Cranberry bars with mulling spices

There are a lot of cranberry-centric recipes on this blog; here's one more from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. These were decent as far as a shortbread-y, streusel-y fruit bar is concerned, but when I want something with cranberries I want them to be front and center. For me, there wasn't enough cranberry in this bar; if I make something like these again I would almost double the amount of cranberry and maybe subtract the streusel topping. But it was good to use up the last of my fresh cranberry purchases from the Thanksgiving season, if anything.

• 
  
• 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, plus more at room temperature for the pan
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
  1 large egg

filling:

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice
3 cups fresh cranberries

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, and butter the sides and the parchment. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and spices. With a pastry blender or fork, work the chilled butter  and the egg into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Pat half the crumb base into the bottom of your prepared pan; it will be thin.

In the bowl of a food processor or blender, briefly pulse the filling ingredients until the berries are coarsely chopped but not pureed. Spread the filling over the crumb base. Sprinkle the remaining crumbs evenly over the cranberry mixture.

Bake cookies for 30 to 35 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Cranberry Chocolate Truffle Cake

I got off easy for Thanksgiving cooking this year and only had to make one dessert. I loooooove fresh cranberries and really wanted to combine cranberries and chocolate somehow. I used THIS delicious recipe and followed it exactly except for including cranberry jelly in the center of the cake. I tried to make a homemade cranberry jelly which was coming along great (until I made it all lumpy by trying to thicken it with cornstarch. Oh well!). But it was super rich and the cranberries gave it a pleasant tang. Winner.

Chocolate cherry oat cake

I raided the pantry the other day to make something out of the oats and chocolate chips I had on hand. I also wanted to use some frozen cherries. This recipe was adapted from a bar recipe I found (which called for dried cherries and a square pan). My cake came out nicely, if a little crumbly. I would have liked more cherry flavor to come through, which might have occurred if I used dried cherries. Nonetheless, a good snacking cake.

7 tblsp butter, softened1/4 c white sugar1/2 c brown sugar1 egg1/2 tsp vanilla extract3/4 cup flour 3/4 cup oats1 tsp baking powder pinch coarse sea salt Heaping 1/2 c chipsScant cup frozen cherries, thawed and chopped
Round cake pan350 for 30

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour a round cake pan. Cream butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla till just combined. Add remaining ingredients till just combined. The batter will be sticky. Spread evenly over the bottom of the cake pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

So even though this little archive is full of desserts, the majority of the recipes have very little butter or sugar, or can somehow otherwise masquerade as being "healthy." These cookies...not so. There are TWO sticks of butter (!), quite a bit of sugar, and an entire bag of chocolate chips. They are decadent and delicious and buttery and indulgent. I have no regrets.

Photo doesn't do them justice

Magic Apple Cobbler

I haven't been updating here much because I haven't been trying out new recipes; I've been making a lot of old favorites though :) I only post a recipe when it's new (to me at least!)

Deb at Smitten Kitchen only posted this recipe two weeks ago and I've already made it twice: once with apples, once with pears. It was super easy, definitely "magic," (because you don't mix the batter into the butter and it magically comes together while it cooks) and worked well with both fruits. A nice recipe to have on hand to quickly throw together a dessert.

https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/09/magic-apple-plum-cobbler/

Cherry-Peach Summer Slump

This recipe is one of the main reasons why I am keeping this little dessert diary: to help me remember things that I make! Last week, I had a bunch of peaches and cherries that I wanted to use up quickly, and I recalled making a sort of cobbler-ish dessert a few years back. I couldn't remember where I got the recipe or even what it was called, and after wracking my brain and doing some googling, I finally found this blueberry slump recipe, from Saveur (from 4 years ago!). I swapped the peaches and cherries for the blueberries - I think pretty much any fruit or combination of fruits could work great here - and threw it together,

LUCKILY, I remembered from the last time I made this, that the blueberry juices leaked all over my oven, so I had the foresight to put a cookie sheet under my pan. The cherry-peach juices leaked everywhere. I might be using a slightly smaller cast iron pan than is called for in the recipe, because this made a lot of dough. Too much dough. It basically covered all of the fruit in the pan - it did not look like drops of dough-y biscuits, like the photo from Saveur - and then I think I cooked it for a few minutes too long because it was not an airy biscuit, even straight out of the oven.

