Cranberry Pecan Bread

We did Christmas breakfast after opening presents. My son made his usual fabulous quiche (best ever I think) and I brought this to have for a sweet treat.

CRANBERRY PECAN BREAD
(adapted from Cooks Illustrated)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
2/3 cup buttermilk
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg, beaten lightly
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups craisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x5" loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out extra, or use Pam. Stir together the orange zest, orange juice, buttermilk, butter, and egg in a small bowl. Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients with a spatula until just moistened. Gently stir in the cranberries and pecans. Do not overmix. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees. Continue to bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 to 45 minutes longer. Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool at least 1 hour before serving. The bread can then be wrapped and stored at room temperature for several days.

Merry Christmas!

My Christmas Wish To YOU

By Catherine Pulsifer

If I could wish a wish for you, it would be for peace and happiness

not only now, but for the whole year through!
I wish that there always be food on your table.

And that you always remember those less fortunate.

May you always take time to share,

and thank those who share with you.
I wish for time, so you may reflect on the blessings that you have,

and that you express your love to those who are dear to you.
May you never feel lonely, because there are those who care.

That you realize: you are special, you are unique,

you make a difference, not only at Christmas, but all year!
I wish for your thoughts to be positive ones,

that you never quit, that you never give up,

and that you continue to learn.

I wish for the love, peace, and joy of Christmas be yours always.

Cookie Exchange 2009

My friend Trudy hosted a cookie exchange at her house this year. We had to bake 8 dozen of a cookie to share with the other bakers. We had a nice assortment of goodies all packed so nice. Below is a picture of the table with all the cookies. I also took a couple of appetizers so we could have something besides sweets to eat. Trudy and I both had made a Rachel Ray appetizer from one of her magazines in the past, Corny Bites. These are really good and easy to throw together. I also took the cranberry/horseradish over cream cheese that I posted at Thanksgiving time. Trudy has the most beautiful Christmas tree with hundreds of ornaments she has collected. We had such a good time sharing baking stories and played a right/left game for a door prize. We think the next time we do this we might do an 'Appetizer Exchange'. I think that's a great idea as a change from the normal cookie exchange.

Here's the table of cookies:

Here are the cookies I made.

MOUNTAIN COOKIES

1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

FILLING:
1 package (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup flaked coconut

TOPPING: (optional -- I didn't do this)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup confectioners sugar

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Make a deep indentation in the center of each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the edges just start to brown. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. For the filling, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Add pecans and
coconut; mix well. Spoon 1/2 tsp. into each cookie. For topping, heat chocolate chips, butter and water in a small saucepan until melted. Stir in sugar. Drizzle over cookies.

RACHEL RAY'S CHEESY CORN BITES

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1 large egg
1/2 cup frozen corn kernals, defrosted
48 scoop shaped tortilla chips
Chopped chives or cilantro for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cream cheese, pepper jack cheese, egg, and corn together. Place a teaspoon in each scoop. Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with chives or cilantro.

Banana Cookie Bars

Time to begin taking treats to work for the holiday season. I went in search of something new to make and keeping in mind ingredients I had on hand. I used the handy Blog Search and found a couple of entries for this recipe. One at Genesis of a Cook and also at Anna's blog at Cookie Madness. These are a little twist to the normal Magic Cookie Bars.

BANANA COOKIE BARS

1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp. salt1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioner sugar
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
2 bananas, mashed
2 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup pecans
2/3 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Spray the paper with Pam. In a large bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, beat butter and confectioner sugar until creamy. Add dry mixture. This will be a very stiff dough. Press mixture into prepared baking pan and bake for 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, mix together condensed milk and bananas together until smooth. Once the crust has baked for 15 minutes, take out and pour the banana mixture over it. Combine the chocolate chips, pecans and coconut together in a bowl and sprinkle over the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely, roughly around 10-15 minutes. Then, chill in the fridge for about an hour. To chill quicker, place in the freezer for 25 minutes.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

We had a birthday breakfast celebration at work yesterday for a coworker. I went in search of a coffee cake recipe to make. I just love allrecipes.com. Besides getting great recipes, you have other cooks who have posted reviews and made comments about changes they made. According to the group who ate this, it was a good cake.

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, cream together 1 cup butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Mix in 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt. Spread 1/2 of batter in the prepared pan. This batter is really thick and this is a bit of a challenge, but just work with it and it.

Prepare the filling: In a medium bowl mix 1/3 cup flour, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and cinnamon. Sprinkle cake batter with 1/2 the filling. Spread second half of batter over the filling, and top with remaining filling.

