Bake-a-thon 2011: Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies

I love cranberries.  I love chocolate.  So what could be better than pairing the two together?  It also helped that I had plenty of oatmeal that needed using, and a bag of Craisins to throw in (all in line with my goal of using ingredients I already have).

I hade very high hopes for this recipe. I mean I got it straight from Ocean Spray (and who knows more about Cranberries?).  Sadly, they did not turn out as I had expected.

The flavour of the cookie itself is very dry and bland (not enough sugar for my taste).  The cookie dough did not flatten out at all, so the cookies themselves are fairly dry hard balls of dough.  The cranberries and white chocolate help with the flavour, but not enough to make up for the lackluster dough.

Personally, I like the concept and am willing to give it another try, but probably using an oatmeal cookie recipe I know and love, and just adding the white chocolate and Craisins.

Well, despite the failure, here is the recipe.

OATMEAL CRANBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES 

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 6-ounce package Ocean Spray® Craisins® Original Dried Cranberries
2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 dozen cookies.


Since I was less than impressed with the cookie dough from Ocean Spray's recipe, I would definitely use another one.  The cookies need to be a little softer, and sweeter (plus a splash of vanilla or almond flavouring couldn't hurt).  Here is the alternative oatmeal cookie recipe that I would use, but using any normal oatmeal cookie recipe you like is perfectly fine.

Soft Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups quick cooking oats

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, cream together white sugar, butter, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla.
2. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda,and salt. Stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. If you are using nuts or raisins, mix into dough, combining well. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll the dough into balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approx. 36-60 cookies, depending on how large or small you make them.


Here are some other tips:

1. You can also consider adding in some chopped walnuts or almonds.  Besides an additional flavour, the nuts will add a little crunch.
2. Craisins come in many flavours.  I personally used the Cherry flavoured Craisins, but you can also get Plain, Orange, Pomegranate, and Blueberry.
3. If you aren't in to white chocolate, milk or semi-sweet chocolate are reasonable alternatives.  This will change the overall flavour of the cookie, but both are quite compatible with the cranberries.

Bake-a-thon 2011: Eggnog Bundt Cake

In keeping with my desire to try and find recipes that use ingredients I already have, and need to make use of, I chose this Eggnog Bundt Cake recipe from The Sisters Cafe.  It is the end of the eggnog season here, and I had some left that just needed to go, and who could resist eggnog and cake together?

It was surprisingly easy and quick to make.  I have to say though, I was highly underwhelmed by the eggnog flavour.  In reality it just tasted like a yellow cake, with perhaps just a hint (a very very mild hint) of rum.  That is not to say that it wasn't good, it was tasty, just not in the eggnoggy way I was hoping.  The kids loved it, and came back for seconds.

It was great with the caramel sauce, and I added a little whipped cream to "jazz" it up.  All in all an enjoyable dessert, but simply a disappointment in the eggnog department.

Eggnog Bundt Cake
from The Sisters Cafe

Eggnog Bundt Cake

1 yellow cake mix (preferably with pudding in the mix)
3 T. flour
2 c. eggnog
¼ c. butter, softened
2 eggs, slightly beaten
¼ tsp. rum extract*
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Beat until smooth and creamy. Pour into greased** bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 35-45 minutes. Dust lightly with powdered sugar for presentation.

Caramel sauce:
½ lb brown sugar (~1 1/8 c.)
½ lb butter
½ lb powdered sugar (~2 cups)
½ T. cinnamon
½ qt. rich vanilla ice cream

Melt together over medium heat. Pour warm over individual servings immediately before serving.

* I used imitation rum, as this was the only option available at our local commissary.

** I know not everyone enjoys this, but I highly recommend that you grease (usually with shortening or butter) and flour your bundt pan.  I think this makes it much easier to get out  of the pan in one piece and gives you a much better presentation.

Bake-a-thon 2011: Double Chocolate Banana Bread

My first recipe this year was Double Chocolate Banana Bread.  I figured the easy way to start was with something that only require ingredients that I already had on hand (and some, like the bananas, that needed to be used).  I mean, I love banana bread and I love chocolate, so what could be better?

I found a great recipe for Double Chocolate Banana Bread at an awesome recipe site called The Sisters Cafe.

I made some modifications (hey, what fun is it if you can't put your own touch on it), and the bread turned out DELICIOUS!  My kids are enjoying it for the dessert in their packed school lunches, and I get to have some at home while I relax!

Double Chocolate Banana Bread
From The Sisters Cafe

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups mashed bananas (about 3)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 350. Spray bottom of 8x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

2. Beat sugar, eggs, and oil in large bowl at medium speed until combined. Beat in banana and vanilla at low speed. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; beat into banana mixture at low speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

3 Spoon batter into pan. Bake 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.

 

** My Modifications:

1. Instead of the larger loaf, I made mini loaves.  The recipe can make 3 of them.  You'll need to adjust baking time as the mass is obviously smaller.  Instead of 60-70 minutes at 350 degrees, you'll only need 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees.  This is a great size for snacking, and for little slices to put in your kid's lunch for school.  You can even wrap up the mini loaves for gifts or for bake sales!

2.  I used semi-sweet baking cocoa (from Hershey's) and not the dutch process cocoa Melanie recommends.  Hey, I have to use what is available for sale out here!

3.  I opted for mini-chocolate chips (from Nestle) to go with my mini-loaves. I figured that would give a more even spread of the chips.

Bake-a-thon 2011: The Beginning

So here's the deal....ages ago in my life before kids (MLBK), I used to love to bake.  I've done it since I was a kid, which by no means indicates that I am any good at it.  I decided this year that since I've let my passions and hobbies fall by the wayside since the kidlets came along, that I needed to have a project to reignite the flame.

My project for this year is "Bake-a-thon 2011".  The goal: bake one new recipe (meaning one I've never made before) each week, for a total of 52 new recipes this year.  The rules: recipes have to be ones I've never made before, they can't just be mixes (so just making a Betty Crocker cake doesn't count), but they can contain mixes (so a recipe that calls for a Betty Crocker cake mix as an ingredient still counts).

I plan on sharing the recipes here, along with my own commentary on the results.  If I've found the recipe from a source other than my own box, I'll give you a link to the original page (if one exists).

So Happy Baking!