Better Homes And Gardens Feather Sponge Cake

Orange-glazed Cornish hens are especially good on Thanksgiving when you don't have enough people for a turkey dinner. They work well for any festive occasion, and they're easy enough to make for an everyday dinner.

This recipe uses marmalade made with sugar. It can be the low-sugar type, but not marmalade made with corn syrup or artificial sweeteners.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons orange marmalade

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 Cornish hens approximately 1.5 pounds each

Vegetable cooking spray

Orange slices for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the marmalade, the vinegar, and the thyme in a microwavable cup.
Microwave the mixture for 1 minute at half power.
Stir to mix the ingredients. Microwave for 30 seconds at half-power.
Repeat the 30- second microwaving until the mixture is soft enough to brush on the hens.
Set it aside and keep it warm.

To prepare the hens:

Discard any giblets. Rinse the hens under cold water and pat them dry. Remove the skin and split the hens in half lengthwise.

Coat a rack with vegetable cooking spray and put it in a shallow roasting pan. Place the hens on the rack, with the meaty side up.

Brush the hens with half the glaze mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Brush the hens with the remaining marmalade mix, and bake an additional 20-25 minutes.

If you have larger hens, increase the baking time.

Check the temperature of the hen by putting a thermometer into the thigh. It should read 165 degrees Fahrenheit when done. Take the hens out of the oven, cover with foil, and let them sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with an optional garnish of orange slices.

Just as pretty as any turkey, and Cornish hens won't leave you with days of leftovers!

Do you enjoy eating Cornish hens?

🐔

This recipe appears in my 4th Five-Ingredient Mystery,The Tell-Tale Tarte.The book's title derives from an Edgar Allan Poe story about a murder, "The Tell-Tale Heart."

The victim and suspects inThe Tell-Tale Tarteinclude an actor famed for his one-man Poe show, an author who riffs on Poe stories, a professor who specializes in Poe, and an aspiring writer and Poe lookalike. When café manager Val Deniston serves a tarte Tatin at a book club dinner, the dessert reveals a fraud, embroiling her and her grandfather in the investigation of a murder. The search for the killer takes Val and Granddad to the home of the bestselling author, Rick Usher. Stranded there by an ice storm, they spend a harrowing night in the "House of Usher." Then, in the shadow of Poe's tomb, they try to prevent another murder and mete out some POE-etic justice.

Maya Corrigan writes the Five-Ingredient Mysteries featuring café manger Val and her live-wire grandfather solving murders in a Chesapeake Bay town. Maya lives in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. Before writing crime fiction, she taught American literature, writing, and detective fiction at Northern Virginia Community College and Georgetown University. When not reading and writing, she enjoys theater, travel, trivia, cooking, and crosswords.

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Book covers of the 7 Five-Ingredient Mysteries by Maya Corrigan