Cranberries

Admittedly, Cranberry Sauce is the one of the few things that’s decent out of a can. BUT these are THE MOST INCREDIBLE CRANBERRIES IN THE UNIVERSE. There’s no excuse NOT to make them, since they can be frozen. Have a can or two of regular cranberries available for the non-boozing folks.



Suzanne’s Cranberries (serves 8 as a side dish)
Printable recipe here.

From my wonderful friend, Suzanne - these award-worthy cranberries are perfect for Thanksgiving, because they can be made in advance and frozen.

3 tbls. orange flavored liqueur - Grand Marnier or Cointreau
1 envelope plain gelatin
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
4 cups (1 lb.) fresh cranberries
grated rind of 1 orange
juice of ½ lemon

Pour orange liqueur into a small glass bowl. Sprinkle over gelatin. Let sit for 5 minutes. Combine sugar and water in large saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil for 5 minutes. Add cranberries. Boil 5 minutes longer. (The cranberries will pop). Remove from heat. Add gelatin mixture to hot cranberries. Stir to dissolve. Stir in grated orange rind and lemon juice.

Pour into serving container and chill overnight. Or pour into plastic containers and freeze for up to a month. Thaw overnight in refrigerator and pour into serving dish.

THANKSGIVING TIPS - Cranberries

Countdown To Thanksgiving

The Short (dis)Order Cook, blogging on The Essential Rhubarb Pie, got me to thinking. She's all worried because she's hosting Thanksgiving for the first time. She'll be fine, I know it, but, aaahhh, the sweet apprehension of youth!

I remember when I, too, was new at this... Now TWENTY!!! years later, I feel as if I could cook Thanksgiving dinner with one hand tied behind my back. I'm not bragging (well, I guess I am), but my ease comes, not from being the greatest cook on earth, but from doing it for all these years.

I've had my disasters. And, no, I'm going to list them now...I'm not crazy...but the thing about Thanksgiving is that there is SO MUCH food that one imperfect dish or another isn't going to be noticed in the onslaught of food to come.

I'm going to post some of my favorite Thanksgiving tips or recipes in the days leading up to Thanksgiving (in addition to regular posts). It won't be an exhaustive list, but I guarantee that taken together, it will provide you with lots of help for the cooking marathon of the year. Note: Some of them won't be food-related, but guest and hosting related. As I post new ones, I'll collate the old ones into a single list, which I'll give you the link for. Ok, here goes:

Thanksgiving Tips

Admittedly, Cranberry Sauce is the one of the few things that’s decent out of a can. BUT these are THE MOST INCREDIBLE CRANBERRIES IN THE UNIVERSE. There’s no excuse NOT to make them, since they can be frozen. Have a can or two of regular cranberries available for the non-boozing folks.



Suzanne’s Cranberries (serves 8-10 as a side dish)
From my wonderful friend, Suzanne, these award-worthy cranberries are perfect for Thanksgiving, because they can be made in advance and frozen.

3 tbls. orange flavored liqueur - Grand Marnier or Cointreau
1 envelope plain gelatin
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
4 cups (1 lb.) fresh cranberries
grated rind of 1 orange
juice of ½ lemon

Pour orange liqueur into a small glass bowl. Sprinkle over gelatin. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Combine sugar and water in large saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil for 5 minutes. Add cranberries. Boil 5 minutes longer. (The cranberries will pop). Remove from heat.

Add gelatin mixture to hot cranberries. Stir to dissolve. Stir in grated orange rind and lemon juice.

Pour into serving container and chill overnight. Or pour into plastic containers and freeze for up to a month. Thaw overnight in refrigerator and pour into serving dish.

Friendsgiving With Bourbon Sweet Potatoes and Grand Marniered Cranberries

 

I had never heard of the term Friendsgiving until my across-the-country daughter, D, told me that’s how she was spending last Sunday. The way she described it was that it was like Thanksgiving, but without all the annoying relatives.

I was pretty sure she also said it was going to be only side dishes (which are, let’s face it, the best part of Thanksgiving…next to the pies). The notion of a turkey-free Thanksgiving didn’t shock me, except where would the gravy come from for the mashed potatoes? But when I saw her pictures, there was this big beautiful turkey in them. Apparently, the hosts decided it just wouldn’t be Friendsgiving without the turkey. (LA-based D wanted to have a giant burrito instead of the bird, but she was voted down.)

