It Really is Fantastic; Fantastic Mr. Fox Makes the List

I'm mad for the Foxes in Fantastic Mr. Fox, as we all very well know. This Christmas I think I'm adding a few items to the holiday "traditions" list, watching Fantastic Mr. Fox (Joseph, this is your department) and baking up a batch of Mario Batali's recipe for Mrs. Bean's Famous Nutmeg Ginger Apple Snaps! Why not? It really is fantastic, isn't it?

Recipe Courtesy of Mario Batali

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter

• 2 cups light brown sugar

• 1/2 cup molasses

• 2 eggs

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger

• 1 teaspoons ground nutmeg

• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

• 4 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• pinch of ground clove

• 3 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated

• 1/2 cup candied ginger, finely chopped

• 1 ½ cups dried apple rings, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add molasses and eggs and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, ground ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, clove and salt. Mix well with fork and add to butter mixture. Blend in fresh, candied ginger and dried apple pieces. Drop by teaspoonful onto parchment covered baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Place one whole apple ring in the center of each teaspoon. Bake about 10 minutes, or until lightly golden. Cool. Enjoy!

Patrick also made me aware of their edition of the New Yorker featuring Wes Anderson. What's not to like about this guy? (Maybe a haircut - I like short hair)

Images and text via one of my favorite blogs, The Rushmore Academy

As we mentioned yesterday on Twitter, there’s a great new profile on Wes in this week’s New Yorker by Richard Brody. Click on the thumbnails below to read the article and let us know what you think in the comments.