Orange Cranberry Scones

I couldn't believe how long it had been since I made scones.

It's not that they haven't been on my mind, because... well, quite frankly I love these little British gems.


I actually had all intentions of making these while we were skiing until it hit me about 5 hours into the drive that I had forgotten the flour, sugar and baking powder...all I had were the cranberries and oranges..fail. 


Then, once we got to Colorado I realized it would have been high altitude baking and that just flat out scares me.
 
Every time I go away and come back, I love my kitchen even more than I did before.  A week away from the kitchen is hard when you're constantly gawking at good food all over the computer and dreaming about sweets, just wishing you could get your hands on a whisk.

These scones turned out to be the perfect way to get back in there and start the weekend off right.

Orange Cranberry Scones
Oven: 425 Bake time: 15 minutes
Makes 6 scones
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2 cups AP flour
1 TBS baking powder
4 TBS sugar
1/2 tsp salt
5 TBS butter, cold and cubed
1 TBS orange zest
1 cup orange-cranberries* recipe below
1 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Add flour, baking powder, sugar, orange zest and salt to a food processor. Pulse two times to mix.
Add butter and continue to pulse until butter is incorporated and grainy/sand consistency is reached.
Pour ingredients into a large bowl and add fruit- fold lightly to combine.
Slowly stir in heavy cream until dough is thick then transfer dough to lightly floured counter and knead by hand until a soft dough ball is formed.
Form into about a 1-inch thick disk.
Cut the disk into 6 equal wedges.
Transfer to baking sheet and place in oven for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Orange Cranberries
1 cup orange juice
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups cranberries

In a large sauce pan, place orange juice, water and sugar over medium heat.
Bring to a simmer and add cranberries.
Heat for about 5 minutes, just until the cranberries skins are soft* Make sure you watch your cranberries! I looked away for what seemed like seconds and all my cranberries exploded.. I still used them, but that's why my scones have a red hue.
Drain cranberries and pat dry before adding to scone mixture.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the well wishes and congratulations :) Ya'll are too sweet! I'll be sure to keep you updated as the wedding adventures continue.. I'm still trying to get used to the sparkle on my left hand and calling Mountain Man my fiance...but I'm also loving every second of it! :)

Jeweled Lace Cookies

As I scoured my December/January issued magazines for Christmas treats, I came across an Everyday with Rachael Ray from a year or so ago with a spread of cookies that I just had to try.

Despite the fact my collection takes up a few rows on our bookshelf, I knew saving all those food magazines would come in handy one day!

This is just one of the few recipes I marked to try this year and I'll definitely be making them again.


These little lace cookies are ridiculously simple and get this.. they're only 35 calories a cookie!

Not that I'm counting calories or anything... believe you me, I do NOT count calories, especially during the holidays. I think I told you this before, but there are no such thing as calories during the months of November and December. It's a fact. I pinky promise.

I still have a few more cookies to share with you all and I'm hoping I can get them to you before the holidays are over.

Can you believe Christmas is next weekend?!

I haven't even finished  started my Christmas shopping yet! Can I hire one of you to do that for me?

Jeweled Lace Cookies

Recipe from Everyday with Racheal Ray Dec/Jan 2009

Oven: 325 Bake time: 10 minutes

Makes 3-4 dozen cookies

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

4 TBS butter

1/2 cup rolled quick oats

1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup shelled pistachios, de-shelled then chopped

Preheat to 325°. Line to cookie sheets with parchment paper and lightly grease top.  

In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, stir together the brown sugar, corn syrup and butter until smooth and bubbling, about 4 minutes.

Remove from the heat.

 In a bowl, whisk together the oats, flour and salt; stir into the pot, then stir in the cranberries and pistachios.

Drop rounded teaspoons of the mixture about 3 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. 

Bake until bubbly and a shade darker, about 9 to 10 minutes.

Let cool for about 1 minute before quickly transferring each cookie to a rack using a thin metal spatula; let cool completely. 

*One teaspoon doesn't seem like a lot but they definitely spread out. 

By using the parchment paper instead of just greasing the pans (which you could also do) you eliminate the risk of having trouble getting your cookies off the sheet. Just transfer paper and cookies to a rack to finish the cooling and the cookies will come off with ease once they've hardened.

These cookies are paper thin, crunchy and highly addictive. They're a crispy caramel and the salty and sweet from the cranberries and pistachios are a lovely addition. When I brought these into the office for lunch the ladies and I  talked about other things you could add to the base to make them extra special. Any ideas?

Happy Baking!

Cranberries & Cream Crostata

I apologize for not posting more often this week, but I was busy! Between trying to get the house in order after our weekend away and another wedding cake to get done before leaving for Mountain Man's family home Thanksgiving morning, my posts fell to the wayside.

I do hope everyone stuffed themselves silly with turkey and all the fixins like we did on Thursday and enjoyed every second of it!

Not being able to help Mama Mountain Man with Turkey Day preparations this year, I wanted to at least bring dessert. Fortunately, this month's Daring Baker Challenge was perfect for a Thanksgiving feast and would offer a little something different than the traditional pumpkin and pecan pie.

