Chocolate Cranberry Pumpkin Breakfast Bars

If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know that each month I like to play along at the Secret Recipe Club.  The club has over a hundred members, divided into four groups, and each month one member is assigned (in secret) to another member from their group.  That person then selects a recipe (or more) to make, photograph, and prepare a blog post - all in secret.  Then everyone in the group posts their recipe on the same day, and of course the secret is then out.  It's a always a thrill to find out who has posted something from your own blog, and is a great way to meet and discover some new blogs.   If you are a food blogger and interested in joining the Secret Recipe Club, be sure to check out the Join SRC page.

This month I was assigned to  A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures, hosted by Christine, who says she has been in the kitchen since she could see over the counter-top.  Christine's cooking and baking took a healthy twist a few years back when she joined Weight Watchers and lost about 100 pounds - wow, just wow!  Christine loves to cook healthy, low-fat fare for her husband and dog, Missy, and she even appeared on Emeril Live with her Elegant Sweet Potato Skins.

Christine's blog has an easy to use recipe index (something I always like to see on a good blog), which made searching through the hundreds of recipes she has posted very easy, and there were plenty of great looking dishes that appealed to me.  I've bookmarked a few to try at a later date:  Roasted Mushroom & Goat Cheese Alfredo, Portobello Stroganoff, (clearly I have a thing for mushrooms and pasta), and Peanut Ginger Stir-Fry over Soba Noodles.  In the end though, I'm always looking for something for a quick and easy breakfast-on-the-run, and it was Christine's Cranberry Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies that were calling to me.

I'm ashamed to admit that breakfast, along with a cup of coffee, is often something that happens in the car on the way to work these day, so these were ticking all the right boxes for me - packed with enough wholesome goodness to see me through to lunchtime, and very portable.

I did make a couple of very small changes to the original recipe.  Firstly, the recipe calls for canned pumpkin puree.  This is something which is simply not available in my country, so I steamed up some fresh pumpkin and then mashed up the required amount.  Secondly the recipe uses egg substitute, but I just used a regular egg.  Also I didn't have all the spices that Christine used in her recipe, so I just swapped it out for mixed spice.  And lastly, because I am an inherently lazy person, instead of spending time forming the mixture into little balls to make cookies, I just pushed the whole lot into a slice tin and made them into bars.

These bars have great texture, with nice bits of crunch coming through from the toasted quinoa and sunflower seeds, and lovely bursts of flavour from the cranberries.  I don't have a particularly sweet tooth, but did feel I would have liked a little more sweetness, and next time around (yes there will definitely be a next time) I'm going to try adding a bit of honey or maple syrup.  This time around though I added a chocolate topping.  This added just that little something I was looking for, and let's face it who doesn't want to start the day with a little bit of chocolate!  This also enables you to pass off what is really a very healthy little snack as something slightly more indulgent - "put some chocolate on top of it and they'll never know they're eating something healthy" are words to live by!

Chocolate Cranberry Pumpkin Breakfast Bars Recipe
Adapted, just barely, from this recipe
from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures

For the bars:
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1/4 cup apple sauce
2-1/2 teaspoons mixed spice
2 cups jumbo rolled oats
1/2 cup toasted quinoa
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, lightly beaten

For the topping:
100g (3-1/2 oz) cacao butter, gently melted
30g (1 oz) cacao powder
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F), and lightly grease a 32cm x 18cm (13in x 7in) slice tin.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the bars.  Once everything is thoroughly combined, empty everything into the slice tin and press well, evening out the surface.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes (mine took about 18 minutes), until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and set tin on a wire rack.  Leave to cool completely.

Mix topping ingredients together well, pour over the top of the slice, and then set in the fridge until the topping has set.

Slice into bars and enjoy - on the run or at your leisure!

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did, and visit the links below to check out all the other great dishes my Secret Recipe Club friends made.

An InLinkz Link-up

Cranberry Sorbet Recipe

Whenever I buy a new cookbook (and I am totally not going to divulge just how often that might be), I find that there is always a stand-out recipe that really catches my eye - one that screams at me "you have to make this".  It might even be the recipe that convinces me I just have to buy the book.  It will get bookmarked;  every time I take it off the bookshelf I will remind myself that I have to make this recipe;  and yet I will often make dozens of other recipes from the book, but not the very one that had attracted me to the book.  Sound familiar?  Oh, come on, admit it - I just know that I am not the only one who does that.

