Cranberry Nut Bread

picture taken moments before i burned my mouth on a too hot cranberry.
it must be the power of deliciousness.
oh, that you could smell this.
and yes. it was worth it.

Well, I hadn't gotten around to making this for Thanksgiving, but that didn't mean I suddenly didn't have the bag of cranberries in my fridge. Which meant that today, when I realized just how very cold it was and how toasty the kitchen was capable of being, I opted to bake this delicious treat.

My mother used to make very nearly this same recipe at Thanksgiving and Christmas when I was small. I remember the several foil throw-away loaf pans, sorting through the cranberries to make sure that they were all good, and thinking about how strangely hollow this fruit was. I had the same hollow-fruit-thought this afternoon, in my jeans and hoodie and knit boots, even while wondering just how hard it was to find a freakin' grater in my house.

Pretty hard, we don't have one.

Still. We have a loaf pan that I found at a nearby local thrift store for a dollar and we had all the ingredients that I'd planned on using. I was strangely nervous waiting for my bread to cook, but in the end it was even better than I'd hoped. We stood around the kitchen, eating thick pieces still hot from the oven, buttered and amazing. This was exactly what I'd needed.

Super Delicious Cranberry Nut Bread

- two cups flour
- one cup sugar
- one and a half teaspoon baking powder
- one teaspoon salt
- the juice of one tangerine (nothing says fantastic like fresh juice!) (you may wish to use two, if you'd like more of the flavor. you may not need the half and half then.)
- three to four tablespoons half and half (or milk or cream, what you have about is fine)
- one tablespoon grated tangerine peel (ooooh, I do adore zest)
- two tablespoons oil (I used canola)
- two blended eggs
- one and a half cups fresh cranberries (if using frozen, do not thaw them, I know that sounds odd)
- one half cup chopped walnuts (or other nut)

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Mix the dry ingredients and then, in a different dish (mine was a mug! oh, the shame I ought to feel...) mix the juice, the zest, the oil, and the egg. Add and blend with the dry mixture and then add the cranberries and nuts. Add three tablespoons half and half and then see if you need more. Your dough ought to be thick and sticky, but it shouldn't be too sticky and ought to have some give involved. It's bread dough!

Pour (place, move, dance, whichever) into a greased and floured bread pan and bake for about an hour. I'd start checking on it at fifty minutes. The top will be browned a bit and knife will come out clean. Or, you know, only marred by hot delicious cranberry.

Clearly, this recipe cane be changed. You can add chocolate or a different nut or a different juice, you could make it vegan probably pretty easily.

Enjoy!

Ice! Snow! Bluster!

Lyra, being precious and addicted to cat nip.
Taken last winter/spring (snow on the ground means nothing in Chicago) by a friend.

Given that right now, Chicago is ever so cold (I am on my computer on the couch, but with my hood up and a quilt draped over me), I figured a nice picture like that could be used to make everyone smile.

Plus, the photo for my cranberry nut bread hasn't arrived from my phone into my inbox yet and yes, as a matter of fact, I do think I am cursed as far as cameras go. Here's hoping the next one I get works out better. Here's hoping the next one I get becomes mine before summer. No, I have no particular one I am lusting after. Suggestions? Nothing that will make me weep over price.


-cricket chip-

Well. Thanks anyway. I shall figure something out.

At any rate, today was a successful cooking day! Tonight I made a variation on my own potato soup, though I can't recall which one I like better. I opted for veg stock instead of chicken, onion instead of leek, loads more garlic, and then a thinly sliced red bell pepper and some mushrooms chopped up.

I also blended it a little better than last time using my hand mixer. No bacon. (because I had no bacon)

But it was delicious. Wonderfully seasoned with salt, pepper, basil, Bridgeport seasoning, and a little dill and a little paprika.

Also, it's become clear that one of these days I am going to have to write something about The Spice House. Just sayin'.

Karo-who? Brown Sugar Syrup Pecan Pie.

By this point in the Feast, a nice set up and a clean stove were beyond me.
Still, I did try to take a good snap as best I could, considering it was a cell phone.

