Cranberry Streusel Pie

Cranberry Streusel Pie

This delicious and easy to create pie has found it's way into my holiday menu and I can tell you for a fact  that it is here to stay...

It's a wonderful quick treat that you can embellish with spices or just leave it plain. It's delightful either way.

I enjoyed this today, Christmas Day, with a generous helping of whipped creme accompanied by a snifter of warm B&B.  How rich is THAT?


INGREDIENTS:


For Filling:

1lb  Fresh Cranberries (about a bag and a half)  Smash them up a bit.

1 Cup  White Raisins (Optional)

¾ Cup  White Granulated Sugar

¼ Cup  All-Purpose Flour

¼ tsp  Ground Cinnamon  (Optional)


For Streusel Crumb Topping:

½ Cup  Packed Light Brown Sugar

½ Cup  Walnuts (smashed)

¼ Cup  All-Purpose Flour

¼ tsp  Ground Nutmeg  (Optional)

1 pinch of Ground Cloves  (Optional)

1 tsp  Shortening

1 recipe pastry for a 9-inch single crust  (Pillsbury Unroll and Bake Crust works well with this.)


Are you fussy about your pie crust?  I tend to be...  So you can create your own favorite pie crust recipe OR if you are really stressed for time, use a store bought one and cheat! That's right... I said it.  CHEAT!

Okay... maybe cheat is a bit extreme... a better word is perhaps EMBELLISH!

Generously butter your pie dish. I use unsalted 100% BUTTER... Do NOT skimp on this. Unroll your pastry and put it in your buttered dish. Then melt and bring to room temperature about a tablespoon of butter, and brush it onto the top of the pastry shell and immediately put it in the refrigerator.

Preheat your oven to 350˚ F (175˚ C)

Put the Fresh Cranberries in a large bowl and smash them up a bit, making sure to leave some whole. I also pierce them with a knife to help them release their juices. If you are using White Raisins, now is the time to add them to the bowl, along with the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Mix them well.

Now add them to the prepared pie crust and place the dish back in the refrigerator.

In a large bowl, place the smashed Walnuts, stir in the Brown Sugar, flour, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, and shortening.

Combine them with a pastry blender until the mixture looks course and crumbly.

Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the prepared sugared cranberries until it is mostly completely covered.

Bake for about 45 minutes using a pie tin or 35 minutes using a glass pie dish. Check that the crust is golden. When it is... the pie is ready!

Set on a wire rack and cool for about an hour and then let rest for 30 minutes before slicing.

Okay...

NOW you can enjoy it!


¡BUEN PROVECHO!

Red Velvet Cheese Cake... (Need I say more?)

In early December, I asked Andrew what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. He immediately said Red Velvet Cake... I was surprised. I was thinking he would have said Cheese Cake. Well this got my wheels a turning... I decided I'd combine recipes to come up with a Red Velvet Cheese Cake... and therefore create a unique cake for his birthday!

The result was an instant hit.

You will need to be organized for this recipe... Measure all of your ingredients and do your little "fussy steps" in advance.

LIST OF INGREDIENTS:

For Crumb Crust Mixture:

1½ Cups  Chocolate Graham Cracker Crumbs

¼ Cup  melted Unsalted Butter

2 Tsp  Granulated Sugar

For Cake Batter Mixture:

3  (8 oz)  packages of Cream Cheese, softened

1½ Cups  Granulated Sugar

4  Large Eggs, lightly beaten

3 Tsp  Unsweetened Cocoa

2  (1 oz)  bottles of Red Food Coloring

1 Cup  Sour Cream

½ Cup  Whole Buttermilk

2 tsp   Pure Mexican Vanilla Extract

1 tsp  Distilled White Vinegar

For Creme Cheese Icing:

1 (8 oz)  package Creme Cheese, softened

1 stick  unsalted Butter, softened

4 Cups  Powdered Sugar

2 tsp  Pure Mexican Vanilla Extract

HOW TO PREPARE CRUMB MIXTURE:

Have a spring-form pan ready and line the bottom with parchment paper. I generously spray butter flavored Crisco in the spring-form pan. I then place the parchment paper on the bottom.

Now that your pan is ready...

Organize the following ingredients:

1½ cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs. I place on sleeve in a gallon size plastic bag and go over it with a rolling pin, the place it in a bowl and finish crumbling with a pestle...

Once it is crumbled enough, add 2 Tsp granulated sugar.

Mix the sugar into the crumb and then add ¼ cup melted butter and toss to make a course crumbly mix.

