Lunchable

I have a fridge full of Thanksgiving leftovers, yet this was my lunch.  That's because eating the meal once is about all I'm up for.  I just don't like turkey that much.  So my husband gets the leftover dinner items to eat for lunch, and I eat the leftover pie for breakfast. =)  I had to work today, and since I don't have that many employees working on Saturdays, it's often hard for me to sit down to eat lunch.  This actually worked out quite well for grazing.  I had cinnamon sugar pecans, dried cranberries, sesame bagel chips, and some slices of a nice cheddar.  (Not pictured--miniature Hershey bar.)  Mmm, a grown-up lunchable. 

Let it snow

Today was nice--I had the day off from work, but the girls had school, so I got some time to myself.  The highlight of my morning was being able to watch TV without having anyone complain about what I put on.  (Yay for BBC America!)  I had lunch out with a couple friends and got to do some (mostly window) shopping as well.  The only things I came home with were these candles and holders.  As I mentioned before, I love snowflakes.  I particularly like these holders because they aren't specific to Christmas, so they can stay out after the holidays.  I don't buy a lot of candles, since I'm not fond of a lot of scented stuff.  Yes, I'm that person who buys unscented everything (laundry detergent, etc.).  The few things I do buy are usually in the citrus family, especially grapefruit and tangerine.  These candles aren't citrus-scented, but they are food-related.  The white ones are vanilla, and the red one in the middle is cranberry.  I actually like that one a lot, and may pick up a couple more.  It's too early for a lot of decorations, but I'm getting excited about the holiday season.

Can't catch me...

I'm not sure when I became so fond of the flavor of ginger.  My favorite cookies are these Double Ginger Crackles.  While I don't like the flavor of cinnamon with chocolate, ginger is okay.  I like visiting my family in the northeast, because I can get individual bottles of ginger ale (near impossible to find around here, since people drink icky Dr. Pepper instead).  My favorite chai tea is heavy on the ginger flavor.  I've been thinking about making my own crystallized ginger, but haven't found the time yet.

I wasn't sure whether I should do this post, since I had one about granola last month.  But as my friend Phyl put it, "It's gingerbread. It's granola. Of course it deserves its own post!"  I have a tendency to become slightly obsessed with a food and make it repeatedly, in different variations.  (See Jeni's ice cream. =) )  That seems to be the case with granola right now.  Eventually I'll go back and make my favorites again, but right now I'm having fun trying out different flavor combinations.

Since I've made granola a couple times now, I was comfortable with the process.  The only thing I needed to figure out was how I wanted to change it up.  Even when I first made the granola recipe, I debated whether to use the honey, since I'm not a big honey person.  My usual substitution is to use golden syrup in its place.  But I tried the recipe as written, and it was okay.  For the second batch, I used maple syrup, and I really enjoyed that batch and will definitely make it again.  My next thought was to play around with the spices.  I didn't want them competing with the maple, so I decided this would be the time to try golden syrup.  Then I had the idea to make a gingerbread version of the granola.  I added a bunch of ground ginger to the dry ingredients, increased the cinnamon a bit, and also added a bit of cloves and nutmeg.  Since most gingerbread recipes incorporate molasses, I ended up going with a tablespoon of mild molasses and 3 tablespoons of golden syrup.

Once the granola was in the oven and nearing the end of the baking time, I could tell I'd have a winner--it smelled amazing.  Once it was out of the oven, I couldn't resist sampling it while it was still warm, but also wanted to try the granola again once it cooled so I could see what the final flavor would be like.  I could taste the ginger, but was in the mood for more.  I ended up finely dicing some crystallized ginger and adding it along with the dried fruit.

The verdict?  When I tasted the granola the next morning, the ginger flavor was definitely more prominent, thanks to the chewy bits of candied ginger.  If you don't like a really strong ginger flavor, you might want to leave it out.  Overall, I'm really happy with the way the granola turned out.  I think the amount of molasses was just right (I didn't want it to be overpowering) and I like the combination of spices that I used.  I encourage you to play around and figure out what's right for your taste!  Here's my version if you'd like to try it.