Well, I hope everyone had a delicious and fattening Thanksgiving because lord knows I did. My friend Dana and I had our Third Annual "We Trust No One Else To Cook" Thanksgiving. It involved a lot of Arrested Development, Diet Coke (esp for dana!), wine (esp for me!), cooking, and a prolonged fight with my oven which decided to be even more impossibly difficult than usual as this was a food holiday.

Also, I think the oven knew that we both worked the next day at our respective jobs.

Either way, it was unbelievably tasty. Dana made stuffing (featuring: pecans, cranberries, and sausage), mashed potatoes, a chicken, a turkey leg, gravy, and brought some tasty tasty cranberry sauce. She also steamed some green beans. I made crash sweet potatoes, whiskey glazed carrots (thanks, Pioneer Woman! don't be too sad that i used Seagram's 7 instead of Jack! it's just always around...), green bean casserole (yeah,yeah), and pecan pie.

Note: I did not make deviled eggs and, yes, I thought about it. I also did not get to make the cranberry nut bread I wanted (which I bought cranberries for! I'll get to it soon. maybe tomorrow?) or the cheesy muffins (which I actually AM planning on making tomorrow. we'll see how this day goes. always with the elaborate planning and rarely with the follow-throughing).

Double Note: Yes, I am allergic to corn syrup.

Which brings me to!

THIS IS A CORN SYRUP FREE PIE.

Yes, ladies and gents, this pie is made without Karo. Oh, they said it could be done but they swore it wouldn't be tasty. But they were wrong. This pie tastes exactly as delicious as I remember my wickedly tasty Karo-based pecan pie being. (I wasn't always as horridly allergic as I am now, but it's progressed, so I can't even cook the filing because it makes me die a little on the inside where no one can see)

My trick? Brown sugar syrup. I cooked brown sugar and water down to a thick syrup that, admittedly not as thick as Karo, was still preeeeeeeetty syrupy looking. And I chopped the walnuts nice and fine and I said a little prayer to my fourth glass of wine and I threw myself into the memory of my old pecan pie.

INGREDIENTS

- two eggs
- vanilla (a drizzle and a dash, which is probs about two teaspoons?)
- sugar, two thirds cup (about)
- brown sugar syrup, a cup (about, sorry!)
- cake spice, a teaspoon (this is made of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc. I buy mine at The Spice House)
- a knob of melted butter
- quick dash of cinnamon because, well, why not? but only just.
- pecans (mine were chopped), about two cups - or just under the bag you bought at Jewel when you thought it was on sale, but it wasn't, and you were pissed but you were making this damn pie so you got it anyway. (that's helpful, yes?)

NOTE: I used -gasp- salted butter. I know, I know, I know. But we reached a compromise here at my apartment and that involves the purchasing of salted butter. It's fine. I'm completely okay with this, even though it used to make me cringe a bit. If you don't use salted butter, I suggest adding a dash of salt.

Also. I doubt I've ever said "salted butter" that many times in a short span of time. Reminds me of how I spent actual time thinking about broken eggs in cartons at the store.

Do not get me started.

At any rate, by the time you've finished contemplating all of this, you have mixed together these things and poured it into a prepared pie dish. Really. Just chuck it all together and mix it up nicely. You can add the pecans last if it makes you feel better.

"Prepared", here, means - a lightly buttered/greased/sprayed pie pan with a crust inside. You can make your own or use frozen or the roll-out-pre-made stuff, it's all fine. I made my own. (softened butter, flour, sprinkle of water, some sugar but not much, voila!)

I do not pre-bake my crust.

Wrap some foil around the crust-edges of the pie, then pop it into the 350 degree (F) oven for a half hour. Remove the foil, bake another fifteen or twenty minutes. A knife should come out clean. Yes, it will be wobbly up until the point that it is suddenly done.

Please do not burn your mouth in the attempt to shove this pie in your face. Please. Be better than me.

At any rate, you can add whiskey or bourbon or what have you to this pie. I even suggest that. Nom.