Anyhow, such was the case when I purchased Tessa Kiros' gorgeous book "Falling Cloudberries", which I told you about last week.  This cranberry sorbet in fact graces the cover of this book, and I knew that I just had to make it, if only because I could not resist the idea of making something of such sublime colour.  And yet, somehow, every time I got the book off the shelf and drooled over the cover photo I ended up making something else.  Until now ... I told you last week that the I Heart Cooking Clubs group is now cooking for the next six months with Tessa Kiros, and since our theme for this week is Pot Luck it seemed like the perfect opportunity to rustle up a little sorbet.

You can use fresh or frozen cranberries for this - I'm guessing for those of you living in the northern hemisphere, you must be getting pretty close to fresh cranberry time, but here in New Zealand I had to settle for frozen ones.  On a whim, I also added a couple of tablespoons of orange flavoured liqueur.

This is an absolute breeze to make, especially with the assistance of an ice cream maker.  The result is very fresh and tart, but I find there is a certain dissonance going on that I really can't get my head around.  Now don't get me wrong - I love tart, bitter, sour flavours, but there is something about the look and colour of this sorbet that makes you think it is going to be really luscious and sweet.  With every spoonful, I find that my eyes are telling my brain that a certain fruity sweetness awaits, and indeed the first notes that my palate registers are sweet, but the finish is decidedly tart, and then my brain just feels all confused.  So, it's not unpleasant - it's actually rather nice - but it is just not what my brain thinks my mouth should be experiencing.  In all, as a dessert, I find this a little unsatisfying - there is just something about the expectation and all that confusion, that makes this not really work for me as a dessert.  However, I'm finding a nice spoonful or two mid-afternoon is an absolute delight, and I imagine it could also work really well as an inter-course palate cleanser.    I would say that this is worth making at least once, if only for the sheer beauty of it, but also I think it's good to surprise your tastebuds every so often with something they aren't expecting.  If you give this a try, I'd love to know what you think.

Cranberry Sorbet Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Tessa Kiros from

Falling Cloudberries

Makes approximately 1.25 litres

Vegan

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

500g (1 lb) cranberries, fresh or frozen

1-1/2 cups (345g) caster sugar

3-1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons orange-flavoured liqueur (optional)

Put the washed cranberries into a pot with the water and sugar.  Stir constantly while you bring up to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the berries are soft.

Puree using an immersion blender, strain, and set aside to cool completely.  Refrigerate overnight.

Next day, add the liqueur (if using), and then process in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

If you would like to get to know Tessa a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

... or check out Falling Cloudberries and many of Tessa's other great titles available from Amazon or Fishpond NZ.

         

I am also sharing this post with Sweet New Zealand, a monthly blog event created by the very lovely Alessandra Zecchini, and which it is my pleasure to be hosting this month. This is an opportunity for all Kiwi bloggers (whether you are living in New Zealand or overseas), as well as for non-Kiwi bloggers living in New Zealand, to connect and share some of those sweet treats from your kitchen.  You can find all the details, along with a linky tool to make it really easy to submit your entry right here.

Cranberry & Pomegranate Bellinis

Well, this is a first for Couscous & Consciousness - I'm kicking off the New Year with a beverage.  You know that I like to cook along with the I Heart Cooking Clubs group, where every six months a different chef is chosen whose recipes we follow for that period.  If you read here regularly then you also know that at present we are cooking with Giada de Laurentiis, and our theme for this week, naturally enough (it being New Year, and all), is "Celebrate".  You know - break out the party food, finger food, nibbles and dips, cocktails, etc.

Well, right now I am on my own - my partner has just gone to India for two months - so somehow making plates of crostini or the likes just didn't seem right.  I mean, really, if you're making crostini you make 24 of them, right? - not just 2!

So then I decided that a special drink to celebrate the start of the new year might be nice.  Now, on the whole, I'm not that keen on cocktails or mixed drinks - I'd really usually prefer just a glass of wine or, on a hot day, a beer.  I'm not that fussed on creamy concoctions and I really don't like sweet drinks of any description either - I much prefer bitter and sour tastes - so I'm more inclined to steer towards a gin and tonic or a Campari and soda, maybe even a Sangria for something fruity but still tart.

Leafing through my newly arrived copy of Giada's Kitchen I stumbled across her recipe for Pomegranate & Cranberry Bellinis.  I love the tartness of cranberry and pomegranate, and I just happened to have half a pomegranate to be used up;  I also had a bottle of Prosecco sitting in the fridge, so I knew this would fit the bill perfectly - serendipity.

