Spiced Cranberry Butter in the crockpot

At this time of year I get to thinking about food gifts from my kitchen, and about ways to use up things in my fridge so I have room for all those holiday dishes, etc.  So, along that vein, yesterday I made Cranberry Butter in my crockpot... Cranberry Butter is like apple butter, only made with fresh (or frozen) cranberries rather than apples. In this case I had some cranberries I'd frozen as well as some fresh ones that I needed to use so into the crockpot they went!  After tossing the cranberries in, I added some sweetening (in this case a combination of sugar and honey) and some spices (cinnamon, clove and ginger) and then turned the crockpot on low. It cooked all day on low, smelling up the house with it's holiday goodness, and then in the evening I removed it all to my food mill and gave it a whirl to remove the skins from the cranberries. After that I put it back in the crockpot, adjusted the seasoning (adding a little more honey and some salt for flavor contrast) and let it run overnight on the "keep warm" setting with the lid ajar to allow it to thicken up a bit more.  And so this morning we have some super cranberry butter for eating and for giving... Thought I'd share the recipe and a little pic of it for anyone interested in giving it a whirl!

Cranberry Butter in the Crockpot

2-3 lbs fresh or frozen (not thawed!) cranberries

2 cups sweetener of choice (sugar, honey, maple syrup or a combination)

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground clove

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp kosher salt

Place cranberries, 1 1/2 cups sweetener, cinnamon, clove and ginger in the crock of your slow cooker and turn on low for 8-10 hours. After this time, remove to a food mill or food processor and puree until smooth. Return to slow cooker and adjust sweetness to taste as well as adding the salt. Allow to continue to cook on low (or keep warm setting) with the lid ajar for another 4-6 hrs or until thickened to your liking. Freeze or water-bath can for giving as gifts.  Makes about 4 cups of butter or 4 half-pint jars.

Great on toast or biscuits or try it served over cream cheese with crackers for a great appetizer! Also great when turned into a "baked brie"...

For Baked Brie, you'll need 1 sheet puff pastry, 1 wheel of brie cheese, about 1/4 cup chopped nuts and the cranberry butter. Put the puff pastry sheet on a greased baking tray. Trim the rind off the wheel of brie then place in the center of the sheet. Top with chopped nuts and then spoon a couple of tablespoons of the cranberry butter overtop. Fold the puff pastry over all the enclose then put into a 350F oven until golden brown all over. Serve hot with some extra cranberry butter if desired. YUM!

Super Easy Blueberry Cobbler

Got a big container of ripe plump blueberries from Costco the other day and then forgot about them...when I remembered them stashed in the fridge, I thought I'd better put them to use right quick! And what better or quicker way to use them than in a great blueberry cobbler.

I've been a blueberry fan since I was a little bitty girl. My parents tell stories of me picking blueberries from the backpack carrier when I was a tot and entertaining the other harvesters since my mom wasn't aware I was eating them until she took me down to find me covered in blue mess. But here in Texas we don't get a lot of blueberries since they don't do too well in our heat. So when I get a nice box of them from anywhere, I LOVE to use them well.

This recipe is one of the easiest I've ever made for blueberry cobbler. It's from the cookbook How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman and comes together super quick and super easy. I really like this cookbook for it's explanations as well as it's recipes. Here's a link to it on Amazon:



The Recipe:

Blueberry Cobbler

Makes 6 to 8 servings
Time: About 1 hour

My friend John Willoughby found this recipe in a southern boardinghouse about ten years ago. I've since made it dozens of times, and it's always been a hit. I love this with blueberries, but you can make it with any fruit you like.

