Cranberry Shortbread Bars with Almond Streusel

Since today is Thanksgiving, I wanted to make a special dessert for my foreign students. Sadly, I have already made both pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie (as well as a pumpkin cake), so I had pretty much exhausted the traditional Thanksgiving dessert. (I had considered a pecan pie, but I really wanted to try something other than a pie.) After an extensive search of Pinterest for Thanksgiving recipes, I finally came across these cranberry bars - and since cranberries are all the rage in Korea right now, I was actually able to find a bag of frozen cranberries!

For the recipe, I didn't have an 8" square pan, so I had to divide the recipe between my 8" round pan and a small loaf pan I bought months ago. The recipe itself wasn't that difficult - though it does require many steps and messes a lot of dishes. I had never really made a shortbread before, but found it to be fairly easy (though a very dry dough.) I found that I actually had the best luck using my fingers to mix the dough (since the heat helped melt the butter.) Then, I just refrigerated the mixed dough for a few minutes to lower the temperature again. While the shortbread was baking, I made the streusel and filling - both without problem.

When the bars were finished baking, I discovered I have a very dense, but very delicious dessert! (I can't believe how much these bars weight!) The original recipe (with the square pan) instructed that you use leave long edges to the parchment paper line so that you can remove the bars by lifting up. I was unable to do this with my round pan, but did to it with the loaf pan; I have to say, I preferred it without the extra parchment (though still use it on the bottom.) With my loaf pan, the middle layer of cranberry formed a glue against the parchment paper - I actually had to cut the paper way! For my round pan, I was able to merely scrape the sides with a knife and then carefully turn the bars out with the help of a kitchen towel - the bars are like a solid brick, so it wasn't a problem.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars with Almond Streusel
(yields one 8" square pan of bars

For the Shortbread:
1½ c. flour
½ c. sugar
¼ t. salt
10 T. cold butter, cut into pieces

For the Streusel
½ c. flour
⅓ c. light brown sugar
⅓ c. sugar
¼ t. salt
¼ T. butter, cut into pieces
½ c. sliced almonds

For the Filling
8 oz. fresh or frozen cranberries
¾ c. sugar
½ c. water
1 t grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Sift together flour, sugar, and salt for the shortbread. Mix in butter until large clumps of dough form. Place the dough into a parchment lined 8" square pan and press into place with a glass or measuring cup. Prick the dough with a fork, and bake until just starting to brown at the edges (about 25 minutes.) For the streusel, sift together flour, sugars, and salt. Add the butter, using your fingers to mix together. When completely mixed so that not flour remains, add the almonds. Break into kidney bean sized pieces and refrigerate. For the filling, mix the cranberries, sugar, and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil (stirring occasionally). Reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer until the mixture becomes thick and syrupy (about 8 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat and stir in zest. When the shortbread if finished, reduce the oven temperature to 325°F (162°C). Pour the cranberry filling over the shortbread and spread evenly. Top with an even layer of streusel and gently press the streusel into the filling. Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until the filling is bubbling and streusel is golden brown. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool on a wire rack for an additional 30 minutes.

Sugar Cookies with Colored Dough

I have been looking for new cookie ideas - particularly ones for the upcoming holiday season. Since the standard American sugar cookie coated in buttercream frosting is far too sweet for most Korean, I have been looking for ways to "decorate" the traditional sugar cookie without the need for all the extra frosting. I was searching Pinterest last week and came across this pin - which I thought was the perfect solution to my problem!

I made the dough according to the instructions and divided into sections to color. Sadly, my cheap plastic cookie cutters from Daiso (the Korean equivalent of a Dollar Store) didn't work so well. If I tried to make a thicker cookie, the dough got stuck in the cutter. I eventually got a stack of yellow stars and began to mold lengths of plain dough around the shape as instructed. Unfortunately, this completely failed! My original star shape was destroyed, and I ended up with a mess that looked much more like an egg yolk than a star! Fortunately, I was at least able to again separate the yellow and plain doughs. (If I was going to try this again, I might try freezing the yellow stars so that they hold their shape a bit better.

Since the original technique failed, I had to revert to plan B. I cut small yellow stars with my smallest cutter; then, I cut larger stars from the plain dough and made a smaller hole in the center. I, next, had to fill the holes with my yellow stars. It was a bit labor and time intensive, but I'm happy with the final results.



Sugar Cookies #2
(yields 2½ dozen cookies)

1½ c. flour
1 t. baking soda
½ c. sugar
½ c. butter, cold
½ egg
½ t. vanilla extract
food coloring (optional)

In a small bowl, sift together flour and baking soda. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture in parts. Once dough has formed, divide into three parts and color one part (optional.) Roll the color dough to about ¼" and cut with the smallest cookies cutter available. Roll the plain dough to the same thickness and cut with a larger cookie cutter. Use the original (smaller) cookie cutter to make a second cut in the cookie center. Fill with the colored-dough shapes. Bake at 350°F (176°C) for 8-10 minutes. Remove cookies before the edges brown.

Apple Pecan Cake with Caramel Glaze

After the sucess of my pumpkin cake last week, my students requested (demanded) that I make another cake this week. I had found this recipe for an apple pecan cake on Pinterest and thought it would be a nice fall recipe to try. This cake proved to be an extremely easy cake to prepare (though I'm not quite sure why it calls for quite so much vanilla extract!) The original recipe called for an 9"x13" pan, but I simply halved it and prepared it in an 8" round pan. (The original posting said that the secret to this cake was a thin, flat surface that would allow the glaze to seep in.)

