Divinity

With the pandemic dashing all hopes of having a Bakeathon at my house with Caroline and Sarah this year, I decided to use the opportunity to try some treats I had been curious about for a long time but were too complicated to work into a day when we were making 7-10 different things, or that the others were not interested in. Divinity is a popular treat in the southern US for Christmas. Being from the upper Midwest I had not ever had any but knew about it, and plenty of stories about attempts that didn't go quite right, because apparently candy is hard to make or something. My very good friend recently mentioned that an acquaintance shared some divinity with her once and she loved it. I figured I'd been mostly successful with attempts at candies, and I only had myself to please (but also wanted to surprise my friend with some), so this was finally the time to try!

I shared my divinity with another friend who grew up in the South (he is from Tennessee) and he said it was even better than his grandma's. And here I was worried about whether it would taste like it was supposed to. I don't think I could get a better endorsement than that!

cooking the sugar syrup

whipped egg whites

three different kinds

Notes:

• The recipe says it makes 20 pieces. It is a dirty liar, unless you make your pieces of divinity HUGE. I used a ~3 tbsp volume cookie dough scoop (which I felt were kind of big given how rich and sugary this candy is) and got approximately 60 pieces.
  
• The recipe says you can leave it plain, press whole pecans on top, or mixed crushed pecans in. I tried all three, and I vastly preferred it with nuts for some fat and salt to cut the super sugary sweetness. I slightly prefer the version with crushed nuts because it was more evenly distributed. The ones with the whole nut on top are the prettiest, but after the candy mixture cools too much it won't be smooth and the pecans won't stick to the top, so you have to work fast or have someone else help you if you want them all to look smooth. The cloudy look is kind of cute too, though.

Verdict: It tastes like eating a big ball of buttercream frosting, in the best way possible. I was a little shocked at how sugary this is, but in a way it's good because I physically cannot eat more than 2 of them before I don't want any more. I would absolutely make these again, but maybe in a smaller quantity unless I planned on sharing a lot of them.

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RECIPE: Old-Fashioned Divinity Candy (Number 2 Pencil)

Sweet Potato and Corn Chowder

I tried this recipe because I wanted something warming and I was looking for ways to use up ingredients in my pantry (I sent my partner to the store for Thanksgiving dinner ingredients, and the only size of heavy cream at the store was an entire QUART, lol) and this checked all the boxes.

Verdict: This tasted OK. The soup itself was not particularly interesting flavor-wise. The crispy bacon on the top was probably my favorite part. I do like how colorful it is. I wouldn't go out of my way to make it again, but I would eat it again and I'm glad I tried it.

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RECIPE: Sweet Potato and Corn Chowder (Geoffrey Zakarian, Food Network)

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

Made because we had leftover ham still kicking around from Thanksgiving and a bunch of potatoes to use up. My mom sometimes made this dish when I was a kid, but I did not like hers because there was cream of mushroom soup in it. I went looking for one that was more my style and found one with a homemade white sauce and Cheddar cheese.

Verdict: This tasted fine, but it took a pretty long time to make. I don't think I'd go out of my way to make it again unless someone really wanted me to, but it was good to use things up.

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RECIPE: Scalloped Potatoes with Ham (Food Network)

Roasted Squash and Tofu with Ginger

This recipe drew my attention because I had all the ingredients already, and one of my favorite Thai dishes combines squash and tofu, so I really wanted to give this a try. We served it with rice.

Notes:

• I used dried powdered ginger (about 1/2 tsp) instead of fresh, and black sesame seeds instead of white, because it's what I had.
• Next time I want to make this with buttercup/kabocha squash (my favorite winter squash).
  

Verdict: The sauce burned a little (honey always seems to do this) and was a little difficult to clean up because it ran off my foil, but this tasted really good! I would definitely make this again.

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RECIPE: Roasted Squash and Tofu with Ginger (Smitten Kitchen)