Cranberry and orange. Almost always paired together, and definitely a marriage where the resulting whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Cranberry and orange. The most favoured flavour of fall baking ... for me at least ;) And after I've featured cranberry and orange bundt cake and cranberry orange scones, muffins are the next baked good I'm tackling.


These cranberry orange muffins turned out really well. They are not too sweet, with just a bit of tart, just a bit of tang, just a bit of zing, and a whole lot of wowza. There were so many different textures at play ... the juicy burst of the berries, the soft and buttery batter, and that bit of golden crisp on the edges ... gotta love it when it all meets in your palate.


Please do use fresh cranberries for this recipe. They are a superfood! At 25 calories for half a cup, they are naturally sweet, bursting with juiciness, and more importantly, they are so beneficial for your plumbing, preventing gum diseases to tract infections. And we all can attest to the nutritional goodness of oranges. Just recently I read about another phytonutrient in oranges that are only found in the skin and the white pith. This was hailed as the most beneficial nutrient having the capacity to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. Woohoo! More zest to you!

So if there is any opportunity to include potent superfoods into your cooking and baking, do so with gusto! More than anything, it makes your sweet treat a nourishment than just a guilty pleasure.

Ingredients:
375 g (3 cups) fresh or frozen cranberries
3 tbsp flour
440 g (3-1/2 cups) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
225 g (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
100 g (1/2 cup) light brown sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
240 ml (1 cup) Greek style yogurt
Zest of 4 oranges
4 tsp vanilla extract
60 ml (4 tbsp) orange juice
60 ml (4 tbsp) milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 200C or 400F.
2. Line 2 muffin pans with paper cases.

3. In a small bowl, toss the cranberries with the 3 tbsp of flour and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

5. In a large bowl or a stand mixer, beat the softened butter with the two sugars until pale and fluffy.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
7. Add the yogurt, zest, vanilla, orange juice and milk, and beat to combine.

8. Turn off the mixer, scrape the sides and give it a last fold.
9. Make a well in the bowl of the dry ingredients and pour in the beaten egg and sugar mixture.
10. Fold until no visible lumps of flour remain.
11. Toss the cranberries in, without the excess flour, and mix just to distribute evenly.

12. With a dough or ice cream scooper, scoop batter into prepared paper cases and place the muffin pans in the middle rack of the oven.
13. Bake for 5 minutes, reduce the temperature to 175C or 350F and bake a further 18-20 minutes, rotating 2/3 into the baking time.

14. When the tops turn golden, test doneness with a wooden skewer, bearing in mind that the cranberries will pop and may make the skewer wet. We are just checking that the batter is dry and not 'doughy' anymore.
15. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove individual muffins to cool on a wire rack.

They are so good as is, but if you would like to make a glaze, mix
90 ml (6 tbsp) orange juice
120 g (1 cup) confectioners sugar
together until smooth and drizzle over the tops.

Enjoy warm!

I'm always eager to try my hand at different cuisines and Persian food was on top of my list. Not surprisingly because of the abundance of Persian restaurants in the Vancouver area and having friends who are always talking about their home cooked foods.



So for a simple vegetarian lunch that was Persian-themed, I made this easy and delicious dish to accompany Salad Shirazi and Javaher Polow, a beautiful jeweled rice.

Traditionally the aubergines in the recipe would be charred in a tandoor-like oven or on top of a stove. Sadly, my smoke alarms are way too sensitive for this tomfoolery, so in the oven it goes.

This recipe makes enough for 6 as a side dish.

Ingredients:
3 large aubergines
2 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp turmeric powder
3 tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 tsp granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp salt
Toasted walnuts, to garnish


Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 220C or 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. With a sharp knife, pierce the aubergines in several places (deeper cuts where it is thicker).
3. Bake the aubergines for 45-50 minutes until softened.
4. Let cool until safe to handle, then chop into 1 cm chunks. 

Here we stretched it to sophisticate by transforming plain vanilla cake into a delicious white chocolate cake, then making the chocolate cake extra decadent with bittersweet 70% dark chocolate.

You don't really need folks to come over to make one. Go ahead, treat yourself.

