Randee's Iced Sugar Cookies

Other than the 'white' lights on the bushes surrounding the front of the house and urns filled with greenery, there are no other tell tale signs inside the house that Christmas will be here in just a few short weeks. For some reason the thought of going up and down the attic stairs to bring down the holiday decorations seems more exhausting than exhilarating. If you only knew how much Christmas 'stuff' is up there you might understand my holiday decorating hesitancy. Maybe years of putting up and decorating multiple trees has finally caught up with me or maybe I am just not yet in the holiday decorating spirit. Surprisingly not even the thought of bringing out all of the Valliancourt chalkware Santas collected over the years is enough to motivate me to get going on making the house reflect the spirit of Christmas. Could a few more batches of cookies and several more trips to the stores to shop for presents be what I need? We shall see.

A few weeks back when visiting a friend I asked if she would again share some of the cookie recipes she had given me years ago, recipes that seem to be temporarily lost (not even saying the St. Anthony prayer more than a dozen times has caused them to reappear). Her sugar cookie recipe was one I remembered. One never forgets a really scrumptious cookie, particularly when it is a really scrumptious sugar cookie.

Sugar cookies themselves have a history here in states going back to the mid 1700s when Morovians (German Protestant settlers) living in Pennsylvania created a round, crumbly, buttery cookie they called the Nazareth Sugar Cookie. The increased availability of tin cookie cutters made by tinsmiths after the Civil War not only made the making of these cookies easier, they gave way to cookies with more varied and complicated shapes. The iced and decorated versions of the sugar cookie came into popularity in the 1930s when it became traditional for children to leave out a plate of 'sugar' cookies and milk for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Hmm, could it be I didn't always get what I wanted from Santa because the cookies left on the plate were 'store bought' and not homemade sugar cookies?

I had every intention of using some of the antique cookie cutters collected over the years but then I found my Williams-Sonoma snowflake cookie cutters and, well before I knew it, I had abandoned my original plan. The decision to make snowflake sugar cookies covered in white icing and sprinkled with white glitter crystals and white mini-snowflakes seemed to subliminally reflect my monochromatic tendencies as well as my 'white lights on trees only' preference (I understand that those of you who love colored lights might be cringing right now. Just don't let my Christmas light bias keep you from reading on or even making these cookies. Okay?).

By definition, a sugar cookie is made of sugar, flour, butter, eggs, vanilla and either baking powder or baking soda. This classic sugar cookie recipe consists of all of those ingredients but also includes whole milk and kosher salt. The original version of Randee's Iced Sugar Cookie listed margarine rather than butter as one of the ingredients, however, both of us use unsalted butter for these cookies. Not only does butter pay homage to the early version of the sugar cookie, it makes for a melt-in-your-mouth, delectable cookie. 

The batter for this cookie comes together easily and results in dough that rolls out beautifully on a lightly floured surface. It all begins with beating the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. On medium to high speed, the liquid ingredients are then added to the butter/sugar mixture and mixed until the batter is smooth (this could take at least two minutes to get the desired consistency). Flour, salt and baking powder are added with mixer on low speed. Mix only until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. The dough is shaped into a disk, wrapped in plastic wrapped and chilled. Minimally the dough should chill in the refrigerator for several hours, but I strongly recommend allowing it to chill overnight.

The rolled out, cut into shapes cookies are baked at what I would consider a relatively high heat level (375 degrees) as well as a relatively short baking time (ranges from 8 to 10 minutes depending on thickness of the cookies). I like a 'thicker' sugar cookie so I rolled mine out to about a 1/4 inch thickness. If you like them even thicker, your baking time will increase. Conversely, if you like them thinner, your baking time will be reduced. The kind of cookie cutter you use will also influence the thickness of your rolled out dough. If using a more intricate cookie cutter, the thicker the dough needs to be. I recommend using a relatively heavy versus a thin baking pan to ensure the bottoms of the cookies don't 'burn' before the cookie is fully baked. My favorite cookie pans come from either Stonewall Kitchen or Williams-Sonoma (I use half-sheet, 3/4 sheet and/or full sheet pans when baking cookies).