Gingerbread Granola
(adapted from Tracey's Culinary Adventures)

4 cups (340 grams) rolled oats
1 cup (115 grams) pecans, broken into pieces
1/2 cup (100 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of cloves
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1/3 cup (70 grams) canola oil
1 tablespoon (20 grams) mild molasses
3 tablespoons (60 grams) golden syrup
2 tablespoons (25 grams) vanilla sugar (or plain granulated sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
generous 1 cup (125 grams) dried cranberries
2 - 3 tablespoons finely diced crystallized ginger (optional)

Preheat oven to 300º F. Line a rimmed 13" x 18" baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put the oats, pecans, brown sugar, salt and spices in a large heatproof bowl and stir to combine.  Put the oil, molasses, golden syrup, and granulated sugar in a small saucepan.  Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and mix in the vanilla extract. Pour the hot oil mixture over the oat mixture and use a rubber spatula (or dough whisk) to mix until the ingredients are well combined.

Spread the granola on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the granola is golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes. Let the granola cool then add the dried cranberries and crystallized ginger (if using) and stir to incorporate. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Makes about 8 cups.

Thank you, thank you, Sam-I-am!

I do not like granola.  I do not like it from a box; I would not like it with a fox.  I will not eat it as a bar; I will not eat it in a car...  

I bought some granola several years ago to make these TWD cookies, and as Brianna would say, it was okay, but not my favorite--definitely not something I'd eat outside of a cookie, or on a regular basis.  I can sort of understand the appeal--it's a good way to get some fiber, and it can have assorted fruits and nuts in it, which are good for you.  It just doesn't taste all that great, and way too much of it seems to have coconut of some sort.  No need for that.  And don't get me started on store-bought granola bars.  Ick.  

In spite of my dislike of granola, when I saw my friend Tracey's blog, I was intrigued.  I had just made some oatmeal scones for breakfast using toasted oats.  I don't like cooked oatmeal due to the texture, but sometimes I wish that I did like it, since you can add so many interesting things to it.  The granola Tracey made had lots of ingredients that I like--pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon.  I also have a giant bag of dried cranberries (thank you, Costco) in my pantry, so I was excited to see a way to use some of them.  I figured, what the heck, if I hate the granola, I can always give it away. =)

I wasn't sure how much I'd like the honey in the recipe (another thing that isn't my favorite), but decided to make the recipe as written.  It's really easy--first you mix together the oats, pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a big bowl.  Then you put the oil, granulated sugar, and honey in a small saucepan and warm them up.  I'm guessing that's to make it easier to mix into the dry ingredients, since honey is a lot more fluid when it's warm.  You stir in a whole bunch of vanilla (I used my good stuff) once the rest of the ingredients are warm, and pour the liquids over the oat mixture.  Once everything is stirred together, it goes into a somewhat low oven (300ºF) for about half an hour, stirring every ten minutes or so.  That's another thing that I liked about the recipe--some granola recipes have you baking the granola for a hour or longer.  Once the granola is out of the oven and cool, you mix in the cranberries.  

The verdict?  Wow.  This stuff is fantastic!  It's a perfect example of why you should make things at home--freshly made granola is a whole different thing from the stuff you buy at the store.  Who knew?  I took a bunch of this batch to work--everyone seems to be avoiding sweets right now, having indulged too much over the holidays, so I thought maybe they'd appreciate something healthier.  It was a big hit all around.  I promised them that I'd bring in more as I try different variations.  I can't wait to play around with the recipe to see what else I can come up with.  Today I tried substituting grade B maple syrup for the honey--the honey taste isn't overpowering in the first version I made, but I really prefer other sweeteners.  And how can you go wrong with maple & pecans & brown sugar?  The result isn't super mapley, but it's really good.  It's a bit drier/less sticky than the honey version, probably because the maple syrup isn't as viscous as honey.  I also rubbed vanilla bean seeds into the granulated sugar, and cut the vanilla extract back to just one teaspoon.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  

If you'd like to try the original granola recipe for yourself, you can find it here on Tracey's blog.  Be sure to look around while you're there--she posts so many delicious recipes, both sweet and savory. =)

Say...cheese?

Happy Independence Day, everyone!  

This is a day to be thankful for all the freedoms that we enjoy as Americans.  I'm also thankful to have working air-conditioning here in central Texas, where it's supposed to be over 100º for the next week.  I came home from work on Friday to find that the temperature in my house was over 80ºF.  Turns out that after almost 10 years (can we really have been in this house for almost 10 years?!), the air-conditioner condenser unit had had enough.  Why do things like this always seem to happen going into a holiday weekend?  Which leads me to the next thing I'm thankful for--a wonderful heating & a/c guy who was willing to come out on a Saturday to figure out what was wrong and fix it.  Otherwise, I'd probably be spending my holiday weekend in a hotel. =)  I haven't appreciated air-conditioning so much in a long time.  (J says it got into the high 80s in the house while I was at work on Saturday, before the a/c was fixed.)

