Creamy Cranberry Pie with a Pretzel Crust

This is an awkward post to write. The pie looks beautiful and it tastes good. However it’s not what I was expecting.

Expectations can make or break anything.

If there is a movie that has great reviews saying it’s the funniest movie in a decade; naturally the expectations will be high for a hilarious movie. Once the movie has been viewed and there was only a laugh here or there, disappointment will inevitably follow.

If reviews hadn't been seen previous to viewing the same hypothetical movie, the laughs may have been the same, but as there were no expectations there wouldn't be any disappointment.

I wanted this pie to be more cranberry and less cream cheesey. There was a lack of tartness that I was expecting from the cranberries to balance out the cream cheese and whipping cream.

It could have been because I used homemade cranberry sauce or it could just be the recipe? Plus the recipe for the filling made way too much. Almost enough for a whole other pie!

I saw the recipe in a Better Home and Gardens magazine I picked up when I was in America and immediately knew I wanted to make it. It looked like the perfect addition to any Thanksgiving dessert menu. My expectations were high being a Better Home and Gardens recipe as my sister swears by them.

Saying that this isn't a bad pie, it is definitely creamy so it delivers on the title. It also reminds me more of a cranberry cheesecake than that of a cranberry pie.

Plus, the salty pretzel crust is amazing and it does help balance the sweet creaminess of the pie.

It’s not bad! I just wanted it to be something different!

The recipe is available on the Better Home and Gardens site here, if you are interested in making it for your holiday season. Hey, you never know after reading this your expectations may be extremely low and therefore it will taste pretty darn good.

If I were to tweak it I would start by possibly halving all the ingredients. Then I think I would eliminate the sugar from the pie filling. The reason being that there is a lot of sugar in the homemade cranberry sauce and I don’t know that the pie actually needed it.

notes: If you are interested in this recipe in grams and milliliters instead of ounces and cups let me know I did convert it! 

Cranberries! Cranberries! Cranberries! {sauce, butter, sugared}

The only time I have used cranberries in my baking was for granola bars and I think once in cookies. They aren't a berry I tend to think of very much. I thought now, with Thanksgiving and then Christmas around the corner, it would be as good as time as any to change that.

Here are 3 ways I used fresh cranberries in preparation for my holiday dinners! 

Thanksgiving isn't Thanksgiving without a side of cranberry sauce. When I was young, the very look of the stuff put me off even wanting to try it. It was a weird red jelly like subsistence that came from a can. And even weirder people ate it with turkey. My younger self thought that very odd. Since I have started cooking my own Thanksgiving dinners I have understood better what the side dish could really add to a turkey dinner! Or to a turkey sandwich... umnum! 

I thought this Thanksgiving I would try making my own cranberry sauce from scratch. It is a very simple process and the cranberries themselves contain enough pectin to thicken without having to add any gelatin.

Cranberry Sauce

454g fresh cranberries

400g sugar

450ml water

Wash and rinse the cranberries removing any smooshie cranberries or stems.

Weigh out the sugar and add the water into a medium saucepan and heat on a low/medium heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar dissolves.

Add the cranberries. Turn up the heat slightly and watch as the cranberries start to burst! Once they are all burst and the sauce is slightly thickened, then take off the heat and chill for at least 3 hours. I jarred the sauce in 4 old jam jars. It makes quite a bit, but all the more to share with friends and family! Or just half the recipe!

Instead of offering a side of cranberry sauce with your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner why not offer a slice of cranberry butter! It works great on any dinner roll or spread on turkey! Or even better for those leftover turkey sandwiches! 

This cranberry butter makes a great gift too! If you don’t think you will need as much as this recipe please feel free to half it. It will keep in the fridge for a week and frozen for about 6 months as long as it’s properly wrapped and stored.

Cranberry Butter

250g unsalted butter

150g cranberry sauce

Beat the butter and cranberry sauce together for a few minutes until fully combined. It may look like it won’t come together, but keep beating it, it will come together!

Another way to use fresh cranberries is to make them all sugary! It works as a great way to top pies and cakes and other baked treats!! This is a little sticky and I used light corn syrup, which isn’t readily available in the UK. If you have a big Tescos near you that has a world food section, they sell it there. It’s where I found mine. You could try using golden syrup, but it has a yellowy tint, so not 100% sure how it would work?

