In honor of today’s “Taste” segment of Loving’s Five Senses, my kitchen has been turned into a holiday cookie factory! The goodies in question are all of Danish origin and you can probably find the same cookies being made in my grandmother Esther’s kitchen, as I write this. The spices at work include cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, cardamon & cloves. Almonds are essential in every recipe.

Vanilla Wreaths, otherwise known as Vanillekranse, are cooling below,

Brown cookies, otherwise known as Brunekager, have a crunchy addictive taste.

Joedekager are delicious cinnamon and almond explosions.

It’s possible that they taste better than they look. You’re welcome to take a bite or two or three tomorrow at the store. xoxo

Let’s talk cookbooks for a second. I might be using this column as a way of telling my loved ones what I want for Christmas, but I really think you should take a look! These are some outstanding additions to your cookbook collection – enjoy!

Cooking in the Moment (already have this one but had to put it on the list) by Andrea Reusing. I had the pleasure of meeting Andrea in person just a few days ago and she is as lovely as her writing. Storytelling intertwined with recipes makes for a perfect before bed read.

Ancient Grains for Modern Meals by Maria Speck. I’ve been eating lots of grains this past year and am excited about learning different techniques to take me out of my comfort zone.

Rice & Curry: Sri Lankan Home Cuisine by S.H. Fernando Jr. A book all about rice and curry – need I say more?

Seoultown Kitchen: Korean Pub Grub to Share with Family and Friends by Debbie Lee. Food to eat while drinking a cold beer and hanging out with friends. Sounds good to me.

Truly Mexican by Roberto Santibanez with J.J. Goode and Shelley Wiseman. I love Mexican food and am always looking for the best. From the reviews it sounds like this might be just that.

The Homesick Texan Cookbook by Lisa Fain. I’ve never been to Texas and can’t say that I know much about this cuisine but after perusing her blog, I had to add this to my list. Not the kind of food I eat everyday, but could be fun every once in a while. Spicy yet comforting.

I have to go to London so I can eat at Ottolenghi.  Now that I own the cookbook (received it TWICE as a gift!) and have been religiously reading it before falling asleep it seems that a food field trip is in order. Gorgeous vegetables that have been dolled up with exotic spices, nuts and all other manner of deliciousness. Must. Go. Now.

I’ll be making this laksa tonight from his column in The Guardian, “The New Vegetarian.” His writing and recipes make vegetarian food sexy and intriguing in a way that often times it’s not.  All of his recipes in The Guardian are fantastic. Enjoy!

We spent Thanksgiving with close friends and god-children drinking too much wine and eating loads of fantastic food. I am tired and I didn’t even make the big feast. Just pumpkin roulade, baked beans with kale (delicious!) and a celeriac, fennel and apple puree (a keeper of a recipe). Which for me isn’t much considering I usually like to cook for an army.

But lucky for me this morning I have all the fixings for my favorite breakfast, tofu scramble. Chop up onions, garlic, red pepper, carrots and saute. Add loads of turmeric, cumin and cayenne. Throw in some green chiles, Sriracha and if you have them add some beans from last night and then toss together with drained tofu. Serve with warm corn tortillas and a big mug of coffee. Add some sleepy dogs, morning newspapers and good music and you have the recipe for my idea of a perfect morning. What are some of your favorite breakfast cures for days like today?

Ah, Thanksgiving. Nothing beats a crisp November day spent with family, friends, and food! Year after year we’ve all got the usual suspects on our shopping lists: turkey, stuffing, cranberries, potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pie. It can be hard to steer away from the staples on this particular holiday. However, if you are looking for a deliciously inventive twist on the familiar and classic flavors, we at C&P have a must-try recipe for you. John insists that it is truly the most spectacular of all Thanksgiving dishes. A moist pumpkin sponge cake filled with fluffy ginger buttercream all rolled up into a perfect holiday package. This dessert embodies enough decadence to impress guests while creating the coziest of atmospheres with its warm and spicy, autumn flavors. Thanks to the Barefoot Contessa, this recipe will certainly not disappoint!

Pumpkin Roulade with Ginger Buttercream

Ingredients, Cake:

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus extra for dusting

Ingredients, Filling:

• 12 ounces Italian mascarpone cheese
• 1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/4 cup minced dried crystallized ginger
• Pinch kosher salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 18 by 1-inch sheet pan. Line the pan with parchment paper and grease and flour the paper.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt and stir to combine. Place the eggs and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until light yellow and thickened. With the mixer on low, add the pumpkin, then slowly add the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Finish mixing the batter by hand with a rubber spatula. Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake the cake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the top springs back when gently touched.

While the cake is baking, lay out a clean, thin cotton dish towel on a flat surface and sift the entire 1/4 cup of confectioners’ sugar evenly over it. (This will prevent the cake from sticking to the towel.) As soon as you remove the cake from the oven, loosen it around the edges and invert it squarely onto the prepared towel. Peel away the parchment paper. With a light touch, roll the warm cake and the towel together (don’t press!) starting at the short end of the cake. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, make the filling. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the mascarpone, confectioners’ sugar, and cream together for about a minute, until light and fluffy. Stir in the crystallized ginger, and salt.