Before icing (or frosting), the cookies need to be completed cool. There are many icing options, however, my personal favorite is creating a confectionary sugar icing, one enabling me to dip the cookie into it (versus having to spread it with an offset spatula). In order to achieve the smoothest icing possible, the confectionary sugar needs to be sifted (whatever you do, don't skip this step). Four to five tablespoons of milk added to three cups of sifted confectionary sugar usually achieves the desired 'dipping' consistency. If you use up to 6 tablespoons of milk and your icing becomes a little too 'runny', not to worry. Sift in some additional confectionary sugar.

A few months ago I bought clear imitation vanilla extract to ensure I could make the 'whitest' icing/frosting possible. Normally I would shudder at the thought of using imitation vanilla, but when Christina Tosi from the Momofuku Milk Bar recommended it, who was I to ignore the suggestion of an incredibly talented pastry chef?

I find dipping the cookies into the icing results in a perfect smooth finish. To achieve this 'bakery perfect' finish, simply dip the entire top of the cookie into the icing, then carefully lift and place on a cooling rack. These sugar cookies dipped in icing are beautiful with or without the addition of sugars, sprinkles or decoratifs (like mini-snowflakes). How you finish these cookies is all up to you, make them as simple or as fancy as your 'big' heart desires. For some reason one of Iggy Azalea's songs runs through my head whenever I hear the word fancy.

If using sugars, sprinkles or decoratifs, sprinkle them on immediately after the cookies are are dipped as the icing develops a quick 'crust'. Once this 'crust' is developed, nothing will stick to it. The icing on the cookies takes at least 30 minutes to completely set up, but I strongly suggest you wait at least an hour before putting the cookies on a platter/in a container or putting in cellophane bags.

These sugar cookies have a perfect, yet tender crisp to them. With the icing more like a thick glaze than a thick frosting they are just the right amount of sweet. Like my white lights bias, I am one of those who love sugar cookies glazed rather than frosted (out of fear of making you cringe a second time, I thought I would wait until the end of this posting to reveal that personal preference to you). Don't let my icing/frosting preferences influence how you finish these oh so scrumptious 'Santa will bring you what you wished for even if you were just a bit naughty this year' sugar cookies.

Recipe
Randee's Iced Sugar Cookies (inspired by a recipe cut out of a newspaper years ago)

Ingredients
Cookie
1/2 cup (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

Icing
3 cups confectionary sugar, sifted
4-5 Tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract (can use regular vanilla extract)
Note: Can add food coloring for colored icing.

Optional
Glitter sugar
Decoratifs
Other cookie decorating sugars

Directions
1. In a standing mixer, cream butter and sugar until well blended, light and fluffy.
2. Mix together egg, milk and vanilla. Add to butter/sugar mixture beating until well blended and batter is smooth.
3. On low speed, add in flour, salt and baking powder mixing until flour is fully incorporated.
4. Remove dough from bowl, shaped into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for several hours or overnight (recommend chilling overnight).
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
6. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes, place on parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake 8 to 10 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Note: Baking time will be dependent on the thickness of the cookie. Recommend setting timer for 8 minutes, checking cookie and adding time if needed.
7. Transfer cookies to cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before icing.
8. Make icing by mixing sifted confectionary sugar, milk and vanilla in a medium sized bowl. Stir until completely smooth. If icing is too thick, add additional milk until desired consistency is reached. 
9. Dip top of each cookie in the icing. Transfer to cooling rack. Sprinkle immediately with sugar if using. 
10. Allow icing to completely set up before arranging on a platter or placing in a container.

Holiday Cookies and Confections

"The greatest gift you can give someone is your time. Its like you're giving someone the portion of your life that you can never bring back."

Happy December! Let the madness of the holiday baking season begin. If Thanksgiving is 'all about that bird', then the holidays are 'all about those sweets'. Over the course of the next few weeks as we embark on making cookies and confections for family, friends and all of the Santas in your life as part of the holiday tradition (seriously, what would a holiday be without a platter of cookies?), it is a wonder we don't cause butter, egg and chocolate shortages across the country.

