White Chocolate Cranberry Bars

I often find myself thinking ahead to the next holiday.   Not only to plan an activity or event around it but also to make sure I have plenty of fun things to bake for that particular holiday.  I guess its all part of my passion for baking. 

This past holiday season I did a huge amount of baking - not only for my family and friends but also for a local gift shop that wanted to sale homemade baked goodies for the holiday season.  I was a baking fool!  And I was in "baking HEAVEN" as I had an opportunity to bake to my hearts content many of the recipes that I had been accumulating on my wish list.  One of the recipes that I made was called, White Chocolate Cranberry Bars.  I found the recipe in the Fat Witch Brownies cookbook - originally the recipe was just for White Chocolate Bars but because I was in the mood for some dried cranberries I decided to sprinkle some into the batter.  Success I say! The tart sweetness of the cranberries was perfectly paired with the smooth richness of the white chocolate. I was delighted with the results!

Valentine's Day is just around the corner.   These brownies would be just perfect for Heart Day as it is made with chocolate (how can you not bake something with chocolate in it for Heart Day!) and it has a sprinkling of red from the dried cranberries.  I am thinking that I will make a batch of these brownies and then cut out servings with heart cookie cutters.  A perfect Valentine's Day treat!

 

White Chocolate Cranberry Bars

(slightly adapted from Fat Witch Brownies)

Ingredients:

6 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped

5 Tbps unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x9 baking pan with butter and dust with flour lightly.  Tap out any excess flour.

2. Melt white chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat.  Stir constantly so as to make sure that the chocolate does not burn.  Remove chocolate and butter from heat before completely melted and continue to stirring until mixture is completely smooth.  Set saucepan aside to cool.

3. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla extract all together in a large bowl until smooth.  Add in white chocolate butter mixture and mix until well combined.

4. Measure flour, baking powder and salt into a sifter or fine sieve - sift together directly into batter.  Mix until well combined and there is no trace of the dry ingredients remains. 

5. Spread batter into prepared baking pan with a spatula. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is light brown and cracked.  Turn off oven and leave pan inside oven for 8 more minutes.

Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting and serving. 

YUM!

Happy White Chocolate Cranberry Bars Baking!

A gift of a soup...Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

Recently a good friend of mine (Hey, Melissa!) made a big pot of this soup and handed me a lovely container of it for me to enjoy with my family.  What a gift of a soup!  Not only did we enjoy a delicious lunch of hot soup on a damp cold day but I then acquired recipe that I have been able to use over and over again since then to make as gifts for other friends of mine. One of my friends even said that it was the BEST soup she had ever tasted.  Goodness did that make me happy! 

The flavors of pumpkin, curry and cumin all come together to form a delicious party in your mouth.  The texture of the soup is fun too as it has the smoothness of the pumpkin puree but also the perfection of the small black beans along with soft diced tomatoes.  All of the textures and tastes come together to make one delicious soup. 

And the soup is very easy to make!  It would make a lovely week-night dish as it can be made and on the table within 30 minutes.

 

Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

(recipe from Rachel Ray)

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes in juice, undrained

1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed

2 cans (15 oz) pumpkin puree

1 cup heavy cream (I used 1/2 and 1/2)

1 heaping Tbsp curry powder

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

salt to taste

chives, chopped for garnish

Directions:

1.  Heat a large soup pan over medium high heat with 2 Tbsp of olive oil.  Add in chopped onion and cook until translucent and soft.

2. Add in broth, diced tomatoes, black beans and pumpkin puree.  Stir all together and bring soup to a gentle boil.

3. Reduce heat to medium low and stir in cream (or 1/2 and 1/2), curry powder, ground cumin and salt.  Simmer soup for at least 5 minutes.  Taste soup and adjust seasonings if need be.

Sprinkle soup with chopped chives and serve with a lovely hearty bread.  D'lish!

Happy Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup Making!

Almond Torte for the Secret Recipe Club

Today I greet you with a beautiful recipe for an Almond Torte.  This month for the Secret Recipe Club I was assigned to an amazingly savory and creative food blog called, Gastronomical Sovereignty .  My goodness is Kristy a talented cook!  She makes dishes that I dream of having on my table every night.  Vegetables of all kinds is one of her focuses along with many, many spices all coming together to make beautiful dishes.

As many of you know so well, I tend to gravitate towards the sweets of life.  I choose an Almond Torte to make from Kristy's collection of recipes.  A simple recipe that requires simple ingredients yet has a very satisfying result.  As mentioned by Kristy this cake is perfectly paired with a nice HOT cup of tea.  I do have to say that in order for this cake to be a success you must have a food processor as you will need to grind roasted almonds and granulated sugar to achieve the right consistency for the recipe.

Almond Torte

(recipe from Gastronomical Sovereignty)

Ingredients:

450 g whole blanched almonds, lightly roasted

10 1/2 Tbsp butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

6 eggs

1 cup flour

2 tsp grated lemon rind (1 lemon gave me the perfect amount)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease 9" spring form pan.

