Cranberry Gingerbread Loaf

It's time again for Secret Recipe Club reveal!  My secret blog assignment this month was Hun... What's for Dinner? a blog full of recipes inspired by the best recipes from magazines, cookbooks and the web.  Cindy is a stay-at-home mom of two adorable kids.  She married a professional chef thinking he'd be the one doing the cooking in their relationship.  When that didn't pan out, Cindy became an excellent cook in her own right and has even won some cooking and baking contests and been published in several cookbooks.  No wonder I had such a hard time choosing a recipe from her blog!

Here are a few of the recipes that caught my eye:

• Stuffed Zucchini
• Sam & Cat Sloppy Waffles
• Spring Medley Creamer Potatoes
• Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars
• Strawberry Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Banana Toffee No Bake Cheesecake

There were more, but I just had to stop myself from looking.  I'm sure you know how that is.  I finally decided on this Cranberry Gingerbread Loaf because I just can't resist anything with cranberries.
 

Cindy made this for something called the Crazy Ingredient Challenge, which sounds like a lot of fun.  She's also got something called Simple Supper Tuesday going on every week which is a round-up of, you guessed it, simple recipes. I will definitely have to be checking that out again!

Cranberry Gingerbread Loaf
from Hun... What's for Dinner

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup boiling water
• 1 egg
• 2-1/2 cups flour, divided (part white wheat)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1 cup frozen cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Generously grease a loaf pan, or line with parchment paper (making sure there is plenty hanging over the edges).
2. In a bowl, mix together the oil, molasses, brown sugar and boiling water. Let mixture cool to room temperature and then mix in the egg.
3. Combine 2-1/4 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix into wet ingredients until just combined.  Toss the cranberries with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour and gently fold them into the batter.
4. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes; until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar while still warm.

Cindy's recipe called for 2 T of powdered sugar dusted on the top, but I used a little less than 1 T.  After that it was just going everywhere and making a mess.  It really does look pretty, but I think next time I'm going to sprinkle a little turbinado sugar on top of the loaf before baking and see how that turns out.

I really loved this loaf.  Is it breakfast?  Bread?  Dessert?  A snack?  I'd say all of the above!  Seriously, really good - great flavor, nice texture, and the tart bites of cranberry really make it special.  Nothing crazy about cranberries and gingerbread together.  The flavors are perfect!  I will definitely be making this again.  My husband wasn't a huge fan of the gingerbread spices, but that just means more for me.  Every time.

An InLinkz Link-up

Rum-Glazed Cranberry Scones

It's time again for Secret Recipe Club reveal!  My secret blog assignment this month was Cupcake Muffin.  Sara was a graduate student at Berkley in California, but now she lives in Boston.  I hope she's surviving the winter they've been experiencing there.  That has to be a huge change from California!

Sara has all kinds of yummy looking recipes on her blog, so of course it was hard to choose.  She has not one, but two recent recipes for fish tacos that look really good.  Some others that caught my eye were:

• Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
• Southwestern Sweet Potato-Corn Soup
• Buffalo Sweet Potato Pizza
• Apple Cobbler Bars

 I settled on these scones because I just can't resist anything with cranberries.  And, I've never made scones before, so I thought now would be the perfect time.  The rum glaze didn't hurt either.

Rum-Glazed Cranberry Scones
adapted from Cupcake Muffin

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cut into small pieces
• 1-1/2 cups fresh (or frozen) cranberries
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• Zest of one orange
• 1/3 cup milk

For the glaze:

• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 2 T dark rum
• 2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1.  In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Pulse a few times, and then add the butter. Pulse until the mixture looks like crumbs with a few larger pieces of butter.  Scrape into a large bowl.
2. In the food processor (no need to rinse), pulse the cranberries, brown sugar, and orange zest until lightly chopped.
3. Add the cranberries to the flour-butter mixture in the large bowl, and mix with a rubber spatula. Add the milk,  a little at a time, and stir until the dough just comes together (you may need to use your hands, but be careful not to over-mix the dough).
4. Cover your workspace with a piece of parchment (or flour it really well), and dump the dough onto it. Pat into a thick circle (about 1/2" thick), and cut into wedges, 12 or fewer depending on the size you want.
5. Transfer to baking sheet and bake 25-30 minutes at 400° F, until browned.  Remove from oven and let cool slightly. 
   Alternate method: transfer to freezer; place scones in sealed container when frozen.  When ready to bake, remove scones from freezer, heat oven to 400° F, brush with glaze, and bake.
6. Make the glaze by whisking the powdered sugar, rum, and vanilla together until smooth. Drizzle scones with the glaze and let sit until the surface of the glaze dries before serving.
   Alternate glaze:  Mix 1 T rum with 1 T powdered sugar. Before baking, brush tops of scones with glaze and sprinkle with some Turbinado sugar.

I followed Sara's recipe the first time I made these, except that I used twice as much powdered sugar in my glaze because it seemed really thin.  It could really go either way - double the powdered sugar or cut the rum and vanilla in half - and it would still be good.  We ended up with a lot of really tasty glaze all over our scones!

The scones were really good, soft on the inside and crunchy on the edges.  The cranberry and orange flavor is so good.  I liked the crunchiness so much that the next time I made them, I separated the wedges, and I raised the oven temperature to 400°.  Perfect!  They're still soft inside, but you get more crunchy edges.

I also read somewhere that freezing your scones for 30 minutes before baking will relax the gluten in the flour and make them flakier and more tender.  So, if 30 minutes is good, longer is OK, too right?  I made up a batch and transferred my parchment to the freezer instead of a baking dish and the oven.  I froze the scones and then put them into a sealed container in the freezer.  Then, whenever I wanted scones, all I had to do was take out however many I wanted to bake, let them sit on the counter while the oven was heating, brush them with a glaze of rum and powdered sugar, sprinkle with some turbinado sugar, and bake.  It's so handy to have scones in the freezer ready to bake at any time.  I will definitely be making these again and keeping some in the freezer so I can have them whenever I want!

An InLinkz Link-up

Cranberry Cream Cheese Muffins

When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. I love anything with cranberries (I previously made these amazing Lemon Cranberry Muffins from the same blog), and the addition of the cream cheese just sounded amazing.

I've made these twice this week.  The flavor is really amazing.  It reminds me of this Almond Tart a bit - probably because of the almond extract and the cranberries.  Those flavors just go together so well.  The soft, slightly sweetened cream cheese is just a bonus.

If you want, you can take a knife (or your finger) and spread that soft cream cheese all over your muffin. Yum!

Cranberry Cream Cheese Muffins
adapted from The Pajama Chef

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided 
• 6 oz. fresh cranberries (or frozen)
•  2 eggs
•  1/4 cup brown sugar
•  1/4 cup oil
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 1-1/2 cup flour, part whole wheat (or use all white whole wheat)
• 1 T ground flax seed (optional)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.  Line muffin tin with paper liners or grease well.
2. Mix cream cheese with 2 T sugar; set aside
3. In small saucepan, combine another 2 T sugar with the cranberries.  Heat on medium, stirring occasionally, until cranberries pop.  Mash slightly with a wooden spoon and set aside.
4. In mixing bowl, beat eggs then stir in the rest of the granulated sugar and the brown sugar.  Mix in oil, vanilla, and almond extract.
5. Stir flour, flax seed (if using), baking powder, and salt together; mix into wet ingredients.  Then gently fold in cranberries, being careful not to over-mix or your batter will turn pink.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan, filling muffin cups about 2/3 full.  Use a spoon to scoop cream cheese mixture into the center of each muffin, pressing down gently.
7. Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.  Cool 5 minutes in muffin tin then remove to wire rack to cool.

Makes 12 muffins

I like my muffins dense and not too sweet, so I used the white wheat flour and flax seed and cut the sugar down just a touch.  They were still plenty sweet, but if you like your muffins sweet and light, use 1 cup of sugar in the batter, with an additional 2 T sugar for both the cream cheese and the cranberries.  And use white flour instead of the whole wheat, though white wheat isn't as heavy as regular whole wheat would be.  I would also recommend using cupcake liners because, even with the wheat flour, these muffins wanted to stick to my muffin pan just a little.