All that said, this is a really easy, but impressive, dish, especially if you use the right fruit-to-dough ratio. Next time I make this I am going to cut the dough amount in half.

Jeni's Splendid "Buckeye State" ice cream

I love natural peanut butter so much that I often snack on it directly from the jar, sometimes dropping chocolate chips on top of my spoon to make it fancy. I also love ice cream. However, I never really liked peanut butter flavored ice cream. But I do really like buckeye candies....so, I tried a recipe from Jeni's for "buckeye state" ice cream which includes salty peanut butter, honey and chocolate (I used my Jeni's book to make the recipe, which can also be found here via another blogger). I liked it because it really does taste like a frozen buckeye, but I am still not sure I am a peanut butter ice cream fan (it's so weird to me!). But Eric stated that it was teh best ice cream he ever tasted, so at least one of us was happy :)

Halva Chocolate Chip Cookies

On an unusually cool July afternoon, I decided to bake. I ransacked my pantry and threw together this recipe with the random ingredients I had on hand. Riffing on this salted tahini chocolate chip cookie recipe that I made in the Spring, and these "Famous Oatmeal Cookies" from my old Quaker Oats tin, I came up with these Halva Chocolate Chip Cookies and I am really happy how they turned out. I love the combo of oats and chocolate, and the chopped halva melts in the oven and adds a nutty sweetness. I also tossed in about a teaspoon of instant espresso which helps to bring out more flavor. My only complaint was that these cookies spread in the pan SO much; I am not quite sure why that happened. They had perfect chewiness, which I was aiming for, but would have preferred if these didn't spread so much. (Including a link to this cookie cooking chart here to help me prevent that in the future).

1 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp instant espresso
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 1/2 cups oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 heaping cup halva, chopped (I used pistachio)
1 scant cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


Heat oven to 350. Combine first 7 ingredients; mix well. Add next 3 dry ingredients and mix just till combined. Stir in chopped halva and chocolate chips. Spoon onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake between 12-15 minutes (mine cooked for 13.5 minutes).

Enjoy :)

Lemon Frozen Yogurt with Blackberry-Raspberry Swirl

Made this delicious frozen yogurt from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams while trying to use up my berry bounty from last month. I used a mixture of raspberries and blackberries (instead of blueberries) to make the swirl. This was a winner. The berry swirl was tart and delicious, and the lemon frozen yogurt could have even help up on it's own without a fruit swirl. We all really liked this one.

Blackberry Breakfast Bars

Whenever our grocery store has a big sale on berries, we stock up. Which is great - who doesn't love fresh berries? - but really puts pressure on me to use them up quickly. Last month we got several containers of blackberries that I tried to use up fast. I ended up making this breakfast bar recipe from Smitten Kitchen, subbing raspberries for blackberries. I also used about a cup of buckwheat flour in place of most of the white flour (I had that on hand from a CSA box from a month or two previously). I think the buckwheat flour has a different cooking quality than white flour, because I cooked these as indicated and they seemed underdone. The flavor was really nice, though, and it was good to find a recipe to use up lots of blackberries all at once. I love the flavor of blackberries, really hate the size and texture of them for some reason.

Zucchini Ricotta Galette

Not a dessert, but this item came out so perfectly that I wanted to keep a record of it here. For a cookout with neighbors over the weekend, I made this zucchini ricotta galette to share. It was delicious! 

