CRANBERRIES, MANY WAYS

Posted in Air-Frying, Breakfast & Brunch, Cookies, Desserts, Desserts, Sweets, Side dishes, Vegetarian-friendly, Veggies by sallybr

It is that time of the year, folks! Cranberries are making their appearance in grocery stores, those cute little bags with bright red fruit begging to jump in your shopping cart. Don’t fight the temptation. Today I share six recipes to put them to use, both savory and sweet.

RECIPE #1
PUMPKIN CRANBERRY LOAF

I rarely watch FoodTV these days, but one show I am quite fond of is Girl on the Farm. She shared a recipe a recipe for pumpkin loaf with cranberries that I made on the same day I watched it. It has a very nice crusty topping, and the tartness of the cranberries is perfect with the other flavors. Recipe available here.

RECIPE #2
CRANBERRY SHORTBREAD COOKIES

CRANBERRY SHORTBREAD COOKIES
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

(Small-batch, see comments))

1 cup flour (120g)
1/4 cup sugar (50g)
zest 1/2 orange
1 stick butter (113g), cold, cut in small pieces
pinch of salt…
1/2 cup cranberries, coarsely chopped
white chocolate or candy melts to decorate (optional)

Add flour, sugar, orange zest and salt to a food processor. Process until mixed. Process in food processor. Add the butter, process until it starts to form a cohesive mass.

Add the cranberries, process until a dough almost forms. Remove from processor, work with your hands. I roll and cut it right away, then freeze before baking. 300F until done, maybe 20 minutes or so. Depends on the size you cut the cookies, and it will vary from oven to oven. Just make sure it is slightly golden at the edges.

Once cold, drizzle with melted chocolate or candy melts in any style you like.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I made these when our big oven was dead, so I had to use the little Breville oven to bake them. I was trying the recipe and not sure it would work, so a small batch was all I needed. Simply double all amounts to bake a regular batch. I made 10 cookies with this version. I must say these will go into my favorites folder. The tartness of the cranberries adds so much to the biscuit I urge you to give this a try.

RECIPE #3
CRANBERRY VINAIGRETTE

FALL SALAD WITH CRANBERRY VINAIGRETTE
(adapted from this site)

1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
¼ cup cranberries
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
Romaine lettuce – rinsed, dried, and torn into bite-size pieces
2 Granny Smith apples, cored, cut in pieces
½ cup toasted walnuts, chopped
½ cup crumbled feta cheese

In a saucepan, combine vinegar, water and cranberries. Cook over medium heat until cranberries soften. Remove from heat; add olive oil, maple syrup, and salt. Place in blender and mix until smooth. Refrigerate until chilled.

Make the salad by adding all ingredients into a bowl. Add the cranberry vinaigrette and toss to coat. Adjust seasoning with salt, if needed.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Can anything beat the beauty of the color of this vinaigrette? I doubt it. I tweaked the recipe a bit to tame the tartness of the original version, which was a bit much for us. It is a great option to put some cranberries to use, and definitely something a bit unusual.

RECIPE #4
AIR-FRIED BUTTERNUT SQUASH WITH CRANBERRIES

AIR-FRIED BUTTERNUT SQUASH WITH CRANBERRIES
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and seeded
½ cup fresh cranberries, rinsed and dried
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup olive oil
fresh ginger, grated (to taste, or about 2 tsp)
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Whisk olive oil, orange juice, honey and ginger in a small bowl. Pour over the butternut and cranberries in a large bowl, toss to coat. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Air-fry at 350F until done, shaking the pan every one in a while. Total air-frying should be between 20 and 25 minutes.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Once again the little bits of tartness offered by the cranberries add a lot to the dish. I make butternut squash in the air-fryer very often, but really enjoyed this tweaked version. Amounts are all very flexible, I confess I don’t worry about the weight of the squash, I get those little trays in the grocery store and use one to air-fry.

RECIPE #5
CRANBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE TART

A flashback from my past, this tart was made a couple of years ago, and it was absolutely wonderful, so I bring it to your attention. For the full recipe and comments, click here.

RECIPE #6
CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY CURD TART

One of the many recipes I’ve baked from my friend Helen Fletcher’s site. You cannot go wrong with Helen! All the way back to 2017, visit this post to get the recipe.

I hope you can find some cranberry-inspiration in this post…

ONE YEAR AGO: Cilantro-Pesto with Spicy Maple Pork Tenderloin

TWO YEARS AGO: Sunburst Pumpkin Sourdough

THREE YEARS AGO: Sourdough Four-Play

FOUR YEARS AGO: World Bread Day 2018

FIVE YEARS AGO: Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

SIX YEARS AGO: Spicy Cotija and Black Olive Sourdough

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cake

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Sourdough Rye Bread with Flaxseeds and Oats

NINE YEARS AGO: PCR and a Dance in the Mind Field

TEN YEARS AGO: October 16: World Bread Day

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: The US Listeria Outbreak 2011

TWELVE YEARS AGO: 36 Hour Sourdough Baguettes

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: October 16 is World Bread Day

27Sep2022

DOG COOKIES

Posted in Cookies by sallybr

This is a very simple recipe based on peanut butter and pumpkin puree, super easy to put together, and it will receive two-paws up by the most discriminating canine palates out there. Woof, woof!