I also suggest smallish slices and vanilla ice cream (or whipped cream) to melt on top a bit.

And I would like to apologize for the pictures. I took these with my cell phone. Um, after eating a piece. It was delicious and I have no regrets.

Delicous, fabulous spinach quiche!

Dainty, non?
Don't worry, I made loads of mini-ones in a muffin pan. Plenty for all!
Except, sadly, you lot.

As you may or may not recall or even know, we here in my ramshackle apartment of love had a tea party not too long ago! It was quite delightful, complete with tea cups and hats and whiskey and so on and so forth. We dressed to impress! We were beyond lovely. Among our feasting options, I included a quiche. A spinach quiche, in fact, and no mushrooms anywhere since some guests dislike them and I am nothing if not accommodating. Sometimes.

Other times, I inform the nay-sayers to shut their mouths and let me be with my delicious whatever-whatever that has some food ingredient they dislike. Or I encourage them to try a bite. Whichever.

At any rate. Using a muffin tray, I made small quiches but then I had this ramekin and, well, look at that photo! How could I not? I admit to being nervous, as I had just experienced a great failure with my french macaroons and was determined to not fail again.

And I did not!

Super-Easy, Super-Tasty Spinach Quiche

- pie crust (either pre-made or handmade, honestly, it more depends on the time you have)
- three egg yolks
- two egg whites
- one whole egg
(NOTE. you could also just, you know, use five eggs. we just had these things about from previous cooking and didn't want to waste it and I am a big believer in an extra egg for such things, which is a trick my boy-roommate lives by)
- plenty of munster cheese, pref grated but if you, say, have no idea where the grater went? just chop chop cut chop nice and small
- rinsed spinach, which you can chop roughly. (you may also use frozen spinach, thaw it, and drain it, although honestly this is just fine.)
- onion, chopped
- garlic cloves, chopped if you like, as many as you like
- salt, pepper, cake spice (or, lacking The Spice House, you may also blend cinnamon and nutmeg, though the mix also includes cloves and such).

Cook the onion, garlic, and any other veg you'd like to include together. When largely done, chuck in the spinach and let cook down. Then cool. Whisk the eggs together until blended, mix in with the cheese and the cooled veg, season as you like - pepper, the spices, and a dash of salt.

Butter the muffin tin, the pie pan, the quiche pan, etc etc etc - just butter whichever you are using. Line with pastry. Bake for a bit first, I did about ten/fifteen mins - just getting golden! Pour the eggy mixture in the prepared pan and then bake for about twenty-five, thirty minutes at 350 degrees. Or until the top is deliciously slightly golden and it's firmed up proper.

SO DELICIOUS.

I mean, let it cool and finish setting.

I then like to fret over it - did I cook it enough? Oh, heavens! Am I about to kill us all?
Then! I like to watch everyone love love love it.

Also, you do not have to have a tea party to enjoys this...but maybe you should think about it.

Daring French Fail! Oh, the shame.

Well, that's sort of right.
Inasmuch as it happens to be objects sitting on a baking sheet.

I'm going to keep it real, here, gentle readers. I am not always amazing, all of the time. And I could explain that it was the wee hours (the clock, were you able to see it, reveals that it is six in the morning and does not reveal that I had work mere hours later) but that's not really the problem. The problem was, I suspect, egg whites. And my inability to make a french macaroon properly.

This is largely sad because I was making them for the tea party we were having the next day and also because I didn't have enough time this month to try again, but just the same, I am posting the recipe and such that, in theory, would have revealed lovely macaroons.

Mine were meant to be lemony. They were meant to have a sweet basil filling. The filling, actually, turned out wonderfully and so we dipped fresh strawberries in it and just devoured it like were were beasts (beautifully attired in party dresses and hats and things, but beasts just the same). So that much was nice.

At any rate! I shall try again, in the future, but am wise enough to say when I've made a mistake. My macaroons were cakey and dense, not at all proper, and even didn't taste all that great so I'll review it and see what went wrong BUT everyone should try this because it's good to try new things.