Blackberry flummery

I found this recipe last summer and vowed to make it someday, based on the name alone. Blackberries are probably the only fruit out there that I just don't like eating in their original form. Something about their size and the texture really turns me off. But I do like making things with blackberries, because the flavor is so good. So when my store had a crazy sale on them last week, I snatched up a couple boxes, planning to make something with them. Then I remembered I had this recipe from Saveur magazine. It really did come together in 20 minutes - I know this because I raced home from work to make it, and only had 20 minutes of free time before I had to leave to pick up my kids from school. I popped them in the fridge to cool so they'd e ready to eat for dessert.



                                                       

Verdict? I am conflicted. I really, really hate Jell-O, and the consistency of this dessert is just like Jell-O. On the other hand, the flavor is amazing. It's a perfectly sweetened, concentrated blackberry flavor with a hint of lemon. If this was, say, a sauce that you could spoon over vanilla ice cream, it would be excellent. But the fact that it's like Jell-O makes it kind of weird. My husband tried it and agreed. My kids refused to even put a tiny spoon of it in their mouths. (My 23-month old politely said "no thank you" when I offered it to her.) If you are a fan of Jell-O and looking for something with a more sophisticated flavor, this would be the dessert for you.

Spiced buckwheat and walnut jam cake

I was searching for a recipe that called for buckwheat flour, since we got a bag of it in our CSA recently and I needed to find ways to use it up. I found one on a British website that I altered slightly; had to convert the ingredients from grams to cups, and decided to add the jam topping (thinking about this recipe that I have made many, many times before) instead of the cream cheese and blackberry compote topping that was in the original recipe. Voila! Here's what I came up with and I am really happy with it. The cake is sweet, nutty, and light. The strawberry topping pairs well with the spices in the cake. All the flavors are nicely balanced, but if I make this again I would try it with only 1/2 cup sugar, only because I prefer desserts to be not too sweet.



For the cake:

4 large eggs
Scant 1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup buckwheat flour
2/3 cup walnuts, ground
pinch of ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
fresh nutmeg
1/2 cup canola oil

For the topping:

1/2 cup strawberry preserves
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses


Heat oven to 350. Use an electric mixer to blend two of the eggs, two of the yolks and the sugar on high until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes. Sift the buckwheat flour into a medium bowl, mix with the walnuts and spices, then incorporate into the egg mix, a third at a time. Mix in the oil until incorporated.

In large bowl, mix remaining two egg whites to soft peaks, then fold into the batter until just combined. Pour into a round glass buttered Pyrex pie plate and bake 35-40 minutes, until tester comes out clean. Cool completely and then tip onto a plate.

Meanwhile: mix preserves, lemon juice and pomegranate molasses in small bowl. Spread over cooled cake.

Tahini and halva brownies

These are hands-down my new favorite dessert. But they are definitely too indulgent to make regularly. The original recipe - by Ottolenghi - is in grams, so I had to convert it to cups, and then I halved it when I realized I didn't have enough butter and chocolate. However, my brownies came out great. In fact, even though the recipe is halved, it still yielded 16 two-bite brownies. And since they are so indulgent, I think that's an ideal quantity. I sprinkled more halva on the top than Ottolenghi recommended, and it melted into a layer over the top of the brownie; almost like a halva "icing." It is so delicious.

1 stick butter, cubed
4oz unsweetened Baker's chocolate
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/3 cup walnuts, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
salt
1/3 cup tahini paste
2/3 cup halva, chopped (I used pistachio halva; came out great)

Preheat oven to 350.

Use a double boiler to melt the chocolate and the butter; let cool slightly.

Whisk the sugar and eggs until pale and creamy. Fold in chocolate mix, and then fold in flour, cocoa, walnuts and a pinch of salt. Pour into an 8x8" Pyrex lined with foil and spread in an even layer.

Dollop the tahini on top of the batter, and swirl in with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the chopped halva on top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until top is crisp and toothpick inserted into batter comes out with crumbs sticking to it.

