Category Archives: Baked Good & Sweets

Holiday Cranberry Bread – 2 ways

Posted on by Laurie

I love using fresh cranberries in recipes around the holidays. Cranberry Bread is one of my favorites and is so easy to make. Enjoy!Image
Holiday Cranberry Bread 

3/4 c. orange juice

1/2 c. mayonnaise

2 lg. eggs

1 1/2 t. orange extract

1 T. orange zest, divided

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. + 2 T. granulated white sugar, divided

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

2 t. ceylon cinnamon 

1 1/2 c. fresh cranberries (picked over, washed and dried)

1/2 c. chopped pecans and/or raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare four miniature loaf pans ( 3 x 6″ ) with baking spray or with butter and flour.*

2. In a medium bowl, combine juice, mayonnaise, eggs, extract and 2 t. of the orange zest. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, 1 c. of the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in wet ingredients until uniformly moistened. Fold in cranberries, nuts and/or raisins.

4. Divide batter between prepared loaf pans. Level tops with the back of a spoon.

5. Combine reserved 2 T. of sugar and 1 t. of zest. Sprinkle each loaf with 3/4 t. of orange sugar.** Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle of each loaf tests clean. Cool on a wire rack.

* Bread can also be baked in 9 x 5″ pan for 60 – 70 minutes.

** Cinnamon sugar can be used in place of the orange sugar if you are running low on orange zest.

 

Low-fat Banana Cranberry Bread

Replace mayonnaise with 3/4 c. mashed bananas in the recipe above, and increase the cinnamon to 2 1/2 t. The mayonnaise acts as a tenderizer in the original recipe and so the low-fat version is not quite as cake-like, but it is still very moist and tasty, especially served warm with a dallop of low-fat cream cheese. Yum!

 

Chocolate Anisettes

Posted on by Laurie

ChocolateAnisettes

Chocolate Anisettes

A variation on traditional Anisette Cookies

Makes about 36 Cookies

3/4 c. + 2 T. all-purpose flour

2 T. Dutch process cocoa

3/4 t. ground aniseed

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. vegetable shortening

1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar

1 lg. egg

1 t. orange extract

Anisette Glaze

nonparaeils to decorate (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, aniseed, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In large bowl, beat shortening and confectioner’s sugar until well combined. Beat in egg and then orange extract. Beat in dry ingredients.

4. Scoop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls and place 2″ apart on baking sheets.

5. Bake for about 14 to 16 minutes or until lightly browned. Right before taking cookies out of the oven, make glaze. (Recipe below.)

6. Place baking sheets on a wire rack when you remove them from the oven.  Working one cookie at a time, immediately glaze cookies with Anisette Glaze and then sprinkle with nonpareils, if using decorations.

Anisette Glaze

A citrusy, licorice-flavored glaze.

1 1/3 to 1 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar

1 t. orange extract

1/4 t. anise extract

2 T. boiling water

1. Place 1 1/3 c. of confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl. Stir in extracts. Gradually stir in just enough boiling water to make a thick, pourable glaze. Stir in more sugar if needed and keep stirring until perfectly smooth.

2. Working one at a time, spoon glaze over warm cookies. If decorating with nonpareils, immediately sprinkle them over glaze. Repeat with remaining cookies.

Yummy Maples Cookies

Posted on by Laurie

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Maples

Makes about 20 cookies.

Flavored with real maple syrup, these soft sugar cookies have an extra layer of flavor.

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 t. corn starch

1/2 t. baking soda

1/8 t. salt

1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened*

1/4 c. vegetable shortening

3/4 c. granulated white sugar

2 T. maple sugar or firmly packed light brown sugar

2 T. real maple syrup

1 lg. egg

1/4 t. vanilla extract

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Whisk together flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  3. In large bowl, beat together butter and shortening until well combined. Beat in sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in maple syrup, then egg and vanilla. On lowest mixer speed, beat in dry ingredients.
  4. Scoop by rounded tablespoonfuls and roll into smooth balls. Place balls of dough on baking sheets spacing cookies 2” apart.
  5. Bake for approximately 16 to 18 minutes or until set and very lightly browned around the edges. Place baking sheets on wire racks and allow cookies to cool.

* You can use 1/2 c. butter and omit the vegetable shortening for a thinner, crisper cookie.

Walnut Maples variation: Follow the recipe above, beating in 3/4 c. finely chopped walnuts after dry ingredients. Makes about 28 cookies.

