One Bowl Cranberry-White Chocolate Orange Cookies

I got a precious new kitten; his name is Francis.

It broke my heart taking him away from his family, so I knew I had to make him feel extra special when he came home with me…

…which is why I made him a house!!

To find instructions on how to make the house, click here.

I also made him some milk and cookies… but he only liked the milk. 😉
These cookies are amazing though!! Seriously good.  Maybe even my new favorite… the different flavors all go together so well.  I was looking for a “one bowl” recipe and these are what I found.  So they’re obviously easy, since they’re one bowl, but the taste is out of this world!!

One Bowl Cranberry-White Chocolate Orange Cookies
King Arthur Flour
Yield: about 4 1/2 dozen cookies.

1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very soft
1 cup (7 1/2 ounces) packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon orange oil (4 to 5 drops) (can substitute with almond!)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 3/4 cups (11 5/8 ounces) All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups (5 1/4 ounces) dried cranberries
1 cup (3 3/4 ounces) chopped pecans or walnuts

Place the very soft butter in a medium-large mixing bowl. Add the sugars, salt, vanilla, and orange oil, and stir well. Add the egg and stir until well blended. Add the baking soda and flour, mixing until blended. Stir in the chips, cranberries, and nuts.

Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough onto light-colored baking sheets. Flatten into disks, using gentle pressure from your fingers.

Bake the cookies in a preheated 375°F oven for 10-12 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are lightly browned; the tops shouldn’t brown, they should still be slightly gooey. Remove the cookies from the oven, let them rest on the pan for 5 minutes, then slide them onto a rack to cool completely. 

Vanilla Cranberry Walnut Granola

This morning:

I wanted granola.

I looked in the cabinet and we didn’t have any granola.

I looked out the front door…

…and realized, I wouldn’t be going to the store anytime soon.  2012 is comin’, you guys.  I feel it.  Just kidding, I don’t believe that… that much.

I made granola.

I ate granola.

I stocked our cabinet with an essential breakfast cereal.

And now, I’m blogging and watching The Office.

And enjoying my snow day.

What are you guys doing on your snow day???

Vanilla Cranberry Walnut Granola

This is a very healthy granola. You can omit the wheat germ, flax seed, and psyllium fiber if you want, I just added it for the extra health benefits.

Ingredients

3 cups oats

1 tablespoon wheat germ

1 tablespoon flax seed

1/4 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup nut of choice

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup oil

1/8 cup egg whites, or 1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon psyllium fiber

1 teaspoon oil

1 tablespoon honey

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place a parchment paper lined baking sheet in the oven while preparing granola.

Mix together the first list of ingredients in a mixing bowl.

In a small bowl, mix together second list of ingredients.

Take out baking sheet and spread out the first mixture on the sheet.

Crumble the second mixture on top.

Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the freezer if you want granola to stay crunchy.

Vanilla Cranberry Walnut Granola

This morning:

I wanted granola.

I looked in the cabinet and we didn’t have any granola.

I looked out the front door…

…and realized, I wouldn’t be going to the store anytime soon.  2012 is comin’, you guys.  I feel it.  Just kidding, I don’t believe that… that much.

I made granola.

I ate granola.

I stocked our cabinet with an essential breakfast cereal.

And now, I’m blogging and watching The Office.

And enjoying my snow day.

What are you guys doing on your snow day???

Vanilla Cranberry Walnut Granola

This is a very healthy granola. You can omit the wheat germ, flax seed, and psyllium fiber if you want, I just added it for the extra health benefits.

Ingredients

3 cups oats

1 tablespoon wheat germ

1 tablespoon flax seed

1/4 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup nut of choice

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup oil

1/8 cup egg whites, or 1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon psyllium fiber

1 teaspoon oil

1 tablespoon honey

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place a parchment paper lined baking sheet in the oven while preparing granola.

Mix together the first list of ingredients in a mixing bowl.

In a small bowl, mix together second list of ingredients.

Take out baking sheet and spread out the first mixture on the sheet.

Crumble the second mixture on top.

Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the freezer if you want granola to stay crunchy.

Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

 
I know, I know, two cranberry recipes in a row and it’s not even Thanksgiving, let alone November.

Don’t judge me.

Honestly, I don’t like that phrase.  I looked it up to see who started saying it because I’m weird and I like to know where everything started.  I couldn’t find it, but I did find this site: Don’t Judge Me, Judger.

It’s one of those guilty pleasure sites like F My Life and Text From Last Night that everyone thinks is really stupid but can’t help but read anyway.  So yeah, you should read it.

You know what else you should do?  You should make this dip!  It’s a cream cheese dip… is anything better than cream cheese dips?

Sorry about the short post, I think I’m having blogger’s block.  😦

 Instead of putting mine in the oven, I added all of my ingredients in a pot, excluding the nuts and jam, on the stove and added a little bit of orange juice until the cranberries popped.

 Then I chopped the nuts and added them.

 And then I added strawberry jam instead of apricot.

 And poured it over the cream cheese.  Yum!!

Cranberry Dip
All Recipes

I followed this recipe very loosely, and it still turned out wonderfully.