The reason I made these twice in one week wasn't just because I love the flavor - which I do - it was because the recipe, as first posted, called for about 1/2 the flour it should have.  (Sarah weighed all her ingredients, so she got it right, but then she used an online conversion calculator when she wrote the recipe post)  I did not even bother to check, just followed the recipe - and they still turned out really good!  Just very delicate.  And hard to stop eating.  Very hard to stop eating.

I will definitely be making these again!

White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

I found this recipe on Pinterest a while back and finally got the chance to make them today.  They are as good as I thought they'd be.  I especially love the tartness of the cranberries against the sweetness of the rest of the cookies.

White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from two twenty one

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1-1/2 cups quick oats
• 3/4 cups dried cranberries
• 1-1/4 cups white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/4 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. In mixing bowl, cream butter with sugars; mix in egg and vanilla.
3. Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together and stir in.
4. Fold in oats, cranberries, white chocolate chips, coconut, and pecans.
5. Roll into 1" balls and place on cookie sheet.  Flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass or measuring cup dipped in sugar.
6. Bake 12-14 minutes or until cookies are set and starting to brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

I mixed these up by hand, but the original recipe called for using an electric mixer. Either way works.  Just be sure your butter is really soft if you're mixing by hand.  When it's time to add the cranberries and white chocolate chips, etc., you'll want to mix those in by hand.

I added the coconut and pecans to the recipe, because they just sounded good with all the other ingredients.  I also flattened the cookies slightly before baking them because I just rolled the first pan I baked, and they didn't really spread out.  Even flattened, they don't spread out much, but that's OK - they're good!  I'll definitely make these again.

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• Make One Great Dish: Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Cherries and White Chocolate
• Recipe: Apple Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
• Orange Cardamom Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Cranberry Nutmeg Breakfast Cake

This is one of those recipes I almost picked for Secret Recipe Club. (I ended up going with these amazing enchiladas instead)  But this cake just sounded so good, I had to go back and try it.  I'm really glad I did, because this is one good cake!  I like to make coffee cakes, muffins, cinnamon rolls, and things like that for Sabbath morning breakfast.  I bake on Friday, and we have something yummy to eat over the weekend.  I think this one is going to show up on a regular basis.

Cranberry Nutmeg Breakfast Cake
adapted from Jessie Weaver

Ingredients
   Cake:

• 4 T butter, softened
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/2 c. milk
• 2 c. white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 bag (12 oz.) fresh (or frozen) cranberries, coarsely chopped*

  Topping:

• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans
• 1/2 c. shredded coconut

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating well.  Stir in vanilla, sour cream, and milk.
2. Mix dry ingredients and stir in.  Fold in cranberries.
3. Spread batter into greased 13" x 9" pan.
4. Mix all ingredients for topping and spread evenly over batter. 
5. Bake 35-40 minutes in 375° F oven or until topping is browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

This is a really moist, not-too-sweet cake.  I cut the sugar down a little from Jessie's recipe, but then I added the topping, so it's definitely sweet enough.  The cranberries add just the right touch of tartness in every bite.

We really enjoyed this.  Did I say that already?  Yes, it's really good!  Next time (see - next time - I am definitely going to be making this again) I am going to bake it in two round cake pans, the foil disposable kind.  The foil cake pans fit just perfectly into a gallon-size zipper bag.  I used to do that all the time when I made Overnight Coffee Cake when the kids were little. 

Then they got bigger and ate more coffee cake, and I started just baking it in a 13" x 9" pan.  Now that the kids are grown and it's just the two of us, I think it's time to go back to baking two smaller cakes and freezing one.  One of them will give the two of us plenty of coffee cake for the weekend, and the other one will come in really handy for another time when I don't have time to bake. 

Anyway, try this cake.  I think you'll like it, whether you bake it in a large pan, two smaller pans, or even make it into muffins, which is another possibility.