• 4 to 6 cups blueberries or other fruit, washed and well dried
• 1 cup sugar, or to taste
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into bits, plus some for greasing the pan
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Toss the fruit with half the sugar, and spread it in a lightly buttered 8-inch square or 9-inch round baking pan.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 cup sugar in the container of a food processor and pulse once or twice. Add the butter and process for 10 seconds, until the mixture is well blended. By hand, beat in the egg and vanilla.
3. Drop this mixture onto the fruit by tablespoonfuls; do not spread it out. Bake until golden yellow and just starting to brown, 35 to 45 minutes. Serve immediately.

My Results:

As I mentioned, this is one of the quickest and easiest blueberry cobblers I've ever made and it was heavenly as well. Here's a photo of my ingredients before:

Because this recipe mostly comes together in a food processor, it is very easy. Toss the berries with the sugar and pour into the pan, then pulse the cobbler ingredients together in the food processor, mix in the egg and vanilla and then dollop it onto the berries. Here's what it looked like before entering the oven:



And here it is fresh out of the oven...


Now, the best part of this cobbler is that it isn't too "bready". I like shortcake, but to me cobbler should be less "cakey" and more fruity. And this recipe makes a beautiful cake/bread component along with the wonderfully saucy berries. Even without sprinkling with sugar, there is a sugary crunchy crack to the cobbler topping which is almost like a brulee topping and it is SO yummy! Definitely a do for the future...next we'll try it with our frozen hill country peaches! Hope you'll give this one a try and let me know how it works out for you!

Hot days - Salad lunches

Today was take two on The Habanero Cookbook. We decided to give it another shot with the Crab and Cantaloupe Salad with Habanero Yogurt and boy was it worth it! Now, this was a good salad! Here's another link to the cookbook on Amazon if you're interested:



And here's...

The Recipe:

Crab and Cantaloupe Salad with Habanero Yogurt

Dressing:

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup chopped cucumber
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 habaneros, seeds and stems removed, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• pinch of white pepper

Salad:

• 1 lb cooked crab meat
• 1 small cantaloupe, diced
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 small purple onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings

To make the dressing, combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and allow to sit at room temperature for 1 hour to blend flavors.
Toss crab, cantaloupe and avocado with dressing. Top with the onion rings and serve.
Yield: 4-6 servings

My results:

YUM! This salad was really really good...I was a little unsure how the flavors of crab, avocado and cantaloupe would blend with the dressing, but it was very good. I think next time I would add an additional avocado since there was quite a bit more crab and cantaloupe than avocado, but other than that, it was a great hit. Hubby and brother-in-law both enjoyed it as well. Here is a picture of my starting ingredients:



You'll notice I didn't use "fresh" lime juice as I didn't have any limes on hand (used them for the Yoda Soda the other night!) and we used pre-picked crab (called "special" crab meat in the fish area of the market). The notes on this recipe said you might choose to only use one pepper, however I had my fire-mouth husband taste the pepper and since he said they weren't super hot, we went with two. Your peppers may vary, so either taste them beforehand or try one and add an additional if you think you can handle it. Ours was just right with a little heat but nothing super spicy and a nice rounded flavor.

Here is a photo of the finished dressing as it was "sitting" for an hour to meld:


I chose to combine some of the dressing with the crab meat to "loosen" it up (as it had been packed in it's little plastic container) and then placed the cantaloupe and avocado mixture onto the plates, topped with the crab and dressing mixture and then drizzled a little more dressing over all. This made for a pretty presentation as well as a good way to keep the ripe avocado from breaking up too much from tossing. There was a bit of the dressing left over which would probably be good on regular green salad, or perhaps on a grilled chicken breast. It was a very good dressing with hints of cilantro popping out and the heat from the habanero there but not overwhelming. Here are the completed plates, ready to be served. Because this was our full meal, we only got three servings out of it, but if you were serving this as a side or even as a light lunch with rolls, etc. it would definitely feed 4-6.


All in all this was a big hit and one we'll definitely do again. It was perfect for a hot day in South Texas (our 30th day of breaking 100F!) Please let me know if you try this dish and what you think of it and be sure to check in tomorrow for another cookbook adventure!