Opening up another session of the FNCC! Who's up? What are you working on?

Cat

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone here in the States had a great Thanksgiving! We went to our son in laws grandparents house for dinner. Everyone brought a little something so it was very very good!  Here is a photo of what I brought:

Little pumpkin pies in a jar! These were for everyone to take home with them for later on and were a big hit. I also made an appetizer which was Brie with cinnamon roasted chopped pecans and cranberries with brown sugar all wrapped up in phyllo dough and baked. YUMMY! 

Got to play with my grandson (pre dinner trot with him around the neighborhood!) and had a wonderful time. How was every one else's dinners? 

No cakes this week due to the holiday but lots of baked goods...the pie/jars along with a full size pie for us, pumpkin bread and the brie. 

Cat

I was hoping to see someone here tonight but with a holiday weekend I'm sure that everyone is off with family having a great time! See ya'll next week!

Cat

Hi Cat , Happy Thanksgiving to you. The little pies look lovely . We call Pumpkin pie Grammar pie here  as it is made with a grammar pumpkin. It isn't made here very often though , the recipe I have is from a cookbook from the 1930's 

I love the sound of the brie , I may steal that for our Christmas party. 

No cakes for me this week although I did put three cakes in for out branch display at  a local shopping centre. I have been busy enough though, I don't know if I mentioned last week , that my Mum broke her hip the morning of the day I returned from my trip away.  At 87 years old it hasn't been an easy couple of weeks with heading back and forth from the hospital everyday. 

I have one cake to do next week , and that is for my Sister's 60th birthday .  I am going to do a mini three tier , Mainly because I just got sent a shipment of five inch and three and a half inch cake tins from a friend , I think with a seven on the bottom , it will look great and have the impact of a large cake without all the serves that we don't need as she is refusing to have a party. 

She has however requested a butterscotch mudcake with salted caramel ganache. 

Chelle,

I have no idea what a Grammar pumpkin is. Here we call the small round ones "Sugar" pumpkins and that is what is used for pies. My pumpkin pies are an expected part of the holidays...I'll have to make another one at Christmas...as is my fudge. However we went to someone else's house and she had a store bought pie. My daughter was distraught not to have my pie so thus the pies in a jar idea<G>. 

I only have one cake this week, birthday cake for a long time client, and it's a small one...just an 8x4. Next week is my mom's birthday so I have that one and then finally the last wedding cake of the year. So not jammed packed with stuff to work on but enough to keep me busy along with the holiday stuff.

No, I don't think you mentioned your mom getting injured! That is so hard at that age since mobility is limited anyway and it takes so much longer to heal. I hope she's home and doing much better soon!

I love playing with the small cake pan sets tho' the 1 inch is hard to frost/cover. I love the idea of ganache..that would make that whole thing easier! LOL!  The cake sounds simply divine too!

The brie is easy. Just take a sheet of puff pastry, place the brie in the center on a cookie sheet or stoneware pan. In a pan, toast the 1/2 cup of chopped pecans with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and one tablespoon butter. In a cup, soak 1/2 cup of dried cranberries for 5 minutes then drain. Now layer the nuts and the cranberries on top of the brie and top with 1/4 cup brown sugar. Wrap the whole thing in the puff pastry and then brush with an egg wash. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes till golden brown. Serve with crackers or french bread. YUMMY.

See you Friday!

Cat