On the seventh day of Christmas … my true love gave to me … Cranberry, Pistachio & Ginger Shortbread.

If there is one cookie in this year’s Starry Night collection that positively shouts CHRISTMAS, it has to be this one. If you don’t overbrown the cookies, the sparkling red cranberries, green pistachios, and yellow lemon zest and candied ginger will glow like little jewels. To enhance this jewel-like effect, I like to keep the surface embellishment to just a light dusting of fine, clear sanding sugar, which lends sparkle but doesn’t detract from the colorful bits studding each cookie.

And the flavors–oh my! This is one cookie that is as interesting on the first bite as on the tenth bite. In fact, it’s hard to stop eating these delectable, crisp, yet chewy, little morsels. You might want to make a double batch, and hide one batch for yourself, because your family and friends will beg you mercilessly for all you will give them. Trust me, I’ve learned this lesson the hard way.

In true shortbread style, I roll these cookies just a little thicker than usual. This makes them good candidates for shipping, as they don’t break as easily as thinner cookies. The added thickness is also better as a vehicle for the cup and a half of chopped goodies that go into the dough. You don’t want to flatten these goodies too much in the roiling process.

If there is a trick to this recipe, it is in ensuring that the cranberries and candied ginger are super plump and moist to begin with. Do not use a forgotten bag of dried up cranberries or candied ginger for these cookies. That might not spell disaster in a more liquid batter, such as a muffin or cake, but here there is no moisture for these ingredients to grab. Plus, the baking itself is drying, potentially rendering these succulent, sparkling bits as hard and unchewable as pebbles.        

Cranberry, Pistachio & Ginger Shortbread

These cookies are loaded with interesting textures and flavors, all held together in a buttery, lemony shortbread. Be sure to use very fresh and moist dried cranberries and candied ginger.

INGEDIENT NOTE   Trader Joe’s sells super moist and very delicious candied ginger chunks. If you can get them, definitely use for this recipe.

2¾ cups King Arthur unbleached, all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1½ cups unsalted butter (3 sticks)
1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon lemon oil (or 1 teaspoon lemon extract)

½ cup dried cranberries, chopped
½ cup roasted, unsalted pistachios, chopped
½ cup moist candied ginger, chopped

Finishing
clear sanding sugar, optional

1. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and salt. Reserve.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar.
3. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and lemon oil, and incorporate.
4. Add the cranberries, pistachios, and candied ginger, and mix to distribute evenly.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix very briefly on very slow speed, just until a dough forms.
6. Divide the dough in half and set each half over a long sheet of plastic wrap or waxed paper. Flatten the dough to a 1-inch-thick disc.
7. Seal the plastic wrap around each disk of dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. (The sealed dough can be refrigerated for 2-3 days if necessary.)
8. On a lightly floured pastry cloth, using a covered and floured rolling pin, roll out one disk of dough at a time to 3/16-inch thick. Use a little flour to keep the dough from sticking if necessary, but try not to work too much additional flour into the dough.
9. Using a 2-inch cookie cutter of your choice, cut out the cookies.
10. Arrange cookies slightly apart on cookie sheets that have been lightly coated with vegetable spray.
11. If desired, sprinkle each cooking with fine sanding sugar.
12. Bake at 350° for 11-13 minutes, rotating pans at the halfway point to ensure even browning.
13. Remove from the oven, loosen each cookie with a thin spatula and let cool for 3-4 minutes on the pan. Remove cookies from the cookie sheet and place on a wire rack and cool completely.
14. Store airtight in layers, separated by wax paper rounds, in a cookie tin, in a cool, dry place. These cookies improve with age. They keep for 3-4 weeks. Cookies may also be frozen.

Makes about 5 dozen, 2” cookies.

There’s More

To follow along as we bake our way through this year’s Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Starry Night collection, see the kickoff post and the entire collection.

Also, check out last year’s collection, Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Deck the Halls.

I have been making cranberry quick bread every fall and winter for as long as I can remember. The first time I made it, I followed an excellent recipe in Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads, which was my bread bible for over a decade. But eventually, what seemed perfect to begin with began to beg for an update.

I felt the bread needed a little tanginess, a little additional tenderness, and a more pronounced orange flavor. The addition of yogurt added both tanginess and tenderness. But no matter how much orange zest and juice I added to the formula, it still didn’t capture the essence of a fresh, juicy orange. Reluctantly, I gave up, thinking the quest was failed and over. I actually stopped making cranberry bread, much to the bewilderment of MauiJim who loves it with a passion.

Then, lo and behold, a product was introduced into the world called Boyajian Orange Oil – Pure – 5 Oz (plus pure lemon oil and pure lime oil). What a striking difference it makes in this bread and in everything to which I add it. It doesn’t get more orange than this.