Serving Suggestion: Drizzle cooled cookies with Maple Syrup Icing before serving.

Maple Syrup Icing

 A light brown icing that goes well with most baked goods.

3/4 c. confectioner’s sugar

about 1/4 c. real maple syrup

  1. Place confectioner’s sugar in a medium bowl. Stir in maple syrup until the icing is perfectly smooth.
  2. Drizzle or pipe onto cooled baked goods. (This is thick enough to pipe thin lines but not thick enough to pipe firm shapes.)

Recipes from my cookbook Confectionately Yours: A Collection of Cookies, Candies & Yummy Confections. Enjoy!

Chocolate Rum Raisin Cookies

Posted on by Laurie

Have a lovely holiday weekend, everyone!Image

Chocolate Rum Raisin Cookies

Soft chocolate cookies flavored with rum.

 Makes about 26 cookies

3/4 c. raisins

1/3 c. golden or dark rum

2 T.  water

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. Dutch process cocoa

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

3/4 c. + 2 T. granulated white sugar

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

1 lg. egg

2 t. rum extract

1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips or  2 1/2 oz. chopped semi-sweet chocolate

  1. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, bring raisins, rum and water to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for about 12 minutes or until the raisins are well-plumped and the liquid has mostly evaporated. Set aside to cool.
  2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  3. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  4. In large bowl, beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and rum extract. On lowest mixer speed, beat in dry ingredients until well combined. Fold in raisins and chocolate.
  5. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes or until just set and lightly browned on the bottom. Place baking sheets on wire rack and allow cookies to cool.

Serving Suggestion: Drizzle with Sweet Chocolate Glaze and then with White Cookie Icing. (Recipes below.)

Sweet Chocolate Glaze

1 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar

1 1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted (still warm)

4 to 5 T. half-and-half or heavy cream, divided

1 – 2 t. dark or light rum, optional

  1. Place confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl. Set aside
  2. Heat half-and-half or cream until just at a simmer. Stir 3 T. of it into sugar until perfectly smooth.Then stir chocolate into sugar mixture. If needed, slowly stir in just enough more warm half-and-half or cream to make a perfectly smooth glaze. Stir in optional rum, if desired.
  3. Drizzle over baked goods right away.

Pure White Cookie Icing

1 c. confectioner’s sugar

1 T. milk

2 t. light corn syrup

  1. Place confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl. Stir in milk and light corn syrup until perfectly smooth. The mixture will be a little on the thick side, but should pour from a spoon in a slow, smooth stream.
  2. Drizzle or pipe onto cooled baked goods right away. (This is thick enough to pipe thin lines but not thick enough to pipe firm shapes.)

Old-Fashioned Banana Snack Cake

Posted on by Laurie

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Old-Fashioned Banana Snack Cake

2 c. flour

2 T. Ceylon cinnamon

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1 c. + 2 T. mashed banana (about 3 medium bananas)

1/2 c. canola oil

2 lg. eggs

1/3 c. buttermilk

2 t. vanilla extract

1/2 c. granulated white sugar

1/2 c. light brown sugar

1/2 c. miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 T. cinnamon sugar (2 3/4 t. sugar + 1/4 t. cinnamon)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8 x 8″ baking pan with baking spray (or butter and flour pan).

2. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. Whisk together bananas, oil, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Add sugars and stir until well combined. Stir in dry ingredients until well moistened, then stir in chocolate chips.

4. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Level batter using the back of a spoon. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for about 40 – 50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean or with large crumbs that look cooked through. (It might take a few tries to miss the chocolate chips.)

5. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Note: If you have overripe bananas, freeze them for use in recipes for baked goods. To use, thaw bananas, tear open, and squeeze bananas out of their peels.

Variations: Substitute any of the following for chocolate chips: finely chopped chocolate-covered toffee, peanut butter chips, finely chopped walnuts, raisins or dried cranberries.

Travel Theme: Sweet

Posted on by Laurie

Thank you to Where’s My Backpack for this week’s Sweet challenge!. This challenge is just to my taste. Enjoy!

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Fiesta Cookies*

Makes about 36 medium size cookies.

Soft, piped cookies lightly flavored with chocolate and spices, decorated with icing and nonpareils.

