Cranberry Maple Almond Granola

I signed up to be one of Cooks Illustrated's recipe testers. This recipe came to me a few months ago by email from them and I was eager to try it out. The end product is a chunky, crunchy, not-too-sweet granola with lots of goodies in it. What makes it so great is that unlike other granola recipes, you don't have to rotate the pan and toss the granola every few minutes in the oven. This is WAY easier. You simply mix up the ingredients, pack it down on a baking tray and ptu it in the oven to bake til golden brown - as though you are baking an oversized cookie. After it has cooled, you break the giant granola bar into chunks. It freezes well, but is so addictive it probably won't make it to your freezer anyway.

More tips: Chopping the almonds by hand is the first choice for superior texture and crunch. If you prefer not to hand chop, substitute an equal quantity of slivered or sliced almonds. (A food processor does a lousy job of chopping nuts evenly.) Use your favorite dried fruit or a combination. Do not use quick oats.

Cranberry Maple Almond Granola

Makes 9 cups | Cooks Illustrated

1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup packed (2 1/3 ounces) light brown sugar
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups (10 ounces) raw almonds, chopped coarse
2 cups craisins or other dried fruit, chopped

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in large bowl. Whisk in oil. Fold in oats and almonds until thoroughly coated.

3. Transfer oat mixture to prepared baking sheet and spread across sheet into thin, even layer (about 3/8 inch thick). Using stiff metal spatula, compress oat mixture until very compact. Bake until lightly browned, 40 to 45 minutes, rotating pan once halfway through baking. Remove granola from oven and cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 1 hour. Break cooled granola into pieces of desired size. Stir in dried fruit. (Granola can be stored in airtight container for up to 2 weeks or frozen).

Cheesecake Factory's Oreo Cheesecake

This copycat cheesecake takes inspiration from the childhood favorite ice cream flavor. I love how it looks decorated with Oreos on top. It's fun, festive and delicious. My family loves cheesecake, so I'm always experimenting with different kinds. This one was not too sweet or rich, but delicious all the same. As with all cheesecake recipes, it is best to start with all ingredients at room temperature.

I have nothing but good memories at the Cheesecake Factory. One of my favorites is when my husband and I went there on one of our first few dates. The server was really friendly and chatty. He told my husband (then-boyfriend) what a great couple we were and how comfortable we seemed with each other. He thought we had been together much longer than just a few months. Well, not long after that, my husband proposed to me and we are now married! I guess the server had good intuition.

I hope you enjoy this cheesecake as much as we did!



Cheesecake Factory Oreo Cheesecake
Makes one 9" cake

1 1/2 cups Oreo cookie crumbs
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 - 8oz blocks cream cheese (1 1/2 lbs)
1 cup sugar
5 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup flour
1 cup sour cream
5 Oreo cookies (coarsely chopped)

Oreo cookies
Chocolate shavings
Whipped cream

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Mix melted butter with Oreo crumbs and press in the bottom of a greased 9 inch springform pan. Cover bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides with crumbs. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

3. Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Keep mixer on a low setting during the mixing and beating process. Add sugar gradually and continue beating cream cheese until mixed through. Add eggs one at a time and continue to beat until blended. Stir vanilla, salt and flour into cream cheese and egg mixture. Add the sour cream.

4. Fold in the 5 coarsely chopped Oreo cookies with a rubber spatula. Pour mixture into springform pan.

5. Bake for 1 hr 15 minutes. Turn off the oven, prop the door open several inches and let the cheese cake stay in the oven for one hour.

6. Decorate with whipped cream, chocolate shavings and Oreos.

Banana Bread Cinnamon Rolls

Two of the very yummiest baked goods are cinnamon rolls and banana bread. When you combine them into Banana Bread Cinnamon Rolls, they become total awesomeness! Finish them off with cream cheese frosting and you've got some pretty amazing buns!

These rolls have pureed bananas mixed right into the dough. A great recipe to keep on hand for those overripe bananas, especially now that the weather is getting warmer and bananas are ripening faster. A smattering of chopped walnuts adds a great crunch and contrast to the gooey cinnamon-y filling.



