Ben's Grandma's Cranberry Bread

Ben's grandma made this bread using Peggy MacDonald's recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 lb cranberries (4 generous cups)
• 2 med oranges
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 cups sifted flour
• 2 tsp soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbs melted butter
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped

Steps

• Coarsely grind berries and oranges into a bowl and add sugar; let set for 2 hours.
• Sift dry ingredients together into a large mixing bowl.
• Combine remaining ingredients with fruit mixture and add to dry ingredients; Mix just until flour is moistened.
• Turn into two greased 9"x5" loaf pans lined with greased wax paper.
• Cover with aluminum foil to help prevent loaves from cracking on top.
• Bake at 350 deg F for 20 mins.
• Uncover and bake 40 mins more.
• Turn out immediately; Peel off wax paper; Cool.
• Keep one day before slicing; Wrap in foil to keep moist.

Homemade Candy Treats

What better to bring to your office during the week before Christmas than candy!

Caramel Marshmallow Balls
I got the recipe from here but my recommendation is to only use 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks). Also, be careful not to let the caramel burn.

Oreo Balls
Bob go the recipe from here.
Sugar-Free Chocolate Dipped Fruit & Pretzels
Stacy's recipe is here. Note that adding agave will make the chocolate more stiff/crumbly and less spreadable. The sweetness of the apples counters the slight bitterness of the sugar-free chocolate well, but pretzels are probably best left saved for regular chocolate only.

For more candy ideas, try:

Pretzel Turtles

Fudge and more

Christmas Mice

Sugar Cookie Gingerbread Sculptures/Houses

Stacy and I baked sugar cookies. They baked up a lot wider and rounder than expected.

• To make the red and black cookies we used gel food coloring. We used liquid food coloring for the green cookies.
• For the pine trees, we made 2 trees, cut one in half, and spackled with icing.
• For the black tree, we made a small circle cookie, cut it in half, and used it as a tree stand.
• For the Charlie Brown and Lucy cookies, we dyed white icing with food coloring to get yellow, blue, black and pink.
• For our mortar/icing, we used white Betty Crocker Easy Squeeze Decorating Icing

Note: We'll add shaved coconut for snow to the Snoopy display. We use cake-takers to transport the cookies.

Healthier Blueberry Scones Recipe

Stacy, Jen and I had a post-Thanksgiving meal (a "friends Thanksgiving") and I brought scones. Here's how I made them.
Dry Ingredients

• 1 cup white flour
• 1 cup wheat flour*
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Wet Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup + 2 tbs low fat buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp + 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract (can omit)
• 1/4 tsp orange extract**
• Zest of half a lemon (can use orange zest instead)
• 1 cup blueberries***

Instructions - Makes 8 scones

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg. F.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Cut butter into dry mix using a pastry blender.
4. Mix the remaining wet ingredients except for the berries in another bowl.
5. Add the wet mix to the dry mix and stir to mix them together.
6. Fold in the blueberries.
7. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.****
8. Bake for 18 minutes.

Notes:
*Instead of using 2 cups white flour, I used 1 cup of white and 1 cup of wheat to make these scones more healthy.
**Instead of using orange extract, you can squeeze a little orange or lemon juice in and reduce the amount of buttermilk.
***If using frozen blueberries, warm them to room temp by running warm water over them.
****Be gentle with this kind of dough - over-working it will make it tough.

Easy Thanksgiving Pies

Here's how to make both a pumpkin and an apple pie and have them cook in the oven simultaneously.

Single Crust (for pumpkin pie)

• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup Crisco*
• 3 tbs water

Double Crust (for apple pie)

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup Crisco*
• 1/4 cup water

Apple Filling

• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled
• 4 Macintosh apples, peeled
• 1/2 of a lemon
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 + 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg

Pumpkin Pie Filling

• 1 (15 oz) can pure pumpkin puree
• 1 (14 oz) can fat free sweetened condensed milk
• 3 egg whites, lightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger

Directions

1. Combine ingredients for pie crusts using a pastry blender and form into balls (1 ball for pumpkin pie, 1 ball for bottom of apple pie, 1 smaller ball for top of apple pie).
2. Chill pie crust in refrigerator for one hour.
3. For pumpkin pie: Combine all pumpkin pie filling ingredients.
4. For apple pie: Slice apples into 10-12 pieces per apple, squeeze with lemon juice to keep fresh and combine sugar with cinnamon and nutmeg in a separate bowl.
5. Remove bottom pie crusts from refrigerator and place into pie tins.
6. For pumpkin pie: Add pie fillings.
7. For apple pie: Add 1/2 of apple slices, add 1/2 of sugar mixture, add rest of apples, add rest of sugar mixture.
8. For apple pie: Place top crust piece over pie and use beaten egg or cold water to attach it to bottom crust, then cut top crust to vent.
9. Brush pie crusts with beaten egg or melted butter to encourage browning.
10. Place both pies in 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Next, bake both pies in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
11. For pumpkin pie: Remove from oven - knife inserted in center should come out clean. Cool on wire rack. Store in refrigerator when cool.
12. For apple pie: Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 10 minutes - Crust should be golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

*Note 1: Use the bars of Crisco for easier measuring
**Note 2: I actually baked these pies both at 375 degrees for 10 mins, then at 425 degrees for 15 mins, then at 350 degrees for 23 mins, removed the pumpkin pie, then baked the apple pie at 375 degrees for 10 mins to finish it off - the recipe above is easier.

