Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake

We normally resort to the family recipe for a Cinnamon Sour Cream Cake when in need of a breakfast sweet, but I wanted to try something different for our upstate trip this past weekend. (Don't go on a search for the Cinnamon Sour Cream Cake recipe...I always forget to photograph it...I'll add it to my list of things to do!) I ran across this recipe, and it sounded like the perfect blend of tart and sweet for breakfast. It was a hit. It's definitely not super sweet, but we really liked the flavor.

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups fresh cranberries, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. finely shredded orange peel

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan; set aside. In bowl stir together flour, oats, baking powder, soda, and salt.

2. In large mixing bowl beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1 cup sugar; beat until well combined. Add eggs; beat until well combined. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, beating on low speed after each addition until combined.

3. Toss cranberries with 2 tablespoons sugar; fold into batter with orange peel. Spoon batter into prepared pan; spread evenly.

4. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool on rack. Prepare Orange Glaze; spoon over cooled cake. Let stand until glaze is set. Makes 12 servings.

Orange Glaze:In small bowl combine 1 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel. Add 2 to 3 teaspoons orange juice to make drizzling consistency.

Pioneer Woman's French Onion Soup

I wanted to make something new this week, and Lindsay, my official guinea pig, told me I just haaaaaaad to try PW's French Onion Soup. Now, I'm a huge fan of FOS, and PW hasn't done me wrong yet, so it only seemed appropriate to give it a go. I'll warn you the same as Lindsay did- this is not a quick recipe. It takes about 2 hours, only about 30 minutes of hands-on time, but just be warned.

Now that I have appropriately warned you about the time, let me warn you on one other thing. You are probably going to eat way more of this than you need. It is some delicious warmness, and you won't want to put your spoon down. See those three ramekins up there in that picture? I did not make this for Carl, Gibson and me. It was just me.

Alright...now that you are really warned, go buy these ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
4 large or 6 small/medium yellow onions, halved root to tip and sliced thin
1 generous cup dry white wine
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
4 cups beef broth
2 cloves minced garlic
Worcestershire Sauce
Several thick slices french bread or baguette
5 to 7 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (Swiss, Asiago, Mozzarella, or Romano works, too)

Now do this:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Melt butter in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add onions and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.
Place soup pot into the oven with the lid slightly ajar to ensure the onions will brown.
Allow onions to cook in the oven for 1 hour, stirring at least once during the cooking process so onions won’t stick and burn.
Remove pot from pan and place over medium heat. Stir pan, scraping all the brown, flavorful bits.
Turn off heat and pour in wine. Turn heat back to medium.
Cook wine for five minutes, allowing it to reduce.
Add broths and minced garlic and reduce heat to low.
Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
Butter one side of the bread slices and broil over low heat, allowing bread to brown and become crispy.

When soup is ready, ladle into bowl or ramekin. Place crispy bread on top, then sprinkle generously with grated cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve immediately.

Note: I cut the recipe in half. It would fill about 6 small ramekins. I made half up tonight and will probably have the leftovers tomorrow. I only did the bread and cheese portion for the 3 ramekins I made tonight. ENJOY!

Super Simple & Delicious Sugar Cookies

This is Carl's aunt's recipe, and I love it! It's so simple yet so good. If you like your sugar cookies crispy, just roll the dough thin. If you like them squishy, leave it thicker. So versatile. I love it! I picked up pumpkin and leaf cookie cutters this year, and was pretty anxious to try them out. We are going to my brother's house later today, so these will be perfect to bring along!

Cookies:
1 cup salted butter (2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbls milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder

Cream butter and sugar. Add the rest of the ingredients. Chill at least 10 minutes. Roll out, cut and bake. the thinner, the crispier. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes.

Frosting:
2 Tbls salted butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanila
3 Tbls milk

Blend margarine and sugar. Add vanilla and milk. Beat until smooth. Add food coloring if desired.

Yields: Approx 20 cookies depending on size of cutter

See? SIMPLE! Happy Fall!