Every year I seek out new cookie and candy recipes to try (this year's must make list is rather long) so I can add to my list of favorites. In sharing my current top ten favorites, I hope I will inspire you to add to yours. The Coconut Balls aka Better than a Mounds Bar was a recipe given to me by a very good friend. If you love coconut and chocolate, these are a must make. With or without the addition of an almond on top, these are insanely creamy and delicious. I am willing to bet you will never eat another mounds bar or almond joy again after you taste them.

The Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bark with Sea Salt was inspired by a confection shared by none other than the amazing Ina Garten. This bark couldn't be easier to make. Roasted, salted cashews and pistachios are the nuts I use most often when making this bark, but roasted macadamias or walnuts work well too (just remember to roast your walnuts before chopping and sprinkling on top of the bark). For the dried fruit, my go-to's are dried cherries, dried cranberries, and dried apricots. Sometimes I use just one of them, sometimes a combination and then sometimes I use all of them. But again, use whatever and as many dried fruits that are your favorites. I like using either a dark or milk chocolate when making this bark, but you can also make it with white chocolate. The addition of the sea salt lightly sprinkled on top turns an already great bark into an extraordinary one. A cellophane bag or box filled with this bark makes for a great, memorable gift.

I have to have a little spice on my holiday cookie platter and this White Chocolate Dipped Ginger Molasses Cookie more than satisfies that need. This is one of the cookies I have been making for years. If the holidays are all about decadence, then dipping half of them in white chocolate creates the perfect spicy chocolatey cookie. However, if white chocolate is not your thing, the cookie itself is scrumptious all on its own.

Again I could not leave well enough alone with the Linzer Cookie recipe. As much as I love them sprinkled with confectionary sugar, I love them eve more dipped in white chocolate. Once you taste a White Chocolate Raspberry Linzer Cookie you will understand why.

This might be the only time intensive cookie on the list, but as they say 'nothing worth having comes easy'. The recipe for the Viennese Finger Biscuits came to me from a very talented baker, one whose cookie platters are enough to cause one to drool just looking at them. Make these for the people in your life you really like, the people that you love.

Newspapers are always running holiday cookie contests. Sometimes the 'winning' cookies are chosen because of their taste, but sometimes they are chosen for their 'back story'. These Meltaways fall into the 'chosen for their taste' category. The use of cake flour rather than all-purpose flour creates for a melt in your mouth, tender crumb cookie. On a cookie platter they look like the peaks of snow-capped mountains.

The White Chocolate Dipped Pistachio and Dried Cherry Cookies were also one of those holiday award winning cookies, although the original recipe called for having the rolled in confectionary sugar. The ingenious idea of dipping them in white chocolate came from my childhood best friend. She had brought out a bag of these cookies on one of her visits to my east coast home. It was one of the best hostess gifts ever.

The recipe for the Irish Shortbread came from the same woman who shared her Viennese Finger Biscuits. Made with both butter and margarine these shortbread cookies are addictive. And honestly, it is the best shortbread cookie I have ever had (and I have had many). Weighing out the ingredients seems to matter when making these cookies. 

The Chocolate Dipped Sea Salted Caramels are one of my favorite holiday confection gifts. Dipping these caramels into chocolate takes them to a different level of wickedness.

Last but certainly not least is one of the first cookies I shared on the blog. Amy's Shortbread Cookies are probably the cookie I make the most, even more than chocolate chip cookies. It is one of the easiest 'rolled' cookies you will ever make as the dough needs no refrigeration and is the most forgiving dough you will ever work with (the finished cookies don't lose their tenderness when the scraps of dough are rerolled). Whether you dip either the entire top or one half of the cookie in white chocolate is all up to you, but remember 'more can often be better'. 

In the weeks ahead I will share with you the newest and best 'cookie and confection' recipes I find or am fortunate enough to be given. As I look at the ones shared here with you again I realized half of them came from friends, making them even more treasured. Have a wonderful beginning to the holiday season. May it be filled with much love as well as lots of unsalted butter and chocolate. 

