Cranberry Craze

Cranberries just say Holiday Foods to me! Their bright color and tart taste go well with all the favorites from Thanksgiving through January.  History stories tell us that the Indians mixed cranberries with animal fat to make pemmican, a stable in their meals. Supposedly, they shared this with the Pilgrims on the first Thanksgiving. We do know that cranberries are native to New England and are grown in fields surrounded by raised edges to allow flooding to float the cranberries for harvest. Later, in the Civil War, General Grant ordered cranberry sauce for his troops.
Maybe these native and early Americans were taking advantage of the foods that were plentiful and available, but maybe they also realized the health benefits of cranberries. Besides being high in vitamin C (good for those Pilgrims who had been at sea for months) and fiber; we now know that cranberries are a good source of anthocyanins that help protect the cardiovascular system, and antioxidants which have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer benefits.
Cranberries are naturally low in calories, but many of the recipes (including the one I'll share) have added sugar and butter, increasing their calories and making them a bit less healthy. Take comfort in enjoying some health benefits while watching the portion size!
We had an early Thanksgiving dinner this weekend, and one of the dishes I took to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's was this Cranberry Bar dessert. It is from Bonnie Aeschliman's collection. She reports serving these at her store's Open House "Cooking With Bonnie" in Wichita, and it has been featured in the Wichita Eagle which she also writes for. I took a class from Bonnie at her shop recently and greatly enjoyed it. The recipes she demonstrated were from her book "Farm to France",  I can't wait to try more of them.

Ultimate Cranberry Bars

Base:

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup packed light brown sugar

¾ cup cold butter, cut into 1/2 –inch cubes

Topping:

1 cup butter

1 ⅔cups granulated sugar

¼ cup light corn syrup

½ teaspoon salt

2 ½ cups fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups pecans, toasted and cooled, then coarsely chopped

Garnish: 2 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped

Special equipment: candy thermometer

1.     For the Base: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 10 x 15-inch shallow baking pan with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the two short sides. Butter foil sides, but not the bottom.

2.     Blend flour, brown sugar, and salt in a food processor, then add butter and pulse until mixture begins to form small (roughly pea-size) lumps. Sprinkle into baking pan, then press down firmly all over to form an even layer. Bake in middle of oven until golden and firm to the touch, 15 – 17 minutes, then cool in pan on a rack.

3.     For the Topping: Melt butter in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat and stir in sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Boil over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until caramel registers 245 degrees on candy thermometer, about 8 minutes. Carefully stir in cranberries, then boil until caramel returns to 245 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, then stir in pecans until well coated. Working quickly, spread caramel topping over base using a fork to distribute nuts and berries evenly. Cool completely.

4.     Lift bars in foil from pan and transfer to a cutting board.

5.     Place white chocolate in microwave-safe container and microwave on medium-high for 30 seconds, stirring every 10 seconds until melted. Transfer chocolate to a small disposable pastry bag (or plastic bag). Snip off a small opening at the end. Pipe chocolate decoratively over top. Let stand at room temperature until chocolate sets, about 1 hour. Cut into small squares or bars.

Peanut Butter - Spread it Thick

This month (November) is National Peanut Butter Lovers’ Month, what a good time for those tasty holiday recipes, nutty treats, and smooth gooey sandwiches.

The definition of peanut butter is “food paste made primarily from a ground nut of the legume family”. That doesn’t sound appetizing at all! But people have liked the taste of peanut butter for centuries. Peanuts were primarily grown in the Americas where they are native, and were used by Indians in South America as early as 950 B.C. Since then, peanut butter has been invented and reinvented several times.  I always thought the credit went to George Washington Carver, and with his background of living in Missouri and Kansas and attending Iowa State University in the late 1800’s, he seemed almost like a local we could be proud of for developing such a well-liked food.
Even though Mr. Carver did find over 300 uses for the peanut, he didn’t patent any of the methods or recipes, believing that food products were all gifts of God.

In the early 1900’s others weren’t so shy about making a profit from their inventions to process the food. Many companies were producing peanut butter in 1914; and in 1928 Peter Pan Company received a license for a churning process to create a smooth peanut butter. Not to be outdone, the Skippy Company soon developed and marketed chunky peanut butter.

