Get Your Chef On ~ Cranberries

    So first off, let me just take a minute to gloat before I have to pass on my GYCO Crown to the next winner!  If you missed my Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes, you seriously need to go check them out.  They pretty much kick boot-tay!   Ok so, moving on.  I was so excited for this round of GYCO.  I got the dates wrong on when the secret ingredient was going to be revealed so I waited impatiently for a week to see what ingredient I was going to get to use to make my next prize winning dish.  And then it happened.  Those two evil ladies conspired against me & had to pick the damn holiday berry!  

    In case the evil or the damn didn't give it away, I'm not a fan of cranberries.  But just actual cranberries.  You can set a can of jellied cranberry sauce in front of me & I'll eat the whole thing.  I'll drink cranberry juice without hesitation.  You fix true cranberry sauce made with whole cranberries, I won't touch it.   Hi, my name is Jaime & I have some crazy texture eating issues.  

    But I put my big girl panties on and I got to work.  I searched & searched for recipe ideas.  From my searching I learned that quite a few people like cranberries in their cookies.  I knew I wanted to do a dessert again but I didn't want to go with just a standard cookie so I put my thinking cap on & came up with a holiday whoopie pie!   Oh and Julie & Jenn aren't really evil.  I <3 them both very much! for now, we'll see what happens when they reveal the next secret ingredient, lets be sure to steer clear of blue cheese please ladies ;)  

 

ALMOND WHOOPIE PIES WITH CRANBERRY BUTTERCREAM

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box (18.25 ounces) white cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons almond extract

 

CRANBERRY BUTTERCREAM:

• 1/2 cup cranberry juice
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 3/4 cup butter flavored shortening
• 2 pounds powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

LETS COOK:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, water, butter & almond extract. Batter will be thick.
3. Drop the batter by 1/2 tablespoons onto the baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Use the back of a spoon to slightly flatten out the dough.
4. Bake the cookies for 8 minutes or until the cookies are set ~ just starting to brown.
5. Cool for a minute or two on the baking sheet then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. While the cookies are cooling, combine the dried cranberries & cranberry juice in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the berries have softened. Let cool completely.
7. In a large bowl combine the butter, shortening and vanilla. Beat with a mixer until smooth.
8. Add the cranberries with the juice ~ I spooned out the cranberries & added them first then slowly added the juice to not overpower the flavor or make the frosting to runny.
9. Beat in the powdered sugar one cup at a time until you reach your desired consistency. I used all but about 1 cup of the two pounds but I like my frosting thick.
10. Create your whoopie pies by spreading half of the cookies with a generous spoonful of the cranberry buttercream. Top with the remaining cookies, pressing down lightly to seal.

 

NOTES:  

*I ran my cranberries & the juice through my food processor after they had cooked & cooled to chop them up some but I'm not sure that it would be necessary ~ the mixer chopped them up some too

THIS RECIPE PROUDLY SHARED AT THESE FABULOUS PARTIES

 

 

Now be sure to stop by & check out the rest of the GYCO ~ Cranberry recipes!!

 



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Mom's Test Meal Mondays #17

 

Welcome to another week of Mom's Test Meal Mondays!! 

 

This week to get us ready for the Thanksgiving holiday we are talking all about pumpkin recipes!  Sweet or savory, pumpkin is such a versatile & perfect ingredient for Thanksgiving Day.  I can't wait to see y'alls favorites!

 

My wonderful co-host, Cindy from Vegetarian Mamma, is getting the party started with an amazing pumpkin muffin recipe!  Not only does it contain chocolate chips but it's also GF!!

 

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Okay, these little puppies are really good! I love chocolate and I love pumpkin! Put them together in an easy to make muffin recipe and you have perfection! I found this recipe on Moneysavingmom.com Please visit her site; you will fall in love with it! I did adapt her recipe by using dairy free butter and gluten free flour. I used Better Batter for the flour; I would highly recommend that as well! My recipe did contain eggs, that was the only allergen. So for us that means no soy, dairy, peanuts, gluten or tree nuts. Remember that this recipe originally had regular flour and butter. So we know it tastes good both ways! I really like that the recipe makes 2 dozen! Makes for some easy freezing cooking!! To see the recipe in original format, please click HERE.

Here is my adapted recipe:  

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 (16 oz.) can pureed pumpkin
• 1 1/2 cups oil
• 3 cups flour (we used Gluten free Better Batter)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 package chocolate chips (we used Enjoy life, allergen free)

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil until smooth.
2. Add in dry ingredients and mix well.
3. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Lightly spray your muffins tins with oil. Fill each muffin spot 1/2- 3/4 full.
5. Bake 16-20 minutes at 400 degrees. (Mine were actually done at 14 minutes) Be careful...they burn quickly!

 

Have you ever had a pumpkin muffin?

 

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So now let's party!
 

Remember this week's theme is Pumpkin Recipes.

The party is open to any and all of your favorite recipes, but only recipes that fit the theme will be featured at the end of the week. :)

 

Just the reminders:

• Myself & Cindy would love to have you as new friends!! Please take a minute to follow us both via GFC, Twitter, FB, or any other social media you prefer
• You are welcome to link up any recipe you like but only recipes that are consistent with the week's theme will be featured at the end of the week.
• Please feel free to grab the button in the sidebar or add a direct link back to the week's party that you are linking up to
• And finally, go make some new friends ~ spend a few minutes checking out some other recipes that you might want to try out yourself & comment! Everyone loves comments!!
• Please note that by linking up you are giving permission to use the photos along with a link back to your post in the Mom's Test Meal Mondays Features post & on Mom's Test Kitchen's Social Media Networks

 

And remember, if anyone is interested in being a co-host for Mom's Test Meal Mondays, please email me at momstestkitchen (at) yahoo (dot) com! I'd love to have you! 



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Mom's Test Meal Mondays Features #16

 

How was every one's week?  Can you believe we're less than a week away from Thanksgiving??  Which means we're barely over a month away from Christmas??!!  I feel so behind already!!

 

Did everyone get their carb fix this week??  I know I did!!  There were so many delicious recipes shared!  This weekly party has curbed my Pinterest addiction!  I've got so many great recipes from y'all each week that I don't even have time to go find anymore on Pinterest!!

 

I want to say thank you to my wonderful co-host Laura from Storybook Reality!  I am honored that she shared such a wonderful family recipe with us!

 

So now let's get to the carb overload!!

This week's top 3 most viewed bread recipes:

 

#3

 Pull-Apart Garlic Cheesy Bread

from From The Kitchen Of Mama Harris

 

 

 

#2

 Garlic-Ranch Buttermilk Kaiser Rolls

from In Cindy's Kitchen

 

 

 

#1

 Snickerdoodle Donut Muffins

from Sweet Little Bluebird

 

 

 

 

All three of you feel free to grab a features button! And congratulations!!

The features will be pinned to my MTM Monday's Features Pinterest Board

which you can check out HERE, tweeted & posted on FB!

<a href="http://momstestkitchen.blogspot.com"> <img src="http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r558/jailynmtk/featured1.jpg" border="0"/> </a>

Thank you all again for joining me this week! And I hope to see y'all again this coming Monday as we get ready to share our favorite pumpkin recipes.  I will be joined by my wonderful co-host Cindy from Vegetarian Mamma!! So be sure to join Cindy & I Sunday night at 9:00 pm CST!!!

 

And remember, if anyone is interested in being a co-host for Mom's Test Meal Mondays, please email me at momstestkitchen (at) yahoo (dot) com! I'd love to have you!