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Last week we jump-started the oven with two days of cranberry recipes to appease the growing dissatisfaction of Mr. Darcy.

Our mission came to a standstill Wednesday when Christmas preparations took full attention.  For our Christmas dessert I had hoped to gain back the momentum with the recipe he’d asked for all along, Apple Cranberry Crisp, but the day ran away from us(as we made Chicken Crepes and steamed carrots with nutmeg) and we ended up with leftover coffee cake and ice cream.  The day after Christmas we lived off of our couch, leftover crepes, and the chocolate in our stockings(okay, apricots for the husband, do you see a fruit theme here?).

Today, Mr. Darcy simply didn’t rise from bed, so like the good wife that I am (ahem, ignoring the cranberry recipe neglect accusations), I made him a special breakfast: Apple Cranberry Baked Oatmeal. I’m finally starting to understand his love for cranberries in the same way he now, after 10 years, doesn’t turn his head at a few bites of cookie dough and brownie batter.  We’ve enlightened each other.

The recipe is from King Arthur’s Whole Grain Baking Cookbook.  It’s actually the same recipe as the Blueberry Baked Oatmeal posted in the spring, so I’ll just show you some pictures and mention how to make this variation, then you can head over to the original post for the details.

It’s best if the now awake husband is willing to clean the dirty dishes involved in making his special, surprise breakfast.

Oatmeal Cranberry Variation(see Blueberry Baked Oatmeal for complete recipe)

Add 1/2 cup dried cranberries(we used about 3/4 cup fresh, chopped cranberries) and replace blueberries with 1   1/ 2 cups of peeled, diced apple.  Replace 2 cups of the water with apple juice or cider.

I know the question itching at you on this almost Christmas day.
Did I earn back the trust of Mr. Darcy’s appetite?

As I forged through the stores yesterday evening, for my final(fingers crossed)trip through the stores, I called him at home.

“So did you see what we made for you today?”

Baby noises and siblings abounded in the background, “Oh yeah, I noticed something on the counter, I haven’t unwrapped it though.”

“Did you read my blog today?”

Dishes like cymbals joined the symphony behind him, “What? No.”

I took a more plaintive route, “It has cranberries in it.”

“Oh,” his voice lifted, “I’m going to have to get to that soon.”

Surrendering to dinner hour with 4 children and the relentless pull of present hunting, I said goodbye.

Two hours and too many purchases later, one weary body arrived home to greet an equally tired husband.

“It was good,” he smiled at me from the couch.

“Thanks,” I dropped my bags and said silently to myself, “It better be since it’s your only christmas present after I spent the rest of our savings on gifts tonight.”

From my warm nest in our bed this morning, I overheard several fond comments about a breakfast of cranberry bread.  Promising, but I sensed another cranberry recipe was still needed.

Lucky for me it arrived in my rss feeds this morning, Honey Cranberry Cornmeal Quickbread.  I know, you’re thinking, “Another bread?”  But the key, seductive ingredient is the cornmeal.  My husband has recently taken to grinding corn in our grain grinder for everything from porkchops to muffins.  Ready to come home, Mr. Darcy?

For a full, printable recipe, head over to Joy the Baker

Notes: I substituted sucanat with honey for the white sugar, pecans for the walnuts, and made buttermilk with plain milk and lemon juice.  This is a terrific recipe.  I want to say that it’s my favorite of the two, but they are very different breads(cranberry and orange versus cranberry and cornmeal), they each have their place. The second has an extra hint of sophistication.

I knew I was in trouble I just wasn’t sure for what offense I’d been discovered. Mr. Darcy huffed and puffed nearby.  I thought about my extra purchases in the last two weeks and the household chores I’d ignored while making cookies with the kids.  Maybe he didn’t like my new haircut and couldn’t even look at me, so he was staying in the kitchen to save us both the embarrassment.

“It’s the cranberries,” he finally sputtered.

My first thought, “What cranberries?” was quickly replaced by, “Whew, he doesn’t know how much I’ve spent yet!”.

“What, honey?” I still needed to find out the source of his aggrivation.

“I’ve looked forward to this season all year long and now it’s almost christmas and you haven’t made me even one cranberry, apple crisp.”

“Well,” I thought hard, scrambling,”Are you sure? No, I’m sure I have.”

“Not even one, ” his chin jutted out further.

“Yes,” I said, thinking myself saved,”We made you a pear, cranberry crisp.” It was true, we had.

He dismissed that quickly, “Well, I don’t remember it.”

My relief in realizing this confrontation was over cranberries and not cash was waning, I started to feel quilty.

His arms crossed together tightly, “Not even one cranberry recipe.”

I squirmed and squeeked, “I’ll make sure christmas dessert has cranberries, honey.”

He grunted.

“I promise!”

He looked me in the eyes for the first time.  I could tell I would have to earn his trust back again.

“Okay,” he said.

This morning I told the kids how I let their father down.  I told them we had to make it up to him.  I suggested we start with Cranberry muffins and end with a cranberry, apple crisp.

“We’ll just have to make cranberry recipes every day until he finds it in his stomach to forgive us.”

We ended up making cranberry, orange bread instead of muffins.  This recipe was perfectly suitable, just be careful not to overcook.  Dry quick breads are not the way to soothe your man’s cranberry deprived spirit.

