December 2022 » Hummingbird Excessive

Howdy!

How was everyone’s Thanksgiving vacation? Did everyone survive the cooking marathon?

Erlend and I historically rejoice with an “Asian-style” Thanksgiving. We often swap out the normal Thanksgiving turkey dinner for an Asian-y foremost and sides. In years previous, we’ve celebrated with Peking duck (we tried making it at residence with out nice outcomes, and finally simply resorted to ordering takeout from the various superb Chinese language locations after we lived in San Francisco and New York). In the event you’re actually inquisitive about what that appears like, you’ll be able to see the Asian-style Thanksgivings I blogged about in 2014 and 2015.

Previously few years, nevertheless, we’ve swapped the duck for Korean bo ssam. Erlend likes to make use of the recipe from the momofuku cookbook (which can be available on the New York Times Cooking website), whereas I put together the edges and dessert. This yr, I made scallion buttermilk biscuits (I added scallions to my favorite biscuit recipe from Bon Appetit, although I’m undecided I might suggest doing so—the biscuits didn’t rise as effectively) with gochujang scorching honey butter, a meat-less model of this steak salad with fish sauce and mint (I swapped out the steak for roasted butternut squash), and Korean corn cheese (with a recipe I adapted from Spoon Fork Bacon).

For dessert, I deviated from our Asian theme. I used to be initially going to make certainly one of my favourite Thanksgiving pies—both my model of Libby’s traditional pumpkin pie, this chocolate chess pie, or this black backside chocolate pecan pie—however I had this intense yearning for banana pudding. Particularly, the famous banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery. I hunted down the recipe, and whipped up a sufficiently big batch to feed greater than a dozen folks. It was scrumptious, however I used to be significantly making a gift of pints of the stuff for days. I’m considering of growing a small batch model of the recipe to publish on Hummingbird Excessive subsequent yr. What do you guys assume? I’m personally stoked!

What To Count on on Hummingbird Excessive in 2023

Now that it’s December and we’re about to wrap up 2022, I wish to let you know about some adjustments I’m making subsequent yr:

However should you guys like these kinds of recaps and hyperlink sharing, please let me know! I’ve lengthy thought of beginning a extra informal and private e-mail publication with comparable content material. So please let me know if that’s one thing you’re excited by and would wish to subscribe to!

In Case You Missed It: New Recipes and Posts

Right here’s a listing of every little thing I printed on Hummingbird Excessive in November. I really didn’t spend a whole lot of time growing new recipes—as an alternative, I targeted on making fast tutorials for widespread Thanksgiving recipes:

• Swedish Princess Layer Cake. This was one of many new recipes I printed final month in celebration of Hummingbird Excessive‘s eleventh birthday!!! I nonetheless can’t imagine I’ve been baking for this weblog since 2011. Wild. Watch a sneak peek of the recipe on Instagram and TikTok, too.
• Libby’s Pumpkin Pie Recipe (Made Higher!). An previous(ish) however gold recipe on Hummingbird Excessive that’a well-liked each Thanksgiving! It’s principally the traditional Libby’s pumpkin pie recipe on the again of a can, however with some very minor updates (like pre baking the crust and waterproofing it! and including an additional egg to the filling!) to make it higher. Watch a sneak peek of my updates to the recipe on Instagram and TikTok.
• Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls. Watch a sneak peek of the recipe on Instagram and TikTok, too.
• Pumpkin Pie, Your Way. AllRecipes interviewed their favourite bakers (together with yours actually!) about our favourite methods to customise a simple pumpkin pie recipe. I made mine with a toasted meringue marshmallow topping! Extremely suggest.
• Chocolate Chess Pie. One other Thanksgiving favourite on Hummingbird Excessive. Even regardless of my loyalty to my model of the Libby’s pumpkin pie recipe, I’m not the largest pumpkin pie girlie. I’d a lot slightly have this chocolate chess pie (which I might’ve made for Thanksgiving, had my yearning for banana pudding not destroyed my urge for food for every little thing else). Watch a sneak peek of the recipe on Instagram and TikTok.
• Black Backside Chocolate Pecan Pie. After the chocolate chess pie, this is perhaps my favourite Thanksgiving pie. The recipe instructs you so as to add a layer of chocolate ganache to the underside of a standard pecan pie. Why? The chocolate “waterproofs” the pie crust towards the pecan filling, retaining it crispy. Plus, you get chocolate in your pecan pie filling! Be taught extra on Instagram and TikTok.
• How To Get Rid Of Bubbles In Your Pumpkin Pie Filling. My buddy Erin from Cloudy Kitchen taught me this neat trick! Often, after you’ve poured your pumpkin pie filling into the pie shell, you get a ton of bubbles within the filling. Though the bubbles don’t have an effect on the pumpkin pie’s style, they do make it ugly. So should you’re OCD like me and need every little thing to look picture-perfect, watch the video on Instagram and TikTok for a really cool trick on easy methods to eliminate them!

