Cranberry Pistachio Cookies

Last weekend, as part of our Advent Conspiracy celebration, I decided we would spend the afternoon baking for the girl's Sunday School teachers. I planned on making a pistachio cookie recipe that I had seen on Pinterest, but when I went to get started, I discovered it required a sugar cookie mix, which I didn't have! Instead, I adapted a recipe from allrecipes.com to use the ingredients that I DID have.

My family really liked these. (Yes, "liked." They are long gone!) They turned out very moist and flavorful, and the salt from the pistachios gave them that great salty/sweet factor! The best thing about this recipe is that you don't have to give a cookie mix any credit!

My adjusted recipe is as follows,

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 (3.5 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup chopped pistachios
• 1 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add pudding mix, eggs and vanilla. Combine flour and baking soda; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Fold in pistachios and cranberries
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Cranberry Apple Cake

I watched Ina Garten make this cake a few weeks ago, and it was right up my alley! I love foods that are a little rustic and friendly. Plus, I have about 10 lbs of frozen cranberries in my freezer, so this was perfect. However, I have to say I was a little scared of all of the cranberries. I thought about trying it with all blueberries, but since I was able to get a good deal on Granny Smith apples this week, I decided to just change up the ratio.

I have to say, it is VERY good. The actual cake is incredible. Even my husband, who thinks anything with fruit is a "fruitcake," went crazy for it. I would definitely make this again, and I think that you could pretty easily change up the fruits. I'm thinking cherry would be awesome, so I'll have to try that one of these days!

Here is my adjusted recipe,

• 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen cranberries
• 3 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest (2 oranges)
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 1/8 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine the cranberries, apple, brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs on medium-high speed for 2 minutes. With the mixer on medium, add 1 cup of the granulated sugar, the butter, vanilla, and sour cream and beat just until combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour and salt.
Pour the fruit mixture evenly into a 10-inch glass pie plate. Pour the batter over the fruit, covering it completely. Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the batter. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the fruit is bubbling around the edges. Serve warm or at room temperature.

***

A few tips...

I was really generous with the cinnamon and sugar on top, and I think it made *all* the difference. So good! Also, this took me closer to 60-65 minutes to bake thoroughly. Just watch carefully to make sure the middle is really done!

Cranberry Orange Scones

My cafe at work has some seriously amazing blueberry scones. I've been trying to find a recipe worth trying on my own for awhile, so I was excited when I found this recipe for blueberry lemon scones. I'd never made scones before, but I thought it looked pretty easy! However, even though I was REALLY stoked about blueberry lemon scones, I have an ABUNDANCE of cranberries in my freezer and no lemons to speak of. Instead, I ended up making cranberry orange scones. It's not quite what I was going for, but I figured it was a great way to test the base recipe, which is what really matters anyway. The important part is the base recipe, and the fun part is trying a really really good recipe in new ways. I'm REALLY happy to report that this base recipe is GREAT. Really, really good. I'll be sticking with it! Here is my adapted recipe for cranberry orange scones from www.goodlifeeats.com.

***

Cranberry Orange Scones:

Scones:

• 4 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Zest of one orange
• 1 cup room temperature butter, cubed
  
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate (I used fresh squeezed as I already had on hand.)
  
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped ( I tossed mine in vanilla sugar.)

Icing:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 T frozen orange juice concentrate (Again, I used fresh.)
  

Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and orange zest. Cube the butter and mix in to the mixture until the butter is pea sized. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, orange juice and milk together. Stir into the flour mixture until the dough is moist, do not over mix. Knead in the cranberries. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead a couple of times. Divide dough into two equal balls. Pat each ball into an 8 inch circle. (Be careful to make sure it is not too thick in the center.) Place each ball onto a parchment paper lined or greased cookie sheet. Score each circle with a knife into 6 wedges. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until done and lightly golden. Allow the scones to cool. Meanwhile, stir powdered sugar and orange juice concentrate together. Drizzle over cooled scones. (I sanded the scones in the picture with vanilla sugar because they were just TOO pretty to frost!)