The idea is that all the guests bring their own favorite dish from their family’s Thanksgiving. I was so proud when D had so many to choose from that she brought TWO!!!And what a great way to celebrate, especially as in D’s case, if you still have your own family’s Thanksgiving to go home to.

H and I spent many Novembers in other countries and we never missed celebrating Thanksgiving. Like D, we had friends and not family with us, but it didn’t have the same vibe of Friendsgiving - where everyone brings something and you have many family traditions on one table. I was always, for good or bad, firmly in control of the menu. 

But no matter who’s doing the actual cooking, I like the concept of people forming family-type units wherever they are and using holidays as a way to cement those bonds. Plus I don’t think you could ever have too many Thanksgivings or Friends- or Relative-Givings for that matter. The more pumpkin or Brussels Sprouts (just this one time of year) in as many guises as possible is okay with me! And, PS, back to my second sentence, NOBODY at MY Thanksgiving is ever annoying!

Here are the two recipes that D made with some photos of the rest of her Friendsgiving meal. (I pretended not to see the Stovetop stuffing box.)

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Even though I call this recipe Bourbon Sweet Potatoes, I use only yams. (Here’s a short primer on the two varieties. I just remember YES! for yams!)

Bourbon Sweet Potatoes (makes 8 generous servings)
Printable recipe here.

 

4 1/2 lbs. yams

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup orange juice (fresh is the best)

1/3 cup bourbon (start with half and add the rest to taste)

4 tbls. firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

1/3 cup pecans, halved or chopped, toasted

Scrub yams. Cook covered, in boiling water about 35 minutes or until tender. Drain. Cool slightly. Peel.

Put potatoes through a food mill over large mixer bowl. Add butter, orange juice, bourbon, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Spoon into large buttered soufflé dish.

Arrange pecan halves, if using, decoratively over top. Or sprinkle chopped nuts around outside edge.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to bake - up to one day ahead.Remove plastic wrap and bake, uncovered, at 350°F for 45 minutes or until lightly browned.

NOTES:

I use any type of whiskey I have on hand (including Chivas!).

I put the yams through a food mill to get them really smooth. Leave out this step if you have no food mill. (But they are handy to have!) They’ll be fine, you may just encounter a few stringy bits.

If you’re feeding 12 to 15 people, multiply the recipe by 1 and a half. Put the mixture into one large soufflé dish and one small one.   

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Suzanne's Cranberries (serves 8 as a side dish) 
Printable recipe here.

This is a very saucy version of cranberries (as in they have a lot of liquid), but they do thicken with time, so definitely make them ahead. I usually make them the week before (at least) and freeze them. 3 tbls. orange flavored liqueur - Grand Marnier or Cointreau 1 envelope plain gelatin 2 cups sugar 2 cups water 4 cups (1 lb.) fresh cranberries grated rind of 1 orange juice of 1/2 lemon Pour orange liqueur into a small glass bowl. Sprinkle over gelatin. Let sit for 5 minutes. Combine sugar and water in large saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil for 5 minutes. Add cranberries. Boil 5 minutes longer. (The cranberries will pop). Remove from heat. Add gelatin mixture to hot cranberries. Stir to dissolve. Stir in grated orange rind and lemon juice. Pour into serving container and chill overnight. Or pour into plastic containers and freeze for up to a month. Thaw overnight in refrigerator and pour into serving dish. NOTE: Cranberries usually come in 12 oz. bags, so here are the ingredients for 2 bags of cranberries: 4 tbls. + 1 1/2 tsps. orange flavored liqueur - Grand Marnier or Cointreau 2 envelopes plain gelatin (I used to say 1 1/2 envelopes, Just use 2...it's fine.) 3 cups sugar 3 cups water 24 oz. fresh cranberries grated rind of 1 1/2 oranges juice of 1 lemon

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Giada's Secret Santa Party

Giada At Home with Giada De Laurentiis

Secret Santa
Penne with Shrimp and Herbed Cream Sauce
Grilled and Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Gorgonzola
Cranberry Cornmeal Cake

Giada’s having her impossibly gorgeous gal pals over for a little dinner and gift exchange.