Put this combination into the prepared spring-form pan.

Spread this out as evenly as possible, and using the bottom of a measuring cup, press the crumb mixture to the bottom and sides of the spring-form pan.

Once this is done, place the spring-form pan in the refrigerator for the crumb mixture to set until ready for the batter...

HOW TO PREPARE CAKE BATTER MIXTURE:

PREPARE AHEAD OF TIME:

Four Large Eggs, slightly beaten...

...in a bowl add Three heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa and the 2 one ounce bottles of Red Food Coloring and mix until it thickens into a paste. Set aside.

NOTE:  This step seems like it is excessive. If you have ever baked a Red Velvet Cake, you may remember how sometimes the Cocoa Powder and Red Food Coloring often leaves specks or mottling along the cake edges making for uneven coloring... This step serves two purposes to prevent this uneven coloring AND also lessens the chance of you getting Red Food Coloring all over yourself and your kitchen...  (This is a great technique that I learned from COOK'S magazine.)

In a large stand mixer beat the 3 eight ounce packages of Cream Cheese and 1½ Cups granulated sugar at medium slow speed for about a minute. A heavy duty hand held electric mixer also works well.

Add Beaten Eggs...

Add the Cocoa and Red Food Coloring Paste Mixture...

While this is mixing, add the one cup of Sour Creme and the ½ cup of Whole Butter Milk.

Now add the 2 tsp Mexican Vanilla Extract and the 1 tsp Distilled White Vinegar.

Combine the batter... push down the sides into the batter until fully combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared crust.

Bake at 325˚ F for 10 minutes; the reduce heat to 300˚ F, and bake for one hour and 15 minutes, or until center is firm. (Sometimes this requires an extra hour) watch carefully and bake in increments of 30 minutes. When center is firm, run knife along the outer edge of the cheese cake. Turn oven off. Let cheese cake stand in oven for 30 minutes. Remove the cheese cake from the oven; then cool in pan on a wire rack 30 minutes. This cake will fall in the center. This is normal. Cover and chill 8 hours.

HOW TO PREPARE CREME CHEESE ICING:

In a large mixer bowl combine the 8 ounce package of Creme Cheese, softened and the unsalted stick of butter, softened until light.

Gradually add the 4 Cups of Powdered Sugar and the 2 tsp of Pure Mexican Vanilla Extract. Beat until very light the almost fluffy. ...about five minutes. (In the photos below you can see the step by step process.)

Set the frosting in the refrigerator and let chill for about ten minutes.

Remove cake from the refrigerator and frost the cake.

Decorate as  you would like (IF you would like...) Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Slice up... and enjoy!

( The decorated Red Velvet Cheese Cake above is on it's way to Atlanta, GA with Andrew as a present from us to his Parents and Sister and Niece! )

¡Buen Provecho!

Caldo de Pollo Mexicano (Mexican Chicken Soup)

I remember this dish vividly... It's a healing soup!

¿Por que? Because my mother used to throw this together whenever a cold so much as THOUGHT about invading our home... My father and I never protested though since we both loved it... and in some neat way, it assured us that Mom loved us. Just the smell of this caldo (soup) made me feel better...

This Blog entry varies from my usual format in that Andrew and I have both been trying to beat a cold for the last two weeks... ENOUGH already...  I finally dashed out and got what I needed to layer this soup.

I have lately been inspired by reading some wonderful books by my favorite author and Chef... Zarela Martinez, and her son Aaron Sanchez has been a culinary judge on a Cook network show called CHOPPED. I have truly enjoyed them both... and am making a Chorizo Cornbread Stuffing/Dressing for Christmas dinner after listening to Chef Sanchez describe it on TV...

SO... while I was out at Kroger shopping, I suddenly decided to change this dish up... I'll include the original ingredients in parenthesis. I have photos of the double dutch oven full of caldo and the serving soup bowls...

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do...

My mother used to sing Amor, Amor, Amor when she was preparing this dish... and strangely enough you really DID feel the love as you ate this!

You will need:

A regular Dutch Oven... AND a Larger (Double) Dutch Oven. A cutting mat for chopping vegetables and a vegetable peeler. A sharp knife, such as a 7" Santuko knife. Kitchen spoons and a large ladle.

INGREDIENTS and COOKING DIRECTIONS:

In a large Dutch Oven, place the following Ingredients:

3 or 4 Large Skinless/Boneless Chicken Breasts.

