Cranberry Orange Yogurt Bread and Homemade Yogurt...A Holiday Favorite!

With Halloween almost over, it's time to start getting the Thanksgiving and Christmas goody list together. I love to bake at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I tend to concentrate on desserts for Thanksgiving and then the next week it's time to start baking all those ooey gooey goodies for Christmas.

Cranberry Orange Bread...A Holiday Favorite...

This year I'm starting my baking with Cranberry Orange Yogurt bread.  I went to a Cranberry Festival in Wisconsin in October and purchased a huge bag of fresh cranberries. One of Ocean Spray's cranberry bogs is located in Stone Lake Wisconsin.  I love those little gems. You can make so many bakery items with cranberries. Don't forget with Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, It's time to also make the cranberry relish. At the end of this post is a recipe for cranberry fruit relish. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll be making it for Thanksgiving this year!

The recipes for the above are located at the bottom of this post. Lots of berry flavored jams, Cranberry Orange Yogurt Bread and homemade yogurt...which is delicious and above all easy!

A New Recipe...

I tried a new recipe for cranberry bread. It called for yogurt instead of oil or butter. Because I will be  making so many loaves, it would cost a fortune for the yogurt. So, a friend of mine at work gave me a recipe for home-made yogurt. I had tried this recipe before and absolutely loved it. I like plain vanilla yogurt and this recipe makes a lot of yogurt. I'm including this recipe along with the cranberry bread recipe.

I do hope you have a chance to try both of them....the bread turned out great with not a whole lot of money spent! Now there's money left over to buy those little grandchildren a little something extra...

Homemade French Vanilla Yogurt...

This holiday bread is so good and so moist. I'm sure It's because of the yogurt. I added this recipe because I've made homemade yogurt before. It's really good and when making a lot of loaves of bread this yogurt comes in very handy. You can use this yogurt in everything. It's wonderful with fruit and cereal, or just plain. This recipe was a great find... Thank you Rachel!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 gallon whole milk (I purchased a gallon for $1.38 in a plastic bag)
• 3 T. yogurt (I purchased Yoplait single serving French Vanilla)
• 2 T. vanilla
• 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Boil milk on high (watch it so it doesn't boil over). Take off heat and mix in vanilla and sugar...leave it alone until it's room temperature (90 minutes).
2. Whisk 1 cup mix with 3 T. yogurt starter (Yoplait single serve French Vanilla); then mix with remaining boiled milk.  Fill four + glass quart sized jars (sterilized) and put on (sterilized) lids. Place into a cooler. Dump 16 cups (1 gallon) warm water into a cooler.  Close the lid and walk away for 4-6 hours.  Finished product will be thicker after refrigerating.
3. Refrigerate for up to 6 weeks.  

 Cranberry Orange Bread Recipe...

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c. vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped (opt)
• 2 c. all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 c. orange juice
• 1 T. orange zest
• 1 1/2 c. fresh cranberries

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
2. Whisk together yogurt, sugar, egg, and orange juice in a large bowl. Sit in the flour mixture and then stir in the orange zest, cranberries, and walnuts.
3. Scrape into a greased loaf pan.  Bake at 350 degrees F until a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour.
4. Cool 10 minutes, then invert on a wire rack. Flip over and cool. Slice and Serve.

Here are a few more cranberry recipes that I found on the internet. I haven't tried this version of Cranberry Fruit Relish, but I'm going to try it for Thanksgiving. I love scones, and this recipe looks wonderful. Another one that I haven't tried yet, but I'm sure I will during the Holiday season. And finally Grand Marnier Cranberry Pound Cake...you can't go wrong with that combination.

Cranberry Fruit Relish...Taste of Home

Cranberry Orange Scones...Alattefood.com

Grand Marnier Cranberry Pound Cake...Taste of Home

One Final Thought...

