Deanna's Daughter

Brock and I were noting at lunch that the girls don’t seem to ’say’ as many funny things lately as they ‘do’ – and then Waverly promptly sneezed and sprayed whatever was in her mouth across the table.  Not funny.

I queried the Food Network website for kid-friendly recipes and this was one of the tasty looking examples. I doubled it and it worked out great.

Cranberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies

3/4 c. packed dark brown sugar

3/4 c. sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c. canola oil

1 t. vanilla

1 1/4 c. flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

3/4 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

6-8 oz. chocolate chunks (about 200 g.)

3/4 c. dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 375 and line the cookie sheets that you’ll be using with parchment.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, eggs, oil and vanilla until smooth, and then in a smaller bowl combine the flours, baking soda and salt – these cookies work the best if you do all of the mixing by hand.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined, then stir in the chocolate and cranberries.

Roll dough into (smaller than golf balls) balls, and place a couple of inches apart on the cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.  They should be just barely golden brown if you want chewy cookies and obviously you can cook them longer if you prefer a bit of crunch.

Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool and then dive in.

We were in the middle of dinner when Waverly paused and got a funny look on her face.  She stopped eating and announced, ‘I’m not sure about this meat Mom, I don’t like the chew of it!’.

I found this recipe on the internet and even though I don’t remember where it’s from, I wanted to keep it – so here it is…

Cranberry-Orange Loaf

2 c. flour

1 c. sugar

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/4 c. butter, softened

zest from 1 orange

3/4 c. orange juice

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 1/2 c. frozen or fresh cranberries

Spray a 9 x 5 loaf pan and preheat the oven to 350.  Combine the 5 dry ingredients in a large bowl and use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter until it’s evenly distributed and the mixture is crumbly.

Add the egg, zest and juice and stir until just combined, then fold in the cranberries, being careful not to over mix.

Spread the batter in the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 55 minutes until the top is springy and a cake tester comes out dry.  Allow the loaf to cool in it’s pan for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.

I was cleaning our bathroom in the basement, where we have a scale, when Waverly came in and said, ‘Mom! how tall am I?’.  ‘You mean, how much do you weigh?’, I answered, and then told her to step on.  Forty pounds was the verdict and she was very happy about that (I’m not sure why).  ‘Marlow, Marlow’, she yelled excitedly and she took off to look for her sister, ‘we’re forty pounders!’.

I found this in an EveryDay Food magazine and it’s officially ‘Emeril’s’ recipe.  I have a basic crumb topping that I regularly use but I followed this recipe quite closely and it was very tasty.

Cranberry and Apple Crisp

Topping

1/2 c. margarine

2/3 c. flour

2/3 c. oatmeal

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/2 t. cinnamon and nutmeg

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Put all of the ingredients except the walnuts into a small bowl and use a pastry cutter to combine.  Once the mixture has a crumbly texture, add the nuts.

Fruity Goodness

6 firm apples – peeled, cored and diced

1 (12 oz/340 g) bag of cranberries – apparently frozen will work fine, but I used fresh

1/2 c. sugar

3 T. flour

1 t. vanilla

zest of 1 orange

1 T. orange juice

Preheat the oven to 375 and grease a 9 x 13 pan.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ‘Fruity Goodness’ , pour into the baking dish and cover evenly with the ‘Topping’.

Bake about 50 minutes until the top is brown and crispy – because this is ‘crisp’, more baking time is actually better – and let it rest for about 15 minutes before serving.  This is very tasty with vanilla ice cream.  Enjoy.