Tag Archives: cranberries

Cranberry Orange Butter Cookies

Desserts, Fruits, Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,

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One day leading up to the holidays I got into a baking mood and decided to make variations of my basic butter cookie recipe. I developed two cookies that were pretty tasty and definitely blog worthy. The first cookie was a Cranberry Orange Butter Cookie with pecans. I really liked the mix of cranberry and orange which gave the cookie both a sweet and slightly tangy taste.  The second is an Amaretto Walnut Butter Cookie that I will post at a later date.  The Cranberry Orange Butter Cookie was my favorite.

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I have to say my usual taste testers were all over the map on this one. My youngest son exclaimed “yum” when he tried out the cookie. My hubby on the other hand said the cookie tasted too buttery. I explained to him that they were butter cookies so that would account for why they tasted buttery. But too buttery? That was a first for me. The second time he tried the Cranberry Orange Butter Cookies he thought they had a bite to them. This time I explained there were cranberries and orange zest in the cookies so the cookie would have a slight tangy flavor.

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Needless to say I gave up on him as my tester for this cookie. My other taste testers were equally as mixed with there opinions but for different reasons. In the end I decided to go with my gut to place the cookies on the blog. If you like the combination of cranberries and orange I think you will really like this recipe. Buttery, tangy and sweet. What a great way to wake up your taste buds.

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Cranberry Orange Butter Cookies

Ingredients:
1 lb butter (2 sticks room temperature)
1 egg yolk
1 ¾ cup flour sifted
1 cup powdered sugar + ¼ cup powdered sugar
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup chopped pecans
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl cream together butter and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Stir in egg yolk orange zest and vanilla extract. Place cranberries in a sifter and then add flour. Sift flour into bowl with other ingredients. Stir to mix well then gently combine cranberries and pecans into the cookie dough.

Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper. Drop balls of cookie dough onto the parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes until cookies are done (slightly browned on the bottom). Cookies will still look light in color. Cool then sift remaining powdered sugar over the cookies. Store in an airtight container.

 

 

 

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Roasted Potatoes with Feta Cheese

Fruits, Vegetables, , ,

Roasted Potatoes 3_1While my family loves pasta I am a potato girl. I love potatoes almost any way you fix them whether they are oven fried, mashed, boiled or roasted. Nothing against pasta and rice but I think potatoes are wonderful because they soak up the flavors of whatever you add to them. By now you may know I love the idea of layering flavors in a dish. So the layers of flavors in this roasted potatoes dish is both savory and sweet. I recently discovered a nice way to roast potatoes with a few cranberries and raisins. Then I topped them off with feta. Yummy!

Roasted Potatoes 2_1Potatoes can be both good and bad for the diet. The key to eating potatoes is to do it in moderation. Having said that I would stay away from deep frying potatoes no matter what. Potatoes tend to absorb grease which puts on the pounds, effects your skin and is not healthy! Still, potatoes have lots of fiber, vitamin C and B vitamins. As long as you keep the portions small you can partake of any type of potato you like. For this recipe I used red potatoes. I haven’t tried it yet but I am sure sweet potatoes would taste good too. I will let you know how that one turns out later.

Roasted Potatoes with Feta 1_1For those of you who don’t eat meat you can still enjoy this dish by leaving off the crumbled bacon.

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Roasted Potatoes with Feta 4_1          Roasted Potatoes with Feta Fini 2_1

 

 

 

 

 

Roasted Potatoes with Feta Cheese

Ingredients:
1 lb potatoes quartered
¼ cup cranberries
¼ cup golden raisins
¾ cup Gazebo Room balsamic vinaigrette
¼ cup feta cheese
2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1 scallion thinly sliced (separate the white and green parts of the onion)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black ground pepper
½ tsp dried rosemary
½ tsp smoked paprika
3 tbsp melted butter
3 slices crisp bacon chopped
Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl combine all ingredients except for the bacon, feta cheese and green onion. Mix well to coat the potatoes. Spray a lipped cookie sheet with cooking spray to prevent potatoes from sticking. Spread potato mixture with juices onto the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake 30 to 40 minutes until potatoes are golden brown and fork tender. Remove from oven and place in a casserole or serving dish. Sprinkle with feta cheese, bacon and  a little green onion.