I felt like a big wimp, complaining so much about the lack of air-conditioning.  After all, we didn't have a/c when I was growing up.  It was fairly hot and humid in Pennsylvania in the summer, and I can remember plenty of nights when we would lay in bed at night with all the windows open, just hoping for some breeze.  But as several people pointed out to me, it may have been hot then, but we didn't have high temperatures over 100º for days on end.  The ways we try to beat the heat are still the same, though--fans, minimal cooking, and lots of frozen treats!  I admit it, I let my girls eat popsicles for breakfast on Saturday morning. =)

Today, though, I've got more ice cream for you.  My Ice Cream Week is running over the week-long time frame by a bit (and there's at least one more post to come), but you can never have too much ice cream, right? =)  Today's flavor happens to fit the patriotic theme for the day--red and white in the ice cream, though I had to find a blue dish for it to complete the theme.  (You could probably add blueberries; I just don't like them.)

When I first got my copy of Jeni's book, I read all the way through it.  Then I went back and started a list of the flavors that I wanted to make.  It didn't take me long to fill a page in my notebook.  Some of the choices were obvious ones, like the Salty Caramel and Darkest Chocolate in the World.  The Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk one was high on the list as well, since I had a ton of strawberries in the fridge.  Brianna asked me to make the Milkiest Chocolate in the World, since she wanted to try it when we were in Columbus, but they were out of it.  What surprised me was the recipe that ended up next on my list.   Young Gouda Ice Cream with Vodka-Plumped Cranberries.  Cheese in ice cream?  I really like Gouda--and cranberries--so I figured, why not? 

The verdict?  I admit, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from adding cheese to ice cream.  I did figure that the creaminess of the Gouda would work out okay.  What I ended up with was something that reminds me a lot of cheesecake.  I guess that shouldn't be that surprising.  It's really good, but really rich.  The tart cranberries are a nice contrast to the richness and creaminess of the ice cream.  Now I'm eager to experiment with some of the other unusual recipes in the book.  

If you'd like to give this one a try for yourself, I recommend that you get your hands on a copy of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.  To get started, you can find the recipe for Jeni's Vanilla Bean ice cream here at Food & Wine.  To make the gouda version, omit the vanilla bean.  Increase the salt to 1/4 teaspoon and the corn syrup to 2 tablespoons.  After whisking the milk mixture into the cream cheese, whisk in half a cup (about 2 ounces, or 60 grams) of young Gouda or another creamy cheese.  Proceed with chilling the mixture and churning it.  Dried cranberries are plumped in simple syrup with a couple tablespoons of vodka added.  They're layered in with the ice cream as it's packed into a freezer container.

Stay tuned for my next Ice Cream Week post, on ice cream cones!

Army of Darkness

One of the things I didn't mention in my "summer vacation" post was why Dorie was in Austin to begin with.  She was here for the annual IACP conference.  I'm sure all the members of Tuesdays with Dorie and French Fridays with Dorie were very excited to see that Around My French Table won for both best general cookbook and cookbook of the year.  This isn't the first time that Dorie has won an IACP award, either.  The IACP featured her as part of their celebration of 25 years of cookbook awards.

I love Dorie's cookbooks--I have 5 of them--not just because she writes great recipes, but because of the way she writes them.  I buy cookbooks because I like to read them, not just to bake or cook from them.  Dorie puts great stories in hers, about the recipes and where they came from, but she also includes lots of great information about ingredients and techniques.  I love how descriptive she is in her instructions.  One of my favorites is when she is talking about making tart dough in the food processor.  "The dough...forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change--heads up."  Dorie's books are filled with lots of little tidbits like that. 

Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes picked Chocolate Biscotti for us to make this week.  We've made biscotti once before (which I happened to post on G's 2nd birthday--my, how she's grown!).  I was excited to see how this chocolate version would turn out.  I remember from last time that there was some confusion and discussion because in that recipe, Dorie instructs you to "stand them [the biscotti] up like a marching band" for their second bake.  To me, it was clear that she meant to have the biscotti in the same orientation as they were in the log, just cut apart, as opposed to laying them down on the cut sides.  (That way both sides dry out at once and you don't have to flip the cookies over partway through the baking time.) But it confused a few people.  In this week's recipe, the instruction is a bit different--you're supposed to "stand the slices up on the baking sheet--you'll have an army of biscotti."  Marching bands and armies, how many cookbooks have those? =)

I decided to pass on the nuts for my batch of cookies, and turned to the Playing Around section for other ideas.  I'm not a big fan of dried cherries, but decided to go with another dried fruit that I've subbed for cherries in the past--cranberries.  I went with 100 grams of sweetened dried cranberries and about 120 grams of mini chocolate chips.  I used some of my stash of Scharffen Berger cocoa and reduced the espresso powder to just one tablespoon.  And I topped my biscotti with some Swedish pearl sugar (which you can find at IKEA).

The verdict?  These were really tasty!  I love the look of the pearl sugar on top of the dark biscotti.  As many times as I've tried the combination now, I'm still amazed at how well the tart cranberries pair with dark chocolate. If you haven't tried them together, you should.  I shared my army of biscotti with some daycare teachers and some coworkers, and everyone liked them.

If you'd like to try these for yourself, Jacque has the recipe in her post.  And to see what everyone else thought of this week's recipe, check out the Links!

Lingering over dessert

So how many of you stock up on stuff to make sure you don't run out of a favorite ingredient?  I'm not talking about things like flour and sugar, though I keep those well-stocked.  I'm talking about the 4 or 5 jars of raspberry fruit butter in my pantry.  And the extra couple bottles of golden syrup.  The four cans of pumpkin.  (Is that enough? Maybe I need to buy some more.)  Combined with the staples I keep on hand, it's amazing what I can whip up at a moment's notice.   I should clarify--I'm just talking about baking.  For instance, I once had no problem making a pumpkin ginger pound cake at the last minute for an occasion at work, but the same night had trouble coming up with something that I could actually cook for dinner. =)  

Last December, I added cranberries to the list of ingredients that I hoard.  It was the end of the season, and I was able to pick up a bunch of bags of them for a good price.  I picked through them (since a few were clearly past their prime), bagged them up, and stashed them in the back of my freezer.  So I had no problem making the cranberry upside-down cake for Tuesdays with Dorie a couple months ago.  And I was all set for the recipe that my blogging friend Jessica picked for this week.  She chose a recipe that I didn't even realize was in the book, Not-Just-for-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake.  

I think it takes longer to say the name than to actually make this dessert. =)  That worked out for me, since I had to work last weekend and didn't have much time to bake.  I made the filling Sunday night, so it would have time to cool.  It was basically like making cranberry sauce.  The filling mixture consists of cranberries and sugar, along with zest, juice and chopped segments from an orange.  These are all boiled together into a thick jam.  I let it cool overnight, and finished making the cake Monday night.

The cooled filling is sandwiched between a couple layers of what is more or less cookie dough--butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, flour, salt and baking powder.  The recipe calls for a 9" round springform pan, but I changed that.  Dorie mentions in the recipe notes that a double batch can be baked in a 13"x9" pan, so I figured a single recipe would fit nicely in an 8" square pan.  (I used a Pyrex one.)  (I also saw that my blogging friend Pamela used a square pan successfully.)  For the bottom crust, I didn't roll out the dough, I simply pressed it into the pan.  I put the pan and the dough for the top layer in the fridge to chill while the oven was preheating.  When I was ready to bake, I spread the cranberry filling over the bottom crust.  Then I rolled out the second portion of dough between a couple of pieces of waxed paper and carefully laid it on top, tucking in the edges as necessary.  I sprinkled the top with sugar, and baked the whole thing for 35 minutes.

The verdict?  As many others have said, this recipe was surprisingly good!  Not because I expected it to be bad, more because I didn't really know what to expect.  The finished dessert reminds me of a couple other things I've made--Bakewell Tart and the Russian Grandmothers' Apple Pie-Cake (another long TWD recipe title).  I think there was a really nice contrast of tart and sweet between the filling and crust.  As for everyone else, well, Gillian loved it while Brianna did not.  No surprise there.  I took a bunch to work and it got rave reviews there as well.  I'll definitely be making this cake again; I can't wait to try some different fillings.