2. Place roasted almonds in food processor and grind for about 20-30 seconds to obtain a fine consistency.  Do the same with the granulated sugar.

3. Cream together butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.  Add in eggs one at a time to combine well after each addition.

3. Stir in ground almonds, sugar, flour and lemon rind. Mix just until all combined.

4. Pour batter into prepared spring form pan and bake for 1 hr and 20 minutes. Cool for 5-10 minutes before removing side of pan.

Share with dear friends and family - serve with hot tea or coffee.  YUM!

Happy Almond Torte Baking!

Shrimp Fried Rice

It is essential to have a quick, super yummy, stress free and healthy dinner recipe up your sleeve for this time of year. I am sure many of you are starting to get that heavy almost dizzy feeling of holiday craziness swirling around in your head by now.  Goodness it is almost 2 1/2 weeks until Christmas (yes, I said 2 1/2 weeks!) by golly!  Don't panic.  It will ALL get done some how or another.  And if it doesn't....well, there is always next year.  Can you tell how I calm myself down when I start to panic about not being able to fit it all in or complete all those last minute "most make" or "must bake" or "must finish" projects?  I reason with myself.  That's all there is to it.  And then I eat something delicious and all my stress disappears just like that!  Magic. Simple and pure magic. 

 Today I want to share with you a little magical recipe for dinner time (or lunch if you are so inclined).  It is simple.  It is quick. It is even flexible as far as ingredients are concerned.  And yes, it is SUPER good!  Shrimp Fried Rice.  And, if you really want you could add cooked beef or chicken to the rice instead of shrimp.  Or you could just load it up with lots of veggies and call it a Veggie Fried Rice.  Go nuts with this recipe.  Make it your own variation of fried rice with what you choose to add in to it.  No matter what it will be magically d'lish!

Shrimp Fried Rice

(recipe found on my go-to recipe source, Tasty Kitchen - I just LOVE this site!!)

Ingredients:

1 cup rice (white or brown)

4-6 Tbsp butter (you choose how crazy you want to get with your butta...I used 4 Tbsp and it was plenty)

1 lb shrimp,  washed, shelled and deveined

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 onion, chopped

1/3 cup soy sauce (more or less depending on your taste)

3-4 green onions, chopped

Directions:

1. Cook rice in 2 cups water until done.  Add in butter and toss around a bit so that it melts into rice nicely.

2.  Saute chopped onions until soft and translucent.  Add to rice along with soy sauce, peas and shrimp.   Cook all together for a good 5-7 minutes making sure peas are no longer frozen and shrimp is not over cooked.

3. Just before serving toss in chopped green onions and then sprinkle some on top of dish just for good measure (and to make it pretty).

Enjoy!

Happy Shrimp Fried Rice Making!

Honey Challah Bread for Secret Recipe Club

There are many things in life that make me happy.   For example; a beautiful tablecloth, a cup of tea/coffee shared with a close friend, precious baby leaves on the branches of a tree in the Spring-time, the hands and smiles of my children and the process of making bread made with yeast.  Yes, I love to make bread.  I love the process of taking simple ingredients and creating a soft and full bowl of dough that comes alive before my eyes creating a master piece of yumminess into a loaf of bread. 

This past month I was given a gift of a new recipe for a bread made with yeast, Honey Challah.  I discovered this recipe as I was exploring the blog, Farm Girl Gourmet as I was assigned this amazing blog for the month of November from the Secret Recipe Club.  I felt so fortunate to be assigned Farm Girl Gourmet's blog.  I actually double checked my email that contained my blog assignment just to make sure my pure happiness was in the right place as I was over the moon excited to have been given the blog Farm Girl Gourmet.  Heather's blog is packed with beautiful recipes that are explained to perfection and shown with amazing and very helpful pictures. I have had so much fun frequenting her blog and getting to know her from afar.  If only we lived closer I might have just invited myself over for tea as she seems like someone I would just adore getting to know in real life.  :-)

I have been looking for a good Challah recipe now for some time so when I opened Heather's blog to discover that she had the very recipe I had been searching for I couldn't resist making her bread.  What a gem of a recipe!  So easy and out-of-this-world delicious!  It will be a perfect bread for me to make as gifts for this holiday season. 

Honey Challah
(recipe from Farm Girl Gourmet)

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
4 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 cup sugar + 1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 eggs
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 - 5 cups flour (more if needed)
1 egg beaten, for the egg wash

Directions:
1. Add warm water to the bowl of a standing mixer.  Attach dough hook.  Sprinkle yeast and 1 tsp sugar over the warm water.  Stir all together briefly and allow the 3 ingredients to grow together for 5 minutes.

