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

14Dec2021

PECAN-CRANBERRY BREAD

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Absolutely perfect for this time of the year, this is a bread that does not require a sourdough starter, but uses a sponge instead, so you will need two days to make it happen in your kitchen. The recipe comes from a cookbook I am quite fond of, Pastry Love, by Joanne Chang. It is available online, so I will share that link and give you just a brief overview of the recipe.

CRANBERRY-PECAN BREAD
(from Joanne Chang’s Pastry Love, published in The Modern Farme r)

For the sponge, you will need to mix 140g flour with 1 cup water + 1/8 tsp yeast, leave 2 hours at room temperature then refrigerate overnight. Use that to make the dough as described in the site (it is the third recipe shared, scroll down to find it).

I made only half of the recipe, but the bread turned out so delicious, I regretted not going for the two loaves that it makes. It freezes super well also, so I strongly advise you to go for the full amount as published in the site I shared.

I don’t think the bread is particularly beautiful to look at, because all the goodies make for a rough, rustic look, but it compensates by far in the taste department. Absolutely wonderful with a little blue cheese.

I intend to make a sourdough version with the same flavors very soon, but for those who don’t keep a starter around, this bread has a very similar complexity of flavor, thanks to the sponge made the day before. Give it a try before the holiday season is over…

ONE YEAR AGO: Cookies for the Holidays: Macarons

TWO YEARS AGO: The Great American Baking Show

THREE YEARS AGO: Broccoli Souffle

FOUR YEARS AGO: Panettone Time!

FIVE YEARS AGO: How the Mighty Have Fallen

SIX YEARS AGO: Festive Night at Central

SEVEN YEAR AGO: The Perfect Boiled Egg

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Light Rye Sourdough with Cumin and Orange

NINE YEARS AGO: Homemade Calzones

TEN YEARS AGO: Plum-Glazed Duck Breasts

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Holiday Double-Decker

TWELVE YEARS AGO: New York Deli Rye

17Sep2016

SOURDOUGH LOAF WITH CRANBERRIES AND WALNUTS

Posted in Breads by sallybr

I blogged on a similar sourdough last year, but this is a slightly different version, with a bit of semolina and whole wheat flour. I baked this bread for a very special occasion, the visit of dear friends I had not seen in 15 years! A cute story behind our friendship needs to be told. Back in 1995. When I moved from Paris to Norman to join the University of Oklahoma, a colleague from our department insisted I should meet Denise, a Brazilian graduate student from the College of Education. It so happens that I’m not that wild about this type of arranged meeting. I don’t know exactly why, maybe I simply prefer to meet people naturally and make connections independently of the place where they were born. And guess what? Denise felt exactly like me about the whole thing. But we both liked that Professor very much, and decided what the heck, let’s just give this a try. To make a long story short, we “clicked” in a way that we could not have anticipated in a million years! Our friendship continued after she, her husband Hélio and three kids (now three adults) emigrated permanently to England a few years later. Hélio now travels to Texas on a regular basis for work, and that made it easier for them to plan a quick visit to our neck of the woods. Fifteen years! Hard to believe time passed so quickly… Denise loves cranberries, so this bread was a natural choice to welcome them to our home. She also loves white chocolate, but that story shall be left for another post…

DENISE’S SOURDOUGH WITH CRANBERRIES AND WALNUTS
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

For the starter (you won’t use everything)
30 g sourdough starter (at 100% hydration)
55 g water
45 g all-purpose flour

For the dough:
65 g starter (about half of starter prepared)
220 g water
160 g semolina flour
120 g bread flour
35 g whole wheat flour
7 g sea salt
80 g dried cranberries
50 g toasted walnut pieces

Make your starter 12 hours before you intend to prepare the dough. Let it ferment at room temperature.

To the appropriate amount of starter (65 g, remember you are not using the full amount made) add the water and mix gently to dissolve it. No need to completely dissolve the starter at this point. Add the flours and mix, allow it to sit with the water for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Sprinkle the salt over the dough, mix it by folding several times, to incorporate the salt. Add the cranberries and the walnuts, mix them gently. Allow the dough to ferment for 5 hours. Fold 5 times at 30 minute intervals. That will take you to 2.5 hours fermentation. Allow the dough to ferment for 2.5 more hours undisturbed.

Shape the dough as a ball, place it in the fridge overnight. Remove it from the fridge one hour before baking, as you heat the oven. Invert the shaped loaf on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper for easy transfer to the oven.

