Christmas Candy Bark

November 29, 2010 107 Comments

 

 

I have a confession to make. I made this candy bark at the beginning of November and when I bought the candy, the man at Target looked at me like I was insane. I TRIED to wait until December to post this and well it’s a couple of days until December so I figured oh who cares!?, I’ll post it anyway. It’s almost December so I don’t feel completely insane.

First you’ll need lots of delicious holiday candy. For the Christmas Candy Bark I’m using 1/4 cup of red and green m&ms. You can use regular chocolate, peanut butter, pretzel…basically whatever floats your boat. Then you’ll also need about 1/2 cup of Christmas/Holiday Oreos (whatever you call them, they’re just like regular Oreos but have a red filling) that you’ve chopped in half, 1/4 cup of candy cane hershey’s kisses also chopped in half and 1/4 cup Holiday corn. Set the candy aside. If you must eat some candy now, eat the extras!

 

Put a piece of parchment paper down on the counter. You’ll spread the melted chocolate on the paper.

In a microwavable bowl, throw in 8 ounces of milk chocolate chips and 8 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips.

Melt them in the microwave. Be careful not to overheat the chocolate!

 

 

Pour the chocolate onto the parchment paper like I’m doing here.

Spread it out with a spatula into a rectangle. Don’t worry if your rectangle looks like a hexagon. You’re going to eat it anyway!

 

Now put about 5 ounces of red candy melts (the vanilla flavor) in a microwavable bowl. You can get candy melts at the craft store. I got them at Michael’s.

Melt them in the microwave. With the candy melts you have to be extra careful that you don’t burn them. People will forgive you if your chocolate rectangle looks like a hexagon but not if you burn their candy!

 

Drop the melted red candy melts onto the chocolate like I did here.

 

Moving onto the green candy melts. Yes we’re getting overly festive here. Melt 5 ounces of the green candy melts in the microwave and please be careful again.

 

Then drop the melted green candy melts like so.

 

Now comes the part that I get way too excited about. Swirling the chocolate! Swirl it up and down with a knife. Don’t tell anyone but sometimes I use a chopstick.

 

Then swirl the chocolate back and forth. Mmmm oh my word do I just want to stick my head in that!

 

Take some of the candy and press it lightly into the melted chocolate. I started with the Holiday Corn. Don’t ask why, I was just in a Holiday Corn mood.

Continue placing the rest of the candy and cookies on the melted chocolate. YUM!!! Allow to dry for at least 4 hours or until the chocolate is solid. Cut into pieces and enjoy! :)

 

 

Christmas Candy Bark

8 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
8 ounces milk chocolate chips
5 ounces red candy melts
5 ounces green candy melts

1/2 cup Christmas Oreos, cut in half (they’re just like regular Oreos but with a red center)
1/4 cup red and green M&Ms (you can use regular M&Ms, peanut, peanut butter, whatever you like!)
1/4 cup Holiday Corn
1/4 cup Candy Cane Hershey Kisses, cut in half

Measure out the candy. Cut the Candy Cane Hershey Kisses in half and the Christmas Oreos in half. Set the candy aside.

Lay out a piece of parchment paper. You’ll use this to make the Christmas Candy Bark on.

Put 8 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips and 8 ounces of milk chocolate chips in a microwavable bowl. Melt the chocolate but be careful not to overheat the chocolate.

Spread the melted chocolate onto the parchment paper into an 8 by 11 rectangle. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect.

Melt the red candy melts in a microwavable bowl. Place dots of the melted red candy melts on top of the melted chocolate.

Melt the green candy melts in a microwavable bowl. Place dots of the melted green candy melts on top of the melted chocolate.

Using a knife, swirl the candy melts and chocolate up and down. Then swirl the candy melts and chocolate back and forth.

Place the candy and cookies on the melted chocolate. Press down lightly.

Allow the Christmas Candy Bark to dry for at least 4 hours. Cut into pieces and enjoy!