Thanksgiving 2014

The good news is that the Thanksgiving menu written out more than two weeks ago hasn't changed. Altering or tinkering with as well as adding to the menu is almost unheard of in my world. Being in the grocery store (almost daily), looking through current or old issues of food magazines, and continuing to spend time going through all of the fall cookbooks I have purchased thus far, can sometimes make me second guess or sway me into changing my menu. With the exception of possibly making another dessert to drop off as a surprise Thanksgiving gift for a friend, I am going to stay focused, for once.

I thought it would be fun to put together a Thanksgiving menu post this year, but realized there are several things I will be making for this year's Thanksgiving dinner I have yet to share on the blog. However, there is a silver lining here. The Boursin Spinach Gratin, Sweet Potato Casserole and Wendy's Mashed Potatoes are all perfect dinner party or holiday dishes, ones that pair incredibly well with main dishes other than turkey. Hopefully I will not be so wild and crazed making the 'dinner' that I will be unable to capture a few photos to share in the weeks ahead. Wish me luck. 

To go along with the pre-dinner cocktails and wine, this year's appetizers will be the Chicken Liver Pate with Pickled Shallots and Pounded Cheese with Port Syrup and Walnuts, both recipes coming from two of my favorite new cookbooks (The New Midwestern Table and A Boat, a Whale and a Walrus).

In order to give me enough time to make the gravy, I thought Yotam Ottolenghi's Roasted Onion Salad with Walnut Salsa would be the prefect prelude to the dinner. This salad may be one of my favorite recipes coming out of his new cookbook Plenty More.

Hands down the Spiced Cranberry and Dried Cherry Chutney is my favorite way to bring cranberries to the Thanksgiving table. I happen to someone who loves cranberries so I am showing some restraint by having only 'one' cranberry dish. Having made many cranberry sauces and chutneys over the years, this is the one that gets rave reviews. It also becomes a perfect condiment for those turkey and stuffing sandwiches on white bread. You know the ones we all crave the day after Thanksgiving. Having leftovers is the proverbial icing on the cake and one of the many reasons I love to cook for this holiday.

It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that there is always more than one dessert on the holiday table here. For the traditionalists, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a pumpkin pie. And we happen to really like pumpkin pie (once you have a great one you would really like it too!). This one happens to live up to the greatness expectation. And to take the Bruleed Pumpkin Pie with Caramel Swirl up another notch I thought I would serve it with Rococo's Sweet Cream Ice Cream (that amazing Maine ice cream ordered a couple of weeks ago). Fortunately the ice cream has remained 'safe' in the freezer as the certain someone with an ice cream obsession has been traveling.

Ending a meal without a little bit of chocolate would be akin to serving stuffed cabbage as the main course for Thanksgiving. In other words, the entire meal, no the entire holiday would be ruined (it has been decades but I am still recovering from the Thanksgiving meal without turkey). The S'mores Fudge Tart should be what I hope everyone will want a slice (or two) of, no matter how full from dinner they are. Besides being wickedly scrumptious, none of Thanksgiving guests have ever had this tart before. I can hardly wait for them to taste it. Oh, the anticipation.

For all of my excitement over Thanksgiving, one thing I know for sure. There is so much more to this holiday than the meal. It is the one day simply about giving, gratefulness, and gratitude. On the other 364 days of the year we can easily get caught up in 'life' and forget to appreciate all of the blessings that come to us, maybe the most important of these coming from friendships. People who come into and stay in our lives because they want to and because they get as much or more out of the friendship as they put into it. 

In this past year, I have reconnected with several friends, people who I let slip out of my life for awhile, sometimes even for a very long while (mostly because I let my life get in the way). More than being thankful for having them back in my life, I am even more grateful they let me back in. So while I will be spending a significant amount of time on making what I hope will be a memorable dinner this Thanksgiving, remembering that enduring, memorable friendships also require an investment of time and attention will not get lost on me. 

Wishing you all a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving. See you after the holiday!

Hummingbird Cake

"A great many things can be resolved with kindness, even more with laughter, but there are some things that just require cake" was a quote I discovered on a card years ago. It made me think how great life would be if all conflicts or misunderstandings really could simply be resolved with cake, preferably one homemade, but not necessarily made with chocolate. Whether or not cake could have such healing powers, I thought at least life would be so much more delicious.

