Cranberry Nut Muffins

Cranberry Nut Muffins

Merry Christmas and a very Happy Healthy Holy New Year! This is my first blog post for 2012 and I am still in the Christmas spirit! Today is still Christmas on some of your calendars and I still have my tree up! Hubs gave me a new laptop as my big Christmas gift, he is just the most thoughtful wonderful person! Now I can blog anywhere in the world! I have one of those older brains, which takes me a while to figure out these new electronics, so please bear with me.This is why I haven't blogged in weeks, but I am excited to learn and hoping it will make my life easier! This is one of my favorite recipes for the holidays or anytime. I really love the taste of cranberries, tart and crisp the way the cranberry bursts in my mouth. It has such a clean healthful taste as it lingers on, fruity-fresh. I have made this recipe before as a bread and wanted to experiment as to how they would turn out as a muffin.My kids absolutely adore muffins, I had to shoo my daughter away just to do a photo shoot, before the muffins were all gobbled up.

I use the whole cranberries, not chopped so that the muffins are bursting with cranberry flavor. Please make sure the cranberries are completely cooled so that you don't have 3rd degree burns in your mouth like me...

I love how the cranberry muffins look with Lily's Roses!

Oh great! The Barbie muffin paper got in the shot- so professional- Right??

It's Christmas by the bay and unseasonably warm, but there are no complaints here from "The L. A. Girl"! I can get used to this Maine living...last I heard at the local donut shop is that we are going to be making up for it and it will be a "Wicked Snowy Wintah!!" OH-OH.... the word wicked and wintah is really scaring me....but wait...I can bake all day if I am snowed in..yippee!!



My favorite tugs.

I love our harbor, I am so lucky that I can walk here everyday!! I have counted my blessings for 2011 and am very excited for 2012. Happy New Year to you. Love, Nettie

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup orange or clementine juice
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 tablespoons Vegetable oil

1 egg, well beaten
1 1/2 cups Fresh or Frozen Cranberries ( I use whole cranberries)
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Prepare muffin tins by placing muffin papers inside.If you are doing a photo shoot, leave the Barbie papers for personal use.

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in orange juice, orange peel, oil and egg. Mix until well blended. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Use an ice cream scooper and scoop batter into muffin papers.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Makes 18- 24 muffins, depending on size.  This recipe has been linked up with my favorite fabulous blogs!



Caramel Nut Revel Bars ( The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap)

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

I signed up for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap with cookieswap@loveandoliveoil.com with Lindsay and Julie. It is a secret Santa style swap- so I am not supposed to contact my matches until after the swap! Lindsay and Julie told me not to ruin the surprise. I am terrible with secrets, this is killing me! I want to call my swap matches and ask- Did you get the cookie bars? Did they arrive in bars and not crumbs? Do you like them? Do you really ? Huh? Huh? Oh yeah, this is torture! So far, I have received one dozen cookies from my secret Santa and they were oh- so- yummy! I baked over three dozen bars and shipped one dozen cookies to three different people! I can't wait for the responses!

These bars are so dreamy and delicious, your kids will be fighting over them, Amy's kids were- LOL!

All of my favorite cookie bar ingredients, Oatmeal crust, caramel, chocolate, roasted almond slivers, marshmallows.....YES!!

This is what the picture looks like in the magazine- oh please let my cookie bars turn out like these!

It came out better than the photo!

Sunshine on my cookie bars, makes me happy, sunshine in my eyes....la dee da......Caramel Nut Revel Bars for The Cookie Swap

•     1    cup butter or margarine
•     2    cups packed brown sugar
•     2    eggs
•     2    teaspoons vanilla
•     2 1/2    cups all-purpose flour
•     1    teaspoon baking soda
•     3    cups quick-cooking rolled oats ( I used regular oats)
•     1    14 ounce can (1-1/4 cups) sweetened condensed milk
•     1    12 ounce package (2 cups) semisweet chocolate pieces
•     1    cup chopped walnuts ( I used roasted almond slivers)
•     2    teaspoons vanilla

Directions

1. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the butter or margarine. In a large mixing bowl beat the remaining butter or margarine with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar; beat until well mixed. Beat in eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla. In another large bowl stir together flour and baking soda; stir in oats. Gradually stir dry mixture into beaten mixture. Set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan combine the reserved butter or margarine, the sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate pieces. Cook over low heat until chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in walnuts and the 2 teaspoons vanilla.

3. Press two-thirds (about 3-1/3 cups) of the oat mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Spread chocolate mixture over the oat mixture. Using your fingers, dot remaining oat mixture over the chocolate.

4. Bake in a 350 degree F oven about 25 minutes or until top is lightly browned (chocolate mixture will still look moist). Cool on a wire rack. Cut into 2x1-inch bars. Makes about 75 bars.

    Make Ahead Tip Line the baking pan with foil, extending the foil over edges of pan. Prepare and bake bars in foil-lined pan as above. Cool; lift bars out of pan on the foil. Place uncut bars in freezer bag or container. Seal, label, date, and freeze up to 1 month. Thaw bars at room temperature about 15 minutes. Once thawed, cut into bars.

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens
Christmas Cookies Magazine.

These are the adorable boxes that I used for the cookie swap!

Santa's elf helping me with packaging and wrapping the cookie bars!

My Christmas Wreath that I made with help from Sweet Annie Designs.

One of the Christmas wreaths from Church.

My beautiful bouquets from my loving friends and paper whites about to pop! Merry Christmas 2011! Love, Nettie This post has been linked up to some of my favorite blogs!!

 

Banana Chocolate Nut Bread

Banana Chocolate Nut Bread
You say Bananas- I say Bananas. Why is it? Sometimes the bananas get scarfed up, sometimes they are left to ripen? Well today I had very ripe bananas and on those days when there is a cool fall-ish summer breeze.... I hear the sound of the Banana fairies giggling for me to make banana bread with melting gooey chocolate, it is almost like a cake, but it is called bread. It's delicious cake bread- not to be confused with my favorite wine and much cheaper....

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas ( 3 large )
• 3/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1/2 cup Ghiradelli 60% semisweet chocolate bar broken up
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 325 F.
2. Grease loaf pan, with shortening.
3. Mix sugar, bananas, oil and eggs with a wooden spoon. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pan.
4. Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean, 60- 70 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes, then loosen sides of loaf pan and remove from pan. Let cool completely before slicing.
5. Makes 1 loaf.

Adapted from the Alpha Bakery, a Children's Cookbook

This post has been linked up to these fabulous blogs!