You may have to call around in your area to see who carries it. I typically find it in the baking aisle of upscale markets. It is worth going out of your way to obtain a bottle of this magical elixir. And although you will be SHOCKED by the price, gulp and pay it. Pure flavoring oils are used in much smaller amounts than extracts, so a 5-ounce bottle will likely last you for years.

I like making this bread in small loaf pans so that we can eat one right away and freeze a couple for later, or give as gifts. Wondrously, the bread is actually better in all ways the day after it is baked. It is a festive and welcome accompaniment to the holiday festivities that begin this week with Thanksgiving. Treat yourself!

Cranberry Orange Yogurt Pecan Bread

This cranberry bread is especially tender because of the softening effect the yogurt has on the gluten in the flour, and it has an appealing acid tang as well. This loaf is as appropriate for breakfast as for afternoon tea, especially during the holiday season.

vegetable oil spray

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 cups King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

¾ cup plain nonfat yogurt

¾ cup fresh orange juice

½ cup unsalted butter, cool room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, cool room temperature

½ teaspoon orange oil or 1 teaspoon orange extract

finely grated zest of 1 large orange (2-3 tablespoons)

1 cup fresh cranberries, each cut in half

1 cup lightly toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

1.Set an oven rack in the middle of the oven with plenty of room above it and preheat the oven to 350°.

2.Coat an 8½- x 4½- x 2½-inch (6-cup capacity) loaf pan (or three 2-cup capacity loaf pans) with vegetable spray, and then a light layer of flour, tapping out any excess flour that does not cling.(Or simply spray with oil and flour baking spray.)

3.In a medium mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Reserve.

4.In another mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt and orange juice. Reserve.

5.Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with sugar until pale and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

6.Add the eggs gradually, beating continuously to incorporate. Then add the orange oil and zest and mix briefly to incorporate.

7.Using the slowest speed of the mixer, add the flour mixture in three increments, alternating with the addition of 2 increments of the yogurt-orange juice mixture. The last addition should be the flour mixture. Do not over mix. Stop the mixer and finish incorporating the ingredients by folding together with a large spatula.

8.While folding, add the reserved cranberries and pecans, and incorporate gently and quickly. The batter should be well combined, but do not over mix or the bread will not be tender.

9.Spoon the batter immediately into the prepared pan, filling no more than three fourths full, level the top with a flexible spatula, set in the center of a preheated 350° oven, and bake for about 55-65 minutes. (Smaller loaves require about 40-45 minutes of baking.) The internal temperature of the loaf when tested at the center with a thin instant-read thermometer should read 180° when done. The traditional wooden skewer probe recommended so often as a test for doneness will still be a bit sticky at this point. Over baking this bread makes it dry.

10.Remove from the oven, let settle in the pan for 10 minutes, and then gently turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Do Ahead If well-wrapped to prevent moisture loss, this bread will keep at room temperature for a day or two; or longer in the freezer. It actually improves in texture and taste after a day or so or proper storage.

Makes one medium loaf; about sixteen 1/2-inch slices.

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Every year when fresh cranberries hit the markets, I immediately stock up, and then almost as immediately, make this delectable tart. OK, to tell the truth, I am in the markets a few weeks early, whining to whoever will listen, or muttering to myself even, about the absence of cranberries. “Shouldn’t they be in by now? Are they late this year? When do you think you will have them?”  When they FINALLY arrive, I experience an internal sigh of relief. Well, thank God already!

This year, on my first round with this excellent tart (which will be baked again for Thanksgiving and Christmas), I decided to try Maury Rubin’s City Bakery pastry crust, which I had read about some time ago in the Los Angeles Times. This crust is essentially what in French cuisine is called a pâte sucrée (paht soo-KRAY), or a rich and sweet dessert pastry, which I taught to students for many years at the Northwest Culinary Academy. There is a difference, however. Maury adds a small amount of cream, which has an extra tenderizing effect on the pastry.

I haven’t made pâte sucrée in a while and didn’t consider how extremely tender and short it is and how inappropriate those usually desirable qualities might be for this tart. In addition, the cream sent it over the tenderness edge. Although this pastry is truly wonderful, DO NOT use it for this tart, as it is much too fragile. The bubbling caramel sauce will break through the crust, making it ever so difficult to remove the tart from the tart pan–after the tart has cooled sufficiently for you to safely do so.  Suffice it to say that we ended up eating some of the small tarts directly from the pan, a messy (although still delicious) proposition.