Giada starts with a cranberry cornmeal cake. She juices and zests 2 oranges and then creams 1 1/2 sticks of (room temperature) unsalted butter with 1¼ cups sugar. Oh good, she’s using a stand mixer instead of a dinky hand one. Now she can get on with other stuff, while it’s doing its job.

She adds the dried cranberries into a strainer over a bowl. She dumps the cake flour over the cranberries in the strainer. That works to sieve the flour AND coat the cranberries at the same time. To the flour, Giada adds cornmeal, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and the orange zest.

She scrapes the butter and sugar from the sides of the bowl and adds ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract. Next Giada beats in 2 whole room temperature eggs and 4 egg yolks. (I’m always tempted to just add 2 whole eggs in the place of 4 yolks.)

1/3 cup of fresh orange juice goes in next. Then Giada adds the dry ingredients in 2 batches. This is so the wet ingredients have time to absorb the dry ingredients, she says.

She folds in the floured dried cranberries and pours it into a buttered and floured 8 inch cake pan. Oh, I would have preferred a loaf pan. It’s a very pretty batter. It bakes at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes.

The wonderful folks reviewing the recipe on the FN website had quite divergent opinions. Several said the cake overflowed the pan. Others said it was soupy, and still others LOVED it.

Giada takes the cake out of the oven.

For the first course, she takes out 6 HUGE portabello mushrooms. She seasons them well with olive oil, salt and pepper, because, she says, they absorb so much flavor. She grills them stem-side down first.

Giada heats her pan on medium high heat and sautés turkey sausage for the filling, breaking it up while it cooks. She adds 2 chopped garlic cloves and keeps stirring breaking up the sausage. (I admit in many dishes, I’m not happy with the globs of ground meat, so I often give the mixture a quick whirl in the food processor to make it more uniform.)

To add to the sausage, Giada chops oregano and adds ½ cup mascarpone with salt, pepper and 1 cup of gorgonzola. She also stirs in ¾ cup plain packaged breadcrumbs.

She flips the mushrooms to cook for one minute on the second side.

The turkey sausage goes into the mascarpone and gorgonzola mixture. Giada is excited. She takes the “tender and juicy” mushrooms off the grill and spoons the filling into each mushroom. It does look YUM. She tops it with a bit more gorgonzola just before serving.

She starts cooking the pasta.

Garlic and oil go into a pan. She starts with peeled and de-veined shrimp. (Gosh, do I feel guilty when I buy shelled shrimp, which I almost never do! Much as I would LOVE it for someone to do the dirty work, I just can’t justify the price.)

Giada adds the shrimp with salt and pepper and cooks them quickly on medium high heat. She adds a bit of red pepper flakes and then removes the shrimp from the pan. Drained and chopped tomatoes and a bit of white wine go in with 1/3 cup of clam juice. Then Giada adds ¾ cup heavy cream. She brings it to the boil to thicken. THAT is a lovely sauce.

Giada chops parsley and basil and adds it to the sauce with the shrimp. She scoops the cooked pasta into the sauce. She grates Parmesan cheese all over the top before tossing it together. This helps “to create a nice thick sauce”.

Hey, hold on! I thought if seafood was involved in Italian cooking, then cheese never was. Am I misinformed? Have I been missing out something great?

The ladies arrive. They drink champagne out of the coolest glasses. They look like thin tubes of white glass.

They talk about their secret Santa gift buying and giving.

Giada serves the mushrooms. They love them. They have the pasta. They’re very pleased. Gosh, don’t you just love Christmas in LA where they wear spaghetti straps and tank tops?

I think one of those women is Giada's “Aunt” Carolina. Gosh, she’s a knockout! Giada passes out the presents during dessert. Ooh, she actually said her name. It IS her aunt.

It was a lovely party, but actually I think I might have spared a bit of the richness of the first two courses and added a more luxurious dessert, but maybe that’s just me.

More Food Network website rants:
You should be able to find a specific show by date and title EASILY.
Every recipe from a specific show should have a link to every other recipe from that show. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. It’s completely random.