Filed Under: Chocolate, Christmas, Dessert Tagged With: , , , , ,

Daring Bakers Challenge: Mini German Chocolate Crostatas

November 27, 2010 73 Comments

 

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

When it came time to make my crostata, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. So I made it, took some pictures and planned on taking more pictures. But then I took a bite, and another bite and soon it just look like a demolished crostata. The filling was sooooo delicious and I’ll eventually make another dessert like it, so you’ll have to wait and see what it was!

So since the crostata now looked like it was attacked by a pack of wolverines, I decided to get in the kitchen and make another crostata at 7am. This time I made mini crostatas, filled them with a homemade German Chocolate Frosting and drizzled them with chocolate. OH MY WORD, I’m seriously just drooling writing that sentence. It was soooo good! And yes, I did take a bite of the crust and devoured the rich German Chocolate Filling.

My crostata couldn’t be any further from a traditional crostata and I hope I don’t get hate mail from crostata purists. :)

Pasta Frolla (the dough for the crust)

1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon superfine sugar or a scant 3/4 cupof powdered sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
8 Tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
lemon zest from half a lemon
1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl

Put flour, lemon zest, superfine sugar (or powdered sugar) and salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine.

Add the cold unsalted butter that’s been cut into small pieces. Pulse a couple of more times to combine.

Dump the ingredients onto the counter. Make a well in the center. Add the lightly beaten egg and egg yolk.

Using a fork, start to incorporate the ingredients. Then use your fingertips to combine everything together.

Lightly knead the dough until it comes together. Form the dough into a disk shape and cover it in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 2 hours.

Once the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Flour the counter that you’ll be rolling the dough out on and your rolling pin. Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll the dough out so that it’s about 1/8 inch thick.

Lay the dough over four 4 inch tart pans and press it into the corners. Using a rolling pin, roll the rolling pin across across the top of the tart pans to cut off the excess dough.

Place a piece of parchment paper or foil over the bottom of the crostata shells and put pie weights or beans over the parchment paper or foil.

Place the crostata shells on a baking sheet. Bake the crostata shells at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

Carefully remove parchment paper/foil with the pie weight or beans and continue to bake the crostata shells until they’re golden brown. If the crostata shells start to puff up while baking, just press them down with a spoon.

Cool the crostata shells completely before filing with the German Chocolate Filling.

German Chocolate Filling/Frosting
(adapted from allrecipes)

1 cup evaporated milk (make sure you add 1 cup, not the whole can!)
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted pecans, chopped
1 1/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Chop the unsalted pecans and set aside. Measure out 1 1/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut and set aside as well.

Mix 1 cup of evaporated milk with 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch. This will help thicken the frosting.

In a medium or large saucepan, combine the evaporated milk cornstarch mixture, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and the 3 large egg yolks mixed with 1 teaspoon of water.

Begin cooking the mixture over medium-low heat. Then increase the heat to medium high and keep stirring the mixture until it thickens. It may take a while to thicken but not too long. If you have problems with the mixture thickening, increase the heat and keep stirring.

The frosting/filling may appear to be somewhat thin, don’t worry. It will thicken up even more once it’s chilled.

Once the mixture has thicken, add the chopped pecans and coconut. Stir to combine.

Put the German Chocolate Filling/Frosting in a container and chill in the refrigerator. It will thicken up more once in the refrigerator.

Filed Under: Chocolate, Daring Bakers, Dessert, Tarts

French Fridays with Dorie: Potato Gratin

November 26, 2010 57 Comments

When I took my first bite of the Potato Gratin for French Fridays with Dorie, I honestly thought I’d died and gone to potato heaven. (Wouldn’t that be amazing if there was a potato heaven?) The gratin is so flavorful because of a garlic infused cream that is poured over layers of thinly sliced potatoes. On top of the gratin, I sprinkled lots of one of my favorite cheeses in the entire universe, gruyere. Dorie, you get extra points for choosing gruyere to top off the already addicting potato gratin.

