Recipe: Cranberry Orange Cookies

It was hard to find a recipe for this type of cookie online. I merged together several recipes and came up with this. They were delicious!


Cookies: 

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp grated orange zest
2 TBS orange juice
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 scant tsp cardamom (optional and expensive but worth it)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups fresh cranberries, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream together butter and sugars till smooth.
Beat in egg and blend well.
Mix in the orange zest and the orange juice.
Combine flour, cardamom (if using), baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Stir flour mixture into sugar/butter mixture.
Mix in cranberries and walnuts.
Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 12 - 15 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
Yield: Around 30 cookies

Easy Orange Glaze:

1 cup xxx sugar
1/2 tsp orange zest
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS orange juice

Mix together in a small bowl until well blended. Spread onto cooled cookies.

Recipe: Pain d'Epice

Recipe: Pain d'épices

From Reynald's aunt's friend in France (got that?) 

2 eggs

250g of whole wheat flour (or half white and half wheat)

100g   miel (or 4 TBS)

100g organic (not white) sugar (sucre roux)

20 cl milk

1 tsp baking powder (sachet de levure)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon whole anise seeds

¼ teaspoon ground coriander seed (optional)1 cuillère a soupe d'épices

Je mélange les oeufs avec le sucre, j y ajoute la farine, les épices, la levure, je dilue le miel dans le lait tiède et je le verse sur ma préparation bien mélanger, la pâte est coulante, je faire curie dans un moule a cake 50 min a 150  ou th 5-6.

Recipe: Noémie Chocolate Cake

Noémie made this cake for us several times when she was visiting us several years ago. Yum, yum! 

Ingredients:

Good quality dark chocolate (not US Baker's Chocolate) 200 g Butter (salted) 200 g Flour 100 g Sugar 300 g 6 eggs

Directions:  Mix chocolate and sugar in a pan and melt (using a "bain-marie" or using whatever method you prefer). While it melts, mix flour and sugar in another bowl. Add chocolate/butter when melted. Add the eggs and mix.

Cook 35 minutes at 180°C

Thanks, Noémie!

Recipe: Chocolate Llama Birthday Cake

My sweet friend Nathalie made this for me for my birthday (along with some llama fun), and it was so good! And, it held up very well being transported on the back of a llama, so you can even take it camping (or on the plane, or wherever!).

Llama Chocolate Truffle Tart

Crust:
1 1/2 cups chocolate wafers, finely ground
6 tbsp butter, melted

Filling:
1/2 lb bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
6 tbsp butter, cut into cubes
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Wrap foil around springform pan (in case of leaks). Lightly butter side of pan.
Stir together ground wafers and butter, then pat onto bottom of pan and 1 inch up side. Bake about 10 minutes, then cool.

For filling: Melt chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring, until smooth. Whisk together eggs, cream, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Whisk chocolate into egg mixture. Pour filling into cooled crust. Bake until filling 1 inch from edge is set and slightly puffed but center trembles slightly when pan is gently shaken, 20-25 minutes.

Cool completely, about 2 hours. Chill, about 4 hours. Dust with unsweetened cocoa powder.

Healthier Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe: Healthier Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My friend Annette shared these on her Facebook page and I made them right away. Success! 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel - I  put mine in a strainer to rinse/dry
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (165 grams) natural-style peanut butter (mass market peanut butter like Skippy's will make them come out oily)
• 1/4 cup (80 grams) honey (or agave?)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt if your peanut butter is salt free
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (sometimes I use mini chocolate chips, but the big ones worked best here)

The chickpeas serve as "flour" and have a very subtle flavor so they work well with combined with other ingredients, even in a sweet recipe. Combine all  ingredients except for the chocolate chips in a food processor and process until very smooth. Scrape as needed to include any little chunks of chickpeas and process till combined.

Pulse or mix in the chocolate chips (but don't chop them). The mixture will be very thick and sticky.

Wet hands and form into cookie-sized balls. Place onto a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet. Press down slightly on the balls; they don’t do much rising. Bake for about 12 minutes.

Yield: 12 - 15 cookies 

Quick and Versatile Pesto Recipe

Recipe: Quick and Versatile Pesto Recipe

2 cups fresh basil leaves and/or parsley and/or dandelion greens and/or cilantro, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts, walnuts or almonds - toasted (pre chop walnuts or almonds first)
3 medium sized garlic cloves, sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper - to taste

Combine the basil/parsley/greens/cilantro in with your selected nuts, pulse a few times in food processor. Add garlic and pulse again.

Slowly add olive oil in constant stream while running food processor. Scrape down sides of food processor with spatula as needed. Ad grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add salt and pepper to taste.

We finally ordered our "Christmas" cards - in March! Coming to a mailbox near you soon!

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Brazilian "Lemonade"

Brazilian "Lemonade" recipe from my friend Natascha

Ingredients

• 3 limes, quartered (including the peel)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

Preparation

Place all the ingredients in a blender. Add 4 cups cold water and blend on high speed until limes are slightly chopped. Strain into a pitcher and then, with the strainer still resting above the pitcher, slowly pour about 1 more cup water (depending on how sweet you want the drink) through the strainer over the lime pieces to extract all the residual sugar and juice.

Note: add any alcohol you want - try rum.