Milk & Cream
3644 recipes found
Chocolate Chess Pie
Classic buttermilk chess pie is quintessential in many Southern homes and its chocolate counterpart is all the more decadent. You can use store-bought pie dough or take the homemade route because the true star of this dessert is its luxurious chocolate filling, slightly firmer than custard but fudgier than a brownie. With just a few staple ingredients, this supremely easy filling requires less than 10 minutes of active time and minimal effort, but yields big-time flavor. It’s also highly adaptable: try adding a tablespoon of bourbon or a couple teaspoons of espresso powder with the cocoa powder. A velvety slice of this chocolate chess pie goes best with a dollop of whipped cream on top, and some bourbon, neat, alongside.
Hash Brown Casserole
This cozy dish of tender potatoes, cheesy with sharp Cheddar and rich with sour cream, easily feeds a crowd for brunch or a holiday potluck. Store-bought frozen hash browns do most of the work here, but you also can use frozen cubed potatoes. Traditionally, this casserole, also known as “funeral potatoes”, is made with canned cream of chicken soup, but this version calls for making the soup from scratch. While that may sound fussy, the homemade soup comes together in less than 10 minutes — and of course you can use a 10-ounce can of soup instead. For extra crunch, be sure to try the optional cornflakes topping.
Pumpkin Pie With Pepitas
Toasted, maple-coated pumpkin seeds baked directly on the surface of the filling gives otherwise one-note pumpkin pie a little bit of crunch. Thoroughly parbaking the crust before adding the custard as directed prevents a soggy bottom. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Pumpkin Meringue Pie
Even though this dessert works for those who can’t eat gluten or dairy, it tastes as special as standard pies — maybe even more so. A toasty pecan press-in crust replaces a typical butter-flour dough and coconut milk gives the spiced pumpkin filling creamy richness. The fluff of a meringue topping delivers the airiness of whipped cream and the singed ridges offer the delightful bittersweetness of burnt marshmallow. To prepare this ahead, refrigerate the cooled baked pumpkin pie before the meringue is added for up to 2 days. You can top with the meringue and let stand at room temperature for a few hours before serving.
Lemon Cream Pie With Honey and Ginger
A citrusy cousin of coconut cream and chocolate cream pies, this pie is filled with a lemon pudding that’s tart like curd but is also light, smooth and creamy at the same time. Infusing the filling with fresh ginger gives it a more autumnal flavor, but omit it you prefer. For the crust, make sure to use only very thin, very crisp, wafer-style gingersnaps, otherwise it will likely slump as it bakes. If you can’t find those, graham crackers work just as well. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Pecan Slab Pie
This tart layers toasted, sugared pecans over brown-buttery pecan cream, recreating the flavors of traditional pecan pie but with greater depth of flavor and a lot less sugar. To prevent the filling from puffing and pushing out the walls of the tart during baking, it’s baked inside a 9-by-13-inch pan. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Sausage and Leek Stuffing
Heavy cream is a nontraditional addition to Thanksgiving stuffing, but in combination with the stock and eggs, it lends a special custardy richness to this otherwise classic, no-frills recipe. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Flaky Pie Crust
This pie dough requires no special equipment but uses two techniques to produce an ultra-flaky and tender crust: first, bringing the dough together on the work surface with a bench scraper, which keeps it cool and prevents over-working, and second, stacking it in layers, which creates a flaky texture. You can double the recipe to make two crusts at a time, but know that you’ll need to work a little more quickly to prevent the butter from warming up. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Smooth and Creamy Mashed Potatoes
This recipe uses a masher and a mixer instead of a ricer or food mill to make smooth and creamy mashed potatoes. As long as you don’t mix excessively, the potatoes will come out light, not gummy. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Galette
This savory galette has a secret layer of herbed goat cheese underneath a pile of sweet butternut squash, savory herbs and smoked paprika. The key is to slice the squash nice and thin, so it has time to bake through as the crust gets golden and crisp. Though you could use store-bought pie crust for this recipe (see Tip), the homemade crust is flakier and tastes much more delicious. If you are making your own crust, make sure to leave some time for it to chill and relax; it will be much easier to roll out and will bake up light and flaky. Serve the galette warm or at room temperature, with a green salad on the side.