                                 

 

Almond Cake with Cardamom and Pistachio

This New York Times recipe hits a couple of my flavor obsessions: almonds and pistachios. I was at the end of both my almond extract and my cardamom supply, so I had to supplement a little bit with vanilla extract (about 1/2 teaspoon) and cinnamon (1 teaspoon). I didn't have confectioner's sugar, so to get the chopped pistachios to stick on the top of the cake, I made a swirl of honey and then sprinkled the nuts on top. I love finding recipes that don't require any butter. This one is sweet and nutty and so flavorful. Everyone loved it, even the kids. Will definitely make this one again.

                               

 

Chocolate Caramel Matzo Crackers

One important lesson that Elena is learning at her school, is what I predict will be a lifelong love of challah bread and matzoh crackers. She devours both! She came food shopping with me over Passover, and when she saw boxes of matzoh on display, insisted that we buy some. We had a bunch leftover, so I was glad when this chocolate caramel cracker recipe popped up on my FB feed. It was super quick and easy to make. I sprinkled sea salt and flax seeds on top. Highly addictive!

Buckwheat Banana Muffins

The CSA included a package of buckwheat flour in the last box, and I happened to have two super ripe bananas that I needed to make something with, so I came up with these muffins:

2 large bananas
2 eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp nutmeg (I used fresh)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup buckwheat flour
scant 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
scant 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

-Combine bananas, eggs, almond extract and spices.
-Sift together soda, powder and flour.
-Stir dry ingredients into wet ones.
-Fold in chips and walnuts.
-Scoop into muffin tins.
-Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Result = a healthy, flavorful muffin! Doesn't need any added sugar because the bananas were so ripe and sweet.

Salted Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tahini is one of my favorite foods. It's, apparently, also having a "moment" in the culinary world. So when the NY Times posted this cookie recipe recently I knew I'd be making it ASAP. They were pretty good cookies, they have a slightly nutty flavor but I wouldn't be able to tell the nuttiness was from tahini if I didn't make the cookies myself. I like cookies to be chewy, and these were crispy-crunchy; if I make them again I won't cook them as long.

Yellow Butter Birthday Cake, Cherry Poppy Seed Cake, and the Browniest Cookies

I have been slacking with keeping up on this archive, but I have been baking a lot these past few weeks. Quick synopsis:

Elena's 4th birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and she requested something "sparkle-pink" (her favorite color) to eat for dessert. I made a classic yellow cake with white buttercream frosting in a 9 x 13" pan, using this recipe from The Kitchn. I found some really sparkly pink sanding sugar in the bulk bins at our supermarket, along with red writing icing and lollipop candles. I used a few drops of red food coloring to turn the cake batter light pink. Elena loved it!

Since I was serving brunch during her birthday party, I also wanted to include a baked good that adults might prefer. A few weeks prior to her party, I found this cherry poppy bread on David Leibovitz's site, so I figured it'd be a perfect time to give it a try. It came out exactly as in those pictures and it was so lemony and delicious. I'll definitely be making this one again. I love trying out alternatives to banana bread, and this was great.

Finally, my brother came to visit last weekend. When we were kids his favorite dessert was brownies; specifically, he loved a recipe my mom used to make called "Texas Brownies" which were made in a sheet pan and frosted. Since we are older and (in theory) have more sophisticated palates, I thought I'd try this very indulgent triple chocolate version from Smitten Kitchen, called "'the browniest cookies"  They were very rich and yummy. Everyone loved these.

Spelt and Oat bars

I made these with apple butter instead of fig preserves; they were decent: I made them because I received spelt flour in my CSA box and I was looking for ways to use that up. I probably won't make these again unless I get more spelt flour!

Double chocolate banana bread

Made this a few times this winter; it looks much more chocolate-y and indulgent than it is: Smitten Kitchen's double chocolate banana bread  There is no white sugar, and only 3/4 cup brown sugar (which I typically scale back to 1/2 cup) so it is not too sweet. I think I like this version better than the chocolate chip banana bread I usually make. I confess I do eat it for breakfast...

Valentines Edition: Chocolate Peppermint Bars and Streusel Coffee Cake

Homemade York Peppermint Patties, but better! These are very rich and delicious.