Bake at 450 F with initial steam for 20 minutes, reduce temperature to 425 F and bake for about 25 more minutes. Use your favorite method to generate steam, I like a covered Dutch oven with the lid moist with water before covering the bread. After 30 minutes I open the lid to allow the bread to brown. Cool completely on a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I am always a bit anxious when it comes to baking bread for special friends. I want it to be perfect, delicious, awesome, but sourdough is a harsh mistress… You can make one perfect loaf, use the same starter, the same recipe a couple of days later and open the oven to find a bread that turned out more like a flat pancake. Usually still very tasty, but… well, you get my point. I made this bread the day before they arrived, so that if it was not worthy of my friends, I could have time for a plan B: a frantic drive to the grocery store. Imagine that! But to my relief it all had a happy ending. A beautiful marriage between cranberries and walnuts, nice balance of whole wheat with regular flour so that the bread itself had a nice texture and taste. Perfect with goat cheese, but even just a little butter will work well. Honestly, even naked it’s great. The bread. Obviously.

I am submitting this post to Bread Box Round Up,
hosted by Karen, the Bread Baking Goddess.

ONE YEAR AGO: Sichuan Pork Stir-Fry in Garlic Sauce

TWO YEARS AGO: Our Green Trip to Colorado

THREE YEARS AGO: Ditalini Pasta Salad

FOUR YEARS AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with a Thai Seafood Curry

FIVE YEARS AGO: Post-workout Breakfast

SIX YEARS AGO: Semolina Barbecue Buns

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Lavash Crackers

24Dec2015

HAVE A CRAN-MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Posted in Desserts, Desserts, Sweets, Side dishes by sallybr

For those who celebrate, Merry Christmas!

For those who don’t, Happy Holidays!

When I first arrived in the US for my post-doc (bringing with me a pretty broken English), I thought that a straight translation from Portuguese (Feliz Natal) would work quite well to greet my friends. I had no idea that Merry Christmas is the greeting of choice. There is a very interesting story behind it, if you are fond of this type of trivia click here. At any rate, if you happen to know a foreigner who is new to the US of A, do him or her a favor and make this point clear. My American colleagues were very sweet and graciously accepted my Happy Christmas, until a good soul pushed me to the side and explained that even though there was nothing fundamentally wrong with happy, merry was the way to go. Now, would it be too bad to wish you a Cran-Merry Christmas? I hope not. Cranberries are everywhere these days, they are appropriately red, cute, plump, go well in sweet and savory dishes, they are festive, and… I love them. Since it is the season of giving, I share not one but two recipes. Let’s start by sweetening up this festive day, shall we?

CranberryChristmasCake

CRANBERRY CHRISTMAS CAKE
(from Barefeet in the Kitchen)

3 eggs at room temperature
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
12 oz fresh cranberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees. With a mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar until slightly thickened and light in color, about 7 minutes. The mixture should almost double in size. The mixture should form a ribbon when you lift the beaters out of the bowl. Add the butter and vanilla; mix two more minutes. Stir in the flour until just combined. Add the cranberries and stir to mix throughout.

Spread in a buttered 9×13 pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

baked
Comments: This cake is a must-make. Period. First there will be a bit of a surprise from the sharp tartness, but then everything mellows down into the perfect amount of sweetness. Quickly you’ll realize that behind its adorable face lies danger. One piece will very likely lead to a second one. Maybe a third… I baked it around 6pm for a small reception we were hosting a couple of hours later, so I could not quite let the cake cool completely before slicing it. No harm was done, though. Next day it was even better, I think the flavor of the cranberries permeated the crumb a little more. It was perfect to start the day with a cup of coffee. So there you have it, a very simple cake to prepare, huge pay-off in taste. You are very welcome….

divider

And now that we got the sweetness taken care of, let’s take cranberries on another culinary adventure: Cranberry Sauce, a mandatory side dish at Thanksgiving. So tasty that it should never be limited to one day of your year. When it comes to cranberry sauce, you will find countless versions, often using ingredients like Port wine, dried figs, pomegranate molasses, all sorts of exotic additions that promise to make it truly memorable. Not that theres’s anything wrong with it, I even have one such version in the blog. However, when I saw Dorothy’s recipe and read her comments about it, I knew I had to try it myself. She went through many recipes, always coming back to this one. Simplicity, few ingredients, 15 minutes of your time.

Cranberry Sauce-2
BEST EVER CRANBERRY SAUCE
(from Shockingly Delicious)

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries
Zest of 1 orange (orange part only)

In a large, heavy saucepan, add sugar, water and spices and cook, stirring often, until sugar dissolves, syrup is clear and comes to a rolling boil, about 3 minutes. In a colander, rinse and pick over the cranberries to remove any mushy ones. Add cranberries to boiling syrup and continue cooking, uncovered, just until they begin to pop, about 2-3 minutes (set the timer). Be careful not to cook them too long or they will get mushy.

