Cranberry Double-Chocolate Cookies

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We certainly did, although this year was rather different from what we’re usually accustomed to.  Generally, we are contributors; meaning that we contribute to the Thanksgiving feast with a couple of side dishes or dessert, and we spend the holiday with our American family.  So, I never had to cook an entire Thanksgiving meal from start to finish, from appetizers to desserts until this year…  Say what?  Yes, I cooked an entire holiday meal!  And I didn’t set the kitchen on fire, go figure.  

We fully embraced Thanksgiving and its three Fs: Family, Food and Football (mostly soccer, but that counts too, right?); and I would add a fourth – Friendship.  So, I cooked for three people – our friend Claude, Adrian and me; two Romanians and a Ghanaian.  Three internationals celebrating Thanksgiving.

We had the turkey, albeit not the whole bird but just a couple of turkey breasts, with the tastiest garlic based rub ever (of course, anything tastes better with garlic); my favorite cranberry sauce, maple sweet potatoes and maple-roasted Brussels sprouts (I felt like putting maple syrup in just about everything); I also couldn’t omit the Romanian style green peas, this fluffy basmati rice with a small bunch of golden raisins and toasted pine nuts tossed in there, some roasted nuts for appetizer, and the now iconic and a Thanksgiving must Chocolate Tart for dessert.  We had a Thanksgiving dinner with an international touch.  And it worked out beautifully; actually, it was mere perfection, and I’m not throwing these words around lightly.

But let’s leave Thanksgiving behind and look forward to more sweet concoctions since the holiday season has just begun.  I’ve already had an alarming amount of chocolate these past few weeks, so I obviously found it suited to continue my diet with… more chocolate!  That’s right; I’m getting into the holiday spirit and in the midst of cookie season with these glorious Cranberry Double-Chocolate Cookies.

These cookies are first and foremost loaded with chocolate and packed with flavor.  I didn’t think that I could survive that much chocolate, but for some peculiar reason I couldn’t stop munching them.  Second, these cookies are chunky, and chewy, and tart, and toasty, and everything you expect a cookie to be; oh, and did you know that chocolate and walnuts are best friends?  They are in these cookies, at least.  I’ll leave you now with this wonderful recipe while I go stuff my face with more cookies.  Enjoy!

Cranberry Double-Chocolate Cookies

Adapted from Gourmet (August 2007) via Epicurious.com

Makes: 30+ cookies

Ingredients:

·         1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

·         ¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

·         ¾ teaspoon baking soda

·         ¼ teaspoon salt

·         1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened

·         1 cup light brown sugar

·         ½ cup granulated sugar

·         2 large eggs, at room temperature

·         3 ½ oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, cut into ½-inch chunks

·         1 cup toasted and coarsely chopped walnuts

·         1 cup dried cranberries

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375°F with racks in upper and lower thirds.

 

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then add eggs 1 at a time, beating until combined well.  Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined.  Add chocolate chunks, walnuts, and cranberries, and with a spatula mix them until just incorporated.  

Using a 1 ¼-inch ice cream scoop, spoon dough onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart.  With dampened fingers, flatten cookies slightly.  Bake, switching the position of the sheet halfway through baking, until puffed and set, about 12 to 14 minutes.  Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.  Repeat with the remaining dough.

Note:  Cookies keep in an airtight container at cool room temperature 5 days.

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)     

Going bananas

When I think of bananas, I usually think of an exotic fruit that gives you energy and that it’s best eaten in the morning or thrown into a sort of cake.  Well, it turns out there are countless things you can do with bananas.  One of these is a Cranberry-Topped Pudding.  Now, I’m not really sure that this is actually a pudding, but we’ll let that slide by; it’s not that important anyway.  What’s important is that you can have this pudding for breakfast, brunch, dessert, snack, you name it.  And even more important is the fact that it’s featherlight, filling and fabulous! 