Initially I set out to make a banana cake with chocolate ganache frosting this week but then remembered there was a cake I had been wanting to make for really long time. A dense, moist cake lathered with a rich cream cheese frosting. Not a carrot cake, not a spice cake, but a hummingbird cake.

Up until reading an article in Cook's Illustrated I had believed a Hummingbird Cake was either a Southern invention confection or American in origin. If someone claimed this cake originated in Jamaica, was served on Air Jamaica in the early 1970s, and was initially published under the name of doctorbird (the name of Jamaica's hummingbird) cake, I would have thought he/she had a very active imagination. Much to my surprise, he/she would not be delusional but actually have the facts right. The 'birthplace' of the hummingbird cake really is Jamaica. However, the popularity of this cake here in the states is largely attributed to the recipe for "Hummingbird Cake" published in Southern Living (1978) as submitted by Mrs. L.H. Wiggins from Greensboro, North Carolina (I can't help but wonder if she based her version of the recipe on the one published by the Kingston Gleaner seven years earlier).

Why does it seem like forever when you are waiting for bananas to ripen? I could have put them in a brown paper bag along with an apple or a tomato to speed up the ripening process, but thought I would patiently allow them to ripen all on their own naturally. The sweetness of a banana increases as it ripens, thus really ripe bananas create more flavorful cakes and breads. So whether you are making banana bread, a banana cake, or a hummingbird cake, you want really ripe bananas.

There are many ways to mash bananas (the most common being using a fork as the 'masher'). But With Thanksgiving approaching I thought I would try using the potato ricer to get them as creamy as possible (a technique suggested by another food blogger). Chunkier versus creamier mashed bananas causes the cake to be 'mushy' and results in a cake with a limited banana flavor. While it was a little messy, the potato ricer created a perfect creamy banana mash.

Like quick breads, this is a 'mixed by hand' cake. Using a spatula, the wet ingredients are added to the dry ingredients and stirred just until just combined. Again, over mixing could lead to a 'tougher' cake or one not having a tender crumb.

Most recipes for the Hummingbird cake call for using eight or nine inch round cake pans or a 9"x12" rectangular pan (baking times for those pans are provided in the directions below). However, I wanted this to be a tall cake (and one with a little bit more of a wow factor), so I used three 6" cake pans. 

In a preheated 350 degree oven the six inch cakes baked for almost 45 minutes. Actually the baking time was somewhere between 40 and 50 minutes, however, as I kept adding additional time in small increments I wasn't keeping track. Use either the toothpick inserted in the center of the cake (it should come out clean) or pressing lightly on the top of the cake (it should spring back) to test for doneness.

Because I wanted each of the cake layers to be flat, I used a serrated knife to cut the 'dome' of two of the cake layers. To ensure that crumbs would not get into the frosting, each of the layers was inverted so the 'baked' side was up and 'cut' side was down. Note: I did not cut the bottom cake layer, but inverted it on the cake stand. 

After frosting between each of the layers, frost the sides and top of the cake using a cake spatula (for a smooth finish) or a pastry bag (for a fancier design). How you finish the cake is all about personal preference and the options are endless.

Instead of chopping additional pecans to decorate the sides or top of the cake, I decided to use pecan halves to create a flower-like design (inspiration for the design came from Swedish food blogger Linda Lomelino). I loved the simplicity of this design, however, the next time I finish a cake with this look, I will chill the cake slightly before dragging the skewer through the cream cheese frosting.

If you have anyone in your family or any friends who love the flavors of banana and pineapple, you need to make this cake for them. The finished three layer Hummingbird Cake had the 'wow' factor I was going for. There is something attention getting, appetite wetting, and compelling about a tall six inch three layer cake (this could be why the cakes made at or in the style of Momofuku's Milk Bar bakery in New York are so popular).