On the positive side though, my adventures with Maury’s crust led me to his excellent little cookbook, titled, Book of Tarts: Form, Function, and Flavor at the City, which I ordered from Amazon and am now devouring. Maury’s tarts have a post modern feel. I love the way he has organized them by season. You must check out his Cranberry, Caramel, and Almond Tart, which looks amazing.  You can’t have too many recipes that combine cranberries and caramel. Nope, not possible.

Hazelnut Honey Toffee Tart

This recipe originally entered my files as an unusual Scandinavian Christmas cookie. Later, I met a native Italian cook who claimed a slightly different version as part of her culinary heritage. In January of 1982, Sunset magazine printed yet another variation, labeling it a dessert tart–and in the process Americanized the concept of nuts and caramel in a pastry crust.

This particular recipe is just enough different from the others I have seen and eaten–Scandinavian, Italian, American, or whatever–to make it very special. It does indeed make a lovely dessert tart, but serve in small wedges as it is quite rich.

If you want to make cookies, line an edged baking sheet with the pastry and proceed as directed. Cut into small triangles to serve.

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 I/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup local, artisan honey

1/2 cup cream

2 cups (6 ounces) hazelnuts, lightly toasted, skinned, and coarsely chopped (walnuts or almonds can also be used)

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1/2 teaspoon hazelnut extract (or almond or walnut extract)

*Sweet Short Crust Pastry: one, 1-inch deep, I0- to 11-inch diameter crust; or six, ¾-inch deep, 5-inch diameter crusts, partially-baked in removable-bottom quiche or tart pans.

Optional Garnish

Spiced Apple Cider Caramel Sauce or Cranberry Caramel Sauce (I will post this later)

Homemade or Haagen Daz Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

*NOTE For the pastry recipe, see Apple Cranberry Deep Dish Pie with Toasted Walnut Streusel.

1. Arrange the toasted, chopped hazelnuts in the pastry crust or crusts, on an edged cookie sheet (in case the caramel leaks or boils over the edge of the tart pan). Reserve.
2. In a large saucepan, combine the butter, sugar, honey, and cream.
3. Over moderately low heat, bring the mixture very slowly to a boil. (Wash down the sides of the saucepan occasionally with a pastry brush dipped in cold water to discourage sugar crystallization.) Stir constantly and make sure that the sugar dissolves before the mixture is allowed to boil. Otherwise the caramel will be granular.
4. Boil the mixture, without stirring, until a candy thermometer registers 240º. It will be a very light brown; don’t go too dark or the caramel will overcook (darken and harden too much) in the oven.
5. Add the flavoring extract and lemon peel, and stir together.
6. Remove the caramel from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes before pouring it into the partially-baked pastry shell. (There is nothing hotter or more dangerous than hot sugar syrup; be very careful.)
7. Bake the tart at 375º on the middle rack of the oven for 20-25 minutes. The tart will be bubbling and turn a medium honey-caramel color. (Again, if the caramel is too dark, the tart will be too stiff; if the caramel is not dark enough, the tart will be runny.)
8. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
9. Remove the outer ring of the tart pan and serve the tart on an attractive round platter. Cut into thin wedges with a very sharp knife. The tart should be served at room temperature and can be made a day ahead if desired.

Serves 12-14.

Hazelnut Honey Cranberry Toffee Tart

Add 1 to 1½ cups whole fresh cranberries along with the hazelnuts. No other adjustment is necessary.

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I planned to post Friday night, so that you could have the pleasure of baking this cake over the weekend and perhaps serving to family or friends, but mea culpa, mea culpa, the texture of the cake was not responding to my tender-loving intention and attention. It was okay but not memorable. And who wants to spend a weekend morning baking a just okay cake? Not me and certainly not you. Weekends are for spectacular baking, and I wanted this cake to be just that.

Thus, Saturday morning, I was up early baking the fourth attempt, after creating a recipe grid comparing the ingredient proportions of dozens of pumpkin cake renditions from reliable sources (A Passion for Dessertsby Emily Luchetti, Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe by Rebecca Rather, and Baking with Julia Savor the Joys of Baking with America’s Best Bakers by Julia Child, to name a few, plus every version of “vegetable” cake, bread, and coffee cake I have ever created. (Perhaps I should mention that I have created hundreds of cake recipes over my culinary career, especially during the years that I was a freelance writer for Cooking Light Magazine and Oxmoor House Publications. For some reason, they liked to throw me the dessert assignments. Thus, the difficulty getting this particular cake right caught me by surprise.)

The texture I was aiming for is open, moist, tender and not too dense. The addition of solid pack pumpkin tends to produce a dense cake, so the amount has to be moderated to allow the pumpkin flavor to come through, without weighing down the structure of the cake. (In my early attempts, I added too much.) I started testing using oil, hoping for a fast and easy muffin-method quick bread but after tasting a couple of renditions, moved to butter and the creaming method, which is more typical for cakes. It’s hard to beat the taste of unsalted butter.