Banana Bread Cinnamon Rolls
Makes 12 | adapted from Cooking Classy

3 very ripe bananas
1 tsp lemon juice
2/3 cup milk
3 Tbsp butter, diced
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg yolk
3 3/4 cups bread flour, divided
1 Tbsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking powder

6 Tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Cream Cheese Frosting
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
6 Tbsp butter, softened
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
2 - 3 tsp milk

Rolls
1. Puree bananas in a food processor with 1 tsp lemon juice until mixture is smooth and no chunks remain, set aside (you should have just over 1 1/3 cups pureed bananas).

2. Heat milk and 3 Tbsp butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Cook stirring occasionally until butter has melted. Remove from heat and pour mixture into the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Whisk in vegetable oil and allow mixture to cool to 110 degrees F. Whisk in yeast, stirring until dissolved and allow to rest 5 minutes. With the paddle attachment, mix in granulated sugar, salt, egg yolk, 2 cups bread flour and pureed bananas. Switch mixer to a hook attachment, add 1 1/2 cups bread flour and sprinkle in cornstarch, then knead mixture on medium low speed until a smooth and elastic dough forms (dough will be sticky). Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

3. In a small bowl whisk together light-brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and nuts (if using). Set aside. In a separate small bowl, whisk together remaining 1/4 cup bread flour and baking powder. Return bowl with dough to electric stand mixer, pour in flour/baking powder mixture and knead dough with hook attachment until mixture is well blended and smooth. Roll dough out on a floured surface (dough should be slightly sticky so I floured the surface fairly generously) to a 16 x 20 inch rectangle. Using the back of a spoon, spread 6 Tbsp melted butter evenly over the top of the dough. Sprinkle top evenly with brown sugar mixture and spread into an even layer, coming within a 1/2 inch of all edges.

4. Starting on the 16" side, snugly roll dough to opposite end. Cut rolled dough into 12 equal pieces. Arrange rolls in a buttered 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Cover baking dish and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (I do this during the last 10 minutes of rising) and bake rolls in preheated oven for 22 - 26 minutes until golden. Cool slightly then frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1. In a large mixing bowl, using an electric and mixer, whip together cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Pour in milk and mix until well blended.

Pull-Apart Cheese Bread

This bread is as much fun to make as it is to eat. Kids love to help wrap the dough around the cubes of cheese and dip the pieces in butter before dropping them in the baking pan.

Once baked, the bread can be sliced for sandwiches (as shown in the picture) or pulled apart, bubble bread style. As a prettier alternative, you could use a bundt pan instead of two loaf pans.

The recipe called for frozen bread dough, but I made my own bread dough instead. Just select a dough recipe that makes enough for 2 loaves. I prefer this made with white bread dough as opposed to whole wheat bread dough, but either would work.



Pull Apart Cheese Bread
2 loaves | adapted from Bon Appetit

2 loaves frozen bread dough (store bought or home made)
32 (half-inch) cubes mild cheddar cheese
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp parsley flakes

1. Cut thawed bread dough into 32 equal pieces.

2. Combine melted butter, parmesan, oregano, garlic salt, and parsley in a small bowl.

3. Wrap each piece of dough around 1 cube of cheese, dip in butter mixture. Place dough balls overlapping each other in two greased loaf pans.

4. Let rise 1 1/2 hours, then bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Easy Bacon and Mushroom Quiche

Quiche is one of those foods that appears more difficult to make than it is. I can't believe when you go to a café and they charge $5 for a slice when it is so darn easy to make!

My husband thought he was a quiche-hater until he tried one of these quiches. This recipe is so versatile and can easily be suited for anything from an easy lunch to Christmas morning breakfast to an elegant tea time treat. I also like to make mini quiches in muffin tins with the pastry crust scraps. To save even more time, you can saute the filling the night before and store it in the fridge until you're ready to bake the quiche. Then dump it in the pie crust and you're all set to go.



Easy Bacon and Mushroom Quiche
Makes 1 - 9" Quiche

1 single pie crust (or 1 store-bought crust)

5 eggs
1 cup milk or cream
Salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup chopped onions
10 slices bacon, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms

3/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a quiche pan or pie pan with the unbaked pie crust. Beat eggs with milk, salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Saute together onions and bacon. When almost cooked through, add bell pepper and mushrooms. Continue sauteeing until fully cooked and veggies are slightly soft.