With Thanksgiving next week, most everyone will be serving pies or tarts for dessert (and I will be too). Cakes don't always seem to take center stage on Thanksgiving, particularly where dessert traditions are strongly tied to pies. Unless it would cause anyone in your family to have a meltdown on Thanksgiving (some families have strong holiday meal expectations), why not add to the array of dessert choices and make this cake too? And if you just also happen to be celebrating someone's birthday over the Thanksgiving holiday, wouldn't it be nice to celebrate their day with a cake, a homemade cake, a Hummingbird cake? On the remote possibility that conflicts or misunderstandings happen during your family Thanksgivings, it might be worth seeing if there really was healing power in cake to resolve them. But if there wasn't, at least there would be a deliciously sweet ending to the day.

Recipe
Hummingbird Cake (adaptation of Joy of Baking's Hummingbird Cake recipe)

Ingredients
Cake
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups mashed bananas (from 4 to 5 really ripe bananas)
8 ounce can of crushed pineapple (do not drain, use the juice)
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped (plus additional toasted pecan halves for finishing)

Cream Cheese Frosting
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectionary sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of sea salt (or kosher salt)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking pans with vegetable spray and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Add lightly beaten eggs and vegetable oil to dry ingredients, stirring until just combined.
4. Add crushed pineapple, mashed banana, and toasted pecans. Gently stir until all ingredients are combined.
5. Divide batter equally among baking pans. Note: Recommend weighing cake pans if using more than one pan.
6. For 6 inch round pans, bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until cake is done. For 8 or 9 inch pans, bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
7. Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting. Note: Can place cooled cakes in the refrigerator before frosting.
8. To make the frosting, whip cream cheese, butter, confectionary sugar, vanilla and pinch of salt until mixture is smooth and creamy.
9. Place frosting on each of the cake layers before frosting the sides and top of the cake. Note: The options for the frosting finish are endless. For this cake, I used the end of a skewer to create lines on the side of the cake and concentric circles on the top of the cake. Would recommend allowing the cake to chill slightly before dragging skewer through the icing.
10. Serve immediately or place in the refrigerator until ready to serve. If refrigerated, allow to sit out at least 20 minutes before cutting and serving.

Cranberry Nut Bread

I have come to realize that basements and attics are not my friends. Instead they conspire to keep me from throwing things away or at least make it easier for me to procrastinate on making the throw away/sell/give away decisions. Over the years I have, with much reluctance and some remorse, thrown away many cooking magazines, however, I cannot seem to be able to part with my back issues of Fine Cooking, Cook's Illustrated and Saveur. For me these are the magazines that have taught me the most about cooking, significantly added to my knowledge about food, and have been sources of inspiration. Even in this day and age of the searchability and accessibility of recipes on the internet, nothing replaces the experience of leafing through a back issue of a food magazine (and not every recipe printed in every magazine has an accessible electronic version).

As I was trying to reduce the clutter and chaos I have created in the basement, my stream of thoughts went something like this, 'when is the last time you went through those boxes containing old issues of food magazines?', 'how many of the recipes in those magazines are you really ever going to make?', 'how many of those recipes do you really want to make?',  and 'even if you made one recipe a week from all of those magazines how many decades or rather centuries would that take?' As I was on the cusp of a moment of rationality and on the verge of making decluttering progress, I came across a recipe for a Cranberry Nut Bread in a back issue of Cook's Illustrated. Not just any Cranberry Nut Bread recipe, but 'the best Cranberry Nut Bread' recipe. Finding a recipe with the words 'cranberry' and 'best' in them was enough to convince me to hold on to those back issues. Not to mention that I suddenly I found a reason to justify the purchase of some small loaf pans I picked up at an estate sale. So much for having a moment of rationality.

In addition to using cranberries to make the (best ever) Spiced Cranberry and Dried Cherry Chutney and (insanely delicious) Nantucket Cranberry Pie, I had found another recipe to put my love of cranberries to good use.

Whenever cranberries come into season I cannot walk through the produce aisle without either putting a bag in my cart or just admiring their deep red color (my affinity for the color red is due in large part to the colors of a school district I had once worked in, one having an Indian as a mascot). In a sea of mostly greens, yellows and a little bit of orange, red cranberries reign as one of the most beautiful, versatile, deliciously tart autumnal fruits.