Recently another nut spread – hazelnut – has been gaining popularity. We usually know it as Nutella, but that’s a brand name. It is a chocolate flavored spread of hazelnuts, originally developed in WWII because of the cocoa shortage. We’ll soon see other companies marketing this tasty spread too; Jif Company has introduced a Chocolate Flavored Hazelnut Spread and a Mocha Cappuccino Flavored Hazelnut Spread. Not in my local store yet, but something to look for when I go to the big store in the city. The hazelnut spread is especially yummy with peanut butter – for a triple treat add a smear of Marshmallow Fluff on the graham crackers! Eat slowly, its not a diet food.

Besides eating Peanut Butter on graham crackers, jelly sandwiches, or just out of the jar (doesn’t that happen at your house?), there are lots of tasty recipes. After the pie day for Fall Festival at church I vowed to try Peanut Butter Pie. So how lucky was it that my Good Housekeeping magazine had a recipe in the current issue? It was as good and as rich as you might expect. Again, cut small pieces and eat slowly!

Peanut Butter Pie

1 9-inch refrigerated ready-to-use piecrust

¾ c. sugar

1/3  c. cornstarch

1 tsp. salt

4 cups whole milk

4 lg. egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 cup peanut butter

3 Tbsp. butter, at room temperature

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Prepare piecrust as for one-shell baked crust/custard pie.

In large saucepan, stir together sugar, cornstarch, and salt. In large bowl, whisk milk and egg yolks until blended; gradually whisk into sugar mixture. Heat o medium 6 – 7 minutes, or until mixture thickens and boils, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute, stirring. Remove from heat; stir in peanut butter, butter, and vanilla until well blended.

Immediately pour peanut butter mixture into baked pie shell; press plastic wrap onto surface of filling. Refrigerate pie at least 4 hours or until well chilled and set.

To serve, top with whipped cream (or Cool Whip) and garnish with chopped peanuts.

Spooky Treats

Does everyone has a favorite recipe that you've used so many times that the book falls open to a page that is sticky and has flour in the book spine? After a not-so-successful attempt to make pumpkin bread from a new recipe for church coffee this weekend, I went back to my all-time favorite quick bread recipe. Instead of the bananas the recipe calls for, I used canned pumpkin. It worked wonderfully! I guess that proves the old favorites are sometimes the best.

This was the Sunday before Halloween, and since our church isn't touchy about celebrating that holiday, we decorated and planned treats with a spooky theme. The other member of Sunday's coffee time, Chef Deb, had decorated the table with spiderweb strands and back cloth. I brought some pumpkin decor and found some left from the earlier Fall Festival. Chef Deb and her girls did spiderweb Oreos by dipping one side of an Oreo cookie in white almond bark and making black frosting circles on it which they pulled out with a toothpick to form a spiderweb shape. They also brought mini-cupcakes decorated with sprinkles and plastic spider rings. The kids loved these, their only problem was choosing which color spider they wanted!

Besides the re-reciped Pumpkin Bread, I took Pumpkin Bars frosted with cream cheese frostings. You can never have too much pumpkin in October!

Special Banana Nut Bread (adapted from Taste of Home, 2008)

¾ cup butter, softened

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 medium)

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups chopped pecans, divided

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition. Add bananas and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, add to creamed mixture. Fold in 1 cup pecans.

Transfer to two greased 8 inch x 4 inch x 2 inch loaf pans. Sprinkle with remaining pecans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 ¼ hours or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

In a small bowl, whisk the glaze ingredients, drizzle over loaves. (For the glaze, I use about 1 cup powdered sugar and about 3 tablespoons flavored coffee creamer)

Pumpkin Bars  (from Taste of Home web)

4 eggs

1 ⅔ cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Icing:

1 package (3-oz) cream cheese, softened

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

¼ cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 – 2 tablespoons milk

In a bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until well blended. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Pour into an ungreased 15-in.x10-in.x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until set. Cool completely.

For icing, beat the cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, butter and vanilla in a small bowl. Add enough milk to achieve spreading consistency. Spread over bars. Store in the refrigerator

Easy as Pie?