Apple Bread with Pecans and Dried Cranberries

I've been without an oven for a couple weeks.  The oven just wouldn't heat up - one day it worked, and the next it didn't.  I thought the bake element had gone out (like I would really know why my oven won't heat up), but it was more serious. The oven needed a new control board, and then it took a while to get it fixed because they had to order the new part, and then the guy who came to put it in couldn't get the oven out of the wall.  And it was the wrong part.  So, they re-ordered the part, and two guys came to put it in yesterday. It took a bit, but they finally figured how to slide the oven out of the wall/cabinet enough to put the part in.  And now my oven works!

Of course, I had to test it, so I made this apple bread.  Yep, the oven works again!!!!!!

Apple Bread
from The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups chopped apples
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar together; add eggs.  Mix well and add apples and vanilla.
2. Mix dry ingredients and stir in.
3. Stir in pecans and dried cranberries
4. Pour batter into a well-greased loaf pan.
5. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Turn pan on side to cool on wire rack.

The original recipe did not call for whole wheat flour, so you can make this with all white flour- but why would you want to?  The whole wheat just gives it some extra substance and flavor.   I also used pecans instead of the walnuts called for and added the dried cranberries at the last, just because.  They are so good in this!  Oh, and I reduced the sugar from 1 cup down to 3/4 cup with part of it being brown sugar, for the flavor.

Related articles

• Recipe: Apple Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Curried Chicken and Barley Salad

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal!  My blog assignment this month was Mellissa's blog A Fit & Spicy Life. Mellissa is originally from Wisconsin, and I lived there until a couple weeks ago, so we have that in common.  She also loves to try new recipes.  Oh, wow - Mellissa says she rarely makes the same thing twice, and with 1800+ posts on the blog, you can believe there are plenty of amazing recipes to choose from.

I kept thinking I had a recipe picked out, and then I kept looking - I could not stop - and kept finding more and more things I want to try.  Here's the short list:

• Curried Quinoa and Cranberry Salad
• Italian Egg and Pasta Scramble
• Chicken and Summer Vegetable Tostada
• Bean and Feta Salad

I finally decided on this salad, which just happens to be Mellissa's latest recipe and the first one I saw when I visited her blog.

Curried Chicken and Barley Salad
adapted from A Fit & Spicy Life's Bombay Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

Salad

• 3/4 cup barley
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• Salt/Pepper
• 1 lb boneless chicken breasts
• 1 mango, diced (How to cut a mango)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 4 green onions, sliced
• 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds

Dressing

• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/4 tsp curry powder
• Salt/Pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook barley according to package directions then rinse with cold water and pour into large bowl.
2. Combine curry powder, sugar, salt/pepper,  and cumin.  Coat chicken with spices and grill until cooked through; 5-6 minutes each side. Allow to rest 5 minutes, and cut into bite sized pieces.
3. Toss  mango, cranberries, green onions, and sunflower seeds with barley.  Add chicken.
4. Whisk together lemon juice, honey, olive oil, curry powder, & salt/pepper. Pour over salad and mix lightly.  Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
5. Refrigerate for at least an hour to let the flavors blend. 

Serves 4

Yum! So many awesome flavors here - the curry, the tanginess of the cranberries, the sweetness of the mango...  We really, really liked this salad.  It's perfect for a cool summer meal, and very filling.  Mellissa's recipe called for Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend, which looks really good, but I couldn't find anything like it in my grocery store, and I didn't have time to get it from Amazon.  So I went with the 'or any grain' part of the recipe and chose barley.  One of our friends brought a barley salad to a potluck a few weeks ago, and it was so good.  I had never had barley in a salad or even thought about using it - and would not have thought of it for this if she hadn't brought that salad.  It is really good.

The only change I really made to this recipe (besides using the barley) is that I added more green onions.  I started out with 2 - the recipe called for 1 - but then I decided it needed at least 4.  They add that extra touch of color to the salad and a fresh, bright flavor.  (Pictures were taken with 2 green onions; I added more later.)

I also made Mellissa's Salmon with Chickpeas and Spinach - because there were so many great-looking recipes to choose from, I couldn't pick just one, could I?  My husband and my brother both thought there was "too much green" in this, but I thought it was wonderful.  The flavor of the salmon?  Amazing!  (You'll have to click the link to get the recipe.)

Be sure to check out A Fit & Spicy Life.  I'm sure you'll find a few recipes you'll want to try!