To coarsely chop the cranberries for the bread I used a small food processor. After measuring one and one half cups of cranberries, I processed them them batches to ensure they were not liquified or finely minced. You can easily chop them with a knife, but the food processor worked well.

Like in many cranberry recipes, the orange plays a critical supporting role. In the list of ingredients in this 'best' recipe, only one orange was listed. But for whatever reason, I needed two Valencia oranges to get 1/3 cup of orange juice (sometimes it is a good thing when I buy more than what I need). In addition to the juice from the oranges, the bread contains one tablespoon of orange zest. The combination of the tart cranberries and sweetness of the oranges makes for a bread with great flavor.

Like most 'quick' breads, this bread also comes together in a bowl (no need to bring out the mixer). The wet ingredients are combined with the dry ingredients just until the entire mixture is moistened and no streaks of flour can be seen. The coarsely chopped cranberries and toasted pecans are then gently mixed in. Over mixing a 'quick' bread results in a somewhat tough and without a tender crumb bread due to too much gluten in the flour. Note: While the Cook's Illustrated called for using toasted pecans, toasted walnuts and even pistachios would pair well with the cranberries.

After spraying the small loaf pans with vegetable spray and lining them with parchment paper, the batter was divided equally among them. Whenever I am dividing a batter between two or more pans I always weigh them to ensure uniformity in baking.

The breads are first baked for 20 minutes in a 375 degree preheated oven. The oven temperature is then reduced to 350 degrees and they continue to bake until lightly golden or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. For the smaller loaf pans, the breads baked for an additional 20 minutes. However, if using a 9"x5" pan, the cranberry nut bread will continue to bake upwards of 40-45 minutes.

This is a dense, moist bread. I added some sparkling sugar on top of the breads before placing them in the oven (for some added crunch and a little bit of sparkle), however, they would be equally delicious without it (although maybe just a little less pretty). This is one of those breads so flavorful and scrumptious (the kind where you want more than one slice) all on its own, a schmear of butter or cream cheese would actually ruin it.

In a season where everyone is making pumpkin or banana bread, the Cranberry Nut Bread is a refreshing change. Whether you are making it to enjoy at home or packaging it up to gift friends and neighbors, it should definitely be one of the breads you make while cranberries are still in season. It might end up being declared the 'best' cranberry nut bread by more than just me and Cook's Illustrated. And hopefully you will be as happy as I am that I hung on to my 1999 issue while still managing to  reduce the clutter and chaos in the basement and throwing away quite a few 'they shall remain nameless' magazines.

Recipe
Cranberry Nut Bread (adapted from the Cook's Illustrated Cranberry Nut-Bread recipe, 1999)

Ingredients
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (used 2 Valencia medium sized oranges)
1 Tablespoon grated orange zest
2/3 cup buttermilk
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, measured first then coarsely chopped
1/2 cup pecans, toasted then coarsely chopped (toasted walnuts or pistachios would work as well)
Optional: White Sanding Sugar for finishing

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line three 3.5"x6" pans or one 9"x5" pan with parchment paper, spraying sides and bottom of pan with vegetable spray. Set aside.
2. Coarsely chop cranberries (if using a food processor, chop in batches). Set aside.
3. In a medium sized bowl, mix together buttermilk, orange juice, orange zest, melted butter and egg until combined. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula stir until just moistened. Stir in cranberries and pecans (be careful to not over mix).
6. Divide equally into the three pans or pour all batter into a single pan. Liberally sprinkle sparkling sugar, if using. 
7. Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and cook for an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until top is golden and a toothpick inserted into center of pan comes out clean. Important note: If baking in a 9"x5" loaf pan, baking time will be an additional 40 to 45 minutes.
8. Cool bread in pan(s) for at least 10 minutes, then transfer bread to wire rack to cool at least one hour before cutting.

Cape Neddick Lighthouse in York, Maine (photo taken in September 2014).

Gay Head Lighthouse in Aquinnah, Massachusetts, Martha's Vineyard (photo taken in September 2014)

Portland Headlight Lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine (photo taken in the fall, 2013)