The Holidays are so much fun. I love canning, so naturally everyone gets many food items that I have canned in the fall. Along with the canned goods, comes the different quick breads. I throw in a bunch of baked Christmas cookies and homemade caramels and English toffee. A great Christmas basket of yummies for everyone! This is such a great time of year to share all those wonderful homemade goodies.

I do hope you enjoyed this post. A lot of red items for the Holiday season. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Always remember..."Life's short...eat dessert first!"...words to live by! 

www.handmadebyhoffy.com

Halloween Cookie Cake and Hershey Nugget Wrappers...another twofer!

Halloween is just 10 days away! This year has gone by so fast. I've always said when Halloween is over, Christmas is right around the corner...YIKES!!!...LOL! But for right now let's concentrate on Halloween. In this post you're going to find a fun recipe for a Halloween Cookie cake and Halloween Hershey Nugget wrappers.

First up...A Halloween Cookie Cake...

I thought it would be fun to post one of the easiest treats you can make for your kids, family and friends...a Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake. I love cookie cakes because you can express your creativity with little effort. All you need is a pizza pan, a good chocolate chip cookie recipe, some buttercream frosting and a few embellishments like candy eyes, spiders, ghosts, or witches' hats. Whatever trips your trigger.

Let's Get Started with the Halloween Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake...

Before we start, you will need the following:

• Pizza pan
• A good chocolate chip cookie recipe (I have included my chocolate chip cookie recipe for your convenience)
• A good buttercream frosting recipe (I have included my buttercream recipe...also for your convenience)
• Embellishments (I used candy eyes and plastic spiders)
• Halloween M&M's (I purchased mine at Walmart)

Nestle's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe...

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) margarine (I use margarine because it makes a softer cookie). The Nestle recipe calls for 1 cup, 2 sticks of butter.
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 cups (12 oz. pkg.) chocolate chips (semi-sweet chips, or milk chocolate chips, your choice)
• chopped nuts (opt.)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat margarine, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Fold in flour mixture gradually. Stir in chocolate morsels (and nuts) if you desire.
5. Spread mixture onto a greased pizza pan making sure the dough is spread evenly around the pan.
6. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Check after 12 minutes. The dough should be golden brown.
7. Cool to room temperature until ready to decorate.

I'm sure everyone has made chocolate chip cookies, but for those who are novices, here is a picture tutorial of how to make them...

First grease pizza pan and set aside. Mix the sugars and margarine (butter) next until creamy.

Add 2 eggs, 1 at a time until incorporated. Next add vanilla and mix until smooth, then add flour. I usually add the flour in 3 dumps so flour doesn't fly all over the place.

Spread the cookie batter on the cookie sheet completely. Make sure that it's spread evenly.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown. The cookie will deflate a little while cooling.

Here is your giant chocolate chip cookie. Once decorated, it will be so delicious. It's so easy and so much fun to make. Next, it's time to decorate.

Time To Decorate...

Once again, I made this cake as easy as possible. Divide the cake into 4 sections (each section will have 1 each circles of orange, green and purple frosting. Start with a green circle, then a purple circle and then and orange circle. Repeat this around the cookie. Add some embellishments. I used Halloween M&M's and little plastic spiders that I found at Michaels. I purchased the candy eyes and Halloween M&M's at Walmart. I got a little carried away with the eyes, but it still looks cute!

Using Decorating Tips...

If you have never used decorating tips, this might be a good time to learn. You can purchase plastic frosting bags at Walmart, along with the decorating tips. I used a 1M "star tip" for this cookie cake. The tips are very inexpensive along with the plastic decorating bags. You will also need icing colors. I used green, purple and orange. These can also be purchased at Walmart or craft stores.

          

Buttercream Frosting Recipe...