An InLinkz Link-up

Cranberry and Lime Muffins

After I made my Lemon Cranberry Muffins for this month's Secret Recipe Club reveal, I started thinking they'd be good with lime, too.  So I had to try it!

Cranberry and Lime Muffins
Adapted from The Pajama Chef

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 2/3 cup sugar (half brown)
• 2 large eggs
• zest and juice from one lime
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1-1/2 cups frozen cranberries (or fresh)
• 1/2 cup coconut
• coarse sea salt

Directions:

1. Line muffin tin with paper liners or grease with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, beat together yogurt, sugar, and eggs. Then add lime zest, lime juice, and vanilla extract. Lastly, stir in oil.
3. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Gently fold into wet ingredients and stir until just moistened. Batter will be lumpy.  Add cranberries and coconut and stir until combined.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°.  Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups and sprinkle tops lightly with coarse sea salt.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. If not using liners, allow to cool a few minutes before removing from pan cooling on a wire rack 

Enjoy! Makes 12 muffins.

Yep, cranberry and lime are awesome together. I also love the addition of the coconut, which was a last minute thought.  It adds just a touch of chewiness that I think is perfect.

I also love how the whole cranberries pop and explode in these muffins as they bake, leaving little pockets of cranberry goodness.

Related articles

• Lemon Cranberry Muffins

Lemon Cranberry Muffins

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal!  This month I got to choose from Sarah's blog The Pajama Chef.

Sarah lives in Indiana with her husband Ben (they just recently celebrated their 4th anniversary) and two kitties.  She loves reading, getting good deals, peanut butter,  and pajamas - as the name of her blog suggests.  She'd wear pajamas all day every day if she could.  Sarah has a lot of great looking recipes on her blog, making it very difficult to choose again this month.

I started browsing Sarah's recipes, and I thought maybe these Mexican Hot Chocolate Breakfast Bars or these Peanut Butter Pretzel Granola Bars or these Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars. This Crockpot Saucy Italian Chicken looks awesome, and I am definitely going to try Sarah's recipe for Cornmeal Pizza Dough - maybe this will, at last, be the perfect pizza crust.  Sarah seems to think so.

But, when I came across this recipe, I knew I'd found the one for SRC.  Two of my favorite flavors in one muffin!  There was no way I could NOT make these muffins.

Lemon Cranberry Muffins
Adapted from The Pajama Chef

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp. lemon zest - or more
• juice from one lemon - about 3 T.
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 2 cups frozen cranberries (or fresh)
• coarse sea salt

Directions:

1. Line muffin tin with paper liners or grease with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, beat together yogurt, sugar, and eggs. Then add lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Lastly, stir in oil.
3. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Gently fold into wet ingredients and stir until just moistened. Batter will be lumpy.  Add cranberries and stir until combined.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°.  Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups and sprinkle tops lightly with coarse sea salt.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. If not using liners, allow to cool a few minutes before removing from pan cooling on a wire rack 

Enjoy! Makes 12 muffins.

Oh, Yum!! These are so good! Lots of cranberries in a lemony muffin.  These just might be my new favorite muffin.

Sarah decreased the sugar in these muffins from 1 cup to 2/3 cup because she used vanilla yogurt.  I used plain yogurt, because that's what I had, but chose to keep the sugar at 2/3 cup because I really like tart flavors.  I also added the juice from my lemon for extra lemon flavor - and because I was having a hard time getting much lemon zest (Sarah's recipe calls for 1-1/2 T zest)   I also decreased the oil from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup and added a sprinkling of coarse sea salt to the tops of the muffins.  I think it adds the perfect touch.

Next, I'm trying these with lime instead of lemon - because lime and cranberry are awesome together, too.

Cranberry Coconut Pecan Bars

The Food section of our newspaper recently held a Holiday Cookie Contest and published the winning recipes along with several runners-up.  There are some really good looking cookies here, but the ones that caught my eye were these Cranberry Coconut Pecan Bars. (can you guess why? yep, it's the cranberries!)