I’m sitting across from the Potato Gratin right now and it’s all I can think about at the moment. I want to grab the whole dish, take it in a corner, and devour it like it’s the last food on earth. I’m demanding right now that you all make this and eat big servings of it!

And if you haven’t joined French Fridays with Dorie, get on it! What are you waiting for!? It’s such a fun group and the recipes are so interesting and beyond incredible.

Excuse me while I go and attack more of this addictive Potato Gratin.

Filed Under: French Fridays with Dorie Tagged With: , ,

Guest Post at More Than A Mount Full

November 25, 2010 7 Comments

Hi friends! Today I have a guest post on Chef Dennis’ amazing blog, More Than A Mount Full. I can’t even describe in words how honored I am that Chef Dennis asked me to do a guest post for him. Now that it’s posted, I once again feel so blessed that Chef Dennis gave me the opportunity to write a post for him.

So please check out my guest post on More Than A Mount Full! Thank you so much everyone!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

My Favorite Cookie

November 24, 2010 74 Comments

 

You’re probably wondering why the picture above is not a chocolate cookie or if there’s some candy hiding underneath. Believe it or not my absolute favorite cookie is a simple Ginger Molasses Cookie. Yet it’s so insanely delicious that I would easily devour a dozen if given the chance. I know the name of the cookie doesn’t sound too exciting but oh my word once you take a bite, your eyes will roll into the back of your head and you’ll get weak in the knees. These ginger molasses cookies are soft, chewy, and flavorful but not spicy. Of course I just had to dip them in even more sugar, I just couldn’t help myself.

Sift together 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works fine) mix together 3/4 cup of softened unsalted butter and 1 cup of sugar. Mix it for about 3-4 minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Mmm butter + sugar = love.

Now add in 1 large egg that’s at room temperature.

Mix it up.

Now add in 1/4 cup of unsulfured molasses. To help get the molasses out of the measuring cup, spray it with nonstick spray. It’ll come right out!

Throw in 1 Tablespoon of fresh squeezed orange juice. I know it sounds weird but trust me. You don’t taste it  (thank goodness because I hate oranges) but it just makes the cookie oh so much better.

Combine everything together.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

The batter should look something like this. Take a spatula/mixing spoon and make sure it’s all mixed up!

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Scoop balls of cookie dough using a cookie dough scooper. A Tablespoon works just fine too!

On a small plate, pour in 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Roll each cookie dough ball in the sugar. This makes the cookie super tasty but most importantly, it keeps the dough from sticking to your hands.

Place each cookie dough ball that’s been rolled in sugar on the baking sheet.

Press the cooke dough balls down with the palm of your hand. They should look like this. Don’t use your finger tips or you’ll cookies will have lines all over them.

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool the cookies for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet. Then tranfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Pour some powdered sugar on a plate. Press the top of the cookie into the powdered sugar. Yes MORE sugar. Don’t go freaking out on me, you’re reading my blog full of butter and sugar. You should be used to this! Shake off the excess (which I obviously didn’t demonstrate in this picture!)

Enjoy!

And now some special pictures of some of my favorite furry friends who I’m thankful for! I actually have 5 squirrels that watch me take pictures of the treats (and chickens!) I make. One is a little baby. Whenever I take a picture, I go outside and the squirrels surround me or they come running at me. Yes I took my roast chicken for les paresseux outside!! Not to mention, they come up to the door and try to come into my house or watch me bake. :)  The squirrels seem to think they’re dogs or cats. Maybe it’s because I take good care of them and feed them unsalted peanuts. They’re spoiled but they totally make my day with their sweet furry faces.

Eating a peanut while I take pictures

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Watching me work on my November Daring Bakers challange

 

 

Ginger Molasses Cookies aka Lindsey’s Favorite Cookie
(adapted from allrecipes)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
2 Tablespoons sugar
powdered sugar for dipping tops of cookies in

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

Sift together 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works fine) mix together 3/4 cup of softened unsalted butter and 1 cup sugar.