Toffee
Preparing toffee isn’t complicated, but it does require a candy thermometer, so the candy hardens at just the right temperature and doesn’t burn. A deep, heavy saucepan is also useful to help the sugar evenly melt. This version includes the typical American toffee ingredients, granulated sugar and butter, with the addition of chocolate and nuts. For a more festive holiday treat, sprinkle the top with a little flaky salt or some crushed candy canes, and double or triple this recipe for gifting.
Orange Cranberry Loaf
Orange and cranberry are a wintery match made in heaven. This loaf has a good amount of orange zest, which releases its essential oils when ground together with the sugar to give the cake a lot of flavor and a beautiful orange hue. A little orange juice, swirled together with yogurt, ensures a super moist crumb. The plump cranberries burst in the oven and dot the loaf with welcome pockets of tartness. When they are in season, fresh cranberries are perfect here, but frozen will work just as well. Do not thaw them before swirling them into the batter but do note that frozen cranberries will increase the overall bake time a bit. Freeze the baked loaf, well-wrapped, for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature to serve.
Brown-Butter Mashed Potatoes
The simple act of browning butter takes this holiday mainstay from simple to superb in a matter of minutes. Russet potatoes are the perfect blank canvas for the toasty, nutty notes of the brown butter, which is lifted to a starring role as it permeates the potatoes and pools on top. Mashed potato purists may say that using a ricer or food mill is the only way to achieve a creamy texture, but a hand mixer or potato masher works just as well, as long as you don’t overmix and your potatoes stay hot. Make sure to create divots for the pools of brown butter that sit atop the dish, which make each spoonful feel extra luxe.
Green Bean Casserole
In the original 1955 green bean casserole recipe, the home economist Dorcas Reilly called for canned cream of mushroom soup. It is, to be clear, delicious. But almost as easy is a quick homemade sauce zhuzhed up with celery salt and nutmeg, pantry spices that make food taste good. Plus, without the mushrooms, the green beans here can fully shine. This casserole should be spoonable — and who has the extra time on Thanksgiving to hand-trim all those green beans? In November especially, it makes sense to take advantage of frozen cut green beans. In this recipe, half of the beans are simmered in broth to bring out their hyper savory flavors and the rest are baked into the casserole to maintain their color and structure. Don’t hesitate to use the store-bought French-fried onions in a can. They cannot be improved.
Spicy Carrot-Ginger Soup
Let’s proceed on the theory that everyone likes soup, and some soups are better than others. You might think of squash for an autumn soup, but this bright soup of carrots, stewed with ginger and jalapeño and finished with a good squeeze of lime and a handful of chopped cilantro, is an example of how not to make the all-too familiar stodgy too-thick purée. Still, feel free to try it with kabocha or butternut squash. If the soup is not to be served immediately, cool after puréeing, and reheat just before serving — it will taste fresher.
Vanilla Cake
This fluffy vanilla cake makes an ideal base for layer cakes of all kinds. Buttermilk gives the cake a bit of tang and a tender crumb, and a full tablespoon of vanilla extract in the batter ensures it’s anything but plain. Layer diced fresh fruit between the cakes and top with powdered sugar, or decorate with a double batch of buttercream frosting and sprinkles for a classic birthday cake.
Ambrosia Salad
In ancient Greek mythology, ambrosia is referred to as the food or drink of the gods, and in parts of America, some might agree, as the name is associated with a fluffy, marshmallow fruit salad that delights both kids and adults. Mandarin oranges and pineapple are typical to the dish, but other fruits, such as bananas, strawberries and grapes, can also be used. In this version, the fruit is mixed with shredded coconut and sweetened homemade whipped cream, but you can use an 8-ounce container of thawed frozen whipped topping for ease. Feel free to adjust the sweetness of the salad to your liking, but marshmallows and maraschino cherries are a must. Ambrosia salad is best served well chilled, allowing the flavors to meld.