The website is a mess. It’s organized poorly. The pop-ups are beyond annoying and, most importantly, it’s not doing a good job complementing the Food Network shows that it’s supposed to be promoting.

Microwave Granola To The Rescue...The Fastest Gift From The Kitchen

At 9 am one day last week, I realized that I needed some baked goods... FAST. No time for cookies, banana breads or even muffins. So I turned to my world famous Granola. Regis and Kelly were on in the background and I had 4 batches made before host chat was over. Well, not exactly, but I WAS able to leave the kitchen well before RR came on at 10.

Plan to make multiple batches, because this is so good. Don't scoff because this is a microwave recipe. I'd put it against the finest baked granola. AND there is no extra fat (other than the considerable amount in the nuts and the tiny amount in the wheatgerm).

The microwave part is both good and bad. It's good because it's so fast. The bad part is that it's tricky to cook more than one recipe at a time. So for maximum efficiency, I PREPARE 4 batches at once, but COOK them one right after the other.

To cook 4 batches really quickly, I toast all the nuts together in a 10 inch glass pie dish - about 3ish minutes on high. Meanwhile, I measure out one recipe worth of the other dry ingredients 4 times into 4 separate containers. When the nuts are done, divide them into the 4 containers. You don't have to be exact.

Place the first batch of dry stuff in the 10 inch glass pie dish. Stir in the honey and cook according to the recipe. Pour mixture into a BIG container - a huge mixing bowl or roasting pan. Then place the next batch of dry ingredients into the glass baking dish. Add the honey, stir well and cook. Pour THAT into the first batch of cooked granola. Continue for 2 more batches. Add the raisins and dried cranberries. Stir really well and store in an airtight container until you've eaten or given away every last rolled oat.

The only tricky thing is mixing in the honey, which can be a bit of a sticky enterprise. I'm pretty particular and I like to to make sure that no oat flake goes un-honeyed.

(When I'm making four batches, I use at least 4 types of nuts. Each recipe calls for 2/3 cup of nuts, so I use two-thirds of a cup each of sliced almonds, chopped walnuts, chopped pecans, and chopped cashews.)

For gift-giving, I fill the granola into plain plastic bags, no zippers, strips or fancy stuff (they're not all that easy to find). Turn the bag, so the granola goes into one of the bottom corners. Twist the bag tight and you'll have a cone shape. Close with a twist tie. Tie with a ribbon and you'll have a quick, delightful gift for any deserving friend, colleague or neighbor. Here's the recipe for one batch of granola. (It's never enough.)

Sue's Awesome Granola
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup raisins and/or dried
cranberries

Place the nuts in a 10 inch glass pie dish or microwavable bowl. Cook on high for 2 minutes to lightly toast the nuts. (The time may vary with your microwave.) Stir in oats, wheat germ and brown sugar until well mixed. Stir in honey, making sure to coat the mixture well.

Cook on high in microwave for 2 minutes. Stir well. Cook up to 2 minutes longer, stirring and checking the mixture after 1 minute. (Depending on your microwave, it might be done.) Cool slightly. Stir in raisins and/or dried cranberries. Store in airtight container.

Thanksgiving 2009

Here is our Thanksgiving dinner in pictures. A and G, thanks for taking so many of the pictures. I really appreciate it!

I had a young person assemble this hors d'oeuvres, while I was doing other things. It was melba toast topped with fig jam, a dot of honey nut cream cheese and a small curl of prosciutto. Very nice mouthful.

A - I LOVE the platter. We also had a bean dip, crab dip and vegetables, I forgot the olives and my dream of making cheese straws never materialized.

First course - Spinach and lettuce salad with persimmons, spiced nuts and Parmesan slices dressed with a Caesar Salad Dressing.

Caesar Salad Dressing (For twenty)

I ALWAYS make a jar of this - halving the quantities - at the beginning of the week and keep it in the fridge.

3/4 cup the best extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup any olive oil

1 can of flat anchovy fillets, drained

6 tbls. fresh lemon juice

4 tbls. Dijon mustard

1 garlic clove, center green stem removed

Place all ingredients in blender. Blend until completely smooth. Pour into jar and store in fridge.

