Homemade Jellied Cranberry Sauce

Hi, I'm back!  I have not forgotten about this blog.  I often write posts in my head, when I can't find the time to sit and type.  I feel as though, now, four months into the school year, I'm getting back on my feet after having kids home all summer and homeschooling one last year.

This recipe for jellied cranberry sauce is so good, it prompted me to FINALLY get back on here!  When I was a kid, a special treat with a meal would consist of a small amount of cranberry sauce or apple sauce.  I remember on Thanksgiving being able to have more than just a small amount of cranberry sauce and it was delicious!

The past two years, I have made my own cranberry sauce (more of a relish style).  This year, I found this recipe for jellied cranberry sauce and I had to share.  I know it's a favorite at my parent's house and people who might not be compelled to try the relish would love this recipe.  It is my goal to eliminate prepackaged and processed foods from my eating.  For the past three weeks, I have not eaten much sugar and little to no grains.  I am not above eating sugar or grains, I just like to make these products myself, so I know what I am putting into my mouth.  I find eating healthy is not a cold turkey and you're done deal, it takes a long time.  My way is do it myself first, then move on to elimination, portion control, etc. If I can't do it myself, I wonder should I be eating it.

At any rate, this sauce came out just like store bought, but with no chemicals.  It's easy and delicious, I hope that I will inspire someone to try to make their own cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving.

Jellied Cranberry Sauce:

2 bags cranberries
2 cups sugar (sugar in the raw is ok too)
juice from 1 orange- then add water so it totals 2 cups liquid
zest from half of the orange

1) Put all ingredients in stockpot and bring to a boil.
2) Let boil for ten minutes, cranberries will start to pop- I gently mashed the berries against the side of the pan.
3) Strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve- press hard on the berries to remove juices and pulp.  I ended up putting the remnants from the sieve into a cheesecloth and squeezing out more liquid afterwards.
4) Place in air tight container in refrigerator for up to one week, or seal in a canning jar by boiling in water for 15-20 minutes.  Jar should be ~1" below water level.
Jar can be stored at room temp for one year if sealed.

Once refrigerated, if you use a jar that is straight (wide mouth)- you should be able to overturn and get the sauce to pop out of the "mold".  I will just scoop mine out, as I did not have a straight style jar.

Source:  Foodie with Family (I halfed her recipe and got 3 pints )

Busy Cooking: Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

First of all, sorry for all of the cooking posts.  Right now, my kitchen is the only room in the house that is fully unpacked and I know where everything is.  Today, I made some major headway in the basement (new art and craft area), but I have to get a few more things done before I can start up all the projects that have been brewing in my head- Halloween crafters beware!

I'd much rather be dealing with this:

Than this:

Now, on to the recipe.  I found this recipe for Pumpkin cinnamon roll pancakes on recipe girl last week when I was searching around for pumpkin recipes.  I love going out to breakfast and one of the major reasons (besides obviously not having to do dishes) is to try a unique dish that you might never have thought to make yourself.  This is a recipe I would dream of seeing at a breakfast joint- pumpkin pancakes turned cinnamon roll- yes, please!

The recipe is a slight bit labor intensive, but well worth it.  All of my kids LOVED them and we will definitely be eating them again!  Try them this weekend, you won't be disappointed.

The recipe yielded 10 medium large pancakes, enough for our family of six.

Cinnamon Filling:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 TBSP cinnamon

Icing:
2 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Pancakes:
2 cups flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 TBSP pumpkin pie spice
1 TBSP brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
2 TBSP oil

1) Put the butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar for the filling in a microwave safe bowl, microwave for 30 seconds, stir until smooth.  Put in a sandwich sized ziploc bag and set aside.

2) Put butter and cream cheese for icing in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave about 30-40 seconds until almost melted, stir together with vanilla and confectioner's sugar.  Put into a sandwich sized ziploc bag and set aside for later.

3) In a medium sized bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and brown sugar and set aside.

4) In large bowl (with spout if you have one), mix together milk, eggs, oil, vinegar, and pumpkin.  Slowly add dry ingredients to the center of the wet ingredients, mix until incorporated, lumps may remain, this is okay.

5) Preheat griddle.  Pour pancake mix onto griddle, it is slightly thick, so spread it out a bit.  Knead the bag with the filling in it slightly to soften it, cut a small part of the lower corner of the ziploc bag and squeeze a spiral of cinnamon filling onto the top of each pancake.  Let pancake cook until bubbles form and pop on the top of the pancake.

6) Very carefully, flip the pancake.  The cinnamon filling will become liquid and ooze out onto the pan, its okay.  Cook on this side for about 3-4 minutes.  Take pancake off pan, put on plate with cinnamon side up.  When it is flipped, it will look like a small indent where the cinnamon filling was, it's okay. Scrape remaining cinnamon off of pan with a paper towel or use a spatula and drain it onto a plate.

7) Squeeze icing bag to soften it up, cut a small hole in the bottom corner, then squeeze it onto the top of the hot pancake, serve and enjoy-there's going to be a pumpkin party in your mouth!

Busy Cooking: Apple Whoopie Pies with Vanilla Bean Filling

OH.MY.GOD!  These are soooo good!  Last weekend, we went apple picking for the first time in five years.  Most of our kids had never been before.  The place we went to was a TOTAL ripoff (the money we saved from not picking in five years was just spent on this one trip).  Don't ever go to an orchard that makes each person buy a bag, even the little little kids.  Needless to say, we had fun, got six bags of apples, McIntosh or not, they're still delicious.