An Replace About Hummingbird Excessive‘s Patreon Account

I first began my Patreon account in March 2020, as a direct response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a scary time for lots of people (on a whole lot of totally different ranges!). 

Talking particularly from the angle of Hummingbird Excessive, it was a tough time financially. Most of the firms I labored with determined to pause or halt their upcoming initiatives, amounting to a 3rd of my projected earnings for the yr disappearing in a single day. Advert income on the web site declined considerably, with many firms withdrawing their promoting campaigns. And so as to add much more stress and uncertainty to my monetary state of affairs, my husband received furloughed from his healthcare job as a bodily therapist (which was deemed a non-essential medical service on the time).

So to assist mitigate these monetary blows, I made a decision to start out up my Patreon account. I watched as a lot of you rallied to assist my work in so many alternative methods. Lots of you enthusiastically signed up for the totally different tiers, even opting out of the free books and sprinkles. And most significantly, all of you offered such useful suggestions—not solely on my recipes, but in addition on methods to higher run the Hummingbird Excessive group and make it higher for all.

And whereas I’ve completely loved the final two years collectively, I imagine that it’s time for this chapter of Hummingbird Excessive to shut. The worst of the pandemic seems to be over, and also you helped Hummingbird Excessive—and me!—survive by means of all of it. I can’t stress how superb you all had been, and the way grateful I used to be (and nonetheless am and might be, eternally and ever) for every little thing.

Meals For Thought

This previous month, I additionally spent a LOT of time considering and studying about meals past the baking recipes you see on this weblog. Listed below are the concepts and points that resonated with me:

• “Food Prices Soar, and So Do Companies’ Profits” in The New York Occasions. Just a few months in the past, once I received again from my journey to England, I posted a slightly controversial Instagram Story sequence on @hummingbirdhigh. Particularly, I used to be complaining that the identical carton of Oatly milk value twice as a lot in the US (the place it value $4.99 USD) because it did in an upmarket grocery store in a hip a part of London (the place it value $2.24 USD).

  Just a few followers who labored within the agricultural and grocery store industries DMed me considerate messages that helped clarify the worth disparities, in addition to quickly rising prices in the US. They pointed to produce chain points, rising costs of uncooked elements and supplies, and elevated/unpredictable demand led to by the pandemic.

  Whereas I agree that these are actual points which are aggravating issues, it’s additionally eye-opening to learn the New York Occasions article I linked to above. The article studies that many meals firms are experiencing document earnings, with earnings coming from the elevated costs of their items and providers. Particularly, they’ve elevated their costs a lot that it’s greater than made up for the any value will increase led to by the will increase in elements, supplies, labor, and every little thing else.

  I don’t have a lot to say apart from this: so when precisely are we beginning the revolution?

• “The Great British Bake Off Backlash Has Reached a Boiling Point. Can the Show Be Saved?” in Time Journal. I’m the form of one that waits for all of the episodes of The Nice British Bake Off to air, after which binges them suddenly. However sadly doing so implies that I get to listen to about all of the controversies—like Mexican Week!—with out actually seeing or understanding the complete context.

  And after watching so many TikToks and studying many think-pieces (like this one! or this one!) about how offensive Mexican Week was, I braced myself for the worst. However then I watched all the season over Thanksgiving and realized it wasn’t so unhealthy? Like, sure, Paul Hollywood undoubtedly did the contestants a disservice by making them COOK tacos versus bake one thing… however all in all, the contestants had been respectful and educated on the challenges that gave them the chance to analysis the delicacies and nation beforehand.

  So whereas I do assume that The Nice British Bake Off is previous its prime (they actually ought to’ve stop when Mary Berry, Mel, and Sue departed the present), I believe a lot of the points and criticisms may be attributed to the judges. We’d like some recent, younger judges on the present—the type who don’t assume that peanut butter and jelly or maple and bacon is a weird mixture, and are well-traveled sufficient to have tried Japanese cheesecake and know that bao is Chinese language (not Japanese). Idk. Simply my two cents.

Lastly, On A Lighthearted Observe

However that’s all, of us!

As I mentioned earlier than—that is the final of this type of weblog publish (for now, at the very least). I’d be remiss with out some form of sentimental ship off, so right here we go: I’ve loved writing these posts immensely, and I sincerely hope that you just’ve loved studying them as effectively.

Have an excellent vacation season, and let’s hold baking in 2023!

XO
Michelle

NO TIME TO BAKE?!

Over the previous a number of years of working Hummingbird Excessive, I stored a vital side of my life hidden from my readers: I had a full-time, extraordinarily demanding job within the tech world. In my debut cookbook, Weeknight Baking, I lastly reveal the secrets and techniques to baking scrumptious desserts on a decent schedule.

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