White Chocolate-Cranberry Biscotti

I must confess I love baking and cooking with cranberries. I use either fresh and dried cranberries or both on the same recipe. I always have dried cranberries in my pantry and fresh cranberries in my freezer. This evening I am in the mood to try one new recipe from the Taste of Home, here. I have baked biscotti previously and all the biscotti recipes use lots of nuts but not this recipe, that caught my attention. And since I love using cranberries and I have all the ingredients at hand, I have to give it a try.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
In a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Beat in vanilla.
Combine flour and baking powder;
Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
Stir in cranberries and chocolate chips. Divide dough into 4 portions (dough is pretty sticky but manageable)
On 2 baking sheets lined with silicone mat.
Shape each portion into a 10-in. (to 12-in.) x 2-in. strip.
Bake at 350° for 22-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 5-10 minutes.
Transfer to a cutting board; cut diagonally with a serrated knife into 1-in. slices.
Place cut side down on lined baking sheets.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove to wire racks to cool.
Store in an airtight container.
Yield: 4-1/2 dozen.

Cranberry Muffins

I was asked to bake some muffins for our Christmas Ornament & Breakfast gathering this past Saturday, my first thought was to bake cranberry muffins. I used bake cranberry quick breads every Christmas but had stopped baking them several years ago. While I will always love my cranberry bread recipe, I also like to try new recipes :)  And I found this recipe from Taste Of Home here supposedly award winning recipe.

I have to agree, these muffins were so crumbly and light tasting, crowd pleasing .. I thought ;) . It will work great for breakfast or tea time treats and especially looks very festive for Christmas!

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh cranberries, quartered
8 tablespoons sugar
1-3/4 cups self raising baking flour
1 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Cinnamon-sugar

Directions:
1. Sprinkle cranberries with 2 tablespoons sugar; set aside.
2. Measure flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
3. In the mixer, beat oil and remaining tablespoons sugar.
4. Add egg to mixer.
5. Alternate milk and flour mixture to mixer.
6. Scoop 1/3 of cranberries and add to mixer and mix well.
7. Fill (paper lined) standard muffin cups. Sprinkle evenly with cranberries on each muffin and with cinnamon-sugar.
8. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden stick comes out clean.

Yield: 12 standard-size.

Balsamic Root Vegetables

Though Thanksgiving was just 2 weeks ago and we just had Roasted Turkey, I am roasting another Turkey today but I am not making the grand Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings. I still need to make at least a side dish to pair and compliment well with the toasty turkey for dinner.

I found this recipe from this myRecipe site -
Balsamic Root Vegetables, and like always, I have put in my personal twist and modify the recipe a little and make the healthy version without losing too much of the favor... my test tasty approves and like it and I am happy.

Ingredients:
1 sweet potato
1 yukon potato
1 medium size carrot
1/2 onion
3/4 cup fresh cranberries
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 pinch salt
1/pinch ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon basic

Preparation

1. Peel first 3 ingredients, and cut into chunk 1 1/2-inch pieces.

2. Combine potatoes, sweet potata, carrots, onions, and cranberries in a lightly greased 3-qt medium pot over medium heat.

4. Add in the rest of the ingredients into pot and stir well.

5. Cover and let vegetable simmer for 30 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Pumpkin Rolls with Nutella

I have confessed though these rolls didn't turn out the way I wanted, they are surprisingly tasty accordingly to my taste tester Terry, he would want to stop eating them. Unfortunately I told him, he will just have to wait to eat them at the Coffee Fellowship tomorrow morning :)

I have used and followed the recipe of Rozana's Home Baking's recipe, the dough was so wet I added an extra cup of flour, thus making the dough seems much drier after baking.

Ingredients:
5 cups flour
1/3 warm water
1 Tbs yeast
1/2 cup margarine (melted)
1 can pumpkin puree ( 15 oz )
1 cup sugar
Nutella fillings.
1 egg beaten ( used as egg wash )

Directions:
In mixing bowl, add warm water to yeast, let it sit for 5 mins.
Add to pumpkin and margarine to bowl.
Add 2 cups of flour to mixing bowl and mix well.
Add the rest of the flour gradually while continually mixing until dough come together.

Place dough in bowl and cover with towel and let it rise ( for a hour ).
Punch down dough and cut dough into 32 pieces.
Flatten each piece and fill with Nutella into a small ball, set ball in baking pan.
Brush each roll with egg wash.
Let dough sit for another 30 mins.
Heat up oven at 350 degree and bake for 25 mins.

