Ina Garten's Easy Cranberry & Apple Cake

While I enjoy making savory dinners, there is always room for dessert.  There, I said it.  I like dessert.  I don't eat dessert every night.  But once in a while I like to keep an arsenal of quick dessert recipes, for when the fancy strikes me to make something sweet.  I record some of my favorite Food Network shows, but sometimes it takes me days, weeks, months to find time to watch them.  Last week, I watched a recorded episode of "The Barefoot Contessa".  I watched Ina Garten make this very easy dessert, and I quickly searched for the recipe on line.  D'oh! It's in my latest Ina Garten cookbook "How Easy is That?" that I purchased, and I had forgotten about it.

As luck would have it, I had one more bag of frozen cranberries left, after I made the Cranberry-Almond Poundcake.  I had apples that needed to be used.  This would be tonight's dessert! 

I decided to use two Granny Smith apples, rather than Ina's one, in her recipe.  Cranberries can be a bit tart, so I wanted to increase the apple.  My apple corer helps me to peel, core and slice apples in less than a minute. It's one of my newest favorite kitchen tools.  You also need the zest of two oranges (1 Tbsp.)  and about 1/4 cup of fresh orange juice.

Because I didnt' want the apples to dominate the flavor, I used my secret ingredient, "Boiled Cider." (I buy this online at King Arthur Flour.) 

Combine cranberries, apples, brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and 1 teaspoon of  cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set it aside.

It took less than 15 minutes to make the batter.  The beauty of using butter in this recipe is that you melt it, and let it cool-- no having to wait to bring it to room temperature. You also need eggs, sugar, flour, sour cream, vanilla extract and a pinch of kosher salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs on medium-high speed for 2 minutes. Can we talk about the paddle attachment that I use? It's a beater blade that I ordered online.  I love it, because it scrapes the sides of the bowl really well.  To know me, is to know that I love gadgets that make my life just a little easier!With the mixer on medium, add 1 cup of the granulated sugar, the butter, vanilla, and sour cream and beat just until combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour and salt. Pour the fruit mixture evenly into a 10-inch glass pie plate. Pour the batter over the fruit, covering it completely.

I didn't pay attention to the directions, and I sprinkled cinnamon on top.  I should have sprinkled cinnamon-sugar.  The sugar will leave a nice crunch to the cake, so I'm definitely going to do that next time.
NOTE: Be sure to place the cake on a parchment paper lined baking tray, before baking it in a 350 degree oven.  I checked my cake at 50 minutes, rather than 55 and the cake was ready.  Only poke a toothpick into the dough, as the fruit is going to be gooey!

See what I mean?  The fruit will bubble and flow over the sides.  The baking tray and parchment paper makes for easy cleanup.  This cake is best served warm or at room temperature.

A scoop of vanilla bean ice cream is perfect with this. (Or, fresh whipped cream.)

TASTING NOTES: I would call this a cross between a cobbler and a cheater pie, but the dough bakes into a tender cake consistency.  It's not too sweet, and easier than pie!  My husband thought the cranberries were a bit tart. Usually, I'm the one who is sensitive to sour/tart flavor. I actually thought the fruit had a perfect balance of sweet and tart.  My son agreed with me (for a change).  I plan to make this version with all apples. I also plan to make this with berries, and also when fresh peaches come into season.  

How easy is that?!

Now that I'm revisiting Ina's newest cookbook, I've bookmarked a few more recipes that I'll be cooking and baking over the next few weeks.  I love her recipes. This particular cookbook has a lot of easy recipes, and she does share some really great tips.  This book is worth the less than $25.00 investment.  The pictures, as always, are mouth-watering.

You can view and print the recipe at the bottom of this page.  Just scroll to the bottom of the recipe card, and you'll find the link that will take you to the "Cook, Eat, Share" website where you can print it.

Thanks, Ina!

Meyer Limoncello Sorbet

My husband is the real gardener in this family.  He's the one who gets his hands full of soil, and who nurtures our garden flowers, tomatoes and citrus trees.  Four years ago, my husband planted a dwarf Meyer lemon tree in a container.  He has hung Christmas lights on it to keep it warm during winter chilly nights, and he's been known to cover it up to protect it from frost.  For the last three years, our tree has coughed up four or five lemons.  This year, our tree finally came through for us with dozens of lemons.  Craig's work paid off!