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

1/8 t. salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter

3/4 c. + 2 T. confectioner’s sugar

1 lg. egg

1 t. almond or vanilla extract

1 1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted

Icing of your choice

Nonpareils

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together butter and confectioner’s sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and extract. On lowest mixer speed, beat in dry ingredients and then chocolate.
  4. Using a heavy duty pastry bag fitted with a star tip, pipe cookie dough onto baking sheets, spacing cookies 1 1/2” apart. Cookies will not rise, spread or change shape while they bake.
  5. Bake for about 5 to 7 minutes or until set. Place baking sheets on wire racks and allow cookies to cool before decorating.
  6. Once cookies have cooled, decorate with icing and nonpareils.

Suggested shapes for piping: thick bars, stars, hearts, and wreaths.

 * Recipe from my cookbook, Confectionately Yours: A Collection of Cookies, Candies & Yummy Confections.

4th of July Cheesecake Cupcakes

Posted on by Laurie

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An easy to make, fancy treat for the upcoming holiday!

Cheesecake Cupcakes

makes 12

12 Oreo cookies or Oreo Golden cookies

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

2/3 c. granulated white sugar

1/4 c. sour cream

2 lg. eggs

1 T. + 1 t. fresh lemon juice

2 t. vanilla or almond extract

whipped cream for topping

fresh strawberries, raspberries and/or blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with muffin papers. Place one cookie in the bottom of each muffin paper.  (The cookies will be a little smaller than the bottom of the muffin cups, but they puff out during baking.)

2. Using a large food processor or an electric mixer, process or beat cream cheese and sugar until perfect smooth. Add sour cream and process or beat until well blended. Add eggs, lemon juice, and extract. Process or beat until well blended and perfectly smooth. Divide cheesecake batter between muffin cups, filling until almost full.

3. Bake for about 20 minutes or until puffy and set in the middle. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. (The cupcakes will sink in the middle as they cool.) Once completely cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

4. When ready to serve, lift cupcakes out of pan, remove muffin papers, top with whipped cream and fruit. Enjoy!

Notes: The cheesecake batter is the same batter that I use for my Miniature Cheesecakes in Confectionately Yours. Either recipe can be made ahead of time and frozen until shortly before serving, then decorated at the last minute.

Plum & Blueberry Crumbles

Posted on by Laurie

I bought some amazing plums at Eastside Market over the weekend and so decided to make Plum & Blueberry Crumbles for breakfast yesterday. Yum!Plums

PlumBlueberryCrumble2

Plum & Blueberry Crumbles

makes 4 servings

3 T. + 2 t. unsalted butter, divided

2 lg. ripe black plums, halved and pitted

1/2 c. blueberries

1/4 c. quick cooking rolled oats

1/4 c. all-purpose flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour

3 T. coarsely chopped hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts or pecans

2 1/2 T. light brown sugar

3/4 t. Vietnamese cinnamon

1/4 t. ground aniseed

1/4 t. ground allspice

1/4 t. ground ginger

1/8 t. ground cardamom

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Using 1 T. of the butter, grease 4 four-inch glass tartlet pans.

2. Cut each plum half into 6 slices. Arrange slices in bottom of pans. Sprinkle blueberries over plums.

3. In a small food processor, pulse together remaining ingredients until crumbly and sticking together. Sprinkle crumb mixture over fruit.

4. Place tartlet pans on baking tray. Bake for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Fresh Peach Frozen Yogurt

Posted on by Laurie

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Fresh Peach Frozen Yogurt

2 c. whole milk Greek yogurt

1 c. pieces of ripe, fresh peaches (no skins)

1/2 c. honey

1 1/2 T. fresh lemon juice

1. Place ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Taste. At this time, you can add a little more lemon juice, honey or peaches, if you want to adjust the flavor. Process again until smooth.

2. Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and follow machine’s instructions. I use a Cuisinart ice cream maker and run the machine for 30 – 40 minutes and then put the yogurt in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours before serving.

Homemade frozen yogurt is tangier and less gummy than commercial frozen yogurt, and it is so easy to make. Enjoy!

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Barkley Scones

Posted on by Laurie

The recipe for these plain, but moist, scones – the type that is good for slathering with butter and jam – was sent to me by some lovely guests from Oregon who have stayed with us a number of times over the years.  Enjoy!

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Barkley Scones

3 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

1 T. + 1 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

2 c. heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk together dry ingredients, then beat in heavy cream.

3. Turn mixture out onto a floured work surface. Divide in half. Shape each half into a disk 6″ wide. Cut into four wedges. Transfer wedges to baking sheet.

4. Allow scones to sit for 15 minutes, then bake for about 18 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.