DOG COOKIES
(from this site)

1 Cup Pumpkin Puree
1/3 Cup Peanut Butter, smooth
2 large Eggs
2 + 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
¾ Teaspoon Cinnamon

Heat the oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a mixer use the paddle attachment to combine the pumpkin, peanut butter, and eggs at medium-high speed. Add in the flour and cinnamon and mix until a stiff dough has formed. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and roll out to ¼ inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut your desired shapes.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the edges begin to turn golden brown. Cool on a rack.

(paws were painted with Sugarprism after baking)

Share the pup love with cookies!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Make sure to use peanut butter that contains only peanuts and salt, no additives. Xylitol, which is present in some brands, is very toxic for dogs, so do not use it. The classic shapes are obviously bones and paws, but you can cut in squares, even using a knife or bench scraper and it will be even easier and faster. Pups won’t mind!

ONE YEAR AGO: Sugarprism Watercolor Macarons

TWO YEARS AGO: Dutch Macarons and a cookbook review

THREE YEARS AGO: Yogurt Tart

FOUR YEARS AGO: Grilled Lamb-Stuffed Pita Bread

FIVE YEARS AGO: Elderflower Macarons

SIX YEARS AGO: A Duet of Sorbets

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Sobering Peach Sorbet

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Spiralizer Fun

NINE YEARS AGO: Beer-Marinated Grilled Skirt Steak

TEN YEARS AGO: Secret Recipe Club: Corn Chowda

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Page-A-Day Calendar (Pits and Chief 5 minutes of fame…)

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Home Sweet Home (our beloved Pits in one of his last photos)

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Marbled Rye

10Sep2022

MOONCAKES FOR MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL

Posted in Cake, Cookies by sallybr

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, for those who celebrate! Every year, around July, I promise myself I will try to bake mooncakes. And every year I find excuses not to do it, because it seems so intimidating! Finally, I decided to woman-up, and go for it. I used the recipe from a great cookbook, Mooncakes and Milk Bread, by Kristina Cho. The copyrighted recipe is available online (click here), in case you don’t have the cookbook. I will share my experiences as a mooncake-virgin.

To make mooncakes, you will need molds (either plastic or wood will work). I used molds similar to these. You will also need Lyle’s Golden Syrup and a special type of water that can be made from baking soda, but I decided to get the commercially available (click here). You will only use 1 tsp of alkaline water per batch of dough. Molds come in two common sizes, 50g and 100g. I used the larger ones, make sure to adjust the amount of dough + filling to the size of mold you have.

The dough is surprisingly easy to work with, due to the high fat content. It stretches easily and I had no issues forming the balls with the filling inside. I used 48 g dough per ball, and about 35g filling of two kinds, the pistachio-honey described in the original link, and my second batch was simpler, just almond paste (8 oz) with 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips.

My problems started during baking. For many of the mooncakes, the pattern was almost fully lost during the second stage of baking. Maybe I used too much egg wash, or maybe some other tweaking in my technique was needed. At any rate, you can see in the picture below that my first batch was not as good as the second.

I suppose that making mooncakes is a bit like baking macarons, you’ll get better the more you make them. At any rate, I will definitely be using my molds with other types of cookie dough, as long as they don’t spread too much and have a higher chance of retaining the beautiful designs. Stay tuned… And if you celebrate…

HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL!

ONE YEAR AGO: Almond-Raspberry Triangles and a Special Cookbook Review

TWO YEARS AGO: Sweet and Spicy Roasted Cauliflower

THREE YEARS AGO: Roasted Cauliflower Salad over Hummus

FOUR YEARS AGO: Queen of Sheba

FIVE YEAR AGO: Brunch Burger

SIX YEARS AGO: Mango Salsa with Verjus

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Raspberry Bittersweet Chocolate Chunk Brownies

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Scary Good Pork Burgers

NINE YEARS AGO: Review of exercise program Focus25

TEN YEARS AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with a Thai Seafood Curry

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Post-workout Breakfast

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Semolina Barbecue Buns

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Lavash Crackers

17Aug2022

EARL GREY SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Posted in Cookies by sallybr

Shortbread cookies have unique texture, and are surprisingly addictive. This version, flavored with tea and a touch of orange extract, followed the basic method from Helen Fletcher, described in her cookbook: Craving Cookies, The Quintessential American Cookie Book. The food processor makes perfect shortbread dough every single time.

EARL GREY SHORTBREAD COOKIES
(inspired by several sources)

4 bags of Earl Grey tea (about 8g tea, I used decaf)
310 g all purpose flour
48 g cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
227 g butter, very cold, cut into pieces
115 g powdered sugar
1/2 tsp orange extract

Heat the oven to 275 F.

