White Chocolate Cranberry Shortbread

 Hello everyone! Ready for the holidays?  I have been baking up a storm lately between the cookies and pretzels its been a constant sugar high.  I found this recipe online a few years ago and it was an instant classic.  It has a definite holiday taste with the dried cranberries and the white chocolate chips. The ground pistachios on top add a nice crunch and nuttiness as well!

Ingredients: 

½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

¼ cup granulated white sugar

½ teaspoon pure vanilla

¾ cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup fine yellow or white cornmeal

1 tbsp. rice flour or cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup dried cranberries or cherries

¼ cup white chocolate chips

1/3 cup finely ground pistachio nuts

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and place the oven rack in the center of the over. Have a ready 8 inch tart pan with removable bottom.

In the bowl of your electric mixer or by hand, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl whisk together the all purpose flour, cornmeal, rice flour, and salt.  Add this mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and beat just until incorporated. Fold in the dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.

Press the shortbread dough evenly into the tart pan. Use a sharp knife to score the shortbread into 12 even wedges.  Sprinkle the top of the shortbread with finely ground pistachio nuts.

Place in the preheated oven and bake until the shortbread is a nice biscuit color, about 40-50 minutes.  Transfer shortbread to a wire rack to cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from tart pan. Place the shortbread round on a cutting board and cut into 12 wedges.  Cool completely on wire rack.

Enjoy and happy Holidays :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes (With Cream Cheese Frosting)

I made these from a cake recipe so they produce a lot of cupcakes (around 30), so they were perfect for bringing over the family's for Thanksgiving!  The cream cheese frosting is perfect with it, even for those who don't usually like super sweet frosting. These also make a very festive dessert for Christmas celebrations due to the really nice color the recipe produces. 

If you want to make a regular cake, the originally recipe uses two 8x2 inch round pans.

For the cake:

Ingredients:

½ cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 oz. red food coloring

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 2 ¼ cups cake flour)

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

1 tablespoon white vinegar

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8 inch round baking pans with cake release or pan spray. In large mixer bowl, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs and food color. Blend well. Stir together flour, cocoa, and salt.  Add alternatively with buttermilk to batter mixture, beating until blended. Blend in baking soda.  Add vinegar and fold in carefully.  Pour batter into prepared pans.  Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely.

For the Frosting:

Ingredients:

½ cup butter

1 8 oz. pkg. of cream cheese

2 tsp. vanilla

4-6 cups confectioner’s sugar

         In a mixer, cream together butter and cream cheese.  Add vanilla. Add 4-6 cups powdered sugar depending on desired consistency. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

    This is the fudge me and my mother make every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It is absolutely amazing and creamy and rich.  Its always a hit for anywhere you go.  Try to make it on a day when there is very little rain/snow. We always use Jif traditional creamy peanut butter because it just makes it really creamy and sweet.  You can use your favorite, whatever that may be, but I suggest you use one that isn't a natural or organic because they tend to separate and I'm not sure it would turn out the same.

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

¾ cup butter or margarine

2/3 cup evaporated milk

6 oz. pkg. chocolate chips.

2 cups Marshmallow fluff

1 tsp. vanilla

½ cup peanut butter

 Directions:

                Combine 1 ½ cup sugar, 6 Tbsp. butter, and 1/3 cup evap. Milk in a heavy 1 ½ quart saucepan.  Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly.  Continue boiling 4 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.   Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate pieces until melted.  Add 1 cup marshmallow and ½ tsp. vanilla.  Beat until well blended.  Pour into greased 13x9 pan. Repeat with remaining ingredients, substituting peanut butter for the chocolate.  Spread over chocolate layer. Cool at room temp. Cut into squares. Makes 3 lbs. 

I hope you all enjoy this recipe and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  More holiday recipes to come I hope :)