Tasty Treats: Try these Thanksgiving recipes for beginners

Now that Halloween has come to pass, Thanksgiving is fastly approaching. A time when our kitchens smell like savory turkey, pumpkin pie and other traditional family meals. You yourself might have been interested in cooking up something for Thanksgiving, but your lack of experience holds you back. In this article we will feature several easy to bake recipes for some fun Thanksgiving treats you can use to impress the whole family. 

1. Pumpkin Muffins, Joy Food Sunshine

This recipe comes from the Joy Food Sunshine Blog. A blog created by Laura who is a former chemistry teacher who now homeschools her kids and adds recipes to her blog.

Pumpkin is a classic flavor for fall. So, what could be more delicious than baking up some pumpkin muffins?

Recipe (Makes 14 Muffins)

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Oven Heat: 375 degrees

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15 ounces pumpkin puree

½ cup salted butter (melted)

¾ cup light brown sugar (packed)

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

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Article Tip!

Often, baking recipes forget to mention this quick tip when baking things such as muffins, bread, cakes, etc. When baking pastries like these, it can help to transition them from different oven shelves halfway through the baking process. For example, in this recipe, the muffins take 20 minutes to fully bake. At the 10 minute mark, you can transition the muffins from the top to the bottom shelf of your oven or vice versa and bake them for another 10 minutes. This strategy helps guarantee that the muffins are being cooked thoroughly.

If you do not have an oven with multiple shelves, often these shelves are adjustable, so you can use mittens and or pot holders to adjust the shelve manually closer to the top of the oven or the bottom of the oven to have the same effect.

1. Ginger Bread Spice Cake, The Busy Baker

This recipe comes from The Busy Baker Blog, a blog run by Chrissie Baker, who is a self-taught cook and baker.

This recipe will melt in your mouth with its ginger and all spice mix as well as its fluffy cream cheese frosting. 

Recipe (yields about 12 servings)

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Oven Heat: 350 degrees

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1 cup softened unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup molasses

2 eggs

2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Frosting:

8 ounces softened cream cheese

3/4 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature

4 to 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

A few drops of vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons milk optional, depending on texture

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Article Tip!

Some ingredients can be harder to work with than others, so substitutes in recipes can be a fine solution for bakers who dislike certain ingredients in a recipe. Here is a list of substitutions to use when struggling with a certain ingredient. 

Butter and Vegetable Oil:

Butter, at least in my experience, can be a harder ingredient to work with. If a recipe calls for softened butter, without an electronic mixer, it is hard to stir and mix. Butter itself can also take up quite a bit of time in the baking process as you need to either soften it, melt it and portion it properly. So, I usually substitute vegetable oil for  butter. This can result in a less creamy and or buttery texture/taste, but for bakers who struggle with butter this is an easy substitute as you just take the exact amount of butter but instead use oil. 

Eggs and Applesauce:

Not a huge fan of eggs? Maybe you’re allergic or vegan? Applesauce can be a decent substitute. Just substitute ¼ cup of applesauce for each egg in the recipe. Admittedly this can result in an appley taste if a good portion of applesauce is used, but for some recipes it can really add to the flavoring.

Baking Powder and Baking Soda:

For baking powder and baking soda some houses really only have one and not the other. Luckily, they are able to be substituted for one another. If you have baking powder and not baking soda, use at least 3x the amount of baking powder that is described in the recipe as baking soda. This is because baking powder is less concentrated and is not as powerful as baking soda. Conversely, use ¼ baking soda and an acid agent such as lemon juice in order to substitute baking soda for baking powder.

1. Mini Pecan Pies, Sally’s Baking.

This recipe comes from Sally’s Baking Blog. Sally Mckennie created this recipe and is a baker, food photographer and a New York Times bestselling author.

Not sure if you can take on a whole pie? Here’s a recipe where you can make mini ones. By using a mini muffin tin, you can easily make mini pecan pies!

Recipe: 24 mini pies

Cook Time: Pre-baked crust, 7 minutes. Pie, 16-18 minutes

Oven Heat: 325 degrees for crust, 350 degrees for pie

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1 unbaked pie crust

3 tablespoons of unsalted butter

½ cup packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ cup of chopped pecans

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Article Tip!

It’s OK to make mistakes! If you’re having trouble you can ask for help, or maybe, if a recipe is overly complicated, look up a step by step video to learn how to bake and cook certain recipes. 

Also, if you struggle with baking, plan ahead. Start with “test batches.” For example, with the muffin recipe mentioned at the beginning, bake a single muffin instead of a whole batch. Learn how the muffin bakes and when it can be taken out. Additionally, if you have muffins that come out doughy or soft, stick the muffins back into the oven for a few extra minutes. There is nothing wrong with checking your work and fixing minor errors. 

And finally, the last and most important article tip is … to have fun baking! First time baking can be hard, and learning a new skill is a long process, so it is important to remember to be kind to yourself. So go out and start baking, impress those distant relatives at thanksgiving and most importantly, be proud of your hard work!