If you haven't experienced Meyer lemons, they are much sweeter than the more common Eureka lemon, and they have notes of orange.  I've been busy baking with these, but my first treat I wanted to make was a Meyer Lemon Sorbet.  I realize that for some folks that any kind of frozen treat doesn't ring their bell at a time of year when it's freezing cold.   Eating frozen treats is fine by us, year-round.  I enjoy making sorbets because they are quick to make, and you don't necessarily need an ice cream maker.  

Begin with one cup of Meyer lemon juice (about 3-4 lemons).  Our lemons aren't quite as large as the supermarket's, so I used about 6-7. (If you only have Eureka lemons on hand, that's fine. I'd use half the juice, as I think the sorbet would be a bit too tart.) Zest some of the lemons, until you have about 2-3 Tablespoons, then squeeze the lemons.   Whenever I make sorbets, I like to add alcohol because it tends to act like an anti-freeze. 

 

I decided that 1/3 cup of limoncello would be perfect!  You can substitute vodka, if you'd like. (Of course, you can leave out the alcohol and your sorbet might freeze more solid. Simply thaw it a bit before scooping.)

I poured the lemon juice through a fine sieve, to remove any pulp or seeds. You also need one cup of white sugar and one cup of water, to make a simple syrup. Let's make sorbet!

Place water, zest and sugar into small saucepan and bring to a boil. Let boil for one minute and then remove from heat. Allow it to cool.You can add the limoncello and lemon juice into an ice bath, which I started to do. Then I decided to just mix the lemon juice and the lemon simple sugar together and I chilled it for a couple of hours, in the fridge.

I do have an ice cream maker, so I poured turned the machine on for about 30 minutes.  The sorbet was slightly thin, and I poured it into a 1-Quarter container and froze it for a couple more hours.

I had made a delicious new recipe for Bolognese sauce, that I served with fresh pasta.  (Recipe coming soon.)  For dessert, the Limoncello Sorbet was a perfect "palate cleanser" and very refreshing.

So far, I have made Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit Sorbet and Strawberry Sorbet with great success.  This sorbet will be on my regular rotation.  I had hoped to serve these in hollowed our lemons, for a more dramatic presentation-- but I decided that would happen another time.  

TASTING NOTES:  The recipes I saw called for as much as 2 cups of lemon juice.  With just one cup of juice, this sorbet packed plenty of citrus punch.  The texture was almost solid frozen, but not quite.  I think the limoncello kicked up the lemon flavor just right.  

A printable recipe card is at the bottom of this post.  Recipes I have yet to share, as soon as I can carve out enough time-- Short ribs and Polenta, Meyer Lemon Pound Cake, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes, Seafood Bisque, Glazed Doughnuts and Slow-Cooker Bolognese.  I'll share these with you as soon as I can!   For now, I'm catching part of the Academy Awards and getting ready for an early work wake-up call!

PS: It snowed here, for the first time in 15 years!  (Like for about 3 minutes and it melted just as fast.)

Cheers from chilly California,

 

Tates Bake Shop Double Berry Crumb Muffins and a Bonus Tea Loaf

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What a wild week it's been with my hectic work schedule!  Next Tuesday, I begin my vacation until January 3rd.  Today, I managed to get the tree and house decorated.   I was feeling a time crunch to write a review for Artisan Bakeware and for Tate's Bake Shop.   Last week, I received a lovely small unglazed loaf pan from Artisan Bakeware.

I have only a few pieces of stoneware, and I have to say that I liked the feel of this American hand-painted baking product.

Right after Thanksgiving, I received this lovely package in the mail, from Tate's Bakery:

...and I also received:

 ...a copy of Tate's Bake Shop owner, Kathleen King's, cookbook.   I bookmarked a dozen recipes.  It's a lovely cookbook, indeed. 

Alas, the cookies are all gone and I didn't have time to blog my own giveaway as quickly as I had hoped (as so many of my fellow food bloggers have).  I ate two each of the chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin and macadamia nut (in a three-day period).  I'm going to talk more about which cookies we liked best when I do post a Tates Bake Shop giveaway (my next post, I promise) and that is when I will give one lucky reader a chance to win the same cookie package, and cookbook,  for your  own home. Today, I want to be fair to Artisan Bakeware, by focusing on reviewing how their product worked .  Fortunately, I found a recipe for Double Berry Crumb Muffins on page 14 of the Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook.  I decided to double the recipe so that I could bake a "tea loaf".