I just had to make these today.  My whole kitchen smelled amazing, and then I was required to taste them, right?  So good!  The perfect combination of crunchy and chewy, sweet and tart - I'm in love!

I pretty much followed the recipe, only cutting down the sugar just a bit, but there are a couple other changes I will make next time (there will be a next time!) and those changes are reflected here.

Cranberry Coconut Pecan Bars

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1-1/4 cups flour (part whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup finely chopped dried cranberries

Filling:

• 2 lightly beaten eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cranberry juice (or orange juice)
• 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1 cup chopped dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Glaze

• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon cranberry juice (or orange juice)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Prepare crust by stirring together flour, sugar and salt in medium bowl. Mix in melted butter and then stir in pecans and cranberries. Press mixture onto bottom of ungreased 13-by-9-inch pan. . Bake in preheated oven 10 to 15 minutes or until light brown around the edges. Leave oven on.
3. While crust bakes, in bowl, beat together eggs, granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons cranberry juice, the orange peel and vanilla. Stir in pecans, cranberries and coconut. Pour over hot crust and spread evenly.
4. Return to oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes more. Remove to a wire rack and let cool slightly (about 10 to 15 minutes) in pan. Cut into bars while warm.
5. While bars cool, mix together powered sugar and 1 tablespoon cranberry juice. Add more sugar and juice as needed to achieve drizzling consistency. Drizzle over cut bars.

Makes 24  

The original recipe called for cutting the butter for the crust into the flour and sugar until it resembles course crumbs.  A lot of bar cookie recipes seem to be written that way, but when I make my mom's Coconut Lemon Bars, I always just melt the butter and mix it in.  It's much easier and works just fine - so I will be making this crust that way from now on.  I used 1/4 cup whole wheat flour in the crust and brown sugar instead of granulated for more flavor - cut down from 3/4 cup to 1/2 cup.  I think even 1/2 cup whole wheat or even half whole wheat and half unbleached flour would be fine.

The original recipe called for mixing the eggs, sugar, juice, orange peel, and vanilla for the filling, pouring that over the hot crust, and then sprinkling it with the pecans, cranberries and coconut.  That worked fine, but next time I'm just going to mix the pecans, cranberries and coconut in and then spread the whole thing over the crust - again like those lemon bars.  It will be less messy and easier to spread evenly.  It will still bake up just fine.  I used the cranberry juice this time because I had some in the fridge (cranberry apple, actually), but I think this would be great using some fresh-squeezed orange juice.  You're already using the orange for the peel or the zest, why not squeeze it and use the juice too?

Ready to bake

Also, the original recipe says that it makes 30-35, but I can't imagine anyone actually cutting them that way.  That would be 5 one way and 6 the other or 5 one way and 7 the other.  I have a hard enough time getting things even when I can first cut down the middle.  Cutting them into 24 pieces makes very nice-sized bars - and I still couldn't stop at just one.

 
For more cookie recipes, be sure to check out the Holiday Cookie Contest.

Cranberry Apple Pie Oatmeal (a la Mode)

I love oatmeal in the morning.  I usually cook my oatmeal with dried apples, dried cranberries, and cinnamon - and that's pretty much the perfect oatmeal, but I saw this recipe for Apple Pie Oatmeal on Pinterest, and it looked so good, I just had to try it.  Reading the recipe now, I see that I did not actually follow the recipe.  How could I miss the part about cooking the apple with nuts, butter, brown sugar and spices?  I will have to try it again, I guess.

Here's how I made my oatmeal, and it turned out quite good, too.  Maybe it doesn't actually qualify as an Apple Pie Oatmeal, but I'll call it what I want!

Cranberry Apple Pie Oatmeal (a la Mode)

• Bring to boiling 1 cup water with a dash of salt
• While water boils, cut half an apple into small pieces
• Reduce heat to medium and stir in 1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal
• Add some cinnamon, the chopped apples, some dried cranberries and cook for 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally
• Turn burner off or remove from heat; cover and let sit for a few minutes

To serve: top with a little brown sugar and vanilla yogurt  (I used Yoplait Honey Vanilla Greek yogurt - that's the a la Mode part!)