I came across this recipe a few weeks ago.  It was nicely delivered with our Thursday Pittsburgh Post-Gazette paper.  And out of the 10 easy things to do with bananas, this one stood out the most.  It was easy, fast and looked (at least in the picture) gorgeous.  I planned on trying this recipe for brunch over the weekend one of these days, but it turned out that brunch came sooner than expected.  Not long ago, both Adrian and I were in the mood for something sweet.  I’m not the only one in our family who has a sweet tooth; my husband is a major sweet lover.  Unfortunately, I was out of anything dessert like.  So, I had to improvise.  And this is how our pre-planned brunch turned into a late night dessert.  And it was well worth it!    

This pudding is a great way to start your morning or as it turned out for us to end your night.  The Greek yogurt and ricotta cheese make this pudding hearty, while the cranberries make it chewy and tart.  And you’ll also get an energy boost from the bananas.  Sprinkle some toasted sliced almonds on top for an extra layer of texture, crunchy bite and nutty flavor.  You will not be sorry.   

Cranberry-Topped Pudding

Adapted from Dash (March 2012)

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients:

·         2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

·         3 sliced bananas

·         1 cup plain Greek yogurt

·         ¼ cup ricotta cheese

·         2 Tablespoons honey

·         2 Tablespoons dried cranberries

Instructions:

Sprinkle lemon juice over the bananas.  In a large bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, ricotta cheese and honey.  Add bananas.  Spoon into 4 serving bowls.  Top each serving with dried cranberries. 

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)    

More oranges…

It seems that I can’t get enough of these orange cakes.  I know that it was just last week that I shared with you an Orange Cake recipe, but I can’t move on from this chapter without sharing with you yet another delectable orange cake, this time accompanied by good gummy cranberries. 

I made the Orange-Cranberry Cake for the first time a few Saturdays ago and planned on taking it to a dinner party.  To my surprise and sheer dismay it didn’t come out as I expected.  In fact, it was a total disaster!  It wasn’t that the cake wasn’t good; don’t get me wrong.  On the contrary, it was light, airy and fluffy, and just melted in your mouth.   The cake was citrusy and utterly decadent, while those bits of dried cranberries floating in a sea of orange dough were colorful and visually stunning.  It was great if you overlooked the fact that you had to eat half of the cake from the platter and the other half from the bundt cake pan.  Yes, it wasn’t at all presentable.  It got stuck to the pan and completely fell apart.  I couldn’t believe it.  I was so disappointed and felt like a lousy, mediocre baker.  

It wasn’t that this recipe was dauntingly complex and hard to make.  It was as simple as 1, 2, 3, but I made a basic mistake.  And I even thought about it as I was generously coating my pan with nonstick vegetable spray.  I was thinking that I should probably just generously butter and flour the pan.  But, no, I went ahead with the cooking spray.  What I should have done was to listen to that tiny voice in my head whispering to use plain old butter and flour.  So, after the cake calamity, I didn’t have time to make another cake before our dinner, and we ended up taking wine.  Not at all the result I had envisioned and definitely far from my true potential. 

Last week, I decided that it was time to try my luck again with the orange-cranberry cake.  It was just too damn scrumptious to give up on it.  This time, however, no baking spray in sight just butter and flour to coat the pan.  And, guess what – it worked out beautifully!  It was a delight watching the cake pulling away from the pan while it was cooling ever so slightly.  I just knew it would come out of the pan easily and look like a million bucks.  And it did.  Sometimes, second time’s the charm!

Orange-Cranberry Cake

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Best Desserts (Spring 2012)

Serves: 12+ servings

Ingredients:

·         ¾ cup butter, at room temperature; plus more to coat the bundt pan

·         1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more to coat the pan

·         3 eggs, at room temperature

·         1 teaspoon baking powder

·         ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

·         ¾ cup granulated sugar

·         ¼ cup orange juice

·         Finely shredded peel from 1 orange

·         ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

·         ½ cup dried cranberries, finely snipped

·         1/3 cup granulated sugar

·         ¼ cup water

·         2 Tablespoons packed light brown sugar

·         2 Tablespoons agave nectar

·         ½ cup orange juice

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.  Generously butter and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.  Set aside. 