Eric and I usually take turns sleeping in on the weekends, and it was his turn to sleep in on Valentine's Day morning, so I asked him if I could make him a special breakfast. He requested coffee cake, so I used one of mom's old recipes. I did a mix 1/4 cup sliced almonds, 1/4 cup salted pepitas. Came out great. I had to cook it an extra 15 minutes because I used an 8 x 8 pan.

Lemon Tart

Found this recipe in Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking book.

Swedish Visiting Cake

I found this recipe on Dorie Greenspan's site and I am so glad I made it; prep and baking time took all of 30 minutes and like Dorie says, it makes the house smell so good! The amount of butter and sugar in the recipe creates an almost caramelized chewiness that was super yummy. And I loved the lemon flavor.

Chocolate Victory Bars

Last weekend I made these these chocolate victory bars which I had high hopes for. They were described as homemade Luna Nutz over Chocolate bars (yum). I followed the recipe exactly and used brown rice syrup as directed...but I think this ruined the recipe. This is the second time I tried brown rice syrup in a granola bar dessert and each time, the result was almost inedible. That syrup is like a cement that hardens anything that it is used in. I could only eat these bars if I dunked them for a minute or two in coffee first. Oh well!

Apple Butter Oatmeal Cookies

No photo :( but these cookies were super soft and nutty. The apple butter really added an unexpected depth of flavor. No white sugar. Felt very "healthy."

Dutch Baby Pancake

Since the start of this "blog" I have made this dutch baby pancake from Smitten Kitchen so many times, that my cookbook almost automatically opens to that recipe page. This is the perfect winter Sunday morning breakfast to me, and I make it almost every weekend. The recipe makes one single pancake, and it is delicious sprinkled with snow-white confectioner's sugar, or drizzled with maple syrup. They are barely-sweet, faintly eggy-tasting, soo easy to throw together and absolutely delish. Happily - for me - my kids and my husband are completely indifferent to these, so I usually get the entire pancake for myself :)

Bubbly butter!

Martha Stewart's marble cupcakes

I had never made a marbled baked good in my history as an amateur baker, and I needed a New Year's treat to satisfy kids and adults alike. These fit the bill. They are from Martha Stewart's "Cupcakes" book. The cake part had a pretty sophisticated flavor, where you could discern the vanilla from the dark chocolate. They were springy and moist. Could serve them without the icing for an equally delicious snack. I cheated here and used a jar of frosting I had on hand (this was to appeal to the kids; who can pass up multi-colored star sprinkles?), which made them a bit more indulgent.

Alsace-style cheesecake

A delicious and airy-light cheesecake (made with no cheese at all, actually. Greek yogurt instead) that I made for mom's birthday. It has booze-soaked dried cherries in it. Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi cookbook.

CHRISTMAS EDITION: Chocolate Crunch Cake, Fresh Orange Cake, Cranberry Crackle Tart

For holidays, and when I know I'll have guests over, I love to make three desserts. I know I'll always have plenty if there are three options, and I like to find recipes that all harmonize well. I was really happy with the sweets I made for Christmas; all three came from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking Chez Moi" book. I didn't get any pics, unfortunately. 

Chocolate Crunch Cake: the "crunch" of this cake comes from poppy seeds. It was mousse-like, very rich, and super easy to make. I love poppy seeds so was delighted to find this recipe where they are featured prominently.

Fresh Orange Cake:  I made the slight fancy variation of this cake, which involved boiling orange slices in a sugar-water, draining the oranges, and then topping the cake with the slices. This cake was hands-down my favorite of the bunch, it was so buttery and orange-y, but not overly sweet, so in my book it was perfect. I will definitely make this again but I will likely leave off the orange slices.

Cranberry Crackle Tart  I love fresh cranberries and buy them regularly in the fall and winter when they are available in supermarkets. This cranberry meringue was a really neat combination, with the succulent cranberries suspended in the airy meringue. I also made the Sweet Tart Dough that Dorie recommends for this.