The turkey’s gone, the stupidity that is Black Friday is behind us, and now we’re on to Christmas. Your food options are a little more freestyle than Thanksgiving’s now. If you’re looking to get away from ham, geese, and mashed potatoes, how about going Italian? Dave DeWitt ran a whole Italy-style holiday feast in this feature story, and this Panpepato (Spicy Chocolate-flavored Christmas Bread) recipe was just one of the wonderful options from which to choose.
Candied Peppers: How-to
Harald Zoschke’s excellent article on candied chiles is another great way for preserving your little garden hotties and it makes them sweet to boot. Here’s the process he wrote up for us in Candied Capsicums. You can also check his original story for recipe inspiration.
Smoked Pumpkin and Dark Rum Shakes
Pumpkin-infused dark rum is pretty out there, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Overall, I liked the way it came out but make sure you don’t overdo it on the pumpkin. Too much of it and you’ll lose most of the rum or have to squeeze it out! This time, I made milkshakes with it at a friend’s party. The hardest part? Meeting demand. I made alcoholic milkshakes for ten people before I ran out. Here are the recipes for both the smoky pumpkin-infused rum and the shakes that followed.
Chile Chocolate Cake: Recipe
Over on the Super Site, Harald Zoschke recently related the tale of a trip to Italy to see old friends. While that story makes for fun reading, we just had to share this recipe from it to warm you up. Almost everyone loves chocolate cake and it’s even better with some heat.
Christmas Candied Bacon
Over the last two years, Christmas-flavored bacon has been the Red Ryder BB gun to my Ralph Parker. Unlike the hero in A Christmas Story, though, there’s no chance of me shooting my eye out or getting my tongue stuck to a frozen pole along the way. TBS also hasn’t opted to run 24 Hours of Mark Chases Christmas Bacon. This year, however, I think I finally got it right: Christmas Candied Bacon.
Maple Smoked Pumpkin Pie
Building on my happiness with smoked pumpkin, I got a little more ambitious a few years ago: smoked pumpkin pie with maple syrup.
4 Great Articles for your Sweet Heat Arsenal
In rock band terms, hot sauce and peppers are going so mainstream it’s almost as if they’ve sold out. When McDonald’s and its fast food ilk are all running McChipotle this and that, it’s time for the cool kids who were chileheads before everyone was doing it to branch out. Gene splicing spicy with sweet is an awesome way to do just that. Here are some ideas from the Super Site to kick start your noggin into high gear.