I created a version using a small amount of molasses, which was delicious, but the pumpkin flavor was obliterated, so that went into the “develop later” recipe folder. Because I began this exploration with the idea of pumpkin with sour cream, I stayed with sour cream throughout the testing, although other acidic dairy products, such as buttermilk or yogurt, should also work here. The spicing is traditional pumpkin pie-with vanilla, orange, and fresh ginger added for good measure.

I did achieve, finally, a proper balance between the flour, sugar, eggs, fat, and total liquid (including the pumpkin), in large part due to the ratios so clearly presented in Shirley Corriher’s inestimable contribution to the world of fine baking, BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes.

Thus, this cake now has a wonderful texture. As the final step, to take the flavor over the top, I added the cranberry and hazelnut topping, which is Delicious with a capitol D. You really have to make this cake. Yes. You. Soon. Make this cake.

Oh gosh, I haven’t even mentioned the Spiced Apple Cider Caramel Sauce, which now has a post of its own. I made a double batch last week and am now pouring it over everything. Don’t you just love Fall?

Spiced Pumpkin Sour Cream Upside-Down Cake with Caramelized Cranberry Hazelnut Topping and Orange Cream

A wonderfully moist, tender, open-textured coffee cake with a baked-in topping of caramelized cranberries and hazelnuts. The entire cake is redolent with warm spices, fresh ginger, and orange. This cake stays moist for days if covered tightly with plastic wrap. It is unlikely to last that long, however.

Cranberry Hazelnut Topping
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups fresh, whole cranberries (if frozen, thaw)
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and coarsely chopped

Pumpkin Cake
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1½ teaspoons nutmeg
1½ teaspoons allspice
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
finely grated zest of 1 large orange
1 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup whole milk
½ cup unsalted butter, cool room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs, cool room temperature, lightly beaten
1 scant cup pumpkin puree (½ 15-ounce can)
1½ teaspoons vanilla

Accompaniments
Spiced Apple Cider Caramel Sauce
Orange Cream (recipe below)
coarsely grated zest of orange

1. Butter and lightly flour ( or spray with an oil plus flour baking spray) a 10-inch diameter, 3-inch deep, 10- to 12-cup capacity, nonstick, plain (no decorative shaping) coffee cake pan. (NordicWare makes this baking pan.)
2. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat oven to 350°.
3. To make the topping, in a medium mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar, cranberries and hazelnuts. Spoon into the bottom of the coffee cake pan and use a flexible spatula to distribute evenly.
4. To make the cake, in a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and salt. Whisk thoroughly for at least 30 seconds to completely distribute the leaveners. Stir in the orange zest and grated fresh ginger. Reserve.
5. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the sour cream and milk until smooth. Reserve.
6. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter and sugars together at medium speed until creamy and pale, scraping the sides of the bowl several times, about 5 minutes. Add the beaten eggs a little at a time, incorporating well after each addition.
7. Add the pumpkin, a spoonful at a time, mixing briefly between additions, just to incorporate. The batter will break at this point and look curdled. Don’t worry, in this batter, it is not a problem.
8. Add the dry ingredients in 3 batches, alternating with the sour cream and milk mixture, adding the final third of the flour last. Mix for a few seconds longer to ensure that all ingredients are incorporated. Remove the paddle attachment and finish the batter by folding it several times with a large flexible spatula. The batter should now look creamy and stable.
9. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and level the top with a flexible spatula.
10. Bake in the lower third of a 350º oven for about 50 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean but moist. If the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, pull the cake quickly out of the oven. Ideally, you want to pull the cake before this occurs. Over baking will cause the cake to be dry. The center temperature of the cake should read close to 210º on an instant-read thermometer and no higher.
11. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes only.
12. While the cake is still warm, turn it upside-down onto a serving platter. If some bits of cranberry and nuts cling to the pan, simply scoop them out with a flexible spatula and add them back to the top of the cake.
13. Serve while still warm with Apple Cider Caramel Sauce, Orange Cream, and a sprinkle of orange zest.

Makes one 10-inch coffee cake; serves 8-12.

Orange Cream

2 cups very cold heavy cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
3 drops orange oil

1. Using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the cream, and powdered sugar to the mixing bowl and mix at medium high speed until soft peaks are formed.
2. Add the orange oils and continue mixing at a slower speed until firm peaks are just formed.
3. Remove the whipped cream to a bowl or pastry bag fitted with a flower tip and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Makes 2 cups.
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