Sugared Cranberries

cranberries

light corn syrup

sugar, granulated

The amount of each depends on how many you need or want for the baked treat you are making.

Lightly brush with a pastry brush a cranberry with the corn syrup and then immediately roll in the sugar. Set aside or unto your baked good!

Up next week Creamy Cranberry Pie! 

Monkey Bread

No one really knows where the name for this cinnamon sugar covered bread came from. It is possible it got its name because it resembles the fruit from a monkey-puzzle tree.

Once you've tasted it you won’t really care where the name came from only where you can you get some more!

It first appeared in women magazines in the USA back in the 1950’s. It has recently become popular because of the blogging world! It seems I have quite literally seen it everywhere in the last year or so.

Therefore it was no surprise when I saw a recipe appear in Ruby Tandoh’s book Crumb. I thought it was about time I tried it out for myself.

Monkey Bread reminds me a lot of a cinnamon roll, it’s the same components just differently executed. Chopped pecans or almonds could easily be layered between the dough balls before the second rise.

It’s super easy to make, like all yeast type bakes it’s more just the time. My kitchen is particularly cool so unless I move it into the lounge to rise sometimes it feels like it takes forever to rise properly.

But it’s well worth the time invested! It is a great way to get a sugar fix!

Monkey Bread

250ml full-fat milk

400g strong white flour

7g instant dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

30g unsalted butter, softened

Gently heat the milk in a small saucepan until it’s warm to the touch. Stir the flour and yeast together, then stir in the salt. Pour in the warm milk and add the soft butter. Mix with a wooden spoon until it’s combined enough to use your hand to bring it together to form a soft dough. Very lightly dust the work surface and knead for 10 minutes. It should become elastic and have a smooth shine to it. Leave in a bowl to rise for at least an hour.

Glaze:

80g unsalted butter, melted

2 ½ tsp cinnamon

100g light brown sugar

Grease a bundt pan with some of the melted butter. If it’s not greased the bread won’t come out of the tin. Mix the cinnamon sugar with the brown sugar and leave aside in a bowl. Once the dough is raised, break into small balls the size of a walnut. Then dip in the melted butter and then the light brown sugar, before placing in a very well greased bundt pan. Don’t worry about how they are placed in the bundt pan. Once all the sugar coated dough balls are in the pan leave to rise for another hour or until doubled in size. Heat the oven to 180C and once it’s heated and the dough has risen bake for 30 minutes.

Once it’s done tip it out on to a plate immediately and only wait a few minutes until it’s cool to the touch to start ripping off pieces! 

notes: Adapted from Ruby Tandoh’s Crumb, which I reviewed here.

Baking For the Love of It {book review Crumb by Ruby Tandoh}

Every time I write a book review I always feel it important to say that I don’t buy baking books any more. But that’s just not true; I do still buy baking and cook books.

The truth is I’m just pickier about which ones I buy. My shelves really are straining from the weight.

I hadn't known that Ruby Tandoh from the Great British Bake Off had written a book. When I had wondered into my local Sainsbury’s and saw it on the shelf curiosity got the best of me and I had a look through.

It visually appealed to me and after I read the intro I found myself putting it in my basket. I tend to stalk and contemplate a book with great scrutiny until I finally buy it. It’s like my husband when he’s deciding on some electronic gadget. However with this book it just felt right in my hands.

That probably sounds weird, but it’s true.

Once I sat down with a nice cup of coffee and started to read I was very impressed. It is more then just recipes; it’s a genuine intro to baking. If I were teaching Baking 101 I would have this on top of my list for recommended reading.

It’s informative not only of the how to of baking but of the why. Which is refreshing after the amount of baking books that to no fault of their own can leave a lot to guessing.

The book covers the basics of basic baking with the ability to take what you've learned and experiment on your own. The chapters include: Cake, Bread, Sweet Dough, Biscuits, Puddings & Desserts, Pies & Tarts, Pastries, and Extras.

There are quite a few recipes I wouldn't mind having a go of for instance the Orange & White Chocolate Loaf Cake or her Cornish Splits and I have always wanted to make Monkey Bread! I think I will have a lot of fun experimenting with this book!