Since I live in California, we grown our own olallieberries in our backyard.  I also buy extra from a local farm stand, and then freeze them in 2 cup increments.  Chinese take-out style boxes are perfect for this:

 I do a quick thaw with running water...

(There will be a printable recipe at the bottom of this post.) 

 Here are the dry ingredients:  unbleached flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.  I reserved some of the flour and sprinkled them over the berries.  I do this so that the berries won't sink to the bottom of each muffin.

 

Melt 1/2 cup of butter.  (You see two sticks, because I'm doubling the recipe.)

The streusel has chopped pecans, brown sugar, flour, butter and fresh orange zest.  Set that aside.

The wet ingredients are milk, eggs and the melted butter.  Whisk them together, and add to the dry ingredients.

 Mix the wet and dry just until combined; don't over mix.  Gently fold the berries in.  You can grease a muffin tin, but I decided to use muffin liners. This is my large muffin tin, which makes six at a time.

 Top each muffin with the streusel. NOTE: Next time, I'll add double the amount of streusel.

Bake at 400F for 20-24 minutes.  My muffins were extra-large, so they took a little extra time.  A tip I learned from King Arthur Flour-- tip the muffins to one side so that they don't become soggy on the bottom.  After a few minutes, move them to a cooling rack.

 ... and here's the muffin recipe as a sweet loaf of goodness.

Taking a deep breath, I rotated the pan and the loaf slipped right out!  For the final test, I wondered how easy this unglazed loaf pan would be to clean...

Effortless!  Just like new!

POTTERY REVIEW:  I strive  to be respectful to my planet, my country and my health.  Emmerson Creek Pottery is American made. Their products are lead-free and they're hand-painted.  This loaf pan retails for $11.00 on their website.  My wish list-- and that means I'd love to own more of this product-- would be the larger loaf pan, that retails for $19.00.  If wishes were fishes, I'd want the unglazed deep dish pizza pan, retail price $23.00.  I spent some time perusing their website, and I took a particular liking to their lavender hand painted design.  I think that any of these pieces would make a beautiful heirloom that will last for many years to come.

Recipe Review:  I love to bake homemade muffins for breakfast.  I was able to make this batter in 15 minutes, plus take photographs.  This recipe is easy enough for beginner bakers.   The texture of the muffins were moist and very tender.  There were a LOT of berries, so decrease the amount if you prefer more muffin to berry ratio.  My husband adores berries, so he was very happy with the way I made them.  The cinnamon is very subtle, and the sweetness was just right.  I would definitely layer more streusel on top (which explains why I had some leftover), and maybe chop my pecans not quite as small as I did this time (I cheated and used a mini-chopper).  I loved the orange zest, which complimented the cinnamon and berries perfectly.  The "tea loaf" was equally moist.  On a five star rating, this earned a 4 1/2 by my husband, son and me.  I ate one, thank you very much. How's that for willpower?  The boys will devour the rest, no doubt.

I'm baking another Tate's Bake Shop recipe, as I type this post.  I will queue that post, next, and tell you how you could win an assortment of Tate's Bake Shop Cookies and a cookbook of your own.  So, if you didn't win on the multitude of other bloggers who had this giveaway-- maybe this is your lucky chance!

Here's the recipe, and  I hope you try these!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

We have four Magic Bullet Winners! Plus, Summer Smoothie Heaven!

