Orange-Cranberry-Nut Fruit Cake

Are you all ready for Christmas?  I am!  We always have a mellow Christmas celebration and my husband and I always emphasize the importance of the birth of Jesus instead of having lots of gifts under the tree.  It helps with all the craziness that's going on around the season.  It really doesn't matter if we have many gifts or only one.  We tell our son that the important things is to be with family and enjoy the season by doing something good.  I digress.

Every Christmas I try to bake a fruitcake.  I have a couple of favorite recipes but this year I wanted to try something new.  This recipe is a keeper.  As it stated in the original King Arthur Flour website, this is more of a cake than a traditional fruitcake.  I do like the light version of fruitcake but I don't mind the dark one if it's being offered to me :)

My family likes fruitcake as well so they're looking forward to it every year.  And even my son commented that this was a good one!

Orange-Cranberry-Nut Fruit Cake

Fruit:
2 cups dried cranberries
2 cups dried fruits (I chose a combination of golden raisins, dried currants, dried apricots, and candied citron)
1/2 cup orange liqueur
1 3/4 cups candied red cherries

Cake:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon orange oil
4 large eggs
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup orange juice
2 cups diced pecans

Glaze:
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup suagr

Icing:
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
Enough milk to make a thick but pourable icing


Prepare the fruit:  Combine dried fruits with orange liqueur in a bowl.  Cover and microwave for 1 to 2 minutes, stir, then set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 325 degree F.

Prepare the cake:  In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light-colored and fluffy.  Beat in the baking powder, salt, and flavors.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and beat again briefly, to incorporate any sticky residue.

Stir in the flour alternately with the orange juice.

Stir in the undrained fruit, the candied cherries, and pecans.

Lightly grease two 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pans.

Spoon batter into the lightly greased baking pans, filling them about three-quarters full.

Bake the cakes for 50 to 70 minutes.  When done, the cakes will be a light golden brown all over, and a long skewer inserted into the center will come out clean.  If cakes brown too quickly during baking, cover lightly with aluminum foil.

Make the glaze:  Stir together the orange juice and sugar while the cakes are baking.  Warm briefly in the microwave; about 45 seconds.  Stir to help dissolve the sugar.  Set aside to rest at room temperature, stirring occasionally to continue dissolving the sugar.

Remove the cakes from the oven, place on the cooling rack.  Let cool for 10 minutes then turn them out onto the rack.  Brush the warm cakes all over with the glaze, continuing to brush until you've used it all.

When completely cooled, wrap well and let "age" at least 24 hours; the cake improves with a 24-hour rest.

Drizzle with icing just before serving.

Store cake, well wrapped, at room temperature; it should keep for a couple of weeks.  Freeze for longer storage.


Source:  adapted from King Arthur Flour website

Oatmeal-Cranberry Cookies

Oh my, November is here already.  The fall color is spectacular here and the weather is actually pretty nice up until a few days ago.  I think it is time to crave for comfort foods again.  I've been doing some cooking with my Instant Pot and the dishes I made were stew and casserole.  My family also has been craving hot apple cider and hot cocoa; I love having them while snuggling up with my comfy blanket.

One of the requests my family has been asking me to make is cookies.  I guess they are starting to miss my baking.  The last time I baked was when my son had a birthday about three weeks ago.  I cheated because I used boxed cake mix, but I made my own marshmallow frosting.  It was a delicious cake nonetheless and I think I like to make it again using a homemade cake.

So here it is, oatmeal-cranberry cookies that I made over the weekend.  The recipe is quite simple; originally it was a oatmeal-raisin cookies but we love cranberries more than raisins.  I like how the recipe uses nutmeg instead of cinnamon.  I think there's cinnamon overuse in baking that I'm glad I don't have to use it all the time.  These cookies are chewy with a little crunch on the edge.  My family is loving the treat in their lunch boxes this week!

Oatmeal-Cranberry Cookies

Makes about 40 medium-sized cookies


1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups old-fashioned oates
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries


Adjust the oven racks to the upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.  Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl; set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined, about 30 seconds.

Decrease the speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients until combined, about 30 seconds.  Mix in the oats and dried cranberries until just incorporated.

Divide the dough into about 40 portions, each a generous 1 tablespoon, and roll them between your hands into balls about 1 inch in diameter.  Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart.

Bake, switching and rotating the sheets halfway through the baking time, until the cookies turn golden brown around the edges, 22 to 25 minutes.  Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 2 minutes; using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.