There is a wealth of first hand experience in this book and I really enjoyed reading it! 

notes: I bought this book for my collection at Sainsbury's for 9.99 it came with an exclusive Sainsbury's booklet with a handful of extra recipes. All opinions are my own please see my contact/policy page above for more information. Stay tuned for the first recipe I tried from the book! 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I haven’t followed a TV series closely since Lost ended. I sometimes feel a bit left out because I really don’t watch a lot of TV.

My new co-workers are always talking about their favorite shows so, I've started to watch some more TV. You know so I don't feel so left out! 

One I have recently tried to get into is Made in Chelsea. Mainly because I have met Jamie Laing and I thought you know it’s a mix of reality TV and a sitcom.

I’m not so sure how much longer I will continue to watch; they are just so talky talk. The American guy makes me uncomfortable. Not sure why? Anyone else who watches think the same thing? Or have I just missed something in a previous season? 

Besides talking about TV shows I sometimes steer the conversation to cakes. It was one of these times that my co-worker exclaimed her love of pineapple upside down cake.

On Monday night (while watching Made in Chelsea) I made my first every Pineapple Upside Down Cake and took it to work with me Tuesday morning. 

I was a little worried about how it had turned out. I always worry about that when I make a cake for the first time and every time it's unnecessary.

Everyone enjoyed it, even the guy who doesn't like cake or pineapple said it was pretty good! Most importantly the lady who requested it absolutely loved it! So, I would say it was a success! 

I had found a few different recipes to try, but in the end I decided to adapt Nigella’s recipe from Nigella Express.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Square of butter

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

6-7 canned pineapple slices

3 tablespoons of pineapple juice

cocktail cherries

100g flour

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g unsalted butter, softened

100g golden caster sugar

2 medium eggs, room temperature

3 tablespoons of pineapple juice

Heat the oven to 200C. With the square of butter thickly layer the bottom of a cake tin, it can’t be a loose bottom or springform tin, the juices would run every where. Then sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of sugar evenly over the bottom. Then layer the pineapple slice on the bottom shaking as much juice from them as possible. Then place the cherries in the circles and in the open areas between the pineapple circles.

Then place the remaining ingredients minus the pineapple juice into a bowl of a stand mixer or food processor or just a big bowl. Mix together until smooth and then add the pineapple juice.
Gently spoon the batter over the pineapple slices and cherries, it will just cover them, so spread carefully.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Once out of the oven run a butter knife around the cake, then place a plate or serving platter over the tin and flip! And just like that Pineapple Upside Down Cake!

notes: Nigella’s recipe is also found on her official site. 

Fizzy Jellies

Some children will be going back to school today after a long week off, others like mine, still have an inset day.

I feel lucky at the moment to have a part time job that allows a lot of flexibility. Which means more time to play with my girls!

Although to be honest I have become chopped liver as of late. 

Who wants to play with me when they have each other and Monster High, their latest obsession?

Ah well, I do come in handy when it comes to making fun and easy treats. Also when they need anything else for that matter. 

Jelly is one of the things I let them make pretty much on their own, which they love!

Of course they love eating it as much as they love making it! They are so very impatient though and if it's not setting high enough in the fridge there tends to be finger marks in it!

There isn't much you can do with jelly, but layer it or possibly add some fruit or something or mold it in fun molds... okay there is a lot you can do with jelly! 

One of them is making it fizzy. Basically fizzy jelly is just replacing some of the water with 7-Up or any clear carbonated soda. Make sure the 7-Up or lemonade is chilled in the fridge before hand.

Fizzy Jelly

1-2 packages of different flavored jelly

7-Up or lemonade

water

Start with one flavor and break the jelly block into squares along the indented lines into a measuring jug. Fill with water up to the 150ml or ¼ pint mark. Place in the microwave for 10 seconds and stir until dissolved. If needed place in the microwave again for a further 10 seconds until it’s completely dissolved. Leave it to cool for a minute or two. Tilting the jug slightly (helps to keep the bubbles) pour 7-Up along the side of the jug to the 570ml or 1 pint mark. Then pour into whatever jelly molds you have or glass cups. Leave to set for about 4 hours in the fridge. 