I can clearly remember the day I decided to become a food blogger.  I wanted a place to store my recipes, and to share them with a few friends and family.  I used to ask my husband to take the photographs, because I was insecure about my photography skills.  It took weeks before I received my first comment, and that was really exciting.  I remember being excited to hit 100 followers...then 200... then 300... I've come a long way, baby!   I would blog a recipe ever single day, if I could.  Full-time work, a husband who started to feel neglected by my long blogging sessions and a busy lifestyle means that I can only blog one or two recipes a week.  Still, I haven't lost the enthusiasm I feel when I visit food blogger friends or upload my latest culinary creation.  Food blogging is fun!  What I never expected-- and this is a big bonus-- is to be contacted by companies who ask me to test or review a product.  Heck, yeah!  Me-- the hopeless food gadget addict-- was thrilled to be offered an opportunity to receive my own Magic Bullet To Go.  What really excited me was that the lovely people at Magic bullet  offered FOUR of my own loyal foodie blogosphere friends a chance to win their own.  I'll announce the winners, after I share my favorite breakfast drink-- a Summer Smoothie made with fresh locally grown strawberries, banana and an orange.  So simple. So easy. So tasty. So Satisfying. I drink one of these before I hit the pool for my swimming exercise:

I use low-fat vanilla yogurt (this is our favorite brand, so far).  When bananas start looking a little ripe, they are perfect for this drink.  I peel a fresh orange, if I have one. Honey! That's my favorite part.  A little extra vanilla doesn't hurt.  Occasionally, I'll add soy milk. Usually, I don't, because the yogurt is enough. I add a handful of ice. In the winter, I freeze some of my fruit (so no ice is needed) so I can enjoy them when Summer has gone away for a year. Blend it, baby!  This drink curbs my hunger and cravings for sweets.

 
What I didn't know, at first, was that I would also receive a Magic Bullet To Go. I found out when  I submitted all of the entries including a couple of my own. Wow! What an unexpected surprise! This will be faster and easier to make in my Magic Bullet-- I can't wait for it to arrive.  There are four of you who will receive one.  Here are the winners, chosen by the lovely and generous folks at Magic Bullet:

Patti, of "Scrappin' Mint". Patti wrote:

I'm a big sweet snack addict..one of my favorites is instant cheesecake for one (okay so it might be enough for two but hey, who's counting). I take a few graham crackers and smash them up (this would be so much easier with a magic bullet!), mix them with a little melted butter and put them in the bottom of a small bowl (I just use a cereal bowl)set aside. In a seperate bowl combine a small container of greek yogurt, about 1/2 package of cream cheese, some sugar to taste, and a squeeze of lemon juice, mix until smooth ..again would be sooo much easier in a magic bullet ;) pour over graham cracker 'crust'. Whip up some fresh whipped cream and spread over top. Chill for as long as you are able to wait.(sorry, don't think magic bullet would help with the waiting part, although it would get the rest done faster!) :)

 "Pink Lady Gumbo" entry was:

im so not a snacker, but when i get the urge, i like to snack on something that i never liked until recently...cinnamon pecans! simply coat 2.5 cups of pecans in 1 egg white and 1 T of water (mixed). then in another bag, mix 1/2 c of sugar, 1/4 t salt and 1.5 t of cinnamon and toss the eggy pecans in to coat. bake on 225 for about a hour and yummmmmmmm!!! well, let cool first ;-)

 All Things Yummy wins a Magic Bullet. She submitted a recipe that I definitely plan to make:

I've always wanted a magic bullter so I'm excited to enter My favorite snack is pita chips and hummus.
Recipe:
Ingredients
2 cups canned garbanzo beans, drained
1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 kosher teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic (these are best used after being roasted but raw is ok)
1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley or basil
4-6 sundried tomatoes packed in oil (add more or less to taste) start with Directions Blend all ingredients in food processor (or magic bullet) until smooth.

 Soup's On submitted:

 Garlic White Bean Dip
2 (15oz ea) cans cannellini beans
1 garlic clove, minced
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup plus 3T olive oil
1 roasted red pepper, diced
1T parsley, chopped
1T basil, chopped
salt & pepper

1) Drain & rinse beans; set aside 1/2 cup of beans for garnish. Puree remaining beans in a food processor with the garlic, lemon juice and salt & pepper to taste. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup olive oil, then transfer to a dip bowl. Toss reserved beans with red pepper, 3T olive oil, parsle and basil, and additional salt & pepper to taste. Spoon over the dip and serve.

Congratulations to the chosen winners!  Please email me at foodiewife@gmail.com with your shipping address so that your Magic Bullet To Go can be shipped out to you.  Thank you to the rest of you who visit my blog, and who also submitted your snack ideas.  I'm looking forward to finding ways to make quick recipes like salsas, egg salad and more smoothies.   The possibilities look endless!

To your healthy summer!