Thanksgiving Turkey-Shaped Candies

These were a lot of fun to make! Supplies:

• Oreo Double-Stuffed Cookies
• Tube of White Icing (use to hold candies together and for eyes)
• Reeses Mini Peanutbutter Cups (use as tummies)
• Milk Duds (use as heads)
• Candy Corn (use whole candies as tail feathers and wings and trim candies to make beaks)

Helpful Link: We got the idea from this Oreo Turkeys website.

Photos:
(Left) Turkey by Itself;
(Right) Katie and Stacy w/ Turkeys

Cake Decorating with Fondant

Making a Rose Flower with Fondant: Pull the fondant with your hands to warm it. Then make a small ball the size of a marble. Form it into a cone. That will be the center of your flower. Then make a ball half the size of your first ball. Place the ball between saran wrap and press into a circle with your fingers. This will be your first petal. Attach it at the bottom of your cone and wrap it around, leaving it open at the top. Do a second petal and wrap it around the cone's other side. You are now done with your first row of petals! For your second row, use three petals. For your third row, use four or five. Bend the petals slightly outward and away from the tip of the cone. Cut the bottom of the flower at an angle so it will lay pretty on the top of your cake. Make leaves or more flowers as you like.

Leveling a Round Cake and Preparing it for Fondant: Remove the cake from its cake pan; we used a pound cake. Use a long, non-serrated or very mildly serrated knife to cut off the unlevel, dome portion of the cake. Start cutting at the lowest part and go across. If you don’t get it completely level, don’t worry. Now flip the cake over. You always want the seared side up.

Take a buttercream icing and a long icing spatula and apply the icing to the sides of the cake, then the top. Do not worry about making it look good. Now take flat wide tool (such as a chop) and scoop most of the icing off the sides, and then the top. You just want a level surface for your fondant, even if it’s a thin layer and the cake shows through. Don’t use too much icing or your fondant will bubble.

Applying the Fondant: Use two long wide spatulas to move the cake to your cake serving plate. Stick both spatulas with downward pressure under your cake, move to the cake plate, and push down as you quickly move the spatulas out from underneath the cake one at a time. If you remove the spatulas slowly your cake will crumble.

Now it’s time for fondant! Use confectioner’s sugar to dust your rolling surface. Pull the fondant with your hands to warm it and then roll it into a large ball. Place it on your rolling surface and roll it out. If you want to pick it up and turn it 90 degrees, add a little more powdered sugar underneath. When it’s big enough to cover your whole cake, drape it once over your rolling pin and carry it to your cake.

Now it’s time to put the fondant on your cake! Start unrolling the fondant over the cake at the side closest to you and drape it over the rest. Set the rolling pin aside. Tap the fondant down around your cake. The fondant is like rubber, so pull and stretch it to get it to do what you want; don’t fold it. Tap it down around the base of your cake. If you get a fold, pull and stretch the fondant away from the cake, then tap it down. Cut the excess fondant away from the cake with the pointy tip of a knife.

Piping the Trim: Use a Ziploc bag with a princess piping tip and your buttercream icing. Pipe the icing in small dots/dollops around the base of your cake. Pipe a tiny bit of icing on top of your cake to secure your fondant flower to your cake. You could also use Vodka to secure two pieces of fondant to each other.

Note: If you are trying to cover a square cake the process is different. For a square cake, cut out one square of fondant for the top and four rectangles for the sides. Apply them to your cake and seal the edges with piped icing.

Easter Eggs

Coloring Easter Eggs: Get food-coloring, plastic cups (for placing the eggs and dye in), eggs, and electrical tape. Use the tape to block out shapes/designs on your eggs. The taped parts won’t get dyed. You can also layer the effect – dye the whole egg, tape off some parts, then re-dip the egg in a different color. Another idea is to do gradients. Dip bottom half of egg in one color, wait one minute, and then dip the other half in a different color. You can get cool effects using even more colors.

For those who do not know how to hard-boil an egg: place eggs in small to medium-sized pot filled 3/4 full with water. Add 1 teaspoon vinegar to pot to deter eggshell cracking. Bring water to boil. Let eggs boil for 10 minutes. Turn water off. Let eggs sit in the pot in the hot water for 10 more minutes. Drain water from pot. Place eggs in strainer and run cold water over them for 1 minute to halt cooking.

Valentine’s Day Cookies

We followed the same process as we did for the Christmas cookies except that this time we also used a pink gel icing. The gel icing was not as fun because it dried more clear than pink.

Note: Just like with the slim shape of the Christmas candy cane cookies, the lips-shaped Valentine’s Day cookies wound up more dry and less fun to eat. The lips shape also did not allow for as much creative freedom as the heart shape.

Christmas Cookies

We rolled sugar cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface and cut them with flour-dusted cookie-cutters (to avoid sticking). After baking we decorated with red, green and white icing and chocolate chips and sprinkles.

Note: The cookies shaped like gingerbread men were the most fun to decorate, followed by star-shaped cookies. Other shapes such as Christmas trees did not allow for as much creative freedom. Additionally, the slim width of the cookies shaped like candy canes made them cook a bit more than the other shapes, meaning cookies that were more dry and less fun to eat.