Add 1 large egg and mix it up!

Now add in 1/4 cup unsulphured molasses and 1 Tablespoon of freshly squeezed orange juice. Mix to combine.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until almost combined. Using a spatula/mixing spoon, fold the ingredients together in order to incorporate them.

Pour about 2 Tablespoons of sugar on a plate. The sugar will be used to roll the cookie dough balls in.

Scoop balls of cookie dough using a 1 1/2 inch cookie dough scoop or a Tablespoon. Roll the balls of cookie dough in the sugar.

Place the cookie dough balls on the baking pan and using the palm of your hand, press the cookies to flatten them a bit.

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Pour some powdered sugar on a plate. Dip the tops of the cooled cookies in the powdered sugar. Shake off the excess powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Christmas, Cookies, Dessert, Ginger Tagged With: , ,

Double Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies

November 20, 2010 56 Comments

 

If you know me or read my blog, you definitely know that I’m a decent dessert kind of person. My five food groups are butter, sugar, chocolate, frosting, cake, and candy. (Kidding, well kind of…Oops ok that was six not five ;) ) So one day when I decided to make Double Chocolate Chip Cookies which are chocolate cookies filled with white chocolate chips and semisweet chocolate chips, the idea of plain chocolate cookies just weren’t doing it for me. Then I whipped up some fluffly vanilla buttercream and piped a thick layer of buttercream in between two rich double chocolate chip cookies. Mmm now that’s more like it. Pure bliss in sandwich cookie form.

First sift together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (handheld mixer works fine) cream 1 cup of softened unsalted butter for about 3 minutes on medium speed.

Throw in 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1/2 cup of packed light brown sugar and mix it up on medium speed for another 3 minutes. The mixture should be light and fluffy.

Now add in 2 large eggs (make sure they’re at room temperature!). Mix in one egg at a time. Keep mixing for a couple of minutes.

Then add in 1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract and mix it up!

Slowly and really I mean VERY SLOWLY this time, add in the dry ingredients. Add in a small amount at a time. If you don’t do this slowly, you’re going to end up inhaling a ton of cocoa powder. Seriously I know from experience! Mix it until it’s almost combined.

Take a spatula/mixing spoon and fold the ingredients together.

Now comes the best part of them all (well besides eating the cookie dough) add in 1 cup of white chocolate chips and 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips.

Fold the chocolate chips into the cookie dough.

Throw the cookie dough into a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and chill it for about 30 minutes or so.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Take the cookie dough out of the refrigerator and scoop the cookie dough onto the parchment paper with a cookie scooper. If you don’t have a cookie scooper, you can use a Tablespoon.

Flatten the cookie dough balls a bit with the palm of your hand. Ignore the chocolate on my hand…

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 9 minutes. Cool the cookies for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet.

Then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before piping the frosting in the middle.

Now let’s move onto making the Vanilla Buttercream. (By the way, I’m just making half the recipe for the pictures)

Sift 4 cups of powdered sugar. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment, mix together 1/2 cup of softened unsalted butter and 1/2 cup of shortening.

Once it’s mixed up and smooth, add in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix it up! Now add in 1/8 teaspoon of kosher salt and mix.

Slowly add in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time. Mix it on low speed. When the powdered sugar begins to combine with the rest of the ingredients, increase the speed and mix mix mix! The frosting should look somewhat like this picture.

Add in 3 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream and mix it up.

The frosting will look not that great at this point and lumpy. Don’t worry, it’ll turn out fantastic in the end.

Increase the speed to high and whip the frosting for 10-15 minutes.

Take a piping bag and fit it with a decorating tip. Put the vanilla buttercream into the piping bag.

Place one cookie upside down.

Pipe a thick layer of vanilla buttercream on the cookie. I seriously just want to shove that cookie in my mouth right now.

And then top with another cookie. Now that’s make I call a sandwich cookie!