Orange Cranberry Bread

• 2 cups flour(we used half whole wheat)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup squeezed orange juice
• 1 tbs grated orange zest
• 2 tbs canola oil
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan.

2. Whisk together, dry ingredients.  Whisk together wet ingredients.  Add wet to dry, stir just until combined.  Stir in cranberries.

3. Pour mixture into prepared pan.  Spread evenly, bake 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cook for 15 minutes on rack. Remove from pan, cool completely.

Notes: I didn’t have the orange zest on hand, and the bread still had a good flavor.

We’re late this year.  Late on planning presents, behind on digging in to Advent, and tardy at getting our annual thank you gifts made and delivered.  For the past few years we’ve been making a little treat to pass out to those in our community who’ve served and blessed us over the year.  Our favorite librarians, our hard-working girl scout leaders, and friends who share our day to day lives.

Last year we made granola, which was a big hit and also a lot of time in the kitchen.  This year I just couldn’t decide what to do.  Finally I realized all of those tempting recipes for biscotti and handmade ornaments just weren’t practical for our family this Christmas, and I needed to look for simple.

This week I got inspired by an email from Family Fun, a treat most of us have probably sampled, but I’ve never made.  With relief I told my husband we could probably get this done in an hour or two.  My plan was to put 8 pieces in each bag, about 15 bags total. Then Mr. Darcy added on 22 more bags for his co-workers.  Could we still pull this off within a few hours?

Over 300 pieces later, the answer is yes!  My 4, 7, and 9 year old were able to do every part without a problem. From peeling the kisses, spreading out the pretzels, adding the m and m’s, to placing them in the bags.

For the recipe, head over here.

Notes: Try milk chocolate, hugs, or candy cane kisses.  A variety looks pretty in the bag.  The waffle shaped pretzels do work well, but because they were butter flavored, I actually liked the salty taste of the regular shaped mini pretzels better.

Mookie chose Peppermint bark for her holiday recipe of the week.

Most of the recipes I found online used only white chocolate, but I think the bark with a dark chocolate layer is more appealing, to the eye and to the tastebuds.

1. Melt 1 bag of good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips.  We didn’t have a full bag, so I threw in some Scharffen Berger chopped as well.

2. Once chocolate is melted, pour onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper.  With spatula, spread chocolate into a thin layer.

3.Place in freezer until firm, about 5 minutes.

4.Melt 1 bag good quality white chocolate chips.  Once chips have melted, stir in 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp peppermint extract, according to taste. Remove cookie sheet from freezer and pour white chocolate onto the chocolate layer. Spread with spatula.

5.Place candy canes in plastic bag, use rolling pin to break candy canes into small pieces.  You might want to do this before you start the first steps, the white chocolate can harden quickly.  Sprinkle peppermint pieces across white chocolate, press with hand so that candy will set with the chocolate as it hardens.

6. Place in freezer until firm.  About 15 minutes.

7.Remove from freezer and break into smaller pieces.  Try to save a little bit for friends.

We’ve introduced a new tradition for the season.  Each child gets to pick one holiday cookie recipe, alternating a recipe a week.  Jellybean got to pick first and she wanted the gingerbread shaped men without the ginger so we went with a sugar cookie recipe.  While we were making them she referred to them as “Sugarmen”, a name worth keeping around.

I’ve tried different sugar cookie recipes before but never found that right one. Soft and chewy, a little crispy in the bottom. This year, Mary Engelbreit came through for me with a recipe that did it all. Others agreed so I thinks it’s a winner.

In case you find yourself in the same boat, ready to run out and buy the Pillsbury sugar dough, give this recipe a try.

Make some Sugar Camels while you at it.

Mary Engelbreit’s Sugar Cookie Recipe

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup(2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• Colored Sugar and multicolored sprinkles

1.Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
2.In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, then the vanilla. On low speed, gradually beat in the flour mixture.
3. Divide dough into thirds, shaped each piece into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for atleast 2 hours, or overnight.
4.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5.On lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick.  Cut out Christmas shapes with cookie cutters and place 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Decorate with colored sugar and sprinkles.
6.Bake for 10 minutes, or until edges begin to brown.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. If you would like to hang these on your tree, you can use a skewer to make a hole as soon as they are removed from the oven and then add ribbon after cooled completely.

Note: For me, sprinkles will always be made my Granny’s way. A few bowls of sugar, food coloring added until bright green and red colors appear.  Sprinkle generously.

Here’s the cake my daughter envisioned for her 9 year old birthday.  I hemmed and hawed, tried steering her a different direction, and then folded.  I’m thrilled that I did because her vision was right on and we were able to capture it.  I’d like to point out with respect to Mookie that this is not a princess castle cake. More like an adventure castle cake.  She was very emphatic about this point. I’m just passing it on.

The second best thing about this cake was the frosting(the first being the above mentioned visionary daughter). We made a chocolate cake with peppermint frosting(tinted blue) and I see quite a future for me and this frosting.

In the near future I see brownies, topped with this frosting(maybe white, maybe red or green) and crushed peppermint candies.

Peppermint Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1(16oz) powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 to 1 tsp peppermint extract(or 1/4 tsp peppermint oil)

Beat butter at medium speed until creamy; gradually add powdered sugar alternately with milk, beginning and ending with powdered sugar. Beat after each addition at low speed. Stir in peppermint extract. Lick all mixing utensils. Save some frosting for your cake or brownies.