Ingredients

• 1 (12 ounce) package fresh cranberries
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup apricot jam
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
2. Combine cranberries with sugar in a 2 quart baking dish with a lid, stirring well to coat all the berries. Bake in the preheated oven, covered, for about 30 minutes, until the cranberries pop and release their liquid.
3. Remove from oven and stir in the apricot jam and pecans. Refrigerate overnight to blend the flavors. To serve, allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature, and pour dip over the block of cream cheese on a serving dish. Serve with buttery round crackers or small pretzels.

Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

 
I know, I know, two cranberry recipes in a row and it’s not even Thanksgiving, let alone November.

Don’t judge me.

Honestly, I don’t like that phrase.  I looked it up to see who started saying it because I’m weird and I like to know where everything started.  I couldn’t find it, but I did find this site: Don’t Judge Me, Judger.

It’s one of those guilty pleasure sites like F My Life and Text From Last Night that everyone thinks is really stupid but can’t help but read anyway.  So yeah, you should read it.

You know what else you should do?  You should make this dip!  It’s a cream cheese dip… is anything better than cream cheese dips?

Sorry about the short post, I think I’m having blogger’s block.  😦

 Instead of putting mine in the oven, I added all of my ingredients in a pot, excluding the nuts and jam, on the stove and added a little bit of orange juice until the cranberries popped.

 Then I chopped the nuts and added them.

 And then I added strawberry jam instead of apricot.

 And poured it over the cream cheese.  Yum!!

Cranberry Dip
All Recipes

I followed this recipe very loosely, and it still turned out wonderfully.

Ingredients

• 1 (12 ounce) package fresh cranberries
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup apricot jam
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
2. Combine cranberries with sugar in a 2 quart baking dish with a lid, stirring well to coat all the berries. Bake in the preheated oven, covered, for about 30 minutes, until the cranberries pop and release their liquid.
3. Remove from oven and stir in the apricot jam and pecans. Refrigerate overnight to blend the flavors. To serve, allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature, and pour dip over the block of cream cheese on a serving dish. Serve with buttery round crackers or small pretzels.

Cranberry Walnut Bread

I hope that everyone had a fun and safe New Year’s Eve!

Does anyone have any resolutions?  I kind of feel like they’re pointless and hard to follow through with, so I don’t normally make any.  My friend had a really good one last year.  It was to take a random picture every day and then at the end of each month, frame your favorite one, and then by the end of the year, you’ll have a 12-picture collage of your favorite shots that year.  Unfortunately, she only made it through January last year.  Haha!  Mine should be to stay off of Facebook.  I hate you Mark Zuckerberg, for taking over my life.

Anyway, back to this bread.

I found some cranberries in my fridge that I had intended on using for some festive Thanksgiving baking the other day and decided that that probably wasn’t going to happen, considering Thanksgiving was over quite a while ago.  So I made this bread, and some dip, too… but I’ll share that next.  I don’t really like cranberries much and I’ve never used them to bake before, but this bread was a good decision.

Everyone else thought so, too…which is why I didn’t have time to take a better picture of it.  I hope it doesn’t look TOO unappealing, because it’s not at all!

 Mix the dry ingredients.

 Mix in the oil and eggs.

 Aren’t they pretty?

 Chop up the cranberries and nuts.

 Pour it in a loaf pan.

Bake until it looks like this.

Cranberry Walnut Bread
Ocean Spray

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 tablespoons oil
1 egg, well beaten
1 1/2 cups Ocean Spray® Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped nuts

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in orange juice, orange peel, oil and egg. Mix until well blended. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Spread evenly in loaf pan.

Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely. Wrap and store overnight. Makes 1 loaf (16 slices).

PER SERVING (1 slice): Cal. 211, Fat Cal. 54, Protein 3grams, Carb. 37grams, Fat 6grams, Chol. 18mg., Sodium 313mg.

Cranberry Walnut Bread

I hope that everyone had a fun and safe New Year’s Eve!

Does anyone have any resolutions?  I kind of feel like they’re pointless and hard to follow through with, so I don’t normally make any.  My friend had a really good one last year.  It was to take a random picture every day and then at the end of each month, frame your favorite one, and then by the end of the year, you’ll have a 12-picture collage of your favorite shots that year.  Unfortunately, she only made it through January last year.  Haha!  Mine should be to stay off of Facebook.  I hate you Mark Zuckerberg, for taking over my life.

Anyway, back to this bread.

I found some cranberries in my fridge that I had intended on using for some festive Thanksgiving baking the other day and decided that that probably wasn’t going to happen, considering Thanksgiving was over quite a while ago.  So I made this bread, and some dip, too… but I’ll share that next.  I don’t really like cranberries much and I’ve never used them to bake before, but this bread was a good decision.

Everyone else thought so, too…which is why I didn’t have time to take a better picture of it.  I hope it doesn’t look TOO unappealing, because it’s not at all!

 Mix the dry ingredients.

 Mix in the oil and eggs.

 Aren’t they pretty?

 Chop up the cranberries and nuts.

 Pour it in a loaf pan.

Bake until it looks like this.

Cranberry Walnut Bread
Ocean Spray

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 tablespoons oil
1 egg, well beaten
1 1/2 cups Ocean Spray® Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped nuts

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in orange juice, orange peel, oil and egg. Mix until well blended. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Spread evenly in loaf pan.

Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely. Wrap and store overnight. Makes 1 loaf (16 slices).

PER SERVING (1 slice): Cal. 211, Fat Cal. 54, Protein 3grams, Carb. 37grams, Fat 6grams, Chol. 18mg., Sodium 313mg.