Mmmmm enjoy!

Double Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Sift together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 kosher salt.

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works fine) mix 1 cup of softened unsalted butter for about 3 minutes.

Add 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1/2 cup of packed light brown sugar. Continue mixing for about 3 more minutes until light and fluffy.

Now add in the 2 large eggs, one at a time. Continue mixing until the eggs are throughly combined.

Throw in 1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract and mix it up.

Slowly add in the sifted ingredients on low speed. Once all of the dry ingredients are added, fold the batter to incorporate the ingredients together.

Add in 1 cup of white chocolate chips and 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips. Fold them into the cookie dough.

Put the cookie dough in a bowl and cover it. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for about 30 minutes.

When the cookie dough has chilled for 30 minutes, scoop balls of cookie dough onto the parchment lined baking sheet using a 1 1/2 inch cookie dough scoop. If you don’t have a cookie dough scoop, you can also use a Tablespoon.

Using the palm of your hand, flatten the cookie dough just a bit.

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 9 minutes.

Cool the cookies for a couple of minutes of the baking sheet. Then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

Once the cookies are completely cool, frost one side with a thick layer of vanilla buttercream and press another cookie on top of the frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 1/2 ounces heavy whipping cream

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment, mix together the shortening and unsalted butter for about 4 minutes until smooth.

Add the vanilla extract and kosher salt and mix it up until combined.

Slowly add in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time until all of it is incorporated. Use a spatula/mixing spoon to scrap the bottom of the bowl and continue mixing.

Once the ingredients begin to come together, increase the speed and mix it up!

Slowly add in the 3 1/2 ounces of heavy whipping cream. The buttercream will look a bit lumpy at this point, don’t worry. Scrap the bowl again and increase the speed to high.

Whip the vanilla buttercream for 10-15 minutes until light and fluffy.

Filed Under: Chocolate, Dessert Tagged With: , , ,

French Fridays with Dorie: Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flans

November 19, 2010 28 Comments

I have to admit, I was incredibly hesitant about making the Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flans for French Fridays with Dorie. The combination of canned pumpkin, gorgonzola cheese and walnuts (I used pecans) seemed quite different. Ok I admit, it seemed really strange and scary.

The presentation of the flans is nice especially if you drizzle a bit of honey (Dorie’s idea). But I honestly didn’t enjoy the flavor combination. I tasted the pumpkin part on its own and thought it was lacking something, perhaps more spice? I couldn’t get over the texture either.

Although I didn’t enjoy this particular dish, it was interesting making the flan. I won’t make it again but I feel braver after eating pumpkin and cheese together!! I still encourage you all to join French Fridays with Dorie, it’s lots of fun! :)

I am however VERY excited to make Potato Gratin next! Oh my word!

Now onto the One Lovely Blog. I’m sorry I haven’t posted the 15 blogs that I’ll be giving the award to yet. I am having such a difficult time choosing 15 blogs because there are so many I love (honestly!) I will try to get it up as soon as possible! :)

Filed Under: French Fridays with Dorie Tagged With: ,

White Chocolate Cranberry Oat Bars

November 17, 2010 30 Comments

  

After a couple of recipes filled with candy (and a chicken for French Fridays with Dorie!), I decided to add some fruit to a recipe. Afterall, Monet loves fruit and since this is a guest post for Monet, she deserves a little fruit in her dessert! I do remember that sweet Baby Ryan loves his oatmeal so I decided to throw in lots of oats just for him! And it’s about time I get back to sweet things for sweet people. Monet and Baby Ryan both deserve the sweetest dessert.

Not to mention, with the Holidays coming up (Thanksgiving, the holiday that makes me anxious…more on that later) and Christmas (the holiday I LOVE!), I thought it was about time I made a festive holiday recipe. And what’s more Holidayish (oh man is that even a word? Apparently not) than cranberries and white chocolate in dessert form. So I made some delicious White Chocolate Cranberry Oat Bars which only take a couple of minutes to make and are incredibly addicting. (in a good way!)

