Cranberry Sauce and Cooking for a Restaurant

Thanksgiving prep has officially begun.  I made cranberry sauce yesterday and canned it.  Each of my guests gets a jar of this to take home with them to go with their leftovers.  I've made this recipe for years and it's the best cranberry sauce I have ever tasted.  The flavor is unbelievable.

You can find the step by step recipe here:  https://octoberfarm.blogspot.com/2016/10/cranberry-sauce-and-emergency-food-for.html

I have 20 people coming for dinner this year so I have lots of prep work ahead.

Here is a funny story.  A women booked an event at my daughter's restaurant.  As they were discussing the menu, the woman said that her mother is a really picky eater and will only eat crisp bacon on white bread along with a sliced apple.     She wanted to know if the restaurant could accommodate this request.  My daughter spoke to the chefs and they said....no way!  They all found it to be a very strange request.  When my daughter told me this story, I felt sorry for the woman.

I mean, it must be tough to be such a picky eater.

So, I told my daughter that I would accommodate the woman's request!  Yesterday I made 2 loaves of white sandwich bread and fried 2 pounds of bacon.

I bought some good honey crisp apples and made some caramel sauce.

I packed it up and dropped it off at the restaurant just before the event started.  My daughter said the woman was so very happy.  She loved the caramel sauce and ate 3 bacon sandwiches.  My daughter packed the leftovers up in  a doggie bag for her to take home.  Success!

Straight out of the water bath.

Cooled off and ready to go.

Some of you requested the recipe for the chewy maple cookies from the other day:

• ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed
• ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon maple extract
• 2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on low speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well-combined, about 3 minutes. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg, vanilla extract, maple extract  and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, corn starch, baking soda, salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
2. Using a 2-ounce cookie scoop, form heaping mounds. Place dough mounds on a parchment covered cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Do not bake these cookies with dough that has not been properly chilled because they will spread and they won't stay thick and puffy.
3. Preheat oven to 350F.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until just barely golden brown around the edges, even if slightly under cooked in the center, noting the tops will not be as browned and will be paler.
4. Upon removing trays from oven, if cookies stayed very domed while baking (likely they will if dough was well-chilled) immediately give cookies a firm yet gentle tap or two with the back of a spoon to flatten them. This creates a crackled top appearance. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for about 10 minutes before moving them to a rack to finish cooling.
5. I drizzled mine with a simple icing made with confectioners sugar and milk and then sprinkled colored sprinkles over it.