Source:  adapted from The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2001-2017

Cocomama Quinoa Cereal

Quinoa is still in one of the food trends for 2014, and I'm glad that it won't go away so soon.  Why?  Because I just had an opportunity to sample ready-to-eat quinoa cereal from Cocomama.  I've cooked with quinoa before and I almost always incorporate it into my homemade bread.  It's quite versatile, easy to digest protein-packed grain with slightly crunchy texture.  My bread comes out with fluffy and soft texture which everyone likes and it stays like that for days.

There are several flavors to choose from, Banana Cinnamon, Honey Almond, Orange Cranberry, and Wild Blueberry, and all are equally good. My favorite is Honey Almond flavor, while my son's favorite is the Banana Cinnamon.  What I like about this cereal is that it's precooked, you can eat it either cold or warm--very convenient, and the quantity is just right for breakfast meal.  The crunchy texture is what makes quinoa cereal fun to eat for my son, his only complain is that the banana needs to shine more in the Banana Cinnamon flavor.  I don't have any quips with Honey Almond flavor though; there's coconut cream in the product which I detect but it's not bothersome, in fact I like it.  I think this cereal is much better than those instant flavored oatmeals, this is barely sweet not too mention healthier because of all the natural flavors it uses.

Cocomama also has another product which is called Crunched Out.  This comes in clusters--like pieces of breakfast bars--intended to eat as snacks, in yogurt, milk, or for ice cream topping (delicious!).  I haven't tried this before but I think I will!

Here's the video about their Kickstarter campaign--with link for you to click--and help spread out the revolution of quinoa cereal!



Disclaimer:  I was sent samples of Cocomama Quinoa Cereal.  All opinions are solely my own.

Pear-Cranberry Pie with Almond Meal Crust

The year 2010 has come to just one more day.  It has been a good year to me, it's full of surprises, mostly good thankfully.  It has also been a busy year, with work, traveling to Indonesia, and parents moving across the state.  I like to stay busy and the goals for this year have made me work harder and creatively.  At times I grew frustrated but once the goals were done, I felt good with my accomplishments.

I don't have regrets leaving this year, I'm actually ready for the new year.  Call me an optimist, or someone with a sunny disposition; I'm facing the unknown with a brave face.  And to leave this year in good spirit, I'm posting one more sweet note to you all.  I made a pear-cranberry pie with almond meal crust earlier this month as a way to experiment with pie crust.  I usually make an all-butter crust or half-butter, half-shortening crust for my pie; but I wanted to try an almond meal pie crust from Bob's Red Mill website.  The filling recipe was adapted from a various sources--which honestly spelled "I forgot where I got the recipe".  It's basically an approximation of  about 5-6 pears with a cup or so of fresh cranberries.  Thrown those together with sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, and some cornstarch, if you like.  I got a tasty pie and easy enough to make in under several hours.

I bade farewell to 2010, happy New Year to my readers, hope to see you soon!

Pear-Cranberry Pie with Almond Meal Crust

Makes one 9-inch double-crust pie

Almond Meal Crust

1/2 cup almond meal flour

1 1 2/ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces, chilled

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, chilled

5-6 tablespoons ice water

Combine both flours and salt in the food processor, pulse to mix.  Scatter vegetable shortening and butter over the dry ingredients and pulse several times until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Drizzle half of the water over the flour mixture, pulse several times.  If the mixture seems dry, add some more water and pulse until it seems cohesive enough to form a ball.

Using your hands, divide the pastry into one large ball and one smaller ball.  Flatten each into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until dough is chilled enough to roll (at least 30 minutes).

Pear-cranberry filling

5-6 large ripe pears, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped

1 cup fresh cranberries, picked over for stems

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Glaze

1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon milk

Turbinado, Demerara, or granulated sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.

Combine pears, cranberries, and the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl; toss to combine.

On a floured surface, roll the larger piece of pastry to about 12-inch circle; sprinkling it lightly with flour as needed so doesn't stick.  Carefully fold in half and transfer to a 9-inch pie pan.

Pour the filling over the bottom crust.  Trim away excess dough, leaving about 1-inch overhang.  Roll out the smaller piece of pastry and drape over filling.  Trim edges and pinch to seal.  Make several slits on top crust for the steam to escape.  Brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle some sugar on top.

Set the pie on a baking sheet to catch the drips.  Bake in the bottom rack for 50-60 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.  Cover the top crust with foil if it browns too quickly.  Let cool before slicing.