***

The only "problem" I ran in to is that after I left mine cool a little, I cut in to it to check out the middle. It wasn't done yet, so I had to throw them back in the oven to see if I could bake them through a little more. I HATE it when that happens, but it seems like it happens the first time I bake any recipe! In the future, I will definitely plan on baking these for at least 28 minutes and rechecking. I'm thinking they easily could have gone for 30 minutes and maybe a little longer. Darn, I wish I would have baked these up separately!

I also kind of think that scoring these in to only six scones made my scones TOO big. I mean, I would love to eat a HUGE scone, but who can really do that??? Next time, I'll probably experiment with how to cut these in to smaller wedges.

Now, the only "problem" I'm having is how to NOT eat a 12 cranberry oranges scones.

For more recipes, see Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Tuesdays at the Table, LifeasMom, Joy of Desserts, Grocery Cart Challenge.

Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins

Remember how I bought like 6 lbs of cranberries last week? In my search for cranberry recipes, I came upon this recipe for pumpkin cranberry muffins. I was a little wary of the cranberry and pumpkin combination, but I figured with the high ratings, I didn't have much to lose!

I made these for the first time last Sunday as an after dinner snack. We ate them warm out of the oven, and we were a little "eh" about them. Both my big girl and my husband thought the cranberries were too tart. The other half of the family (being me and the little girl) thought they were just fine but nothing to excited about. Incidentally, I took one to work for an afternoon snack and Oh.My.Gosh. these were so delicious the next day. Really, REALLY delicious.

I did adjust these a little bit for health purposes the first time I made them. The second time I made them, I decided to ramp up the spice a little bit too. Here is my adjusted recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
  
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar; add the pumpkin and oil and mix well. Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the cranberries. Fill foil-or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Top with cinnamon and sugar.

I hope you enjoy!

Cranberry Almond Bars

Yes, yes, I borrowed another recipe from my favorite baking site Bakeat350. (Check out her cookies. They are insanely gorgeous.) These cranberry bars just looked so delicious and festive, I had to try them! I made them last night with the intent to take them to my food day at work this morning.

Aren't they pretty???


Incidentally, I ended up taking my last personal day at work today, so they're begging for me to eat them. I did try a little bite, and they are DELICIOUS. The cranberries make the sweet bars so zippy and flavorful. Although, my husband DID say it was basically a "fruit cake." Truth be told, I don't think he's ever HAD fruit cake.

Cranberry Almond Bars

3/4 cup unsalted butter, plus more for pan
1 & 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp pure almond extract
1 & 1/2 c. unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp coarse salt
2 c. fresh cranberries
1/3 c. slivered almonds

Melt the 3/4 c butter and set aside (or in the fridge) to cool.

Reserve 2 TBSP of the almonds for the top of the batter and chop the remaining. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x 8" pan with foil (for easy removal later!)

Beat the sugar and eggs for 3 minutes.

Add the cooled melted butter and almond extract; beat until combined.

Whisk together the flour & salt. Add to the sugar/butter mixture and mix on low until combined.

Stir in the cranberries and chopped almonds.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan...spread evenly over the pan. Sprinkle with the reserved almonds.

Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with crumbs but not wet. (Cover with foil the last 5 minutes of baking to prevent over-browning, if necessary.)

Life the foil and bars out of the pan once cool!

For other recipes, see Grocery Cart Challenge.

Easiest recipe ever...

I thought I'd share the world's easiest dinner. Every time I share it, I think of it as a gift to all of the busy moms out there!

Cranberry Crockpot Chicken

2 lbs of chicken breasts (I've also heard pork chops work great!)
1 can of whole berry cranberry sauce
1 packet of dry french onion soup mix

You just have to let it simmer on low for 4 or 5 hours or until the chicken is cooked through. I love to serve it with wild rice and corn as a sort of "harvest" celebration.

Many thanks to my friend Tara, who shared it with me!

Join in the recipe sharing fun at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. What a fun blog!