White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

 Wow, I haven't posted anything here since February. I intend to try and blog more often starting with this recipe for White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies. They weren't perfect but they were very good. I used sweetened Craisins and I thought they were a little too sweet and didn't have enough flavor. I would look for unsweetened cranberries next time. I also think a little orange zest would liven these cookies up. I ate most of these my self and I'd make them again.

Here's the recipe as written at the blog linked above

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries (if using unsweetened dried cranberries increase white sugar to 1/2 cup)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda; stir into the sugar mixture. Mix in the white chocolate chips and cranberries. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. For best results, take them out while they are still doughy. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 18 cookies if using a medium sized scoop

Everything But The Kitchen Sink Carrot cake

My dad loves carrot cake, so that is what he requested for his birthday this year. He always complains that I don't put enough stuff in. 'It would be better with some coconut' or you should have put nuts in it' he says, so I put everything but the kitchen sink in it.

I couldn't find a recipe with everything in it so I made it up using Laurie's Amazing Carrot Cake as a base. It wasn't a bad cake but no one was all that crazy about it either and now my dad swears he never requested coconut in his carrot cake, or pineapple, or nuts, 'I just wanted carrots and raisins' he says. Lies, LIES! I say.

I toasted the pecans, I liked them that way and I don't even like nuts plain and I was eating them out of the pan but Dad thought they tasted weird. He didn't like the pineapple which I've almost always put in carrot cake. Neither of my parents liked the coconut which I didn't even really notice it in the cake but the toasted on top I loved, I was eating that straight from the pan as well. Yum, toasted coconut. Mom complains about any spice but cinnamon. She thought the raisins were too dry, I thought I'd soaked them too long. She complained the frosting was too thin and dry and there wasn't enough of it. It was too thin I had to stick it in the freezer for a few minutes before I could finish decorating it. At least they gave me some feedback, normally I ask what they thin and all I get back was 'it was alright' or 'didn't like it'. We did all agree it was pretty.

Here's the recipe if you wan't to try it, or alter it.

Buttermilk Carrot Cake

1 3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
1 c. buttermilk
4 eggs
1/2 tbs. salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmag
3 c. grated carrots
1. pecans, toasted and chopped
2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. wheat germ
1 c. raisins, soaked in water
1 sm can crushed pineapple, drained
1 c coconut

   Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix the wet ingredients including the carrots, raisins and pineapple. Mix dry ingredients including nuts and coconut. Stir together they wet and dry ingredients until combined.  Pour batter into 2 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans that have been liked with parchment paper. Bake about 35 minutes. Cool and frost.

Cream Cheese Frosting

4 tbs butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tsp lemon juice
pinch salt
3 c. powdered sugar
milk to thin

    Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add lemon juice. Mix in powdered sugar and milk if needed until it reaches frosting consistancy.

It's not a food post but....

There was such a pretty site in the back yard today that I thought it deserved a post of it's own.

There were at least 10 of them roaming through the yard foraging for food. Doesn't the snow make such a pretty backdrop?