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Good luck guys! May your treats turn out better than mine!

Brownie Pudding: An Adventure Using Boiling Water

Unbaked, but seriously still delicious.

You know those times when you just absolutely have to eat something sweet and chocolatey? And how maybe, since you have a deep, profound love for all things bread pudding (which may or may not have once ended with you throwing allergy concerns to the wind and chowing down on a serving of bread pudding from Sweet Mandy B's that involved caramel?) that sometimes means what you want is something bready and puddingy?

Of course you have. Sometimes, even, you've had it at a late hour of the day. Sometimes, you've had this craving when there is precious little in the house to sate any of your desires.

Thank goodness for my 1950's edition of The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook. I know you've heard me sing it's praises before, but I intend to continue doing so for a while. I just forgot. Well, forget no more! I had just the day before read about Brownie Pudding. And, lo, we had all the ingredients.

Bonus: the recipe called for boiling water to be poured on top of the batter, which would make a chocolate sauce. I was enthralled, skeptical, and excited. Most of all, I wanted my freshly baked, sweet, chocolatey, puddingy dessert. After this, you probably will too.

So, boiling water goes ON the batter you say? Sure. I'll try that.

The Players:
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tbs cocoa (or, if you were me, a little more than this of hot chocolate mix. sorry, humble women of general foods kitchens. please, don't be me about this.)
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 tbs melted butter (mine was salted, oh sin of baking sins, but if you are doing it properly then just sprinkle in some salt.)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- chopped walnuts (optional or use whatever type of nuts you'd like or any other addition, actually)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (or, if you don't have any, granulated sugar will work as well but I used brown sugar)
- 2 tbs cocoa (again, see hot chocolate mix note)
- 3/4 cup boiling water

The Game:

Mix flour, baking powder, 1/3 cup (granulated) sugar, and one tablespoon cocoa. Then add the milk, butter, and vanilla. Mix until smooth, add nuts, and pour into the greased (mine was 6x9) baking dish. Mix the brown sugar and the other two tablespoons of cocoa together then sprinkle over the batter, also sprinkle a little bit of nuts over it, and then pour the boiling water over the top. This makes a chocolate sauce at the bottome when done cooking, which is impressive to me.

Bake at 350F for thirty to forty minutes, then cool before serving (recipe suggests a half hour, I was not nearly so patient...).

It smells even better than it looks, trust.

We loved this hot, we loved this cold, and I particularly loved this with the fridge door partially open scarfing down a couple bites because maybe I had to bolt out the door to work in absolutely no time at all.

The point is, it was always delicious. And you will likely love it.

Patty Cake, Patty Cake...

Well, okay, patty pan squash rather...but you can imagine how the imagine takes off!


I found these beauties at the farmer's market a few weeks ago (back when I made this dish) and was so delighted that a) a stall was still open even after I got out of work and b) that they had this pile of these for about two dollars. I can't remember having ever actually cooked or eaten them before, but when my dad came to visit not too long ago he'd been telling me about this. So I was pretty pleased.

I decided that simple was the way to go, mostly because I wanted full on natural flavors. So I set about making a simple, baked squash dish and ended up making a bitchin', simple, baked squash dish.



INGREDIENTS

- patty pan squash (tops and bottoms cut off, then either chopped or sliced as you like) (i think i had six or seven?)
- onion, chopped
- one or two potatoes, chopped up
- plenty of garlic cloves, diced
- chopped up tomatoes (i had two small fresh ones, quite small, and then about half a can of diced)
- fresh basil
- olive oil, salt, pepper, seasonings in general

Throw all veg and basil in a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, season, stir about, get a bit of a coating but don't drown it. Praise yourself in advance. Bake in a three-fifty degree oven for about forty minutes, until everything is cooked through and hot and delicious.

Die of joy when eating, while realizing how healthy this is!


Seriously, how delicious does that look? We ate it hot and loved it, I ate some cold at work and loved it, I even mixed the last leftovers with some pasta and maybe mushrooms (which, sadly, I'd not had any available the night before) and adored it. God, I love squash.