The saying is old, but is it true? It seems that today making a pie can be quite an accomplishment – especially if you’re doing the crust from start (not from the refrigerated section of the grocery store). And getting the crust, filling, and meringue, if called for, just right may take more-than-a-moderate amount of skill and practice. So, this fall’s goal has been to make this dessert “as easy as pie”.

The first endeavor was for the church’s Fall Festival. The chairperson called for 70 pies! Surely I could contribute a couple? I was up to it! Actually I was rather proud of my efforts after an afternoon of cutting those collected pies. What an array of crusts, fillings, and pans! Getting a close look at many other pie-bakers’ efforts made me feel pretty good about mine – I even sneaked a bite from a crumble that fell off in cutting.

Here’s the recipe, one I’ll make again. In fact, after a friend gave me a bag of home tree pears, I’ve put 2 baggies of this filling in the freezer for future pies.

Crust:

1 ¼ cup flour (all-purpose King Arthur worked well)

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

½ cup butter (not margarine)

¼ cup iced water

Sift flour, sugar, and salt together. Cut in butter until dough is crumbly (here I used the food processor – quick and did a good job). Add enough iced water to the crumbs so that they hold together (again, in the food processor – a tablespoon at a time and pulsing the processor. It only took about 3 tablespoons). Mold dough into a circle about 1-inch thick, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour. Roll out with rolling pin to desired size.

I have a new plastic mat for dough that works great! It requires only a little flour to keep the dough from sticking and has circles to measure the size you’re rolling. It allowed me to roll out dough easily and lift it up over the rolling pin to transfer to the pie pan without the dough tearing.

Pear-Cranberry Lattice Pie

Pastry for double-crust pie (9-inches)

¾ cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

5 cups sliced peeled fresh pears

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed

2 tablespoons butter

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

additional sugar

Line a 9-inch pie plate with bottom pastry; set aside. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and allspice. Add pecans and cranberries; toss to coat. Spoon into crust; dot with butter.

With a fluted pastry wheel, pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut remaining pastry into eight 1-inch strips. Twist strips; position parallel to each other and about ½ inch to ¾ inch apart over filling. Trim strips evenly with pastry edge. Seal and flute edges.

In a small bowl, whisk egg and milk; brush over pastry. Sprinkle with additional sugar. Cover pie loosely with foil to prevent overbrowning.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and remove foil; bake for 40-45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack.

Silver and Gold and Recipes (Pumpkin Brownies)

          

There’s an old campfire girls saying about friends “Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold”. Friends are like a precious metal that enrich our lives.  Recipes are like that also; we have our old favorites, but like to try new ones. So when I volunteered to bring brownies to a friends’ lunch, I thought of my all-time-favorite-tried-and-true recipe (blog of August 6, 2011). But I’ve been seeing lots of pumpkin brownie recipes on Pinterest and in the magazines that were tempting, keep the old or try the new??

The Friends’ lunch was great – our ‘old’ Extension staff (Jeff, Cherie & I) and the ‘new’ Extension staff (Amanda & Anna). It was good to visit with all and to appreciate the specialness of these friendships – a celebration of long-standing friends and the discoveries of new friends.

The ‘new’ recipe of Pumpkin Brownies was special too. With two favorite flavors – chocolate and pumpkin, it turned out to be a new favorite.  Best enjoyed with a cup of kindness.

Pumpkin Brownies

Ingredients:

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup butter, melted

1 ½ cups white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

¼ cup cocoa powder

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used white chocolate chips)

½ cup pumpkin puree

½ cup chopped walnuts

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan. Stir flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.

2.     In another bowl, stir together the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla extract, beat in the eggs one at a time with a spoon. Gradually add the flour mixture, and stir the batter until it’s evenly moistened. Divide the batter in half I two separate bowls.

3.     Into one bowl of batter blend cocoa powder ad chocolate chips In the second bowl of batter stir in the pumpkin puree walnuts, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

4.     Spread ½ of the chocolate batter into the bottom of the prepared baking pan, and follow with ½ of the pumpkin batter. Repeat the layers, ending with a pumpkin layer, and drag a kitchen knife or small spatula gently through the layers in a swirling motion, to create a marbled appearance.

5.     Bake in the preheated oven until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes. Cool in the pan, cut into squares, and serve.

Makes 16 servings.

We've had many coffee times, birthday cakes, and office conferences around this table.