Next time I'm going to try cooking the apples, cranberries, and probably some walnuts with butter, brown sugar, and spices and then cooking the oatmeal with that - like the other recipe - and see if that makes a difference.  If there's a huge difference, I'll be sure to update this recipe.

I'll also go back to using plain yogurt, because the vanilla was a bit too sweet to me.  I love plain yogurt on my oatmeal.

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Antioxidants - Follow-up

I posted a list of antioxidant-rich foods a few weeks ago.  I saw this image on Pinterest tonight, and I thought the pictures and additional information here would be a nice follow-up.  The list isn't exactly the same, but there's some good information about each of the foods listed here and why they're good for us.  I like that coffee is on this list!  I love my morning coffee...
 

Cranberries are really high on my list, too... and broccoli, and strawberries, and peaches, and...  The more healthy choices we have, the more likely we'll all find something we like that is also good for us!

Did anybody notice anything unusual about any of the pictures? (Click the graphic to view full-size)

Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

My friend Peggy posted this recipe for Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip on my facebook wall a few weeks ago.  She knows me well - anything cranberry, and I'm all over it!  I finally got a chance to make this last weekend, and it is amazing! All the flavors just combine to make your mouth happy...

Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 12-oz package fresh cranberries (3 cups)
• 1/4 cup green onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 small jalapeno pepper
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 t cumin
• 2 T lemon juice (or lime)
• dash salt
• 2 8-oz packages cream cheese

Directions:

1. Coarsely chop cranberries in Ninja or food processor and place in medium bowl
2. Chop onions, cilantro, and jalapeno and add to cranberries
3. Mix in sugar, cumin, lime juice, and salt
4. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight
5. When you're ready to serve: soften cream cheese and spread it on a plate, serving platter, or the bottom of a 13x9" baking dish; spread cranberry mixture evenly over the top.
6. Serve with Ritz (type) crackers, Wheat Thins, or tortilla chips

  I cut the sugar down significantly from the original recipe - from 1-1/4 cups to just 2/3 cup.  I think it could be cut down a tiny bit more, but then I like the tartness of the cranberries, so it's probably a good balance.  I used lime juice, because I had a lime I needed to use and no lemons.  It all worked together really well.

We tried it with Wheat Thins, tortilla chips, and the Ritz type crackers, and it tastes good with all of them - but the Ritz type are the best.  Everyone who tasted this thought it was great - my husband who does not like cilantro, my friend Peggy who sent me the recipe and doesn't even like cranberries, my son who - well, I expected him to like it!  I never would have thought to mix these particular ingredients together, but the combination really is magic.  I will be making this again!!  I don't expect it will last long...

Cranberry Nut Bread

I love cranberries. I like to just pop them in my mouth and eat them. And any recipe with 'Cranberry' in the title gets my attention immediately.  This is one of the simplest recipes and oh, so yummy!

  I made some Friday afternoon so we could have it this weekend.  Cranberry and orange go so well together.

Cranberry Nut Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 egg, well beaten
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 3/4 cup orange juice (or mixture of fresh orange juice from 2 oranges and milk to make 3/4 cup)
• 2 T oil
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

1. Beat egg in medium bowl; add orange zest, juice/milk mixture, oil and sugars; mix well.
2. Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and and add to liquid mixture.  Mix until well blended. Stir in cranberries and nuts. 
3. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, and spread batter evenly in pan.
4. Bake at 350ºF for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely. Wrap and store overnight. 

Makes 1 loaf

I especially like using a mixing bowl w/ a handle for almost everything I bake. It's easy for mixing, and easy to pour the batter into the pan.

Cranberries are a bit tricky to chop if you're trying to use a knife and cutting board - which I have done.  This time I threw the cranberries into my Ninja and chopped them up easily!  I did the same thing with the pecans - super easy!

The original recipe calls for all white flour and white sugar, but I like adding brown sugar and whole wheat flour to my recipes because I think it gives a better flavor.  Half and half works quite well, or you can use all brown sugar and whole wheat flour, whatever your preference is.  You could even use the all white if you want.  I won't judge - well, not too much.

The best way to eat this?  Toasted!  With a little butter melted on top...  Try it - you'll see what I mean!

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