6 or 8 Chicken Legs and/or Thighs with skin and bones

3 Bay Leaves and a 3" Sprig of Sage

1 tsp Iodized Sea Salt

Add enough water to cover the meat. Bring to a boil on high heat. Lower cooking temperature to a simmer and cover, setting lid askew to vent. Make sure it does not boil over, or you will have a mess on your stove top.

While this cooks, prepare your vegetables in the Double Dutch Oven:

Melt ½ cup unsalted butter plus 1 Tblspn Extra Virgin Olive Oil over very low heat...

1 Small head of Cabbage - Chopped into bite size pieces.

3 medium Sweet Potatoes - Peeled and Diced.  (Mom used - 3 Medium Russet Potatoes)

Kroger cut my work in half with their Recipe Beginnings in the frozen food section...

2 Bags Pearl Onions - (Mom used 1 Large Yellow Onion - Chopped)

2 Bags Krinkle Cut Carrots - (Mom used 4 Carrots peeled and chopped)

4 Ribs of Celery finely Chopped

3 Calabacitas chopped. (Zucchini Squash is a good substitute, but Calabacitas can be found in most Mexican/Latino markets, they impart a wonderful earthy flavor...

ADD each of the vegetables a little at a time tossing after each addition to incorporate.

Add one 24 ounce can of crushed tomatoes and stir into the vegetable mix.

Next, add a 36 ounce carton of Swanson Chicken Stock.

Next: The Spices...

1½ tsp  Cumin

1 tsp  Mexican Oregano

2  Bay Leaves

2 Tsp  Chile Powder

2  Chipotle chiles with adobo sauce finely chopped

3  Cloves of Garlic minced.

Salt and Pepper to taste...

Cover and simmer for about an hour.

During the last 20 minutes of simmering, add 2 Bunches of Fresh Flat Leaf (Italian) Parsley.

The Chicken should be done by this time. Skim any scum from the surface with a sieve and discard.

I transfer a couple of chicken breasts (diced) and legs and thighs to the Double Dutch oven where the veggies have been magically doing their thing. In my home, Andrew is not crazy about dark meat and I'm not crazy about white meat... SO... I dice up the chicken breasts and add them to the large pot along with the chicken stock that is in the Chicken pot to add to the veggies...

Look a little bit closer....

Your Caldo de Pollo Mexicano (Mexican Chicken Soup), should be ready to eat with the following additions:

Per serving bowl...  The juice of half of a large lime; Followed by a nice helping of cilantro leaves...

...don't be afraid to add more lime juice... I LOVE it...

¡BUEN PROVECHO!


Additional notes:

The Sweet Potatoes in this recipe gave this delicious soup a smooth flavor. Using the Pearl Onions also took the bite that regular onions give it. The addition of the chipotle peppers gave this a sweet smokey flavor that to me was very elegant..

I hope you enjoy this...

By the  way - I KNOW this will keep our colds at bay!

These pans have proven useful to me...

I'll be posting silly posts, like this one every once in a while.  Sometimes I find an interesting item that can help you in the kitchen, and then I will simply share this information with you...

About two months ago, I was making my usual trek through one of our department stores. I'd been wanting to replace my non-stick pans because the ones I was using had seen MUCH better days... when I found some pans that caught my eye...

T-fal Soft Handles - Non-stick inside and out!

Before I go on, let me say that I'm not getting anything for talking about this product. Just sharing my experience with them so far...

I like that they are non-stick AND that they are scratch resistant! You can use metal utensils in them and they won't scratch... (I've tried). When I try something new, I have this "yeah, right!" attitude! They also have a non-stick exterior which make them a breeze to clean... even better that they are dishwasher safe...

   


Above is the set I purchased. Notice the RED SPOT in the center.




   

The RED SPOT is called the THERMO-SPOT. When the pattern has almost completely disappeared (on right side), you pan is perfectly pre-heated and ready for use! A pre-heated pan will seal in the flavor of your food. I have found this feature VERY useful.




This tiny four inch pan is perfect for roasting spices. Even though it IS a T-fal product, it is not part of the Soft Handles line. I just thought I would show it off!

 

I have been using this set for the last couple of months and am very pleased with their performance. If you see it and are in need of replacing your non-stick cookware, I can tell you that this line has worked very well for me. I am not endorsing or recommending that you buy this, but simply letting you know that this is out there and that it has worked for me and may be worth a "look-see."
Always use any products that you purchase as directed by the manufacturer.

¡Buen Provecho!

(...if want to research more on this product, you can find more information at www.t-falusa.com  or  www.cookonthepot.com)