3. Transfer veggies/bacon to the unbaked pie crust. Sprinkle with 1/2 the cheese. Pour the egg mixture over the veggies then sprinkle with the remainder of the cheese. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until filling is slightly puffed and browned and cooked through. Cool slightly before serving, to give the filling a chance to set and therefore slice and serve up nicer.

Sponge Toffee Candy

This recipe is for a special childhood treat that is like the inside of a Cadbury's Crunchie candy bar. [I wonder if those only sold in Canada?] It is light as air and tinged with honey flavor. Dipped in chocolate or plain, this was yummy as well as fun to make. Words of caution: Make sure you are strong enough to lift the pot and its contents. I used a heavy dutch oven to make this and when it came time to dump it into the pan, I found myself struggling with the pot - filled with scorching hot sugar - because it was so heavy. Thankfully, I manoevered it without any injury, but next time I would definitely use a second pair of hands to help with this step.

Sponge Toffee Candy or Seafoam Candy1 1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup water
2 teaspoons baking soda, finely sifted
chocolate, for coating (optional)

1. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, honey, and water, and using a wooden spoon, stir constantly over low heat until the sugar is fully dissolved.

2. Put candy thermometer into the mixture to monitor temperature, increase the heat and boil mixture to exactly 270 degrees F (132C).

3. Reduce heat to as low as possible and maintain the temperature 270F for exactly 15 minutes.

4. It is very important that the temperature of the mixture does not fluctuate; if the temperature begins to rise, remove the pan from heat occasionally to reduce the heat.

5. After the temperature has been maintained for 15 minutes, remove the pan from heat, take out the thermometer, and allow the bubbles to subside.

6. Using a wooden spoon, quickly stir in finely sifted baking soda.

7. Immediately and quickly pour the mixture into a large oiled baking dish.

8. (Please note, important: the pouring step requires strength and you'll be handling extremely hot liquids; if you're not strong and agile enough you might want to leave that step to a strong and able assistant.) When candy has completely cooled, remove from pan and break into pieces and dip into chocolate if desired.

Maple Walnut Bars

I am officially a married woman as of December 1, 2012!!! The wedding went beautifully and it was everything I had ever wanted in a wedding. Despite it being in December and having the forecast say 90% chance of rain, the clouds parted and the sun shone through just in time for our photos and our ceremony.

Now that the stress of wedding preparations is behind us, I will have more time to devote back to my dear little baking blog. I've missed baking all these months and hope to dive right back in for the holiday season!

These bars are a cousin of pecan pie. They start out with a shortbread crust then are topped with a similar filling but instead of pecans you use walnuts and instead of corn syrup, you use maple syrup! They are perfect for potlucks, bake sales or just for eating.



Maple Walnut Bars
Makes 9" square pan

1-1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup brown sugar, divided
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 large egg, beaten
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Make the crust: Whisk together 1-1/2 cups flour and 1/3 cup brown sugar; then cut in softened butter. Using a standing mixer, or a fork if you're working by hand, blend until mixture resembles coarse meal, dry and crumbly. Press mixture into the bottom of a greased 8- or 9-inch square pan. Bake 15 minutes.

3. To make the topping, combine 3/4 cup maple syrup, 1/2 cup brown sugar, beaten egg, melted butter, cream, vanilla, 1 tablespoon flour, and salt. Beat well; then stir in nuts. Pour batter carefully over half-baked crust.

4. Return crust and topping to the oven. Bake until set, about 35 minutes. Cut into small bars and remove from pan to cool.

Fresh Apple Cookies

After a wonderfully warm September on the west coast, the rainy season has finally set in. Last weekend standing out in the rain watching my son's soccer practice was a definite reminder that yes, fall is indeed here!

If I had to pick one flavor to represent this season, it would be cinnamon. I made these cookies a few weeks ago, using handpicked apples from Washington State! They were the cutest little apples I've ever seen. As you can see from the picture, compared to the stack of cookies, they are TINY! However, I must say, their size made them pretty nitpicky to peel and mince.

These cookies feature fresh apples paired with delicious, spicy cinnamon and nutmeg and covered in a light vanilla glaze. (They're also great without the glaze) My son and his whole daycare class loved them. I hope you do too!

Fresh Apple Cookies
adapted from food.com

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 large eggs
1/4 cup apple juice or milk
1 cup minced apples, peeled

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons milk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Sift flour and baking soda together, set aside.
Cream butter and sugar with electric mixer.