To assemble, carefully unroll the cake onto a board with the towel underneath. Spread the cake evenly with the filling. Reroll the cake in a spiral using the towel as a guide. Remove the towel and trim the ends to make a neat edge. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve sliced.

A Flaugnarde (also known as flagnarde, flognarde or flougnarde) is a flan-like baked French dessert with fruit arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter. The name is derived from the Occitan words fleunhe and flaunhard, which both translate as “soft” or “downy”. The dish is common in the Auvergne, Limousin and Périgord regions of France. The perfect dessert to cap-off a hearty autumn meal, like a Cassoulet (but that’s a recipe for another day).

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter, for dish
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup creme fraiche, plus more for serving
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for dish
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 ounces raspberries
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 9-inch baking dish, 1 1/4 inches deep. Coat with granulated sugar; tap out excess. Stir eggs, yolk, and flour in a medium bowl; mix in the creme fraiche, milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt. Arrange raspberries in prepared dish. Strain custard batter over berries. Bake until browned around edges and set in the center, 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool slightly. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, and serve warm with creme fraiche or vanilla chocolate chip ice-cream.

Ooo, AND! Kinflok Magazines - a guide to small gatherings – has arrived in the store. Come and get your copy.

Today’s “Taste” segment relies on a few things that I love: a gift from a friend, early morning cooking, fresh fall vegetables and a pretty platter of food. My dear friend (and cooking partner), Corinna gifted me one of her favorite cookbooks last week and I finally got into the kitchen this morning to try out one of the beautiful recipes, Warm Mushroom Salad with Shallots and Sherry Vinegar from Cooking in the Moment by Andrea Reusing. Corinna and I have been gifting each other our favorite cookbooks for at least a few years now and it’s great fun because I’m always inspired by what she’s cooking and what she’s reading in the cookbook world. It’s also kind of a bold move as I have quite a cookbook collection and Corinna is definitely a collector as well, so it takes a bit of detective work to figure out what the other doesn’t have.

This morning was the perfect time to roast the mushrooms as there is a bit of a chill in the air and our house is definitely cozier for it. It’s a really easy recipe that also happens to be exceptionally good; warm mushrooms, toasted croutons and roasted shallots all over a bed of greens makes for serious comfort food on these fall-like days that we are having. I would suggest heading to your farmer’s market this weekend and scooping up all the different varieties of mushrooms as well as some greens and make it on a lazy Saturday to have for lunch with a glass of Italian red.

A beautiful selection of oyster, shiitakes, cremini mushrooms.

The final dish ready to be enjoyed.

The great new travel website, Fathom, just put up my piece about roasting chiles in Ghent over Labor Day. It was a perfect weekend spent upstate with friends, doggies and lots of food. Did I say it was perfect?

Having been a longtime follower of Amanda Hesser’s c0lumn in the New York Times,  I immediately became obsessed with Food 52 upon its launch a few years back, when Amanda and partner-in-crime Merrill Stubbs started their contributor-based online recipe collective – which is going to be published as a cookbook in a few short weeks! I therefore could not help but frantically text Kerrilynn when I saw that a recent recipe contest featured gluten-free – wait for it – baked goods.

BAKED GOODS!

Oh, you guys don’t know about my legitimately debilitating sugar addiction? It’s legitimate and debilitating. Needless to say,  it’s been a bit of a struggle finding sweets that satisfy Kerrilynn’s ban on gluten and my crackheadian need for speed. Or sugar, rather. (Thank you, flourless chocolate cake from Magnolia!) Suffice it to say, I was psyched to see this feature on food52. Click the link, lean on your scrollbar and watch the delicious, gluten-free recipes fly by: salted chocolate macaroons, black-and-white cookies, blondies, um – no-knead bread?! Cool! Get ready for the store to be filled with baked goods in the coming weeks.

I think there are a lot of things to love about coleslaw. First, like New York City, it has Dutch roots: coleslaw comes from the Dutch word koolsla (cabbage salad). Also, as I have mentioned in previous Recipe Friday posts, laziness is a very important part of my personality, and coleslaw fits really nicely into my regimen of doing as little as possible to prepare meals and dishes. It usually falls under the five-ingredient umbrella, and the distance between raw materials and edible deliciousness is very short – just chop, toss, (maybe chill, if you’re feeling leisurely) and serve. Finally, and most importantly, it is the ultimate in ultimate summer dishes.

Below, a round-up of all of our favorite slaw from our favorite food blogs.

“Nothing Fancy” from Food52. This one has a good, no-frills vibe.

Caliente Lime and Peanut from 101 Cookbooks. Delicate and perfectly flavored, bien sur.

Kerrilynn’s trademark Southwestern Chipotle Coleslaw. Smoky and sublime.