Bake 35 minutes in the preheated oven or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Pumpkin Roll

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. My son and daughter-in-law hosted this year. The tables were absolutely beautiful. My son did his usual amazing job of a brined, roasted turkey and also this year there was fried turkey. Everyone brought side dishes and desserts. It was a veritable feast and then some. In addition to my usual traditional dishes I made a pumpkin roll and also an appetizer of cranberry sauce with a little 'twist' poured over cream cheese and served with crackers.

PUMPKIN ROLL

CAKE:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup pumpkin


FILLING:
1 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

FOR CAKE:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan, line with wax paper. Grease paper. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly onto prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto a dish towel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

FOR FILLING:
Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in small mixer bowl until smooth. Add nuts. Carefully unroll cake. Remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour, overnight is best. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired. I saved just a little of the cream cheese filling for decoration.

The ingredients in this might sound a bit odd, but trust me, this stuff is good. The horseradish gives it a little 'kick' and the onion is not overpowering. I kind of reminds me of jalapeno jelly.

CRANBERRY SAUCE OVER CREAM CHEESE

1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons horseradish (not the sauce)
1/4 cup sugar

Bring all ingredients to a boil. Let sit until cool. Pour over cream cheese brick and serve with crackers.

Chicken/Spinach Lasagna

My son's birthday and I made dinner for him and his family and a college friend. A break from the traditional lasagna. This one has a white sauce with spinach and chicken. I looked at several recipes and came up with my version.

CHICKEN/SPINACH LASAGNA

2 cups cooked, diced chicken (I used boneless breasts)
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup butter
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup half and half
1 package Stouffer's spinach souffle, thawed
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian herbs to season sauce to your taste.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Reserve 2/3 cup mozzarella cheese for top of lasagna. Saute onion and garlic in butter. Cool. In a medium size bowl, combine remaining 1 1/3 cup mozzarella, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, soup, onion and garlic, and half and half and set aside. In another medium size bowl, combine spinach souffle, egg and ricotta. Mix well, then combine with soup mixture and mix all together. Season to taste.

In the bottom of a 13x9 inch baking dish, spread a little of the sauce. Cover with 3 cooked lasagna noodles. Then layer sauce, cheese, chicken, and more noodles and repeat, ending with a layer of sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over top and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until hot and bubbling. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake

We are having our Thanksgiving feast at work tomorrow. It is early, but many people will be out of town, so this day worked best. I am taking my usual broccoli casserole. I decided to try a different pumpkin cheesecake than the Paula Deen one I made before. I have to say Paula's didn't split but this one did. The praline topping covers it up nicely though. I used Paula's crust and a couple of different recipes for the filling and this is how I made it:

PUMPKIN PRALINE CHEESECAKE

Crust:
1-3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs2 tablespoons light brown sugar1/2 teaspoon cinnamon1 stick melted butter(I also added about 1/4 cup of ground pecans)In a medium bowl combine crumbs, sugar, cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press into a 9 inch springform pan that has been sprayed with Pam and press into bottom and up the sides. Set aside.

Filling:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
4 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
5 eggs

Heat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl, mix flour, cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin. Set aside. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat cream cheese at medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time at low speed just until blended. Beat in pumpkin mixture until smooth. Pour liquid over crust.

Bake for 10 minutes at 450 and then reduce to 370 and bake for another hour or until outside of cake is set but center still jiggles slightly when shaken. Allow to rest in oven for 30 minutes with door open. Cool pan on cooling rack for 30 minutes. Refrigerate at least six hours before serving, overnight is best.

Topping:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons evaporated milk or cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

Bring butter, brown sugar, and milk to a boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla. It will thicken as it cools. Add pecans. Pour over cheesecake.

Chocolate Chip Cake

I suppose if it weren't for birthdays at work I wouldn't have a blog. This picture is really crummy, but the reviews on the cake were much better. It's not often I use a cake mix, but if you add enough ingredients it masks it pretty well. This goes together in a snap, very easy to make and turns out a really nice cake.

Chocolate Chip Cake

1 yellow cake mix
1 small box instant vanilla pudding (dry)
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 (8 oz.) sour cream
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup flaked coconut

Beat cake mix, pudding mix, oil, sour cream and eggs together until well blended, about 3 minutes. Stir in chips, nuts and coconut by hand. Grease tube pan. Pour cake mixture into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Turn oven off, open door and let cake set in pan for 1 hour before removing to cake server.

This could be dusted with powdered sugar and served or make the icing below.

Icing

1/2 stick of butter melted
2 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons milk or cream
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over cake.

Lemon Blueberry Sour Cream Cake

It's been so long since I posted to my blog. I just haven't made anything blogworthy recently. It was brought to our attention at the office that we hadn't had any goodies in a while. I've had this recipe for a while waiting to try it. I have read a message board on AOL for many years. There are a lot of good cooks on there who share their recipes or share what they had for dinner, etc. There is a particularly great cook on there who posted this recipe that came from a bed and breakfast inn called the Campion House. I had frozen some fresh blueberries a while back and had all the ingredients so voila. I had lots of compliments on this, so I'd call it a winner.