2. Blend in salt, spices, and egg. Add half the flour mixture and blend well. Blend in half the apple juice. Add the chopped apples to the remaining flour mixture and stir to coat. Add this and the remaining apple cider to the creamed mixture and stir by hand.

3. Drop by small spoonfuls on cookie sheet and bake 8-9 minutes. While baking, make glaze by blending all glaze ingredients together until smooth.

4. Remove cookies from sheet while still warm (be very careful) and glaze while barely warm.

Hokkaido Milk Bread

I love Asian style breads. They are so soft and fluffy with a hint of sweetness. I also like the perfect square shape of the loaves which are often baked in Pullman Loaf Tins. However, I don't have one of those, so I bake mine in a regular loaf pan. This is a super easy recipe with wonderful results. There are other more complex recipes that look like they produce great breads using the Tang Zhong Method but they are time consuming. One day I intend to delve into the world of Tang Zhong, but for now these are an easy way to enjoy some delicious milk bread.

This time I decided to make the milk bread dough into buns for burgers or sandwiches. They sweetness of milk bread reminds me of those Hawaiian Rolls that are oh so good for burgers, so that's where I took my inspiration for these buns from.

It is also a wonderful way to use up extra milk you might have. I often have too much milk in the house because my son doesn't like drinking it but I keep buying it and hounding him to drink it for the calcium. The recipe calls for 3/4 cup heavy cream but you could use all milk instead and add 1/4 cup melted butter to make up for the loss of the milk fat from the cream.

Here are our grilled chicken breast burgers stuffed to the max with sauteed onions, lettuce, tomato, cheese and honey mustard! A sprinkling of flavored sea salt goes a long way, just like this Sea Salt with Chili for a hint of smoky flavor and kick on your burger.



Hokkaido Milk Bread
Makes 2 loaves | Adapted from Rasa Malaysia

1 cup milk
3/4 cup whipping cream
4 tbsp sugar
3 tsp active dry yeast or bread machine yeast
1 large egg
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tbsp salt

1. Bread Machine: Put milk, whipping cream, egg, flour, milk powder, salt, sugar and yeast into the bread machine. Set to Dough function. After the dough has finished it’s kneading cycle, let it proof inside the machine for 45-50 minutes or till it is double in size.

Non-Bread Machine: Warm the milk and cream to 105 degrees F (slightly warmer than body temperature). Stir in sugar to dissolve. Stir in yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes or until yeast is foamy, then beat in egg. In the meantime, mix 4 cups bread flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture. It will be stick. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour if needed. Try to add as little flour as possible to keep your loaf soft. Too much flour will make it dry. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it into a smooth ball. Put the ball in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise for 1 hour (almost doubled in size).

2. Shaping:
Remove from the pan and divide dough into 2 equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, flatten the ball and roll out in a rectangle shape. Roll it up again tightly like swiss roll. Place dough in the prepared bread tin. Repeat with the second ball.
Set aside and let rise 1 hr or until it fills 75% of the bread tin. {I shaped mine into 8 balls and put them on a cookie sheet to rise. They made buns approximately the same size as kaiser rolls.}

3. Bake the loaves at 350 degrees F for approximately 40-50 minutes or until golden brown. {I baked my buns for only 20 mins}.

Raisin Bran Muffins

Why I love this recipe: It's made with Raisin Bran cereal. The kind you buy when you start a new healthy eating food kick, then end up forgetting in the back of your cupboard a week later.

You can save leftover batter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week and the muffins taste even better after the batter has sat overnight!

You have the option of making fresh muffins any morning of the week, scoop into ramekin/mug and microwave for 1-2 minutes. I was skeptical when I first read this but it really does work. Of course it's not as good as baking them in a regular oven, but you can't beat being able to enjoy fresh muffins on a Monday morning.



Raisin Bran Muffins
Makes 12 | adapted from Pinch of Yum

1/2 cup oil
1 cup sugar (or use a mixture of brown sugar and white sugar)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups buttermilk (or 1 cup milk and 1 cup yogurt)
4 cups Raisin Bran cereal
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

1. Mix all the ingredits in the order listed.

2. Scoop into a lined muffin tin and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes, depending on pan size. (Do toothpick test to be sure they are done).