Soda Cake

I needed to bake a quick easy cake today and so I searched online for simple and quick cake recipe. I found this recipe from Duncan Hines website. I followed most of the recipe with some minor changes. I will be bringing this cake to our Bible Study group to share tonight... hope everybody will like it :)

Ingredients:
1 box Yellow Cake Mix
 ( I used Duncan Hines Classic Yellow Cake Mix, it can be any brand cake mix)
1 (3.4 ounce) box Vanilla instant pudding mix
4 large eggs
1 cup of gratefruit soda pop
1/2 cup oil

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. (325* is correct heat)
Grease a Bundt cake pan/tube pan
In a large bowl, combine the cake mix with the pudding mix. Add the eggs and oil, then slowly add the soda pop. Mix at medium speed until blended.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pan for five minutes, then transfer cake to a wire rack
Instead of using glaze per recipe, I sprinkle powdered sugar over cake.

Pumpkin Brioche Loaf with Hershey Chocolate Filling

After I saw the Foodiva on her nutella stripe bread, I thought I copy her idea on baking a twisted loaf of bread too, I will be making a brioche bread. Here is Foodiva Nutella Strip Bread 

This will be a sweet bread for this Sunday's Coffee hour, it is the pumpkin brioche bread filled with Hershey Chocolate spread (instead of nutella... just a different brand). I am using fresh roasted pumpkin. I had blended the pumpkin and have freezed it awhile ago, it is good to have frozen prepared pumpkin at hand for any baking needs any time. 

Since I also have a jar of Hershey Chocolate spread, it will compliment well with the brioche. Just for fun, loaf bread makes for easy handling, I can cut up the brioche loaf in nice serving slices..... hmmm hope it will be interesting and inticing :)

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp yeast
1/4 warm water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
2 eggs
1 cup homemade crushed roasted pumpkin
4  1/4 cup flour

Directions:
In a mixer, add warm water and yeast, let it stand for 5 mins till it gets foamy.
Add melted margarine and sugar, stir well.
Add one egg at a time and mix well.
Add 2 cup flour, mix well
Add pumpkin and mix well.
Attach hook to mixer, continue to mix well.
Gradually add the rest of the flour and mix well.

Pick up dough from mixer and knead dough into a ball.
Place dough in a dry bowl and cover dough with dry towel and let it rise for at least an hour.
Dough will rise and double in size.
Punch down dough, place dough on a lightly floured smooth surface.
Using a rolling pin, roll dough into rectangle and flat to least than 1/2 inch.
Spread the Hershey chocolate in the middle section of dough, fold in 1/3 over.
Spread hershey chocolate on top on the half section of dough, fold the 1/2 over.
And again and fold another half.
Using rolling pin, roll dough to flatten in one direction to make dough longer.
Using a pairing knife, cut dough into 4 long stripe.
Braid dough intertwined and tuck the top and bottom inside.
Place braided dough in a loaf pan, let dough stand for at least 30 mins.
Heat oven at 350 degree, bake for 35 mins.
Let bread cool and slice with bread knife and serve warm with more hershey spread or jelly (optional)

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Eileen from Eileen's Diary at this post.

 

For October 2014, Eileen has requested her Little Thumbs Up event with PUMPKIN theme to starts on 1st October and will end on the last day of the month. Please join us! To join, simply cook or bake any recipe with PUMPKIN for October 2014 and link with us at this post anytime until 31st October 2014.

Healthy Fried Rice

I used to eat fried rice growing up. My mom would usually made fried rice when she had lots of leftover rice from previous meals. It was a one dish meal as the fried rice consists of mixed vegetables with protein of either shrimps, pork or chicken. Oh, and egg is an essential ingredient to fried rice, not only is egg serves as protein but the egg is what makes the fried rice so favorful and complete. So, even though it was usually the last resort for my mom to decide what to cook for dinner, it never went wrong cooking 'Fried Rice' for us and everybody in the family loved it.

Today, at our potluck party, we have some leftover of a big container of cooked rice. I decided to  made fried rice but with different ingredients all together.... it will be a very healthier version. My mom's and everybody's else version use lots of oil, my version is almost oil free ... how? secret ingredient is using chicken broth. And since my chicken broth is homemade and with so much favor, I am making this without eggs... what??? Yes, without eggs  ... and it still tastes pretty good ..... and you don't have to feel quilty eating it with much less calories :)

Ingredients:
3 cups Cooked Brown Rice
4 pieces of ham
2 carrots, diced
1 can of sweet peas
1/4 onions, chopped
3/4 cup of chicken broth
2 Tbs of soya sauce
1 tsp dried basil
pepper to taste

Method:
In a big saute pan, over medium heat, cook chicken broth with onions and carrots for 5 mins.
Add ham and sweet peas, let this simmer for another 3 mins.
Add soya sauce, basil, and pepper to taste
Add brown rice, stir and mix well in ... for another 5 mins.
Serve warm.