2. Add in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, honey, butter, 3 eggs, salt and 4 1/2 cups flour to the bowl.  On the lowest speed, mix all together until the flour is mostly incorporated and then increase speed to medium and mix for 5 minutes.  Dough will become smooth with elasticity.  Add in more flour if needed to make a soft craggy ball (I had to add in at least another cup to get to this stage but don't add too much flour as you want your dough to be very soft).  
3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand about 5 times.  Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat all sides of dough.  Cover with a damp, clean towel and place in warm draft free area for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.  (I placed my covered bowl in a closed oven that I had warmed briefly on the lowest temperature and then turned off as Heather so brilliantly suggested to do in her recipe. It worked like a charm!)

Hello there magical dough!

4. Gently punch down dough and then place on a lightly floured surface.  Divide dough into 3 equal pieces.  Using your hands, roll out each piece to a 14" rope.  Pinch the 3 ropes together and then braid loosely, pinching together at the end.

5. Place braid on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Allow dough to rest and double in size in a draft free location - which should take about 45 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush braided bread completely with beaten egg.  Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.  Cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make sure you slice off a piece of this heavenly bread while it still holds some heat from the oven.  Slather it with butter, close your eyes and take a bite.  You won't regret it.  I promise you!

Served with your favorite jam is also quite yummy....

I want to take a moment to show my deep appreciation to Amanda, who created the Secret Recipe Club and Tami who does such an amazing job as the hostess of my group (Group D). I am having so much fun discovering new blogs and making new friends through the fun of the Secret Recipe Club!

Happy Honey Hallah Bread Baking!

Apple Pie Cake

I actually have an APPLE recipe for you today instead of a PUMPKIN recipe! I feel like all I do is bake with pumpkin these days.  Which is not a bad thing at all believe me (I ADORE pumpkin!!) - but I like to provide a little variety in my baking to keep my friends, family and blog readers happy. :-)

When I came across this recipe for an Apple Pie Cake my eyes grew wide, my heart started to beat faster and bounced in my chair with happiness.  An Apple Pie Cake sounded AMAZING!  Boy, oh boy was it ever!  So yummy.  So easy to make. AND it only requires 6 ingredients to make!!!! Yup, only SIX. 

You will need a 9 inch springform pan to make this apple-lious treat. A lovely mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and (COLD) butter form the bottom, sides and top of this pie/cake.  You will first gently press a large portion of the brown sugar/flour mixture on the bottom and sides of the springform pan, fill the inside with all your prepared tart apples and then top apples with the remaining brown sugar/flour mixture.  Which becomes the top of the pie/cake. It all comes together like magic as you are using such simple ingredients to make a wonderfully unique and delicious dessert.  So grab some apples, your springform pan, a couple of ingredients from your pantry and fridge and preheat your oven to create a perfect Fall dessert.   Then invite me over for a piece - I will bring freshly sweetened whipped cream to go on top! ;-)


Apple Pie Cake
(from the famous Martha Stewart)

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
about 12 tart apples - such as Granny Smith
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. With a pastry cutter add in butter pieces and cut into flour mixture until small pea size pieces remain. 


2. Press 2/3 of the brown sugar/flour/butter mixture on the bottom and up 1 inch of the sides of a 9 inch springform pan. Set pan aside.


3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare apples by peeling and then slicing into thin slices and placing in a large bowl.  Sprinkle apples with lemon juice so that they do not turn brown and then sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp of ground cinnamon.

4. Place sliced apples into the shell of your prepared springform pan, pressing down gently as you pack them in.  If the apples mound over the edge of your pan that is ok - the more the better!  Sprinkle remaining brown sugar/flour/butter mixture over apples.

5. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and then place prepared dessert on top before popping the whole thing into the oven.   Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. When pie/cake come out of the oven carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan and then allow to cool so that the magical yummy treat can set.

Serve at room temperature if you wish!

Happy Apple Pie Cake Baking!

Pumpkies (the cutest name ever)

I mean seriously doesn't it make you want to say, "ahhh" when you hear the word pumpkie?  I just love that word! And I love what a pumpkie actually is! Can you guess what it is? It is not a cookie.  Not cake. Not even a mini pie.  It's a.....brownie!  Yes, a pumpkin brownie! A lovely, sweet and easy to make pumpkin brownie.  A Pumpkie.  Go ahead, you can say it - it will make you smile. :-)

Want the recipe? I know you do!

Pumpkies

(recipe from Mother Thyme - I so LOVE Jennifer's blog)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x8 baking pan - set aside.

2. Beat butter until light and fluffy - about 2-3 minutes.  Add in sugar, egg and pumpkin puree.  Mix all together until well combined.

3. Add in flour, spices and salt to your pumpkin mixture.  Mix all together until well combined.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan and then pop into preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.  Cool as much as you wish and serve.

*I served mine slightly warm and wished that I had some freshly whipped cream to dollop on top as I think that would have been super yummy...next time I will do so!

Happy Pumpkies Baking!