Repeat as we did with a second flavor, you could do three or four different flavors if you had the patience and enough molds/glasses to divide into.

notes: Lemonade in the UK is a fizzy carbonated drink, not like the lemonade in the USA that kids sell at stands. Also "Jelly" is Jello and it comes in cube forms not a powder. I am curious if champagne or prosecco would be a good replacement to make them for adults? Might have to try it out sometime. The idea was inspired by Paddington Bear and his cookery book. 

Pizza Night {prize draw promotion}

Nights in are the new black.

A night out can be a lot of fun, but so can a night in especially when you have your friends and family with you!

One of my favorite nights in is Pizza Night with my little family! 

What cartoon characters love pizza? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

It is my all time favorite childhood cartoon and I am proud to say my girls love it too! It's a common pizza/movie night combo for us!

We make individual pizzas with all our favorite pizza toppings. Anything goes! 

Well, with in reason I mean we don't go as far as the turtles themselves, see suggestions by them below! 

Then after we're done with dinner we cuddle up with some dessert pizza and enjoy the movie! It's a great way to get the whole family involved and spend time together!

Pizza Dough

makes 4 individual pizzas, half the recipe for 2

400g Sainsbury’s Strong Canadian Bread flour

16g/2 pouches of Sainsbury’s Fast-Action dried yeast

pinch of salt

280ml luke warm water

extra virgin olive oil

In a mixing bowl mix the flour and yeast together, once combined put in the pinch of salt and mix again. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the warm water, plus a tablespoon of olive oil. Mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until it comes together as a wet-dough. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes on a floured surface, I always start out with a light dusting then add about another two light dustings while kneading. Once it’s smooth and elastic, lightly oil a separate bowl for the dough ball to rest cover with clingfilm and rest for 25 minutes.

While it’s resting lightly oil two baking sheets/trays and heat the oven to 200C.

Once it’s rested gently break it into four separate pieces. Use a sharp floured knife if you want a more even division of the dough. Roughly spread out into a circle or an oval as we did to fit on our trays.

Top with sauce and a choice of your favorite toppings, suggestions listed below, before baking in the oven for 18 minutes or until the edges just start to turn brown. After 10 minutes I switched the pizzas from the top shelf to the bottom shelf to insure even coloring for all the pizzas, but you don’t have to do this. Serve immediately with salad or any sides that you like!

Suggested Pizza Toppings

passata flavored or with added oregano and garlic salt to taste

tomato paste, just a squeeze

cheese, mozzarella is always a favorite

ham/sausage/pepperoni/pineapple/mushrooms/peppers/onion/olives/etc… 

Ninja Turtle Suggested Pizza Toppings:

Pepperoni & Ice Cream
Jelly Bean & Sausage
Anchovie & Peanut Butter
Whipped Cream
Sashimi
Bananas & Sausage
Cereal (Raisin Bran, Cornflakes, Coco Puffs)

Then for dessert we had pizza again! This is inspired by an American treat sometimes called cactus bread. I used mixes for this one to save on time and cost! Start this about 10 minutes before the pizzas are done or just after you've rotate the pizzas if you have done that.

Dessert Pizza

1 pkg (145g) Sainsbury’s pizza base mix

1 pkg (225g) Sainsbury’s crumble mix,

1-2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar (Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference or make your own)

100g icing sugar

1-2 tbsp of milk

Follow the instructions on the back of the pizza base mix package, leave to rise in front of the already heated oven. Once you've eaten your amazing pizzas from above your pizza dough should be risen, poke a few holes in it with a fork before spreading over the cinnamon sugar, then spread over the crumble mix. There will be leftover crumble mix because you don’t need very much to cover the top of this pizza. Bake in the oven according to the packaging. Both the pizza base and crumble mix bake for about the same amount of time.

Before it’s out of the oven make the glaze by mixing the icing sugar with the milk. Once it’s out of the oven while it’s still warm drizzle over the glaze. You might have a little leftover, but that’s okay you can use it as dip for the dessert pizza. Enjoy! 

That is one of my favorite nights in, but I have had many date nights in with my husband and occasionally I'll have a wine night in with my girl friends. So.... 

Prize Draw Closed

notes: In association with Sainsbury’s, all opinions are my own please see my contact/policy page for more information. Ninja Turtle topping suggestions are taken from the first season of the original show. Pizza dough recipe adapted from Gino D'acampo's Italian Home Baking