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


Although we had to use Simona's pasta frolla recipe for the crostata base, she gave us creative freedom when it came to the choice of filling. If you remember, I made a crostata a couple of months ago, but this version is quite different and maybe even a little more tasty.

Going with the Thanksgiving theme, let me introduce to you my Cranberries & Cream Crostata.

There are a few steps involved in the recipe- Making the dough, letting it chill an hour and then making the cream and cranberry fillings.


Pasta Frolla 
(Crostata dough)

Scant 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 3/4 cup AP flour
pinch of salt
1 stick butter, cold and cut into small pieces
grated zest of half a lemon
1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl

Place sugar, flour, salt and lemon zest in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix.

Add butter pieces and pulse a few times until the mixture has the consistency of coarse meal.

Empty ingredients onto a work surface.

 Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and pour beaten egg into it (reserve a teaspoon of egg mixture for egg wash).

Using a fork, incorporate liquid into dry ingredients and then use your fingertips.

Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball. 

Shape dough into a flat disk, wrap in saran wrap and place dough in fridge to chill for an hour or so.

After dough has had some time to chill, start to prepare the cranberries.

Honey Soaked Cranberries
2 1/2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)
2/3 cup honey
2/3 cup water

Bring water and honey to a boil in a medium sized sauce pan. Add cranberries and return to boil for about 10-12 minutes. Remove berries from heat and allow mixture to cool and thicken (about 5-10 minutes).

While your berries are thickening, make your cream.

Crema Pasticcera
(lightly sweetened pastry cream)
2 large eggs
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups + 2 TBS whole milk
3 strips of lemon peel (use a potato peeler to cut strips)
3 TBS AP flour

Pour milk into a pan, add lemon peel and warm just before boiling point is reached. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs with sugar until mixture is bubbly. Sif flour over egg mixture and beat briefly until incorporated. Temper egg mixture with a small quantity of milk, then slowly add rest of milk, mixing with a wooden spoon. Pour mixture back into pan and set it to very low heat, stirring every couple of minutes. When froth on surface has disappeared completely, the cream should start to feel slightly thicker. At this point, turn heat up slightly and make sure to stir constantly. When cream reaches boiling point and thickens, continue to cook briefly for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, remove lemon peel and place saucepan in a cold water bath, stirring cream to bring down the temperature. While cream is cooling, stir every now and again to precent formation of film.

Assembling and baking the Crostata con la Crema


*You will need a 8 or 9 inch fluted tart pan, cake pan or springform pan.
Heat oven to 350.
Take dough out of fridge and unwrap.
Lay dough on top of saran wrap and place another piece over top to make rolling the dough out a lot less messy (the dough disk should be sandwiched between 2 pieces of saran wrap).
Press dough with rolling pin- starting from the middle to each end, creating a circular shape.
Roll dough into a circle about 1/8th inch thick.

Remove top piece of saran wrap from dough.
Flip dough over pan (exposed side down), center it and delicately press it all around so corners are well covered. Peel away saran wrap.
Trim excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan (reserve for later). Press remaining dough around border into sides of pan so an even thickness is reached all the way around.

Prick bottom of the dough with a fork in several places.
With left over dough, roll with pin and cut out fun shapes with cookie cutter.

Cover bottom of crostata crust with an even layer of cream and then top with cooked cranberries.

Decorate with cut outs.
Brush edges of crostata and cut outs with reserved egg yolks (you may need to add 1 tsp of water to beaten eggs to make it brush-able)
Place tart in oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.
When done, remove from oven and allow to cool on cooling rack for at least an hour. Make sure you crostata is completely cooled before serving.

What did you have for dessert this Thanksgiving??

Happy Baking!

Super Simple Crunchy Oat Bars

With only 4 main ingredients these are the easiest homemade Crunchy Oat Bars (and of course delicious). They whipped up in a matter of 15 minutes and need only 30 minutes of bake time. When I saw this recipe the first time I knew it would be easy enough to add all sorts of goodies to the simple base. I decided to try a couple different additions this first time around. The first batch were made with a special friend in mind- I planned to make these as a part of a care package, and he loves coconut so these are Cranberry-Coconut Crunchy Oat Bars (these are the bars featured in the photo). The second batch I made for myself and they happen to include apples and my favorite, cinnamon. 

As I cleaned up the kitchen, surrounded by the faint scent the cinnamon and coconut baking in the oven, I found myself conjuring up different variations to try for next time.

Super Simple Crunchy Oat Bars

325 degrees, 30 minutes

2 sticks of butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 TBS corn syrup

3 cups Quick Oats

On the stove top, use a pot to melt butter, adding sugar and corn syrup.

Once ingredients are blended, turn heat off and mix in oats.

This is your base.

Grease a cookie sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper-a baker's best friend). Press mixture into the cookie sheet, flattening with a spatula.

Cranberry-Coconut Variation

Add: 3/4 cup dried coconut

         1/2 cup dried cranberries

Apple-Cinnamon Variation

Add: 1/2 apple, chopped

        1 tsp white sugar  

1 to 2 TBS cinnamon (depending on how cinnamon-y you like them)

*Feel free to add more of the 'extra' ingredients if you wanted more of the flavor to pop. You just want to make sure there is enough of the base to keep the ingredients together.