Orange Cranberry Nut Bread

This bread is soft, sweet, slightly chewy and with the little bites of tart cranberries mixed in—it is easily one of my favorite sweet bread recipes. I normally gift it this time of year with instructions to try a slice lightly toasted with butter, the flavor reaches new heights when prepared this way—that's the magic of warm bread and butter.

I'm not even sure where the recipe came from originally—but my mom has made it for years. My copy was typed on a typewriter by her. And the directions are pretty much a one-liner saying something like this:
Mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 for 60 minutes.

Ummm….yeah. About that. So I'll do you one better and get a little more detailed so you don't end up with a bite full of salt!

Orange Cranberry Nut Bread:

Makes 3 medium loaves (7 3/8" x 3 5/8" pans)
If you half the recipe it makes one large loaf—bake for about 60 minutes.

In a mixer combine until blended:
4 Tablespoons softened butter
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
2 cups granulated sugar

Add and mix in:
1 1/2 cup 100% orange juice (not from concentrate)
2 cups chopped fresh cranberries (I use the food processor to chop them)

In a separate bowl, sift together:
4 cups white flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and combine until just mixed, scraping the bowl a few times as you go.

Grease and flour your pans. Fill them 2/3 full of batter. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Pumpkin Cupcakes, Cream Cheese Frosting with Caramel Filling

I've been craving all things pumpkin. I started out with a pumpkin bar recipe and after a couple of tweaks I've come out with a soft, moist, delicious pumpkin cupcake you will love.

PUMPKIN CUPCAKES
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Fill your cupcake tins with liners.

In a mixer bowl combine and beat until fluffy:
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil (I use canola)
15oz can pumpkin

In a separate bowl sift together:
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix on low until just combined do not over mix.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

As soon as they are finished remove from the cupcake tin and place on a wire rack to cool. Immediately after they have cooled place in an air tight container. These steps will allow your cupcakes to remain soft and moist. (Again, Do NOT allow to cool in the tin pan.)

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

In an electric mixer whip together:
1/2 cup butter softened
8oz package of cream cheese softened
1 tsp vanilla

Add and whip together with the cream cheese mixture:
3 cups of confectioners (powdered) sugar

Keep the frosting cold until you are ready to use it.

FILLING
I am still trying to perfect my homemade caramel sauce recipe. So either use some from the store or find a recipe of your own to try.

ASSEMBLY

With a sharp knife gently cut out a hole in the center of your cupcakes and fill almost to the top with caramel. Then frost and serve.

Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are baked. So if you want to split up the work, you can make everything the day before and bake the next day. The cupcake batter will keep in an air tight container in the fridge for about a week. If you use cold batter, you will get a wonderfully mounded top on your cupcake.

Adapted from sweetpeaskitchen.

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

My dad was raving about these cookies over Christmas. My sister in-law made them twice while we were there. Each uncooked cookie ball is 1/4 cup large. Then you freeze them for a short time so when cooked the outside is crunchy and the middle soft and gooey. These cookies are huge and you will need milk!

I made these for my girls at youth group tonight. Do you think they will love them? Or will I have to eat them, thus necessitating a several extra mile addition to my workout? Worth it either way? Oh yes.

The recipe can be found on Dishing the Divine right here.

Addendum: This sunday I gave the ingredients for these cookies as a gift to my sister-in-law (you know, the kind you see in a jar. The receiver just has to add the wet ingredients and bake). Anyway, I got a call a day later BEGGING me to give her the full recipe. These are THAT GOOD.

Seriously Great English Apple Pie

In speaking with friends, no one has heard of English Apple pie which saddens me. Surely the recipe that my mother copied from Woman's Day Magazine in 1985 (!), has made it into more than just my home by now. After making this you will walk around with fork in hand, change your rout as to pass through the kitchen during the day, and scoop up bite after bite until you are sadly and suddenly left with an empty pie dish.

ENGLISH APPLE PIE: Makes One Pie

In a medium sized bowl beat until fluffy:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix in:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp cinnamon

3 TBSP water

Stir in (optional):

1/2 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl place and combine with hands or spoon:

4 large cooking apples, peeled and sliced (about 6 cups)

1/2 cup granulated sugar
 1/4 cup flour
 1/2 cube cold butter cut into pieces

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°

Mound the apple mixture in a pie plate and spoon the dumpling mixture evenly over the top in dollops. Place pie on the lowest rack and cook for 40-45 minutes or until the apples are tender when pierced. (I like the apples when they are still barely firm.)

Serve in bowls with half and half (add sugar and vanilla to the cream and shake well, then pour a bit over a serving of pie.)

"This crustless pie, a favorite in the Hoellerich family, owns its origin to a disappointing crust Fairy Hoellerich made twenty years ago. After one taste, a friend suggested she try making English Apple Pie instead and Mrs. Hoellerich has been doing just that ever since. 'I'd recommend it to anyone,' she says.'It's much easier than ordinary apple pie.' Mrs. Hoellerich and her husband recently moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she teaches Word-Processing part-time in a vocational school. She finds English Apple Pie the perfect dessert to serve to friends after a session of bridge."

SILVER SPOON AWARD 

Woman's Day 2/5/85

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