Now I did adjust the quantities, because the original recipe is for 8-12 servings and there is only one of me remember.  Also the original recipe called for mixing the Prosecco in with everything else.  I didn't want to do that and end up with a big jug of cocktail that was going to go flat and be wasted.  So this is what I did ...

Cranberry & Pomegranate Bellinis Recipe

Adapted from recipe in Giada's Kitchen

Serves 4-6 people

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup pomegranate juice, chilled

1/2 cup cranberry juice, chilled

bottle of Prosecco (or other sparkling wine)

strips of lemon zest (original recipe called for lime wedges)

pomegranate seeds

mint leaves for garnish (if you have them - I didn't)

Firstly make a simple syrup by combining the water and sugar, in a small pot, over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and keep stirring until all the sugar has dissolved.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.  (Makes about 3/4 cup)

Next, put a good handful of ice into a jug, add the simple syrup, pomegranate juice, and cranberry juice, and stir well.

Put a spoonful of pomegranate seeds into the bottom of a champagne flute, along with a strip of lemon zest.

Half-fill the glass with the mixture of syrup and juices, then fill to the top with the Prosecco.  Enjoy - cin cin!

Now, obviously, even though I basically halved the original recipe here I still had a lot of leftovers.  The beauty of not mixing the Prosecco into the juice mixture was that I used the rest of the bottle to make a jelly with fresh cherries (yes, yes, another day I promise I will share the recipe), and today I enjoyed the remainder of the juice mixture topped up with chilled soda water for a refreshing middle of the day drink.  Keeping the fruit juice base in a jug separate from the Prosecco also means that if you were serving this to a crowd you could offer the option of a non-alcoholic alternative.

In summary, I really enjoyed this drink and would definitely make it again.  It was tart and refreshing, and it reminded me quite a lot of Sangria.  I hope you'll give it a try.

Interested in getting to know Giada a bit better?  Then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all been cooking up ....

.... or check out Giada's Kitchen and many of her other titles, available from Amazon, Book Depository UK and Fishpond NZ

       

I'm also submitting this post to Cookbook Sundays, hosted by the lovely Brenda at Brenda's Canadian Kitchen.  She's worth a visit any day of the week, but why not head over there right now and see who else has dusted off their cookbooks - you'll almost certainly find some great recipes, and maybe you'll discover a new book you'd like to add to your collection.

Cranberry & Almond Cookies with Vanilla Icing

When I was a kid, my parents would organise the best birthday parties - I mean, really, THE BEST!!  Now, I'm going back a bit, and talking about a time long before a children's birthday party would set you back a few thousand dollars and would involve hiring bouncy castles, organising pony rides, bringing in Bobo the Clown or El Greco the Magician to entertain, hiring the best caterers, and unless you sent every child home with a substantial goodie bag then your own child was destined to become a social pariah.

Back in the day, Mum would do the food, which would almost certainly have included the standard party food that graced the table of almost every "Kiwi kid's" birthday table back in the 50's and 60s - fairy bread, pikelets (my mother's were legendary), chocolate-rice-bubble crackles, lamingtons, pizza, club sandwiches, sausage rolls and cheerios (with a bowl of tomato sauce for dunking).  Ok, now I know at least half of you are all of a sudden thinking - "cereal dunked in tomato sauce, gross" - but, here in New Zealand, cheerios are a little sausage, rather like a saveloy, but about half the size.

While Mum was busy in the kitchen, Dad would be in charge of the games.  Of course, there were the usuals - pin the tail on the donkey, blind man's bluff, musical chairs and pass the parcel (this was when the recycled wrapping paper from Christmas, which was always stored in a big box in the hall cupboard, would come in handy).  Then there were the extra games that Dad made up and which every kid in the neighbourhood loved.  There was "pass the grapefruit" - all the kids stood in a long line;  Dad would pick a fresh grapefruit off the tree and tuck it in under the chin of the first kid in the line;  keeping their hands behind their back, each kid had to then try and pass it on to the next kid, tucking it under their chin - if you dropped it you were out;  and so on.  Then the paddling pool was filled with water, and a whole lot of apples floated in the pool;  we all had to try and eat an apple out of the pool with our hands tied behind our backs;  first one to finish their apple was the winner.  Pikelets, dripping with golden syrup were hung from the clothes line, and once again we had to try and eat them with our hands tied behind our backs - turned out very messy with golden syrup in our hair and all over our clothes, but we loved it.  And last of all was the treasure hunt - all year long, Dad would put his spare pennies into a big jar, then on the day of the party he would hide them all around the garden for the hunt - this was everybody's favourite and, since it meant that no kid would go home entirely empty handed (even if they hadn't won a prize), it guaranteed that Geoffrey and I would be spared any possibility of becoming social outcasts.