Buttercream Frosting 

I doubled this recipe for the cookie cake. Pizza pans are pretty large and I needed more frosting than I thought. So double the ingredients below so you don't run out of frosting.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1/2 c. margarine or butter
• 4 C. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla 
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• milk   (add a little at a time to the consistency that you want)

Directions:

1. Beat shortening and margarine/butter until the color is almost white.  This will take a few minutes
2. Add powdered sugar (a cup at a time)...once again, you don't want powdered sugar flying all over, vanilla, almond extract and about a scant 1/4 cup milk and beat until blended.  Add more milk to get to your consistency. Remember a little milk goes a long way.  Add more milk by tablespoons.

And...Here It Is!

So simple and so delicious. An easy, fun confection for Halloween!!!

Next up...Halloween Hershey Nugget Wrappers...

Before getting started, please print out the nugget wrappers and labels. Hit the "PRINT" button below the labels. All instructions are included on the printables.

This is another very easy project. All you'll need is some Hershey Nuggets, paper, a printer, pretzel bags (you can purchase them at Walmart, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, or JoAnne's), and a stapler.  They are so cute and your kids will love making them. I've made all the wrappers for you. All you need to do is download them and print them. Leave the wrapping and cutting for the kids. For more information on the nugget wrappers, scroll past the cookie cake instructios.

There are so many simple projects out there to make. I love finding new ideas and then creating my way and then writing about them. I've been a crafter for way too many years, but I never tire of trying new fun things for holidays, birthdays or any occasion. I guess you could say it's been my passion for a lifetime. My grandkids call me "Martha" (LOL!).

So, on with my post. I decided that sharing simple, easy ideas might spark someone's interest and they too might become another "Martha".

Here's a List of  Items You Will Need to Make the Wrappers

Before we get started, gather the following...

• Hershey Nuggets (your choice of flavor)

      

• Pretzel Bags (can be purchased at Walmart, or any craft store with cake decorating items, or online
• Printables from Handmade by Hoffy on this post
• scissors, 
• glue or double faced tape
• ribbon, jute, wire ties, ribbon or anything you want to tie the bag closed with or just use a stapler.
• copy paper for printables
• construction paper for trays
• cardstock for label (opt.)
• stapler

There's very little cost to these wrappers. A fun project to do with the kids! It puts lots of smiles on those little faces!

I think these wrappers are so dang cute! They turned out just the way I wanted them to.

I love fall colors and these wrappers are so autumny...if that's a word. I love the combination of orange, green and purple. Great colors for Halloween items.

Instructions for Making Nugget Wrappers and Tray

Although I have included the instructions for the nugget wrappers in the printables, I thought I would also include the instructions on this post. The wrappers are pretty easy. Just print them and cut them out.

The tray is very easy also. I use a ScorPal, but if you don't have a Scor pal, you can easily use the round edge of a paper clip and a ruler. Cut the size that you are interested in...1 7/8"X 4" for a 4-pack of nuggets, 1 7/8"X 6" for a 6-pack, and 1 7/8"X 8" for an 8-pack.

Score the construction paper or cardstock 1/4" on both long sides using method above. Once scored, fold on score line to give each side an edge where the nuggets will be held in place.

Place a piece of double faced tape down the center of the tray or a dot of glue....whatever you have available. Then place nuggets in the tray. The tape or glue holds them in place so they don't move around. If using glue, wait until the glue is dry before you put in to the pretzel bag.

Insert your tray of nuggets into the pretzel bag. (These can be purchased at Walmart, or craft stores that have a cake decorating department or online. They are very reasonable.

Cut out the topper and and staple to the top of the pretzel bag.  The pretzel bags do come with silver ties if you don't want to use the topper.

.
And that's it...pretty easy and very creative!

One Final Thought...

I do hope you enjoyed this post. Like I've said a million times, I love to create! It's my passion. I also love to see smiles on faces. I think the Cookie Cake and the nuggets will do just that. Have a great autumn and a "Spooky Halloween"! Enjoy...

Always remember..."Life's short...eat dessert first!"...words to live by! 

www.handmadebyhoffy.com