In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and nutmeg.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric hand mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Gradually add the ¾ cup granulated sugar, beating on medium speed about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Stir in orange juice, orange peel, and vanilla extract.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low to medium speed for 1 minute after each addition and scraping side of bowl frequently.  Gradually add flour mixture, beating on low speed just until combined.  Stir in dried cranberries. 

Pour batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely.  Generously pick top and side of cake with a fork.  

For the syrup:

In a medium saucepan combine the 1/3 cup granulated sugar, the water, brown sugar, and agave nectar.  Cook and stir over medium heat until bubbly and most of the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Stir in orange juice; cool slightly.  Spoon or brush syrup over top and side of cake. 

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)

Cranberries

When life gives you cranberries, you make… Cranberry Spice Cake and, of course, cranberry sauce!  After all, Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving without cranberries and cranberry sauce, in particular.  Anyway… cranberries are not as popular in Romania as they are in the States, so I didn’t grow up eating a whole lot of them.  In fact, I was more familiar with the Irish rock band The Cranberries (which was very popular in the 1990s when I was starting to learn English), than with the fact that these red tart fruits were called cranberries in English.  However, these days, I’m more educated in the cranberry (the fruit) department.

By the way, did you know that, according to Better Homes and Gardens Fall Baking (Fall 2011), before mechanization, rolling the berries down a flight of stairs tested cranberries for ripeness?  Those that bounced to the bottom were deemed ripe and ready for market, while those that stopped on their way down were discarded.  Interesting… 

The other day, I was looking to make a nice cake to warm up our apartment and our tummies during these cold days of fall.  And I came across this wonderful cranberry spice cake.  It was perfect! 

Cranberry Spice Cake

Adapted slightly from Bon Appétit (November 2011)

Serves: 8 servings

Special Equipment:  An 8”- square cake pan

Ingredients for the cake:

·         Nonstick vegetable spray

·         1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

·         ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         ¾ teaspoon salt

·         ½ teaspoon ground ginger

·         1 teaspoon baking powder

·         ½ teaspoon baking soda

·         2 cups (8 oz.) fresh (or frozen, thawed) cranberries

·         2/3 cup sugar

·         2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar

·         ½ cup vegetable oil

·         2 large eggs, at room temperature

·         ½ cup sour cream

·         1 Tablespoon freshly grated orange zest (from one large orange)

·         2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest (from one lemon)

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         1/3 cup apple cider

Ingredients for the lemon glaze:

·         1 cup confectioners’ sugar

·         2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest (from one lemon)

·         3 Tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice (from about 1 ½ juicy lemons)

·         1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Cake:  Preheat oven to 350°F.  Coat bottom and sides of cake pan with nonstick spray.  Line bottom with parchment paper; coat paper with spray. 

Whisk flour, cinnamon, salt, ginger, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.  Pulse cranberries in a food processor until finely chopped but not puréed; set aside.  Stir sugar, brown sugar, and oil in a large bowl to blend.  Add eggs one at the time, stirring to blend between additions.  Whisk in sour cream, orange zest, lemon zest, and vanilla. 

Whisk in dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with cider in 2 additions and whisking to blend.  Fold in chopped cranberries.  Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.  Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a tester inserted into center of cake comes out almost clean, 1 hour – 1 hour 10 minutes.  Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes.  Run a thin knife around inside of pan to release cake; turn out cake onto rack.  Peel off parchment paper, then flip cake and let cool for 20-30 minutes. 

Lemon Glaze:  Whisk confectioners’ sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt in a small bowl.  Spread glaze over warm cake, allowing it to drip down sides.  Let stand until glaze becomes crackly, about 1 hour.  Serve at room temperature.  Do ahead:  Can be made 2 days ahead.  Store airtight at room temperature.  

This cake is sweet and super moist.  There is a nice tartness from the cranberries, and lovely notes of orange and lemon.  The cake is stunning, colorful inside, and glossy on top.  Moreover, this Cranberry Spice Cake is best complemented by an extra-tart garnish of Citrus-Cranberry Compote.

