Lovin' From the Oven

Cranberry Bliss Bars

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Now, for something that’s even prettier than these bars to look at.. crystallized ginger!:

just look at how the sugar sparkles..

but these don’t look too bad, either. 🙂


I have to say that as a blogger, there’s nothing more I love to do than to blog. I get to share a little snippet of my life by documenting it however I wish. All day, I think about what subject I can blog about next. What pictures can I post? How much posting is too much and how much is too little? What do my readers want to see?

So naturally, it only makes sense that I have so many side projects that I want to do. I want to have a blog for my scrapbooking, for my card making, for my photography, for my food, for my clothes, for my dog, for my silly family, for how my sister and I should have our own reality tv show, etc. Sometimes, I actually get enough motivation to start another blog (see HERE), but they’re never as successful as my main one (which is this one, of course!).

Which leads me to this… some of you may know that I had a style blog with my sister, but she never updated so I deleted it. For the past two days, I’ve been putting my efforts into a new blog, which I’m happy to introduce to you today. This is my very own personal style blog:
A Pile of Style
No more depending on anyone else to update.. just me (and my DB to take the photos)! So if you’re ever bored, feel free to venture over there. I know I won’t be able to update daily, but I hope to update just as much as I do here. Here’s to hoping!

These bars are supposed to be a knockoff of Starbuck’s Cranberry Bliss Bars, but I’ve actually never even tried theirs so I can’t compare. They were very flavorful and the frosting was light enough to not overwhelm the bar, but strong enough complement and tone down the ginger flavor. Next time I make them, I would definitely cut down the amount of ginger used. They’d be the perfect treat for Christmas, just look at how pretty they are! This recipe comes slightly adapted from the Wine Imbiber.

  • 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1–1/4 cups brown sugar, packed
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1–1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Dried Cranberries, minced
  • 1/4 cup plus 1/4–1/3 cup White Chocolate Chips
  • 1/4 cup Crystallized Ginger Slices, minced
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1–1/2 cups powdered sugar
  1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly grease a 9×13 pan or line it with parchment paper for easy removal.
  2. Beat together the butter and sugar. Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
  3. Add the flour, ginger, and salt into the batter. Beat well. Lightly stir in the 1/4 cup cranberries, 1/4 cup chocolate chips and minced ginger.
  4. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven.
  5. Make the frosting by beating the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar and beat until you reach the desired consistency.
  6. Spread the frosting onto the cooled cake.
  7. Cut the frosted cake as desired into bars or triangles. Sprinkle the remaining minced cranberries and chocolate chips on the top.

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White Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies with Dried Cranberries and Slivered Almonds

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I had a weekend full of meat. Have I ever told you how my boyfriend doesn’t eat any vegetables? Like, zip. nada. zelch. He won’t touch anything that’s green, with spinach being the only exception. Even so, he’ll only eat like three bites of spinach and he’ll be done for the month. Our relationship works out perfectly because I eat all of his vegetables and he finishes all of my meat.

What’s even better is that he fits into my family perfectly. My dad made a comment to my older sister and me that we couldn’t find normal boyfriends.. we had to find ones with weird eating habits (joking, of course). But it worked out in the end because my older sister’s boyfriend is vegan. Everything he doesn’t eat, my boyfriend eats. Everything my boyfriend doesn’t eat, my sister’s boyfriend will eat. Put the two together and they can finish an entire plate. Works out perfectly, right?

These cookies have some great ingredients that work well together. They were crispy on the edges and the oats made it chewy on the inside. I just wish that they were turned out a bit thicker. A bit of tweaking and this recipe could do wonders. Recipe’s from Dash and Bella.

ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups white chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries
3/4 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
directions:
Place butter in the bowl of the electric mixture and allow to soften for a few hours if it’s not room temperature already.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a new bowl, mix together chocolate chips, dried cranberries, almonds, and oats. Set aside. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix with a whisk to make sure baking soda and salt are evenly distributed. Set aside.
Add both sugars to the butter and beat like crazy for a few minutes. Scrape down the sides. Add 1 egg. Mix for a few seconds. Scrape down the sides. Add the 2nd egg and mix for a few seconds. Scrape down the sides. Add the vanilla. Mix for about 3 seconds. Scrape down sides. Add 1/3 of the flour mixtures, mix for a few seconds, scrape down the sides. Add the 2nd 1/3 of the flour mixture, mix for a few seconds, scrape down the sides. Now add the final 1/3 of the flour mixture PLUS the chocolate chip/oat/cranberry/almond mixture. Mix briefly until flour is just incorporated. At this point all the chips, nuts, oats, and cranberries should be evenly distributed as well.
Use an ice cream scoop. Scoop out balls of dough (a bit bigger than a golf ball). Don’t flatten them. Keep them spherical. This way the center will stay gooey and the edges while the edges get crisp. Place a few inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake in the middle rack of the oven.
Bake 10-12 minutes. But don’t go according to time. Instead, keep an eye on the cookies. When the center (quarter-sized) is still raw, take the cookies out. Leave them on the sheet pan for a few minutes. Move to a rack and let cool. Or just cool them on the cookie sheet.

Freeze balls of dough for up to 6 months in a ziploc bag. You can place the frozen cookie balls onto a cookie sheet and right into a preheated oven.


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Jam Cake

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I have to share with all of you this coincidence that arose from my kitchen today. I did the norm–baked a cake, let it cool for a whole two seconds before I gave in to cutting it, and then made 16 even pieces. I pulled a piece out and then carefully placed it on my plate before going to grab my camera. When I came back, the slice shifted a bit because it wasn’t completely cooled and turned into this beauty. A heart! Just itching for a photoshoot!

I find a lot of things cute, but this is SUPER cute! Heart shaped desserts make them taste ten time better. I can attest to it.




Can you tell it’s not cooled yet? The jam’s oozing everywhere!

Life is beginning to take its toll on me. Too much work and not enough baking, in my opinion. This is why this little heart shaped piece of cake made me so happy! It’s a sign that I need to reevaluate my schedule and find the time to do what I love again. 🙂 Someone please tell me why I’m not in culinary school already? ::sigh:: A girl can dream.


This is my second recipe from Framed, and it turned out just as good as the first recipe. Her pictures are truly stunning and she has a lot of recipes that I want to try. The cake was very fluffy and light, perfectly accompanied by the jam. The cake didn’t have too much flavor, so don’t be afraid to use the whole cup of jam as listed in the recipe. Feel free to change up the jam flavors to whatever floats your boat. The crumble topping had the perfect texture and crumbled perfectly. Every dessert should have a crumb topping, don’t you think?

I did adjust this recipe quite a bit because I didn’t have milk on hand, but it still turned out great. I’m posting the original recipe with my changes in italics.
  • 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 3/4 cup milk (I substituted this for one serving of strawberry yogurt, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, 1/3 cup of evaporated milk, and a splash of water)
  • 1/2 cup apricot jam (I used raspberry)
  • 1/2 cup cherry jam (I used strawberry)

Topping:

  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I used about 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts)

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender to make a fine crumbly mixture – or you can use a food processor.

2. Add egg and milk; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

3. Spoon batter into a generously buttered 9-inch square pan. Spoon both jams over the batter, then swirl through the batter with a knife.

4. Mix topping ingredients until crumbly and sprinkle evenly over batter.

5. Bake at 400° for 25 to 30 minutes, until done. Cut into squares and serve while still warm



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