Ingredients:
240 g (2 cups) all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
170 g (6 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
175 g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tbsp vanilla extract
120 ml (1/2 cup) whole milk
115 g (4 oz) melted white chocolate, cooled
115 g (4 oz) melted 70% dark chocolate, cooled

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 160C or 325F.
2. Butter and flour a 22x12 cm or 9x5 inch loaf pan.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. In a stand mixer, beat the butter with the sugar until lightened in colour.
5. Reduce the speed and add the eggs, one at a time, waiting until fully incorporated before adding the next one, followed by the vanilla extract.
6. On the lowest speed, fold in the flour in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions. Begin and end with the flour.

7. Divide the batter into the two melted chocolate bowls, folding the white chocolate into one bowl, and the dark chocolate into the other.
8. Drop ladle-fulls of batter on to the loaf pan, alternating between the white and dark. We are aiming for distinct chunks of white and dark in the pan.
9. Run the knife through the batter in a swirling zig-zag motion from one end to the other.
10. Tap the loaf lightly on a towel-lined countertop to even out the surface.
11. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
12. Let cool in the pan for 8-10 minutes before inverting it onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Nothing quite screams Americana as apple pie. Well, maybe burgers, corn dogs, and mac and cheese, but we're not going there today. So for our Fourth of July little celebration, we, in our home in Vancouver, Canada, made apple pie. Yes, we celebrate the Fourth up here too. And why not? Because any celebration is a wonderful cause, and opportunity, to instagram enjoy the foods so strongly associated with it ;) Right?


I've made apple pie many many occasions and by jove it's the same recipe I've used time and again, and surely giving credit where credit is due, I thank Grandma Ople for sharing this recipe. My kids thank her too because her recipe is da bomb! It's that sweet roux that is poured on the apple sliced that makes it superb! You should try it too!


Do you have enough apples sitting in your fruit stand now? You best start working on the pie crust then ...

Crust
Ingredients:
470 g (3-3/4 cup) all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
340 g (1-1/2 cup) chilled butter, diced small
180 ml (3/4 cup) ice water

Directions:
1. In a cold large bowl, mix the flour with the salt.
2. Scatter the butter cubes all over the flour and work it into the flour with a pastry blender or a fork, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add water, a tablespoon at a time, taking care not to overwork the dough. Mix until it just barely comes together.
4. Pat the dough into two disks, wrap with plastic, and chill in the refrigerator for about 4 hours.

5. Preheat the oven to 220C or 425F.
6. Remove the dough from the fridge.
7. Start rolling out one of the dough disks to fit your 9 inch pie dish, creating a bit of an overhang, pressing it onto the rim. This just makes it less likely to shrink.
8. Place a piece of parchment paper over the dough, fill it with (baking) beans, rice, or pie weights.
9. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until the edges turn golden.
10. Remove the pie dish from the oven, carefully remove the parchment paper with the contents, return the dish to the oven and bake a further 5 minutes to dry the bottom.
11. Cool the pie crust to room temperature before filling.

At this point, I take my coffee break and have some biscuits ;)

Pie filling
Ingredients:
8 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
150 g (2/3 cup) butter
4 tbsp all purpose flour
100 g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
100 g (1/2 cup) light brown sugar
60 ml (1/4 cup) water
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp granulated sugar, to sprinkle on top

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 220C or 425F.
2. Arrange the apple slices on the cooled pie crust.

3. Remove the other disk from the fridge and roll it out, cutting it into strips.
4. Cover the pie with the strips to make a lattice design.

5. Make the sweet roux by melting the butter in a medium saucepan, then stirring in the flour to make a paste.
6. When the flour cooks out and starts to bubble a bit, add the sugars, water, and the vinegar. Bring to a soft boil. It should be of a syrup-like consistency.

7. Very carefully pour this sweet roux into the nooks and crannies of the pie, between the lattice crust.
8. Brush the remaining 2-3 tbsp of roux on the lattice strips, then sprinkle with sugar.
9. Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 175C or 350F and bake a further 30-40 minutes until the top is a beautiful golden brown.

10. Cool to room temperature before slicing and serving to let the juices meld into the apples.
Trust me, this is the hardest part. LOL!



This is the slice we cut when it just cooled enough to safely handle. A hot and sticky mess, and I loved it!

Happy Father's Day to the man of the house and partner in crime ... the guy astute enough to figure out that even though he had asked for waffles, I would somehow find something new to make so I could blog and IG it! No wonder I married you.