Add tea, flour, cornstarch and salt to the food processor and process a few seconds to mix. Add the butter, process until it is dispersed in small pieces, stop the processor, add the powdered sugar and orange extract, and process it again until a dough forms. You can turn the processor on and off a few times for more efficient mixing. Once the dough starts to form and dance around the bowl, stop and gather it gently with your hands, forming a disc over parchment paper.

If you worked fast, you can proceed right away forming balls, each with 33g of dough. If the dough it too soft or feels at all warm, place it in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.

Working with one little ball at a time, press a design using your favorite cookie press coated with flour so it won’t stick. Freeze the cookies for 10 minutes, then bake at 275F for about 50 minutes over parchment paper. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Shortbread is perfect for pressing a pattern or using decorative molds, as there is no leavening agent in the dough. Freezing is an additional step that helps the pattern stay even better during baking. As to the low temperature, 275 F gives shortbread a wonderful texture. I saw that recommended in a couple of websites and cookbooks and gave it a try in this bake. Loved it. If you are not pressed for time, consider this little twist. I baked them for 55 minutes exactly, the edges were starting to get golden.

ONE YEAR AGO: Summertime Macaron Duet

TWO YEARS AGO: Pain de Mie Dressed up for Party

THREE YEARS AGO: Five-Stranded Bread

FOUR YEARS AGO: Green Olive Salad

FIVE YEARS AGO: Coffee Macarons Dressed up to Party

SIX YEARS AGO: Blogging Hiatus

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Tomato Tatin

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Headed to Colorado!

NINE YEARS AGO: Farofa Brasileira

TEN YEARS AGO: Thai-Inspired Pork Tenderloin

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: A yummy Brazilian cake: Bolo de Fuba’

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Summer’s Tomatoes

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Leaving on a jet plane…

29Jul2022

A TRIO OF SUPERSTARS

Posted in Cake, Cookies, Desserts, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Today my blog pays homage to three amazing bakers who put great effort into each post they compose. Their blog articles end up as detailed tutorials that allow even a beginner baker to tackle what might seem very intimidating at first. I share three recipes, in the chronological order I baked them in the past couple of months.

SUPERSTAR BAKER #1
HELEN FLETCHER
BLUEBERRY LEMON POKE CAKE

BLUEBERRY LEMON POKE CAKE

One of the tastiest cakes baked in our kitchen, and I am not exaggerating. Moist. Sweet to the perfect level. Luscious. Everything works in this cake. For the recipe and very detailed tutorial, visit Helen’s blog with a click here. You will make a blueberry jam to fill the cake, and I advise you to give enough time to allow it to set a bit, just to make it easier to work with…. Below, a little comparison between Helen’s neat work and yours truly… my jam was still bit too loose. No major harm done, though, I just thought it was funny to share.

Helen’s site and her cookbooks are a constant source of inspiration for me. Plus, she is tremendously helpful and whenever I get into trouble I drop her an email. She has rescued me more than once. A lot more than once (wink, wink).

Every once in a while, Helen offers online classes, and I’ve taken a couple of them. One of my favorites was last year, in which she taught how to make Chocolate Tartlets with a caramel filling. A thing of pure beauty and absolutely decadent! Make sure to subscribe to her blog, so you get notification of upcoming classes.

SUPERSTAR BAKER #2
CAROLINE
RED VELVET OREO STYLE SANDWICH COOKIES

RED VELVET OREO STYLE SANDWICH COOKIES

Absolutely delicious, you can make them without the cutouts if you’d like to simplify your life, but of course turning them into Linzer territory is not a bad move at all! For the full recipe click here. I made a very slightly modification adding strawberry extract to the filling and a touch of pink gel color. Other than that, I followed her recipe to a T.

You can modify the filling, use jam, or Nutella, the cookies are very flavorful and will be perfect no matter your choice of filling. Caro has countless baking lessons in her site, I highly recommend you pay her a visit and subscribe to be notified of new posts. Caroline is one of the moderators of a Facebook group with almost 18 thousand members, for lovers The Great British Bake Off, and that’s how I got to know her. I don’t know how she manages to do all she does…

SUPERSTAR BAKER #3
TANYA OTT
RED VELVET CAKE DONUTS

As you can see, I’ve been on a red velvet kick lately. These are spectacular and simple to make, especially if you follow the detailed instructions and the very helpful video available in Tanya’s blog. Essentially two bowls, no need for an electric mixer until you get into frosting territory.

Another example of a great baking instructor, Tanya’s articles are always carefully composed, and I am in awe of the amount of work she puts into the making of each of the videos often included in her posts. In case you don’t know, Tanya was one of the contestants in season 5 of The Great American Baking Show, and I shared the tent with her a few times. She even got a handshake from a certain guy with penetrating blue eyes…