Here's Tom and his stuffing:

He got stuffed and then the leftover stuffing went into a greased souffle dish to cook separately. (The stuffing in the turkey is ALWAYS better.)

Tom was roasted, while surrounded by lady apples for the last bit:

These are the mashed potatoes, which get beaten in the KitchenAid forever, while I do other things and then get transferred back to their huge pot to stay warm:

Bourbon Sweet Potatoes

The other things I served:

Roasted green beans; my favorite cranberries; and an old family tradition of my husband's family, which has gone unobserved for awhile, Noodle Kugel. I serve it with cherry pie filling on top, which is the one acceptable use for it. It's awesome. But next year, I'll make sure it's not photographed next to the cranberries. (I left out the apples and raisins in the recipe and just added the cherries before the last 20 minutes of cooking.)

From left - turkey, mashed potatoes, Bourbon sweet potatoes, stuffing, noodle kugel, cranberries and roasted green beans.

I also made a Silver Palate Sour Cream Apple Pie, as an homage to Sheila Lukins. But I realize now that we forgot to toast her. No problem...hold on a minute while I grab a little libation to properly acknowledge her...

(I WISH those lovely hands were mine.)

Picture one, the unbaked assembled pie with its nut streusel on top.

Picture two, the unbaked assembled pie with its lattice on top.

Pictures three and four, the baked completed pie:

Pecan Pies

The Pumpkin Chiffon Pie's crust:

The remnants of the Pumpkin Chiffon Pie:

What did I learn this Thanksgiving? 3 times my stuffing recipe (one recipe is enough for a 10 pound bird) was too much, but 2 would have been too little; you can never have enough champagne; Gravy Master is my friend (sorry, doubters) and there’s always room for pie.

Granola - My Way

Nigella's Raspberry Swirl

made with My Granola

I was thinking about Nigella's Granola. I have what I think is a less sweet and even more delicious alternative. It's made in the microwave, which is good and bad. It's good because it's easy and quick. It's bad, because, as with all things microwaved, increasing the recipe is tricky. And once you try this, you'll want to make GOBS of it. What I do in my prime granola making season - Christmastime - is to get two batches ready at once in two different glass 9" by 13" dishes, so that when one comes out, the second can go in immediately.

Sue's Best Granola

2 cups rolled oats, not instant
2/3 cup chopped nuts - walnuts, almonds, pecans, cashews, hazelnuts
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup raisins, dried cranberries or dried cherries

In a large glass bowl or dish, mix oats, nuts, wheat germ and brown sugar together. Stir in honey. (Warm it for 10 seconds in the microwave, WITHOUT LID, to make it easier to pour.)

Cook on high for 3 minutes. Stir well. Cook on high for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes longer. Cool slightly. Add raisins and/or dried cranberries or cherries.

Store in jar or zip lock bags.

Notes: My microwave is fairly old, so your microwave may be a lot more powerful. Watch cooking times carefully, so granola doesn't scorch.

If I'm making 2 batches, one right after the other, I add all walnuts to one batch and all almonds, for example, to the second. Then when I mix them together, my granola has a variety of nuts. I do the same with raisins and dried cranberries and/or cherries.

The almonds can be in any form whatsoever - slivered, sliced, whole, skinned or unskinned. You can save yourself any chopping by using slivered or sliced almonds.

As with so many things, the better the honey you use, the better the granola.

Breakfast Of Champions

Ali and Frazier, Philadelphia 2003

I’ve been waiting for the right occasion to use this picture I took at the Newseum some time ago. It was from a special exhibit of sports photos by the amazing photographer Walter Iooss. The original (not my silly photo of it) is incredible. You can see the actual one on this site, but showing it does allow me to bring up the topic of breakfast.

I always use New Year's Day as an excuse for a breakfast of bagels and all the good stuff that goes with them - smoked salmon, whitefish salad, vegetable cream cheese, lox cream cheese. Plus a frittata is always good.

Here is the frittata I made –

Potato And Onion Frittata (serves 6)

Printable recipe here

1/4 cup good olive oil (I often double the amount of oil to avoid sticking. Since you’re draining the onions and potatoes, it’s not as bad as it could be...or so I tell myself.)