Citrus-Cranberry Compote

Adapted slightly from Bon Appétit (November 2011)

Makes: 1 ½ cups

Ingredients:

·         1 orange

·         2 cups (8 oz.) fresh (or frozen, thawed) cranberries

·         1 cup pure maple syrup

·         ¼ cup fresh orange juice

·         ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Grate zest from orange and set aside.  Using a sharp paring knife, cut off peel and white pith from orange.  Working over a small bowl, cut between membranes to release segments into bowl. 

Combine cranberries, orange zest, maple syrup, orange juice, and vanilla in a medium saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until cranberries have burst and sauce has thickened, 8-10 minutes.  Let cool. 

Gently stir orange segments into compote.  Do ahead:  Can be made 3 days ahead.  Cover and chill.  Return to room temperature before serving.  

I couldn’t talk about cranberries without talking about cranberry sauce especially since Thanksgiving is fast approaching.  I love cranberry sauce!  Sweet and tart, it forms a perfect union with turkey.  Apparently, cranberry sauce is a touchy subject.  According to a poll conducted by Food Network Magazine (November 2011), out of 15,000 voters, 54% preferred canned jellied cranberry sauce, and 46% preferred whole-berry cranberry sauce. 

I have to be brutally honest – when I saw the results, I was appalled!  I didn’t think that people preferred to eat the artificial stuff when the real fruit is so in season (cranberries are in season from October to December).  So, I instantly ran to my recipe collection and looked for a healthier and way more delicious alternative to the canned stuff.  And I decided on two yummy and easy to make cranberry sauce recipes:  Tyler Florence’s Cranberry-Orange Sauce and Guy Fieri’s Red Devil Cranberries.

Cranberry-Orange Sauce

Adapted slightly from Cranberry-Orange Sauce by Tyler Florence

Serves: 8-10 servings

Ingredients:

·         2 (8-ounce) packages cranberries, fresh or frozen

·         Zest from one orange

·         Juice from one orange

·         ½ cup sugar

·         1-2 cinnamon sticks

Instructions:

Put the cranberries in a saucepan over medium heat.  Zest and juice the orange.  Add the sugar and cinnamon sticks.  Simmer over medium-low heat until the cranberries burst and the sauce thickens, about 15 to 20 minutes.  Serve at room temperature or cool and refrigerate.  Remove the cinnamon sticks before serving. 

This is such an easy and delicious cranberry sauce recipe that you’ll never go back to the canned jelly.  In this sauce you have the sweet, the tartness from the cranberries, the light bitterness from the orange, and the warmth from the cinnamon.  A perfect marriage!  If you want a more grown-up version with a kick, try this:

Guy Fieri’s Red Devil Cranberries

Adapted slightly from Food Network Magazine (November 2010)

Serves: 8 servings

Ingredients:

·         2 teaspoons vegetable oil

·         ¼ cup minced shallot

·         1 cup fresh orange juice

·         ½ cup agave syrup

·         1 12-ounce package fresh cranberries

·         1 orange

·         1 Tablespoon minced chipotle chile pepper in adobo sauce, plus 1 teaspoon of the sauce

·         1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         Kosher salt

Instructions:

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the shallot and cook until softened, 3-4 minutes.  Add the orange juice and agave syrup, bring to a simmer and add the cranberries.  Cook at a low boil until the cranberries have all popped and are just starting to reduce, 7-8 minutes. 

Meanwhile, cut off the top and bottom of the orange.  Working over a bowl, peel the orange with a sharp knife, then slice between the membranes, letting the segments fall into the bowl.  Stir the orange segments and any juice, the chipotle and adobo sauce, cinnamon and ½ teaspoon salt into the cranberries. 

Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick, about 20 minutes.  Let cool.  Serve at room temperature.  

Like Guy says – “this is money!”  Guy’s version of cranberry sauce is an acquired taste.  It is sweet, tart, with a perfect amount of spiciness from the chipotle chile.  In addition, the dish has a nice kick of flavor from the adobo sauce.  This cranberry sauce will hit you with some unexpected flavor combinations.    

So, whether you like cranberries in a sauce, or a cake, or a juice, or any other combination, take advantage of the real cranberries this season!  Please feel free to try one of these cranberry sauce recipes (or both, why not?) and don’t just eat cranberry sauce from a can this Thanksgiving.  Have some real cranberries!