Thanksgiving in June

I recently found myself in a position of having to cook at 15-pound turkey. In June.

It's a long story, but the short version goes something like this:

We spent Thanksgiving on a cruise last year with my in-laws, so we did not have a traditional turkey meal. However, our neighboring supermarket was holding a promotion where they gave away free turkeys to everyone who spent more than x amount of dollars that month.

The friendly manager at the supermarket ended up pressing the free frozen turkey upon my father-in-law, saying "why refuse something free?"

So that's how I found myself with an extra turkey in the freezer for 6 months. Last week, I finally decided it was time to reclaim my freezer, and so decided to throw a "Thanksgiving in June" playdate party on a Monday in June.

I found a "dry-brine" recipe online and brined the turkey in the fridge for 36 hours. The genius part of the recipe is that it brined as it defrosted in the refrigerator, and was ready for the oven by the time I got back from a weekend away! The result was juicy and tender -- the best turkey I've ever made! This will now be my go-to recipe for turkey. I cannot wait to try this again in the fall.

Russ Parson's Dry-Brined Turkey

funfetti whoopie pies!

This is a bit of a cheat, but my daughter requested funfetti cupcakes for her birthday this year, and the only made-from-scratch recipe I found resulted in eggy but heavy cupcakes. I also have to admit, a secret part of me loves cake from a box. There's something so light and sugary about it - I usually inhale three or four cupcakes immediately after they come out of the oven! So I overbought funfetti cake mix in December, and now it is February and I am sick of cupcakes but needed to use up these extra boxes of cake mix.

Yesterday afternoon I found myself in a funk and needed something happy to cheer myself up. I remembered those funfetti cake mixes, and decided to doctor up some funfetti whoopie pies from what I had on hand. I followed the directions for "funfetti cookies" on the box, then whipped up some pink cream cheese frosting. The cookies only took 8 minutes to bake, and after they cooled, I sandwiched them together and rolled in confetti sprinkles for an instant late afternoon pick-me-up!

Funfetti Whoopie Pies
Ingredients
For Whoopie Pies:
1 box Pillsbury funfetti cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
For Filling:
1 cup cream cheese
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
red food coloring (I used 3 drops)
confetti sprinkles


Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix cake mix with 2 eggs and 1/3 cup vegetable oil, dough will be cookie dough consistency
Roll into balls (use a tablespoon to ensure they were all the same size) and place on parchment paper lined baking trays
Bake for 8-10 minutes until they're flattened and slightly golden brown, cool
Make cream cheese filling by whipping together cream cheese, confectioners sugar, vanilla, and food coloring with a hand mixer
When cooled, fill with cream cheese icing and roll in confetti sprinkles
Enjoy!