If you'd like to try this one yourself, you can find the recipe on Jessica's blog.  And to see what everyone else did, check out this week's Links.  

Fall cleaning

We’ve lived in our house for almost 9 years. We moved in on Halloween in 2001. A lot of the reason we picked the floor plan that we did was the kitchen. I love my kitchen. It’s set up in a U-shape, with an island in the center. There’s plenty of room for a big kitchen table, too. After living in apartments for quite a few years, it was so nice to have lots of kitchen cabinets, plus lots of shelves in our pantry/laundry room. I’ve always done a lot of cooking and baking, but even with all my stuff, I figured it would take quite a while for me to fill up all of the storage.

Well, this past weekend, I officially ran out of room in the pantry. Well, at least until I came up with a new solution. When we got back from grocery shopping Saturday night, I went to put things away. The problem was, there wasn’t really anywhere to put some of it. Since I do so much baking, I routinely keep extra bags of the most common flours and sugars in reserve. I also have small quantities of a whole bunch of different ingredients that I use less frequently. I didn’t help matters by getting a variety of specialty flours in my first ever KAF order a couple weeks ago. And then there’s the chocolate...especially the assorted chips, both chocolate and otherwise, that were threatening to spill off their shelf. Didn’t leave much any room for other stuff like pasta and canned goods...

So first thing Sunday morning, I headed to Target. (I wanted to go early before they got busy, plus I had some time while cinnamon rolls were proofing.) I came home with six new storage bins, 3 large and 3 small. I was able to organize all my reserve ingredients, as well as a bunch of the chocolate and most of my decorating supplies. (I had no idea I had such a collection of colored sugars until I put them all in one place!). The plastic bins take the spot vacated by my collection of cooking magazines. They used to be stored in magazine boxes there, but after the recent issue with a puddle on the pantry floor, it seemed like a good idea to relocate them to higher ground, away from the washing machine. (We’re still working on a permanent home for them.)

Once everything was neat and organized, I move on to my other Sunday tasks. A bunch of us had plans to get together on Twitter to bake this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen picked the Fold-Over Pear Torte for us to make this week.  This recipe required a bit of organizing as well; it's one of the more involved recipes we've made in a while.  First you need pie crust.  Then you need to fit it into a springform pan.  Next there's lots of dicing and mixing of fruit, then mixing of custard filling.  Finally, the torte is all assembled and baked.

I went with apples simply because I don’t really like pears. I’m not that excited by the flavor of pears, but what I really dislike is the texture. For lack of a better idea, I made my torte with apples. Instead of the dried apricots, I used dried cranberries, since I thought they’d be a nice complement to the apples, and I skipped the nuts. For the crust, I thought about using Dorie’s recipe, but ended up going with a Cook’s Illustrated recipe that I like. It’s an all butter pastry dough that was originally part of a recipe for a freeform tart. It’s flaky and buttery yet sturdy, so I thought it would hold up well in the torte. For the custard filling, I stuck pretty close to the recipe, with one small change. I used the tablespoon of dark rum and one teaspoon of vanilla extract. In place of the rest of the vanilla and the almond extract, I used a teaspoon and a half of Calvados.

I also wanted to dress things up a little bit.  This weekend I picked up some cute mini cutters in fall shapes at Sur la Table.  One of them is an apple, which I thought would be perfect for decorating this torte.  I cut several apple shapes and several maple leaf shapes out of some scraps of pie dough.  I put them on the sheet pan next to the springform pan containing the torte.  I brushed them with water and sprinkled them with turbinado sugar.  I put the sheet pan in the oven and let everything bake for 15 minutes.  Then I carefully transferred the shapes to the top of the torte; the custard had set enough so that they wouldn't sink.  I baked my torte for almost 70 minutes, tenting the middle after about 45 minutes so it wouldn't get too brown.

The verdict?  The torte was good, but not my favorite.  I'm just not that fond of custardy desserts.  Gillian enjoyed it a lot, as did Jamie.  He commented that he really liked the contrast of textures between the filling and crust.  Brianna wasn't a fan, but I'm beginning to think she just doesn't like cooked fruit all that much.  I was disappointed that my crust didn't brown more.  I think that's because the oven temperature was lower than what I usually use for pie, and the dough doesn't have any sugar in it to aid in browning.  (Something to keep in mind for the future.)  I'm not sure I'll make this again, but I'm glad I tried it.

