christmas concoctions part two: white chocolate and cranberry cakies

so this post may be a little out of season, but we'll roll with it!

life has been a little crazy recently: the post christmas/new year period is always a bit of a blur and then on monday i started my new job. it's going really well so far and the people in the office are really nice and welcoming! but it does mean i have been coming home, having dinner, working out and crashing!! hopefully i'll get back in to the swing of things soon - three weeks off means i am a little rusty!

so this week's post is a hangover from the festive season, but these will taste good all year round - especially now when it's still dark and cold. however, as the title might suggest, these did not go 100% to plan! i'll reveal all as we go along but i have definitely created a new bake!

this was a hummingbird recipe, i think i have made them before (with greater success!). i made them for my christmas party (which went really well).

ingredients ready to go

 the recipe is nice and simple, building up a cookie dough in stages

 

at this point there was a very narrowly avoided disaster! our spices have big letters on the top of the jars and i had (stupidly) reached in and grabbed the first 'C' that i could find.

thankfully i was waiting on my mum to get back from the shop with the flour so i put the 'cinnamon' in a separate bowl ready to mix in, at which point i thought, this looks rather dark! double checking the jar confirmed that i had picked up coriander rather than cinnamon!! i was so close to making, what would probably have been, some of the worst cookies ever!

 a very close call! 

 coriander free dough coming together

 love, love the contrast of the cranberries!

 

pretty hard to resist eating it at this stage!

 so we get to this stage with my cookies all ready to go. the dough felt right, it's normally stiffer and stickier than a cake mix and then it spreads out as it cooks to form the round, flat cookie shape. however, as you can see from the oven picture below, this process did not happen! i'm not entirely sure why this happened, a little googling suggests something to do with the flour or raising agent.

the resulting bake was a new creation (or at least so i am claiming), ladies and gentlemen i present to you: the cakie

 a strange bake the exists somewhere between the realms of cake and cookie - probably most closely related to a rock cake!

of course the important thing (as always) is taste over appearance and these still tasted scrummy - i mean white chocolate and cranberries! obviously the texture was not the gooey, chewy cookie goodness i was hoping for, but it was novel! and they still went down well, so no complaints!

next time i'll give you an option for what to do with the post-christmas selection boxes you probably have lying around!

until then, have a good week!

love,

nen

x

christmas concoctions part one: orange and cranberry bundt cake

hello everyone! i hope you all had fabulous christmases filled with plenty of festive cheer, food, family and presents! i know i certainly had a great time this year, probably aided my the decision made by my siblings and myself to make it a boozy one...

and now i sit listening to my newly acquired george ezra album (bliss) snuggled down in my christmas jumper and slippers ready to share a foodie delight with you all. in this weird limbo between christmas and new year (seriously, what day is it?!) more food might not seem like your highest priority, but that is where you are mistaken.

so take off your christmas leggings, grab your keys and head to the shop for these ingredients. you will not regret this delicious bake and how it will make your house smell!

but before we begin, i must begin with a thank you to twitterer Becky for the great suggestion. i was a bit stuck for what to make as the centerpiece for my christmas party and so turned to trusty twitter for the answer. other suggestions were a croquembouche (definitely on my list to make but i decided too much of a challenge for this busy time) and a giant cupcake. however Becky suggested a bundt cake, an idea i immediately took to as it seemed reasonably simple (which, as you should now by now, is my biggest draw) and slightly different to the usual christmas offerings.

after searching around a while for a recipe that caught my fancy - i wanted christmas flavours and something colourful/interesting - i chose this one from 10th Kitchen. this was in many ways a blessing and a curse, because i now cannot help but feel vastly inferior to Danguole's beautiful blog, especially her breath taking photography. so while i would not want you to leave me behind, do check her post out when you have a chance!

 i do not own one of the beautiful patterned bundt tins (if anyone wants to get me a late christmas present...) but i do have this sturdy ring tin which i have never used before.

 naturally the awkward shape means that lining with baking paper is not an option, so here is my rather messy attempt at greasing and dusting the tin

as you will be able to see from the original post, the recipe calls for buttermilk which i had forgotten to buy. but, no fear, this can easily be made yourself: you just add acid (lemon juice or vinegar) to milk and leave it for a while to begin curdling. so if you do make it yourself just remember to do it in enough time.

curdling magic

the 10th Kitchen recipe calls for lemons but suggests oranges as an alternative. i decided to run with this as i use lemons quite a lot and fancied something different - plus there is something so christmassy about the smell of oranges.

 

 making the orange infused sugar which smells incredible - you could make extra and store it for flavouring other bakes, even drinks

 

 

 

the mixture itself is very easy to bring together. but the best bit has to be adding the cranberries: just look at the contrast of the berries against the pale mixture

 

 

 it's then a case of sitting back as your house fills with a delicious christmassy smell (which was particularly welcome in our house as my sister had burnt popcorn the night before and the smell was still lingering)

 

on the day of the party i made an orange glaze to cover the cake: i used the juice of a whole orange which was FAR too much and just would not thicken up. i think half the juice would be plenty and would stop it running straight off the cake on to the plate! also, because it's christmas, i added a sprinkle of holly leaf and berry decorations.

 

 and here is the finished result! apologies for the poor image quality: i forgot to take photos before the drinks started flowing...

this cake is great: the sponge is denser than a normal sponge, i think this comes from the buttermilk. therefore the zing from the sharp cranberries adds a nice bite in contrast. likewise, the crunchy icing crust compliments the sponge. a lighter alternative to christmas cake.

up next, my less than successful attempt at white chocolate and cranberry cookies.

happy holidays bakers!

love,

nen

x