On the drive up to the orchard, I was ripping pages out of the Better Homes and Gardens Fall Baking magazine.  This recipe jumped out at me and I couldn't wait to get home to make it.  I wanted to make it that night, but we got home too late.  Combining lots of cinnamon, homemade applesauce, and vanilla bean filling, these are quite possibly the best whoopie pies I have ever made/eaten!

As I was sampling the first one, I was thinking how a cinnamon icing would be delicious inside too, I pulled down a jar of cinnamon red hots and stuck one inside.  MAGICAL!  My assistant helped me pop one red hot in the center of each pie.  (Note:  you do not need to completely fill the pies with icing, I just pipe around the edges- when you bite, it squeezes in and fills the rest.)

Oven: 350

Whoopie Pies:
2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups Homemade Applesauce (or jarred)
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 3/4 cup flour
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp salt

Vanilla Bean Icing:
3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
3-5 TBSP whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Homemade Applesauce:
1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice
5 large or 10 small apples
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

If you are going to make the homemade applesauce, which I HIGHLY recommend (it's sooo good), do this part first.  Core and peel the apples (you can leave the peel on, it will soften and make your sauce a pinkish color).  Put the cider, sugar, cinnamon, and apples into a dutch oven over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and let simmer 45-60 minutes or until apples are soft (mine were done in 25 minutes).  Put apples and 1-2 ladles of the juice into a blender or food processor and puree.  You can add more juice if it's not the consistency you want.

For the whoopie pies:
1) Preheat the oven, then line your baking sheets with parchment paper.  I would recommend the parchment paper if you have it, the whoopie pies are sticky because of the applesauce, so it makes it very easy to get out of the pan.

2) In a medium bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside

3) Put brown sugar and butter into bowl of mixer and beat on medium high until fluffy and light tan.  Scrape down sides.

4) Add in eggs and vanilla, beat until combined.  Scrape down sides.

5) Add in heavy cream and applesauce, beat until combined.  Scrape down sides.

6) Slowly add in the dry ingredients, scrape down sides, give one final quick mix.

7) Using a cookie scoop or spoon, drop batter onto prepared cookie sheets.  I used a small cookie scoop and only filled it half way, the small whoopie pies I made were about 2 inches wide, they were quicker to cook than the larger ones.  Space them about 2-3 inches apart to account for spreading while baking.

8) Bake until they are a dark golden brown color.  The recommended time in the recipe called for 10-12 minutes, mine were pale colored and raw in the centers.  I ended up cooking for 20-22 minutes, you just kind of have to watch that first batch and adjust for the way your oven cooks.  When you see the dark golden color in my pictures you'll know they're done.

9) Let cool completely on a cooling rack.

10) While they are cooling, mix up the icing.  Put butter in bowl of mixer, beat to soften, then add the confectioner's sugar 1 cup at a time.   Take the vanilla bean, cut it lengthwise, scrape the seeds into the bowl.  Add in the vanilla, and then the milk until your desired consistency.  Make sure to add the milk slowly, because even 1 TBSP too many can result in runny icing.  Be sure to scrape down the bowl periodically too, butter can often cake to the bottom of the bowl.

11) Choose your favorite pastry tip, put it in a decorating bag or ziploc, put in a cup for stability, and fill with the icing.  Swirl the icing around the outside edges of the pies, then add a top. You can also just put a scoop of icing in the center of a whoopie pie and press the top on to spread it out.

Add a red hot if you have them and want to add some zing!

12) Eat them and try to contain yourself, I seriously ate 6 yesterday!

Busy Cooking: Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup

Here I am sitting at Starbucks, using their free Wifi, and I'm typing up a post about how to make your own knock off pumpkin spice lattes.  I couldn't just stop at making the pumpkin spice latte cupcakes, I had to keep going and try to make my own pumpkin spice lattes.  These are the things that keep me busy late at night while I'm up with a sick baby.  I found a few versions when I was searching, but I decided on one from Cooks Like a Champion.

I bought the Starbucks pumpkin spice syrup a few years ago to make my own while living in Japan. Quite honestly, they never tasted like I wanted, they were too sweet.  I made the syrup yesterday and it smelled like potpourri.  Well, I was worried I was going to feel like I was drinking a bag of spiced pinecones when I used this syrup.  The end result was shockingly delicious, enough to make me think once I get internet at my house on Tuesday, I can kick my Starbucks habit and save some money ;)

Pumpkin Spice Syrup:

1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup water
4 cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
3 TBSP pumpkin puree (I might add 4 the next time I make this)

1) In medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar and water until sugar is dissolved.

2) Whisk in remaining ingredients, let simmer 6 minutes (try not to let it boil).  Mine did (oops)

3) Let cool slightly, strain with a fine mesh sieve.  My sieve had a ton of stuff (mainly the undissolved spices)- I actually got worried it was going to detract from the flavor of the syrup and I saved them until the syrup had completely cooled and I could test it.  I wanted to make sure it would taste right before I threw them all away and it was delicious.  So, don't worry if you have 2 or so TBSP of leftovers on the sieve.

4) Put in a container with a lid and store in the refrigerator.  Some settling will occur, so stir each time before using it. If you look at the picture below, you can see a line towards the bottom where the settling began.

Pumpkin spice latte:

1 shot espresso ***
1 1/2 TBSP pumpkin spice syrup
8 oz steamed milk

Put syrup and espresso into cup, stir in milk.  Top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice.  I think the whipped cream and pumpkin pie spice really make the drink go the extra mile.

***If you don't have an espresso maker, a shot of really strong brew can work, or just add the syrup to your favorite hot or cold coffee drink.

Maybe all this coffee will help me unpack faster so I can get my sewing stuff out.

Happy fall!