2 large onions, sliced

2 big Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes

2 tsps. salt, divided

1/2 red pepper, finely chopped

1/2 zucchini, cubed

1/2 yellow squash, cubed

6 eggs

1/2 cup Swiss cheese (or any cheese you prefer)

handful of parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Heat oil on medium heat in a heavy bottomed, medium saucepan. Stir in onions, potatoes and 1 teaspoon of salt. When you hear a sizzle, turn down the heat to low and cover. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent sticking. (Every stove is different. When you lift the lid, there should be a good head of steam even on low heat. If not, raise the heat just a bit, but you want the onions softening, not browning.)

Stir in the chopped red pepper and cubed zucchini and yellow squash. Continue cooking until onions and potatoes are completely soft, at least 15 to 20 minutes total. Remove pot from heat, uncover and leave to cool just a bit.

Beat eggs with remaining teaspoon of salt, cheese and parsley. Stir in onion and vegetable mixture.

Pour into an 8 inch square glass baking dish, which has been sprayed with Pam. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 30 minutes or until the center comes out mostly clean when tested with a toothpick. Cut into squares and serve.

(The frittata is really good served with tzatziki, which I had leftover from the night before.)

I followed our late New Year’s Day breakfast with my favorite cookie of the moment (more about that at the end of this post), James Beard’s Apple Cake (email me for the recipe), clementines and chocolate-dipped fruit from Prides Crossing Confections (a gift from my father – the chocolate is fantastic).

By the way, I also made clementine mimosas (sorry, no picture). Amazing. Clementine juice is sooo delicious. I (actually, it was a young person on the premises) put them through a juicer (without their skin) and we got loads of juice out of them. Half clementine juice and half champagne was the perfect combination. Realllllllly good!

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The night before, to ring in the New Year, I went with a few new snacks this year. I loved this Food52 recipe - Buffalo Mozzarella with Balsamic Glazed Plums, Pine Nuts and Mint.

Basically you boil down balsamic vinegar, add some plums (I used peaches) and cook them for a bit.

They get served with mozzarella and toasted pine nuts. Yummy.

I liked the leftovers over a spinach salad the next day.

I’ve been making these sausages from Trader Joe’s a lot lately. I often serve them with TJ's wonderful pretzel bread.

These are the Chicken Andouille ones, but I was serving veggie-lovers for New Year’s, so I used Tofurkey Italian Sausages, which were nowhere near as bad as you would have thought. The trick for any kind of sausage, no matter how left wing, is to cook it until it’s browned and crispy.

Then I toasted slices of the pretzel bread in a pan in the toaster oven (so one side stays soft). I slathered half the slices of bread with a tangy coarse mustard and the other half with a sweet one. I topped them with the sausages and a slice of gherkin is always nice too.

I also had to make my favorite dip with my favorite tzatziki. This time instead of plating it -

I bowled it.

For something sweet, I made a variation of Jamie Oliver’s Chocolate Pots. I've been making these for ages and they’re basically tiny servings of spoonable chocolate truffles. I use (unused) votive candle holders as their little bowls.

I did something different this time. I made one half of the recipe as written, with semi-sweet chocolate. I filled the “bowls” halfway and let them set for 20 minutes in the fridge. Then I made half the recipe with WHITE chocolate and poured that over the semi-sweet chocolate. The Semi-Sweet Chocolate Pot sets up just like a truffle. You can spoon it out, but it’s stiff. The white chocolate mixture doesn’t set and has the consistency of a mousse or pudding, so it’s like a sauce on top of the chocolate. SO GOOD. I finished them with chocolate nibs (not pictured).

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PS Here’s more info about that Ali/Frasier picture, written by Walter Iooss.

PPS I tried this cookie recipe awhile ago. I thought it was a bit cakey and not sweet enough. BUT I LOVED the little trick at the end – You hold back some of the cranberries, chips and nuts and stud the tops of the cookies with them after they’ve been baking for five minutes.

Now I just make the normal Toll House cookie recipe with white and dark chips and dried cranberries. After 5 minutes of baking, I add 2 small pieces of hand-chopped semisweet chocolate (or chips will do), 2 small pieces of hand-chopped white chocolate and two pieces of whatever nut I’m using and a couple of dried cranberries to the top of the cookies. I love the chunky, chewy look it gives.