Simple Savory & Satisfying: orange juice

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Cranberry Sauce Three Ways: Traditional, Orange Zest, and Brandied

I may have mentioned once or twice how cranberry crazed I've been this winter season. Well, I'm not the only one. For Thanksgiving we went to my parents' house and my mom made two different types of cranberry sauces--orange (at my prompting, I love the cranberry-orange combination) and brandied. Both were phenomenal and of course I had to ask for the recipes. Then for Christmas I made traditional cranberry sauce with the recipe found on the back of the bag of fresh cranberries.

Traditional Cranberry Sauce

Traditional Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients:
12-ounce bag fresh cranberries, rinsed
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup cold water

Directions:
In a medium sauce pan, bring water and sugar to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Once the sugar has dissolved, add cranberries. Bring the mixture back to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until sauce has thicken and the majority of cranberries have popped, approximately 10 minutes.

Serve warm or cold.

Orange Zest Cranberry Sauce

Orange Zest Cranberry Sauce
Recipe from here.
Ingredients:
1 12-ounce bag of cranberries, rinsed
1/4 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed is best)
Zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup water

Directions:
Combine orange juice, orange zest, sugar, and water in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once the sugar has dissolved, add cranberries and bring mixture back to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until sauce thickens and most of the cranberries pop, about 10 minutes.

Serve warm or chilled.

Brandied cranberry sauce

Brandy Cranberry Sauce
Recipe from here.

Ingredients:
4 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed
2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup brandy

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Pour cranberries into a 13x9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the berries evenly with the sugar. Bake for 1 hours, stirring the berries halfway through.

Add brandy to the baking dish and stir until well combined. Serve warm or chilled.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Cranberry Recipes:
Chocolate Cover Cranberries
Cranberry Brownies
Sugared Cranberries

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Honey Cake

Honey cakes are an acient dessert that can be traced back to Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It seems every culture has it's own verison: Arabs, Russians, Germans, even Brazilians. The Jews eat honey cakes for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The Celts left the cakes as an offering to the Faery for Beltane. I've had only one honey cake in my life and it was very disappointing. Dry and not very sweet. But if I had known honey cakes could taste like this, I would have started making them years ago. The outside of the cake is both crisp and chewy while the inside is oh so moist.

Eric came home from work and asked me what I was baking because it smelled divine. Then he kept asking if it was done yet. After he tried a piece, he must have told me how amazing the cake was at least three times.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup honey whiskey
3/4 cup warm water

Directions:
Preheat oven at 350.

Generously grease two 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray. (I actually halved the recipe--yes, I put one and a half eggs in it--and used one 9-inch cake pan).

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and all spice. Next, make a well in the center of the bowl and pour in oil, honey, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, orange juice, whiskey, and water.

With your electric mixer on low, blend the ingredients together until well combined. Pour the batter into your pans. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Garnish the cake with powdered sugar, if so desired. Eric desired, so to make it Christmasy, I made a paper snowflake (flashback to my childhood) and used it for a stencil when dusting the cake with sugar.