In a mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (you can do this by hand too) mix together 1 cup of flour, 1/8 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 cup packed light brown sugar and 1/2 cup of softened unsalted butter.

Mix it until it’s somewhat combined. It should look like this picture.

At this point, I like to throw the mixture in a bowl. It’s just to difficult to get my hands into the kitchenaid mixing bowl. Throw in 1 cup of old fashioned oat (not the instant or quick cooking kind) and mix it up with your hands.

Mmmm oat dough. It’s so good, seriously!

In a 8 by 8 baking pan that’s been lightly greased, put in 2 cups of the oat dough.

Press it down with your hands like so. Try your best to make it even.

Now take 3/4 cup of berry cranberry sauce (I buy mine at Trader Joes, so good!) and spread it over the oat dough. Leave a small border so that the cranberry sauce doesn’t burn on the sides of the pan. If you’re super fancy, you can use homemade cranberry sauce. Or if it’s after Thanksgiving and you’ve eaten enough cranberries with turkey to last you a lifetime, go ahead and throw the leftover cranberry sauce into this dessert.

Here comes my favorite part (well if you don’t count the butter), sprinkle 1 cup of white chocolate chips over the cranberry sauce like so.

Take the remaining oat dough and crumble it over the white chocolate chips.

Bake the White Chocolate Cranberry Oat Bars at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Then cool them completely on a cooling rack. Once they’re done cooling, cut them into squares and enjoy!

White Chocolate Cranberry Oat Bars

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
1 cup old fashioned oats (not quick or instant cooking)
3/4 cup cranberry sauce
1 cup white chocolate chips

Lightly grease a 8 by 8 baking pan. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (you can do this by hand too) mix together 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup packed light brown sugar, 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter until it looks somewhat crumbly.

Throw in 1 cup of old fashioned oats and mix to the ingredients by hand. The oat dough should come together.

Put 2 cups of the oat dough in the baking pan and press it down with your hands. Try to press it down evenly.

Spread 3/4 cup of cranberry sauce over the oat dough. Leave a small border so that the cranberry sauce doesn’t burn on the sides of the pan.

Sprinkle 1 cup of white chocolate chips over the cranberry sauce.

Take the remaining oat dough and crumble it over the white chocolate chips.

Bake the White Chocolate Cranberry Oat Bars at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool completely on a cooling rack, cut into squares and enjoy!

Filed Under: Bars, Christmas, Dessert Tagged With: , , ,

The Winner, Apple Cranberry Rum Cake and Guest Post

November 16, 2010 1 Comment

Hi Friends! I wanted to let you all know that I posted a new recipe today! Apple Cranberry Rum Cake! :) I hope you all enjoy it.

And some exciting news…today I have a guest post on my dear sweet friend Monet’s blog, Anecdotes and Apple Cores. I hope you will check it out. Monet is such a beautiful person inside and out.

Thank you all so much for entering the Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table Cookbook Giveaway. I really enjoyed reading your answers about all of the delicious dishes that you’ll be having at Thanksgiving. And thank you all so much for reading my blog, it means the world to me. :) If you didn’t win, don’t worry! I have a giveaway every month which means there will be a very special December giveaway!

The winner is:

Lindsey @ Burn Me Not

Congrats! Please email me at gingerbreadbagels@gmail.com with your name and address.