The original recipe also stated that this cake would bake in 30-35 minutes; however, mine required at least 40 minutes (though my oven temperature might have been lower than the required 325°F since my toaster oven doesn't have clear settings.) After letting the cake cool, I prepared the glaze without any difficulties (though my glaze is far darker than that in the original recipe - I believe this is because I used a very dark brown sugar.) Before pouring the thin glaze atop the cake, I pierced the top of my cake with a fork (like you would for a tres leches cake to help the cake absorb more of the glaze.) I also discovered that the glaze is extremely messy when first poured over the cake. When I transferred the glaze, about half of the glaze ran off onto my cake platter. I had to transfer the cake to another plate and and re-pour the glaze collected at the bottom of the original platter. If I were making this recipe again, I believe I would allow the glaze to cool and solidify more (maybe 10-15 minutes) before coating the cake.



Apple Pecan Cake
(yields one 8"-9" round cake layer)

¾ c. vegetable oil
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1½ T. vanilla extract
1½ c. flour
½ t. salt
½ t. baking soda
½ t. nutmeg
½ t. cinnamon
½ c. pecans, chopped
1½ c. apples, diced

For the glaze:
¼ c. butter
½ c. brown sugar
½ t. vanilla
¼ c. milk

Preheat oven to 325°F (162°C). Mix vegetable oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well blended. Sifted together the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Add to the liquid mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in apple chunks and pecans. Pour into a prepared 8"-9" round cake pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes (or until a knife comes out clean.) Turn onto a wire rack and allow to cool complete. For the glaze, combine all ingredients in a saucepan and mix over medium heat until the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Pour the mixture atop the cake while the glaze is still hot. Allow to cool again before serving.

Pumpkin Cake

After my success with pumpkin purée last month, I decided to buy another pumpkin and try my luck again. I was originally hoping to try something savory with my new pumpkin - but after having it sit on my desk for two-weeks, I decided it was time to simply make another sweet. (Though, fortunately, the pumpkin was big enough that I have extra purée left over to try sometime new - maybe a soup.) Anyway, when I decided to make another pumpkin dessert, I searched online and found this delightful looking cake from Martha Stewart.

I found the recipe rather easy to follow (a rare feature for a recipe from Stewart!) The only problem I encountered with the recipe was the original "brown butter icing" that the recipe calls for. It states that you should brown the butter for about 10-minutes over medium-high heat; I did this over low heat for about 8 minutes and got nothing but a burnt butter nightmare! In the end, I decided to settle for my go-to frosting of powdered sugar, milk, and a small about of vanilla for flavoring. Fortunately, the end result was a beautiful cake that is as delicious as it is beautiful!


Pumpkin Cake
(yields 8"-9" single-layer cake)

½ c. (1 stick) butter
1⅔ c. flour
1 t. cinnamon
¼ t. nutmeg
¼ t. ginger*
½ t. salt
½ t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
1½ c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. pumpkin purée
½ c. warmed (110°F) milk


Sift together flour, spices, baking powder, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the two eggs. Add the pumpkin purée. Add the warmed milk. Add the flour mixture to the liquids until just combined. Pour into a buttered/floured 8'-9" round pan. Bake at 350°F (176°C) for about 55 minutes - or until the center is cooked (test with a knife or toothpick.) Allow the finished cake to cook in the pan for about 20 minutes. Turn the cake over onto a wire rack and coll completely. Frost with Martha's brown butter icing or my simple glaze (1 cup powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla, and 2-3 tablespoons milk.)

Butterscotch Cookies

This butterscotch cookies recipe originated from a women's group in my hometown; every summer, they would bake these cookies and sell them at our county fair. As a child, these were one of my absolute favorite treats. I had never actually tried to bake them until now - though I remember whispers of horror stories from others who had tried this recipe (and had a cookie that failed to live up to the original!)

For me, the hardest part about this recipe was actually preparing them several days before I actually needed them. (Normally, my baking is more of a last minute decision; thinking several days ahead was difficult!) Fortunately, everything on my ingredient list was readily available in my kitchen - though I had order the cream of tartar online many months ago (since it's not available in Korea.) While I was preparing the dough, I was chatting with a Korean friend who was quite curious about why the dough needed to be frozen. I hypothesized that it had something with chilling the fats (the butter) so that it would bake at a much slower rate. However, once I'd finished mixed all the ingredients, I discovered that this explanation was completely wrong! The finished dough has the consistency of peanut butter (and is practically impossible to shape into a loaf); it needs to be frozen so that it can maintain its shape! I created a very rough looking loaf (using the foil to help.) Fortunately, after freezing for a couple hours, I was able to actually re-shape the dough into a true loaf (a single tube that was evenly shaped, and about the size of a rolling pin.)

When I went to bake the cookies a couple days later, I found that I had absolutely no trouble slicing and baking the cookies (though the dough was still much softer than I would have expected after several days in the freezer.) I will also say that my cookies did not really rise or flatten out during baking (which was nice since I was able to bake several cookies at one time.) Fortunately, the cookies were loved by everyone. (I sampled a small piece, and they definitely have a strong butterscotch flavor!)


Butterscotch Cookies
(yields about 6 dozen cookies - depending on how large or small you make your loaves)

2 c. brown sugar
½ c. butter, softened
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1½ t. cream of tartar
½ t. salt
3⅓ c. flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, and salt. Add to the liquid ingredients. Shape into two rolls and wrap in aluminium foil. Freeze for at least 24 hours. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F (175°C.) Cut frozen dough into ¼ inch (½ cm) slices and bake for 9-10 minutes.