LEMON BLUEBERRY SOUR CREAM CAKE

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teapoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons lemon extract
3 cups granulated sugar
6 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 cups blueberries

Grease and flour tube pan. In medium bowl, sift flour, soda and salt. In large mixing bowl, cream butter; add lemon extract and gradually add sugar. Beat 2 minutes. Beat in 2 eggs at a time, beating until thoroughly mixed after each addition and 2 to 3 minutes after last addition. On lowest speed, add half the flour, beating only until blended. Add all the sour cream, then the balance of the flour. Mix until smooth. Stir in blueberries. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 80 minutes. Cool 20 minutes in pan, then turn onto a cooling rack.

I glazed this with the juice from one lemon and about 1 cup powdered sugar

Going Bananas

Another birthday at work. The birthday girl didn't request a particular cake, so I went in search of something different I hadn't made before. I had made a Fresh Banana Cake in the past but this one was a bit different. This recipe is all over the Internet, so I thought it must be a good one. From the comments, I think it might just be a winner. Following is how I made it.

BANANA CAKE

¾ cups butter
2 cups granulated sugar
3 whole eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups all purpose flour
1-½ teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1-½ cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1-½ cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3)

Frosting:

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup chopped, toasted pecans

Preheat oven to 275 (that’s not a typo, check your oven to be sure it is working properly.) My oven is kind of slow, so I used 300 degrees. Grease a 9×13 pan. In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas with lemon juice; set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup softened butter and the 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternating with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour (it took mine 1 hour, 10 minutes), or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove pan from oven and place directly into freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.

For the frosting: In a large bowl, cream 1/4 cup butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then beat on high until frosting is smooth. Spread on cooled cake. Sprinkle pecans (optional).

Dinosaur Birthday Cake

I had a birthday a few weeks ago. I've been watching my sugar intake recently, so my son baked this sugar-free cheesecake for my birthday. My 3-year-old grandson decided that Gram needed a dinosaur on her cake, so he decorated it. For someone who hasn't had many treats lately, this tasted just great to me!

SUGAR-FREE RICOTTA CHEESECAKE

24 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup extra-fine whole milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar substitute (he used Splenda)
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon no sugar added vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 eggs
3 egg yolks


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray an 8 inch springform pan with nonstick vegetable oil cooking spray. Set aside. In a shallow roasting pan big enough to fit the cake pan, pour about 1-inch of water and place it on the center rack of the oven to preheat. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat softened cream cheese, ricotta, sour cream and sugar substitute on low speed for about 1 minute until well blended. In a separate bowl, using a wire whisk, mix heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, eggs, and egg yolks until blended. Turn the mixer on medium speed and slowly pour the egg mixture into the cream cheese mixture. Beat just until blended and then turn off; be careful not to over-whip. Pour batter into the greased springform pan. Place pan into the heated water bath. Bake for 15 minutes, and then lower the oven temperature to 275 degrees. Continue baking for 1 1/2 hours, or until top is light golden brown and cake is pulling away from the sides of the pan. Turn the oven off when finished cooking and leave the cake in the oven to cool for 3 more hours. (This will keep the cake nice and tall.) Then remove cake and refrigerate before serving. Serve chilled.

Grill Gone Wild

It's rare to see 'real food' on my blog as I mostly just bake. My son is the griller when he visits at my house, so I thought I'd showcase his masterpiece from this weekend. He took thick boneless porkchops and cut them into chunks and marinated in Stubbs Pork Marinade (a Texas thang y'all). Alternated with green pepper, onion, mushrooms, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes. This along with some Poffenberger's smoked sausage (from Bellville, TX) and we had a feast.

Double Chocolate Dream Cookies

I'm taking cookies to work today. I was browsing online for recipes and happened upon this one at CooksRecipes.com and had the ingredients on hand. I think they will go over well.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE DREAM COOKIES

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs for about 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies are puffed. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

My blog has been seriously neglected lately. I just haven't had an occasion to bake anything. I thought it was time to take something to work though and was in a baking mood. I was looking online for a recipe for ingredients I had on hand and came across this one on All Recipes. I've not been eating sugar for several weeks, so I'll have to take them to the 'taste testers' at work and hope for good reviews.

WHITE CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COOKIES

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 cups white chocolate chips (I used a bar of White Ghiardelli chocolate chopped up)
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, stir in the rolled oats, white chocolate, and pecans. Drop by tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. (These took about 14 minutes in my oven). Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks. I got 5 dozen cookies from this recipe.