Tomorrow I will also be giving away the One Lovely Blog award to 15 more bloggers. I received the award again from two wonderful and talented bloggers.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Apple Cranberry Rum Cake

November 16, 2010 60 Comments

 

A while ago, I received my autographed (!!!) copy of Ina Garten’s new cookbook, How Easy Is That? Right away I was dying to make her “Easy Cranberry and Apple Cake.”  I started getting the ingredients for the recipe together when I decided to change it up a bit. I added lots more spice, used different kinds of apples, more apples (!!!), less cranberries and combined everything together. When it came time to change the liquid in the recipe, I thought to myself…Orange Juice or Rum for the liquid? Hello, that’s not even a question! Rum of course! So I came up with my own Cranberry Apple Rum Cake! When I tasted it, my eyes rolled into the back of my head and that’s a very good sign considering there’s no frosting on the cake. Well there if you want, you can add my Rum Whipped Cream but that doesn’t count as frosting. ;)

First whisk together 1 cup flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

Peel two different kinds of apples. I used a Pink Lady Apple and a Honeycrisp. Core them and cut them into chunks. You don’t want giant chunks of apple for this cake and make sure they’re not tiny little bites either.

 

 

Throw them in a bowl and then throw in 4 ounces of fresh cranberries.

 

Now grate 1 Tablespoon of orange zest. I’m not an orange person (they’re one of my least favorite foods) but I love the zest in the cake, it just adds that extra bit of flavor.

 

Then throw the orange zest in with the apples and cranberries.

 

Add in ½ cup of packed light brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon and ½ teaspoon of ground nutmeg.

 

 

In Ina’s Cranberry and Apple Cake, she adds ¼ cup of orange juice and I just think that’s way too much liquid and you’d be surprised how much flavor 1 Tablespoon of orange zest adds to the cake. I don’t care for orange juice but I do like dark rum. Orange juice, rum….same thing. Add in 3 Tablespoons of dark rum!

 

Mix it all up! Then set it aside.

Moving onto the batter for the cake. In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works just fine) mix 2 extra large (or large) eggs on medium high speed for a couple of minutes.

On medium speed, add 1 cup of sugar, ½ cup of melted unsalted butter, 1/4 cup of sour cream and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Now slowly (on low speed!) add in the flour and kosher salt mixture. Mix until almost combined.

Take a spatula/mixing spoon and fold the ingredients together.

Add in the apple cranberry mixture and fold them in. I always leave a bit of leftover liquid in the bowl (about a Tablespoon or so).

Pour the batter into a 9 inch pie plate.

 

In a small bowl, combine 1 Tablespoon of sugar and ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

Sprinkle it evenly over the batter.

 

Bake at 325 degrees for about 55-60 minutes or until the center comes out clean. (there might be a few crumbs on the knife/toothpick/whatever floats your boat)

Cool on a cooling rack. I eat the cake when it’s still warm.

Apple Cranberry Rum Cake
(adapted from Ina Garten)

2 different types of large apples (I used Pink Lady and Honeycrisp), peeled, cored and diced into small chunks
4 ounces fresh cranberries
1 Tablespoon orange zest
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 Tablespoons dark rum
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 extra large (large is still) eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

For topping:
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Whisk together the flour and kosher salt. Set aside.

Take 2 different kinds of apples. I use a Pink Lady apple and a Honeycrisp apple. Peel, core and dice them into small chunks. Throw them into a medium sized bowl.
Add in the cranberries.

Grate 1 Tablespoon of orange zest and add it to the apple and cranberry mixture.
Throw in the light brown sugar, ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg. Stir all of the ingredients together until well combined.

Add in the dark rum and mix the ingredients together. Set the mixture aside.

In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works fine) beat the extra large (or large) eggs on medium high speed for about 2 minutes.

Add in the sugar, melted unsalted butter (that’s been cooled), sour cream, and vanilla extract. Mix on medium speed until the batter has no lumps.

Slowly add in the flour and salt mixture. Mix until almost combined. Take a spatula and fold the ingredients together.

Add the apple and cranberry mixture to the batter. Leave some of the liquid in the bowl. (I typically leave about 1 Tablespoon or so) You don’t want a lot of liquid from the apples and cranberry mixture.

Pour the batter into a 9 inch pie plate.

Mix together 1 Tablespoon of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly on top of the cake.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 55-60 minutes. When the cake is done baking, cool on a cooling rack. I like to eat the Apple Cranberry Rum Cake warm.

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