If you'd like to try this one for yourself, you can find the recipe on Cakelaw's blog.  To see what everyone else did with this recipe, check out this week's Links.

Summer into Fall

It's September.  We're past Labor Day.  Kids here have been back in school for three weeks already.  These should be signs that fall is pretty much here.  Except that, according to the thermometer, it's still summer.  *sigh*  The one thing I really miss about the northeast (where I grew up) is fall.  The crisp air in the mornings.  The apples.  The changing leaves on the trees.  Here, in September we're lucky if the temperature only makes it into the high 80s instead of the 90s.  Genuinely cool weather is at least another month away.  We had a little bit of slightly cooler weather last week, but that was courtesy of tropical storm Hermine, which brought plenty of other problems (like flooding and schools being closed for a day).  My dad is here to visit this week and he's sure to enjoy the weather since he likes it warm and it's about 20 degrees warmer here than in Pennsylvania.  Me, I'm wishing he could have found a way to bring the 50s and 60s with him. =)

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe definitely makes me think of fall.  Sabrina of Superfluous picked the Cranberry Upside-Downer for us to make this week.  Unfortunately, it's a bit early for fresh cranberries for a lot of people, but from the comments on the P and Q, most were able to come up with good solutions for that.  In the book, Dorie gives a peach variation, and also suggests frozen cranberries.  I actually planned ahead for a change last winter, and stashed a whole bunch of cranberries in the freezer at the end of last year's season.  So I originally planned to just make the cranberry version.  Then I realized that I had a whole bunch of plums that needed to be used up.  Also, I wasn't that thrilled with their taste, but figured that cooking them (especially with the skins on) would remedy that.  So I decided to use both cranberries and plums for my cake.  I didn't add any nuts, since I knew that B&G wouldn't like them.  The other change that I made was to play around with the spices.  I kept the cinnamon, but reduced the amount to half a teaspoon.  For the other half teaspoon, I went with cardamom, since I really like it with plums.  

The verdict?  Well, my original thought was that with this much cake, I could always take some to the daycare.  Then I sampled a piece, and decided that I didn't want to share!  I haven't made an upside-down cake in a long time, and had forgotten just how tasty they can be.  I love the combination of fruit and moist cake.  And I was very happy with my choice of fruit.  The flavors of the plums and cranberries played well together, and I liked the contrasting textures of the two.  Adding a little homemade vanilla ice cream didn't hurt either.  Everyone else here liked the cake, too, although Brianna did say she liked the cake and fruit separately, but not together.  (So I did share a little.)

If you'd like to try this cake for yourself, head over to Sabrina's blog for the recipe.  To see what variations the other TWD bakers came up with, check out this week's Links.  And while you're at the Tuesdays with Dorie page, don't forget to check out the info for French Fridays with Dorie, the new group forming to bake through Dorie's new book!

12 Days of Cookies - Day 10 - Cranberry-Orange Drop Cookies

Welcome to the latest installment of the 12 Days of Cookies!  This is number 10, and I'm hoping to get some more baked today.  I actually made these last night, and stayed up way too late.  Not just because I was making cookies, it just worked out that way.  I think I was enjoying the peace and quiet too much. =)  There's not that much of that around here.  Though I must say, it's fairly quiet right now, since both my girls are glued to the Dora Christmas special.  *sigh*  Not sure if that's entirely worth it--calm is good, but Dora can be pretty annoying. =)

For this latest cookie, I went with something easy, that I could work on in between my other baking.  (I was also working on focaccia for the BBA Challenge last night--not hard, but lots of waiting time.)  There's a little bit of waiting for the cookies, as well.  The first thing you do is mix a lot of dried cranberries with some orange juice, and let them sit for about half an hour to plump up a bit.  While I was waiting on that, I mixed the dry ingredients--flour, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon and dried ginger.  I increased the dried ginger to 1 1/2 teaspoons, since I didn't have any fresh ginger (the recipe calls for both).  I also grated the orange zest (clementine this time).  I made a change on the nuts--the recipe calls for walnuts and pistachios, but I had my fill of shelling pistachios yesterday morning.  So I used walnuts and pecans. I used the small bowl of my food processor to chop them, and threw the fresh (frozen) cranberries in with them so everything got chopped at once.  After that, the mixing went quickly--cream butter with brown sugar, add the zest, egg and vanilla, mix in the dry ingredients, and stir in the fruit and nuts.  I used my #40 disher and ended up with 3 1/2 dozen cookies.  I baked them at 325 degrees F for 17 minutes.