Rice Pudding
The size and quality of the rice matters in this classic pudding: A medium-grain rice is starchy enough to thicken it, but it won’t soften so much that it completely disintegrates. Using a 2-quart saucepan is also important. If the pan is larger or wider, the liquid will evaporate faster than the rice cooks. If you prefer a looser pudding, or plan on serving it cold (it thickens as it sits), remove it from the heat as soon as the rice softens; or cook it a bit longer if you like a thicker pudding. For an extra-rich dessert, stir in egg yolks and butter, or further elevate it by adding some rum-soaked raisins.
Crispy Green Bean and Potato Sabzi
Indian cooking is filled with one-pan sabzis that come together fast and deliver big, complex flavor. This variation on a potato and green bean sabzi has a twist: almond butter, which gives the vegetables a nutty, almost tempura-like coating, made fragrant with warm spices, ginger and garlic. The green bean and potato combination makes for a nice contrast of textures, but you can easily make swaps: potatoes for sweet potatoes, green beans for broccoli. Chaat masala — a salty, tart and delightfully funky spice blend — is widely available in South Asian grocery stores or online and is well worth having in your pantry to give sabzis like this one some extra sparkle.
Souvlaki
Souvlaki is a popular Greek dish of marinated meat grilled on skewers, often served with tzatziki, pita and grilled vegetables or a crisp green salad. It’s made with a variety of meats, including beef, lamb, pork and chicken, used here. This yogurt-based marinade makes for incredibly tender grilled chicken, whether it sits for 2 hours or overnight. Pork tenderloin is a great swap for the chicken because it’s flavorful, lean and cooks quickly. Use two (1-pound) tenderloins and grill until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.
No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
This no-bake cheesecake has a lot going for it: a buttery, lightly spiced cookie crust, fluffy pumpkin filling and a lofty spiced topping. Another draw: If you decide to make this for Thanksgiving, it won’t need any precious oven space — and can be prepared up to four days in advance. Feel free to substitute about 2 tablespoons of your favorite pumpkin spice blend for the spices in the cheesecake. The topping is optional, and you can also serve it on the side, instead of crowning the cheesecake. If you can’t find Biscoff cookies, use crunchy gingersnap cookie crumbs instead.
Garlic Butter
Garlic butter is so simple to make and a small luxury to have on hand to add oomph to many dishes. It can be made (and even frozen) ahead of time, so recipes like garlic bread are ready to deploy at a moment’s notice. Add a dollop to steak as it rests, or to melt into plain pasta for a luscious sauce. The herbs and lemon zest here are optional, but they do add a jolt of freshness and help balance the butter’s richness. Garlic cloves can vary in size, so add as many or little to suit your taste.
Arroz con Maiz y Crema (Cheesy Rice Casserole With Corn)
Sandra A. Gutierrez, the author of “Latinísimo: Home Recipes from the 21 Countries of Latin America” (Knopf, 2023), was born in Philadelphia and raised by her Guatemalan parents in their home country. This recipe, a classic from Guatemala City where she lived, has been made since the 1950s, when mayonnaise started gaining popularity in Latin America as it became available in grocery stores. Ms. Gutierrez says the dish is typically enjoyed alongside buffet dinners with roast chicken or beef tenderloin. A satisfyingly easy side dish that is rich, cheesy and tangy, this casserole can be prepared and assembled in advance, or easily halved for a smaller crowd.
Roasted Vegetables With Creamy Coconut Dressing
A creamy, tangy dressing enlivens a warm vegetable salad of roast carrots, beets and fennel. Coconut cream adds a lovely richness to the vinaigrette while ginger brings a bite and the acidity of rice vinegar and limes deliver a slight pucker. To achieve a nice golden brown caramelization while roasting your vegetables, make sure the cut pieces are dry and spread evenly on the sheet pan. And those fennel fronds — save them! They add a nice licorice flavor to tingle your palate ever so slightly once chopped and tossed over the finished dish.