Bite-Sized Stories: Friendsgiving

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and for many, so is Friendsgiving! Even though many of us are busy with upcoming finals, cooking always brings our friends together. For this year, instead of a classic dinner, we decided that brunch was a better, time-friendlier option. 

The prep began the night before with sourdough cinnamon rolls. This involved first mixing the milk, maple syrup and the sourdough starter, which is a fermented mixture of water and flour and requires a feeding of fresh flour every other day. Having been a member of our household since last February, the starter is lovingly named The Yeasty Boys. Although most recipes call for instant yeast, we thought the Boys would add a nice tang to the rolls. 

After adding white and wheat flour and resting for half an hour, we mixed in the much-needed salt and fat of butter and eggs. The dough was left to rise for a few hours and was then rolled out into a thin rectangle. With a rich layer of milk, cinnamon and brown sugar smothered on top, it was rolled into a log and placed into the fridge, which would make it easy to cut into rolls. They were then gingerly placed into a pie tin and left to rise overnight at room temperature.

Waking up the next morning, we popped the rolls straight into the oven and got working on the more nutritious dishes. The main entree of brunch was mini quiches, which started off by simply pressing cut pie crust into muffin tins lined with parchment. They were then filled with an assortment of fillings, including feta cheese, bell peppers, spinach, red onion, bacon and mushrooms. Making sure not to overfill them, we poured a seasoned egg and milk mixture into each of the crusts, and they were baked for a quick 20 minutes. With some of the leftover egg mixture, we whipped up a frittata, with mostly the same fillings, that quickly joined its quiche cousins in the oven. The oven was working hard that morning, as we also roasted thin strips of sweet potatoes and halved brussels sprouts. 

Although it was brunch, that didn’t stop us from having plenty of desserts. Along with the cinnamon rolls, there were two types of pie: a butternut squash pie with a graham cracker crust and a last-minute apple pie, thrown together with the leftover pie crust from the mini quiches. 

Soon everything was ready to eat! We all gathered in our living room, surrounding the overflowing table as we all served up the food and began eating, sharing stories of our friendships that have lasted since freshman year. Thanksgiving is a time for reflection and gratitude, and arguably more importantly, good food. We’re both so grateful for everyone who cooked with us this semester, and the Daily for letting us share their stories. Shoutout to Fina!

We hope everyone has a restful and enjoyable Thanksgiving!