whipped Cream: These are super easy and you can make them ahead of time–what’s not to love about that?

Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Pie: Is your oven kinda busy? No worries, because this stunner requires no baking or cooking. Also, pumpkin and caramel make an unbeatable combination!

Pear Galettes with Pistachio Frangipane: Pears are the unsung heroes of fall baking. They’re almost like custard once cooked, with a texture far superior to that of apples in my opinion. You have to try them in these galettes!

Grain-free Cranberry Galette

October 10, 2016 By Becky 6 Comments

Why not end Thanksgiving dinner with a nut-free, grain-free cranberry galette? The cassava flour pie crust is so flaky and buttery, no one will guess it’s gluten free.

My obsession with cassava flour pie crust is still going strong. It all started with this gluten-free quiche lorraine with leeks, and I stayed in the savory realm with this heirloom tomato galette. Now it’s finally time for something on the sweet side: this grain-free cranberry galette with creme fraiche. Cassava flour is remarkably similar to wheat flour in how it behaves in crusts, so making this dough is a lot like making regular pie dough. Don’t worry, though, it’s really easy–it comes together in just a few minutes in the food processor.

Cranberries are often mixed with other fruits in desserts, or only make it to the table in the form of cranberry sauce. I wanted to create a treat that would highlight cranberries on their own in all their ruby-hued glory. Here their tartness is tempered with honey and a sprinkling of raw sugar, and a bit of creme fraiche adds richness and depth to the filling. I like to serve this with even more creme fraiche on top, but it’s also fabulous with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Baked Pumpkin Custards with Maple Mascarpone Whipped Cream

October 1, 2016 By Becky 24 Comments

This post is sponsored by Cost Plus World Market.

These gluten-free baked pumpkin custards with maple mascarpone take just ten minutes to prepare, and are the perfect way to end a fall dinner.

Fall is finally here, and it’s no longer taboo to eat pumpkin spice everything! The first thing I like to whip up when the weather turns is these baked pumpkin custards with maple mascarpone whipped cream. The pumpkin custards are scrumptious, perfectly spiced, and super smooth—like pumpkin pie without the tedious process of making a crust. And the maple mascarpone whipped cream is rich and lightly sweetened, with just enough maple flavor in each bite to remind you that you’re eating something autumnal.

These custards are perfect for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or any special fall occasion, especially when baked in these adorable ceramic pumpkin bakers. To make this treat extra fun, I like to pick up a few different toppings to add even more texture and flavor and let each person mix and match to their heart’s content. Here I used crumbled gluten-free gingersnap cookies (leave them out if you’re avoiding rice flour), crystallized ginger chips, and pumpkin pie almonds, but any seasonal candy or cookie is a great bet. Shaved dark chocolate or chopped pecans would be delicious, too!

Grain-free Cranberry Orange Bread

November 21, 2014 By Becky 10 Comments

My family doesn’t have a well-defined set of Thanksgiving traditions. Growing up with divorced parents, I often divided my time between two Thanksgiving dinners, having the main meal at one house and dessert at another. Things always felt briefly desolate as I was shuttled between the two under the cover of early nightfall, but a slice of pie (or three) put an end to that pretty fast. And I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on spending time with either of my families.

My mom and I usually had dinner at a friends’ house, and didn’t have to do much of the cooking. (I don’t think either of us has ever roasted a whole turkey, unless she did a bunch of turkey-roasting before I was born and neglected to tell me about it.)

Mashed Rutabaga and Squash with Roasted Garlic (Vegan, Paleo, Gluten-free)

November 12, 2013 By Becky 2 Comments

Mashed Rutabaga & Squash with Roasted Garlic (Paleo, Vegan) | acalculatedwhisk.com

Mashed rutabaga and squash with roasted garlic is a paleo and vegan side dish that’s comforting and packed with flavor.

Have you ever tried rutabagas? They’re also called yellow turnips, and they make an amazing low-carb replacement for mashed potatoes. I was initially inspired to try them after seeing Ina Garten’s recipe for mashed rutabaga with crispy shallots, and I like to serve them with bacon-wrapped shrimp. I once asked Ben what his favorite dish that I’d ever made was, and he told me he’s always happy when I make mashed rutabaga.

Since I’m working on Thanksgiving sides this week, I wanted to put a fall spin on things. Here I’ve added winter squash, as well as a generous amount of roasted garlic. The combination of mashed rutabaga and squash is fabulous. Don’t be scared by the fact that this recipe calls for a whole head of garlic–once the cloves are roasted, they’re soft, mellow, and almost nutty. If you haven’t roasted garlic before, you have to try it. It’s really nothing like its pungent, raw self. If you need more reasons to try it, consider this: garlic has lots of antioxidants, and you won’t have to worry about running into any vampires.

Caramelized Shallots (Paleo, Gluten-free, Vegetarian)

November 10, 2013 By Becky 2 Comments

Ben and I are hosting Thanksgiving this year! My mom is coming, and so are several of my friends from school whose families are too far to visit during our short break. I have never hosted Thanksgiving before, and I’m a little nervous! Ben is going to make the turkey, which I guess is the hardest part, but I’ll still have lots of work to do making appetizers, sides, and dessert.

I tested two Thanksgiving sides today–these caramelized shallots, and a roasted garlic, squash, & rutabaga puree (coming soon). They were both delicious! I served them alongside these pork chops from Simply Recipes, and it was the best lunch I’ve had in a long time.

I’ve been wanting to make these shallots ever since I first got my hands on Barefoot in Paris (I am a huge Ina Garten fan!). They are amazing–sweet, tangy, salty, buttery, and beautiful! I made a couple of changes to make the recipe paleo and reduce the fat a bit. Ina also recommends leaving the roots attached to the shallots, but I trimmed mine before cooking because I wanted to be able to eat them without cutting anything off. You could try leaving them on if you like–it does make for an elegant presentation.