Usually, round about the time the games were finishing, Grandad would arrive just in time for afternoon tea and would always bring a box of cakes.  If he'd picked up the cakes from the bakery (actually, back then bakeries were called "home cookeries") in Mt Albert, then it would usually be a box full of cream horns;  on the other hand, if he got the cakes from the little bakery in Sandringham (which was owned by a Swiss baker), then there would always be an assortment - my favourite being some little cakes that were like layers of sponge cake sandwiched together with jam and cream and then covered in marzipan (I suppose rather like petits fours - though we certainly didn't give them any such posh title).  I still love marzipan, and that almond flavour never fails to transport me back to my childhood.

The highlight of the whole day of course would be the birthday cake.  Every year, Mum would ask me what kind of cake I wanted, and the answer was always the same - Cherry Cake.  This was really a simple vanilla cake with lots of glace cherries in it, which were one of my favourite things (to this day I have a bit of thing for glace cherries).  It was very simply iced as I recall - there was certainly nothing grand about this cake - it wasn't frosted or decorated to within an inch of its life.  Back then cakes didn't look like they could grace magazine covers, but I loved that cake.  I've never eaten one like it since I was a kid, but I would gladly trade any cake I've ever eaten since for a piece of that cake.

All of that was a very long-winded way of telling you that our theme this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs is "Kid at Heart".  We are continuing to cook with Giada de Laurentiis, and our challenge was to choose a recipe that awakens some of that childhood nostalgia and makes you feel like a kid again.  As soon as I came across this recipe for Dried Cherry and Almond Cookies with Vanilla Icing, the memories began to stir and I knew this was what I wanted to make.  As it turned out I couldn't find any dried cherries, so I used dried cranberries instead - they were a perfect substitution and didn't dampen the memories in any way.  The recipe also called for toasting the almonds before using them, but I actually wasn't paying attention and completely forgot to do that - as it turned out they seem to get toasty enough in the baking of the cookies, and I think pre-toasting them would have been a completely unnecessary step.  Also, I used raw sugar instead of white sugar - I don't actually know what the difference in result would have been if I'd used white sugar, but I was certainly happy with my finished cookies.  They were crispy on the outside, soft (but not chewy) on the inside, packed full of fruit and nuts, and totally delivered on the nostalgia factor.  Also, I halved the quantity of ingredients for the icing, and still had loads left over.  I'm definitely making these again.

Cranberry & Almond Cookies with Vanilla Icing

Adapted from recipe by

Giada de Laurentiis

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

For the cookies:

113g (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar (I used raw)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup dried cranberries (or coarsely chopped dried cherries)

1/2 cup slivered, blanched almonds

For the icing:

1 cup icing (confectioners) sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons water, plus extra as necessary

In a large bowl, using an electric beater (I actually used my food processor), beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla and almond extracts, cinnamon and salt, until everything is light and fluffy.  Then beat in the egg.  Add the flour and beat on low speed (or just pulse if using a food processor) until the flour is only just incorporated.  Stir in the dried cranberries and almonds.

Spread a sheet of plastic wrap out onto your work surface, and then transfer the dough to the plastic wrap.  Shape it into a log, about 4cm (1-1/2 inches) in diameter.  Wrap the log up in the plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours until firm.

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F), and line baking sheets with baking paper.

Remove the cookie dough log from the fridge, cut it into slices about 1.5cm (1/2 inch) thick, and place them on the prepared baking sheets about 3cm (1 inch) apart.  Bake for about 15 minutes until the cookies are golden around the edges and puffed (Note:  Mine turned golden, but definitely didn't "puff" - maybe this was because of the sugar I used - anyway didn't seem to really matter).  Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely before icing.

To make the icing, put the icing sugar in a medium bowl, and whisk in the vanilla extract and water.  You will almost certainly need more water, but just add it a teaspoonful at a time, until you have your icing at a drizzling consistency.  Then, with your cookies set out on a wire rack, drizzle the icing over your cookies using a fork, and then leave the icing to set before serving.

Interested in getting to know Giada a bit better?  Then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all been cooking up ....

.... or check out Giada's Kitchen and many of her other titles, available from Amazon, Book Depository UK and Fishpond NZ

       

I'm also submitting this post to the Hearth and Soul blog hop, a place where you'll find lots of wonderful people who are passionate about great food and cooking from the heart - do go and have a look at what they're all cooking this week.