Remove from heat, stir in orange zest and cool to room temperature, uncovered. Ladle into clean jars or plastic containers, label and refrigerate until serving time.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups sauce, enough to serve 6-8.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I had no intention to blog on this recipe until I tried the sauce. It was everything Dorothy promised it to be. The spices are just right, and the texture of the cranberries spot on. I think I’ve always over-cooked my cranberries thinking that was the way to do it. Trust Dorothy’s directions, set the timer, stop the cooking even though you think it’s not nearly enough. We had one vegetarian guest at our home for Thanksgiving who arrived from India just a few months ago, so it was his first Thanksgiving and first contact with cranberry sauce. He absolutely loved it, in fact I almost wanted to take a picture of his plate, he had a bit of mashed potatoes and this humongous amount of cranberry sauce all around it… Made my day!

divider

ONE YEAR AGO: Merry Christmas!

TWO YEARS AGO: The Avocado Mousse that Stole the Show

THREE YEARS AGO: Sourdough Popovers

FOUR YEARS AGO: Merry Christmas!

FIVE YEARS AGO: Sourdough Focaccia, with a twist

SIX YEARS AGO: Merry Christmas!

27Sep2015

SECRET RECIPE CLUB: AMAZING APRICOT BARS

Posted in Desserts, Secret Recipe Club by sallybr

Here we are. Last Monday of September, which means Summer is gone. Over. Finito. Acabado. I could sit here and whine for hours, filling your screen with paragraph after paragraph describing in detail my despair, frustration, and overall gloom. Telling you how my interactions with human beings are affected as the average daily temperature goes down. You don’t want to be around me in January, even with all that New Year upbeat aura. But, enough with the negativity.

The last Monday of the month brings many reasons to be joyful, as it is Reveal Day for The Secret Recipe Club. This month I got a fantastic blog to stalk and cook from: A Palatable Pastime, hosted by Sue, who lives in Ohio with her husband and two lovely cats. She develops her own recipes – often with a Southern US flair – and not only has won several contests, but her productions have been featured in many top-notch sites like LDS Living, Mrs. Field’s and the Christian Science Monitor’s food section. I was thrilled to stalk her site, although a bit overwhelmed by the number of possibilities bookmarked to pick, cook, and share with my readers today.

Twelve recipes made the final list, but to keep it manageable, I’ll just mention half of them: Sweet Potato Biscuits (I’ve always wanted to make them… was very close to choosing it for this assignment), Thai Salmon Curry…. Vegan Mushroom Pumpkin Chili (her description tells me it’s a winner of a recipe), Dutch-Baby Pancake (another recipe I’ve always wanted to try), Thai Larb Soft Rolls… and Sue’s Almost Famous Meatballs (great post!). There were so many tasty options to choose from, but in the end I made a batch of her Amazing Apricot Bars. No doubt 2015 is the year of the apricot in the Bewitching Kitchen… These turned out spectacularly amazing!

AMAZING APRICOT BARS
(from A Palatable Pastime)

For shortbread crust:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour (8-1/2 ounces)

For topping:
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats, toasted
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/4 cup dried cranberries (craisins)
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons honey

For finishing:
1/3 cup apricot jam
3 tablespoons sweetened flaked coconut

Heat oven to 350F.

Butter the inside of a glass 8×8-inch square baking pan. Cream together the butter and sugar (thoroughly mix until sugar dissolves). Stir in the vanilla, salt and flour and mix into a dough. Press dough evenly into the bottom of the buttered baking pan, then chill in the refrigerator while you continue.

Mix the dry ingredients for the topping together in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with sugar and honey over low heat. Stir in the dry fruit topping mixture and bring to a boil; boil for 2 minutes then remove from heat. Take out the baking pan, and spread the top of the dough with the simply fruit apricot spread. Top the spread with the cooked fruit mixture.

Sprinkle the topping with an extra 3 tablespoons of sweetened flaked coconut. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely before slicing into squares.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

The bars were juicy, sweet, with a slight tang from the cranberries to balance flavors. The crust., which I find the trickiest component of this type of concoction was perfect: not too hard, not too crumbly. As usual, I brought the whole batch to our department, and by 9:30 am, not a single crumb was left on the platter. So, I advise that if you intend to share it friends, make sure to grab a square for yourself right away… They are seriously addictive.

Sue, I thoroughly enjoyed stalking your site, I love the way you go the extra mile to explain the technique behind your recipes, so that even a novice cook will be able to make the many tasty things you share on your blog. I hope you also had fun with your assignment this month. My readers are invited to browse through this month’s collection by poking the cute frog at the end of this post.

ONE YEAR AGO: Spiralizer Fun

TWO YEARS AGO: Linguine with Cauliflower Pesto

THREE YEARS AGO: Carriage House Apple-Walnut Pie

FOUR YEARS AGO: Chicken Marsala

FIVE YEARS AGO: Home, sweet home

SIX YEARS AGO: Levain Bread with Caramelized Onions

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