While I made the cookies last night, I waited until this morning to take pictures.  I've been having a lot of fun coming up with ideas for festive holiday food photos.  And I really enjoy reading everyone else's 12 Days of Cookies posts and getting new ideas for pictures from them.  For today's post, I had some help from my resident food stylist:

She also also asked if she could take a picture or two.  This one is hers, which shows our high-tech photography studio:

The verdict?  I'm a bit surprised by how much I like these.  I don't usually like nuts in cookies all that much, but as Brianna put it, the nuts go quite well with the cranberries.  Both girls seem to like the small sample they had.  As if they would say anything else--if they did, I might not let them sample cookies for breakfast anymore! =P   Most of these are destined for the potluck we're going to at lunch time; hopefully everyone there will enjoy them too.

If you'd like to give these a try, you can find the recipe here.  And be sure to check out the other bakers participating in the 12 Days of Cookies to see what they've baked up recently!  =)

Andrea of Andrea's Recipes

(honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)

Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen

Courtney of Coco Cooks

Judy of No Fear Entertaining

Kelly of Sass & Veracity

Michelle of Big Black Dog

RJ of Flamingo Musings

Sandy of At the Baker's Bench

Tiffany of The Nesting Project

12 Days of Cookies - Day 9 - Holiday Biscotti

Yay!  It's nice to have a Saturday off after working the past couple.  Finally, I have a chance to get caught up on Christmas decorating and baking.  The girls and I put some more ornaments on the tree before breakfast this morning. =)  (Still more to do this evening.)  And I made my selection for Day 9 of the 12 Days of Cookies.  This Holiday Biscotti with Cranberries and Pistachios has been on my list from the beginning.  It wasn't even that hard to make--what slowed me down was the need to shell the pistachios.  I wish I'd thought to check at Central Market to see if they had any already shelled.  At least Brianna helped me with a few of them.  As picky as she is about a lot of things, she absolutely loves pistachios.  I'm sure she'll help me eat the leftovers.

I mostly followed the recipe as written.  I left out the aniseed because I really dislike all things licorice.  And a la Dorie, I rubbed the lemon zest into the sugar so it was evenly dispersed, then creamed the lemon sugar with the butter.  Then it was just a matter of mixing in the eggs (one at a time), then mixing in the dry ingredients.  I stirred the cranberries and pistachios in by hand.  I formed the dough into two long, thin logs on a parchment-lined baking sheet--the dough was surprisingly easy to work with.  I put the sheet in my oven (preheated to 325 degrees F) and baked the logs for about 25 minutes.  When I took the sheet out of the oven, I was surprised that the dough hadn't spread as much as I'm used to with biscotti.  That's when I realized that I'd added too much flour (2 1/2 cups rather than 2 1/4).

I decided that an extra ounce of flour wouldn't cause a complete disaster, and proceeded with cutting the logs into pieces.  I cut on the diagonal so I'd get longer pieces.  Rather than laying the biscotti pieces on their sides on two sheets, I left them standing up and was able to fit them on one sheet.  I had to bake them a bit longer (about 25 minutes) for them to start to brown, but it was worth it since I didn't have to mess with turning the pieces over.  Once the biscotti had cooled, I coated one end of each piece with dark chocolate.  (I took a poll, and Brianna and Gillian both voted for dark instead of white chocolate.)

The verdict?  Tasty!  I definitely like the dark chocolate much more than I would have liked white chocolate.  I think the dark goes nicely with both the cranberries and pistachios.  The plain biscotti also has a distinct but pleasant flavor of lemon that goes nicely with the other ingredients.  I'm going to take these to an potluck tomorrow (our Italian genealogy friends); I'll have to report back later on what they think.

If you'd like to give these a try, you can find the recipe here.  And be sure to check out the other bakers participating in the 12 Days of Cookies to see what they've baked up recently!  =)

Andrea of Andrea's Recipes

(honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)

Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen

Courtney of Coco Cooks

Judy of No Fear Entertaining

Kelly of Sass & Veracity

Michelle of Big Black Dog

RJ of Flamingo Musings

Sandy of At the Baker's Bench

Tiffany of The Nesting Project