Cranberry and Lemon Cookies

I love fresh cranberries in floral arrangements because they add a festive touch and a great pop of color, but I have really never used them in anything else. However when I saw this recipe for fresh cranberry and lemon cookies, I really wanted to try it. Fresh cranberries are tart as can be and with a lemon glaze, I wondered how these would turn out. These cookies have some texture with the cranberries, but there is sweetness in the dough that balances all the flavor. I think I may have used too much lemon juice in the glaze because it didn't harden... it kind of soaked into the cookie. The lemon flavor and the sweetness of the sugar was there, they just weren't as pretty with the glaze on top. Oh well.... I guess next time I will have to make sure the glaze is thicker. Anyways, these are perfect for the holidays because of the pop of red. Besides, these aren't your average Christmas cookie so I'm sure that people will be pleasantly surprised when you put a tray of these out.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar (I used turbinado sugar)
2 tbsp lemon zest
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, diced

Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Begin by mixing the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. (I decided that since I was making my first batch of Christmas cookies that I would use my holiday spatula. Now all I need is some festive pot holders and dish towels.)

Measure the sugar into the mixer bowl. Next take a zester and zest a whole lemon into the bowl of sugar. Make sure not to use the pith of the lemon (the white part underneath the peel). Rub the lemon peel into the sugar until you smell lemon and the sugar seems to be moist.

Beat the butter into the sugar for 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl halfway through. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until smooth.

Mix in the flour until is it just incorporated. The batter will be pretty sticky and pull away from the sides. (This may be because of the sugar I used, but if you use regular sugar it may not do that.)

Roughly dice the cranberries and then fold them onto the dough by hand. To be honest, it was not easy to chop the cranberries and it would have been helpful to have a small food chopper. (Guess I need to find an easier way to chop things that can easily roll).

Refrigerate the dough for 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 and then scoop out the dough into small balls onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake for 13-15 minutes and let them cool completely.

In the meantime, mix together the powdered sugar and the lemon juice in a small bowl. Once the cookies are cooled completely, drizzle the glaze over the cookies. If you find that you have added too much lemon juice, then you can always add in more powdered sugar to help thicken it. Enjoy these delightful cookies that will be sure to make your holiday pop!

Two Bries in a Pod

So if you have checked in with my blog, you might notice that I have a thing for baked Brie. It's delicious and I am not ashamed to admit that I love this cheese. For the Thanksgiving potluck we had at work I brought two different types - a sweet and a savory. This time I decided to use fillo dough instead of puff pastry. Using the fillo dough added some crunch, but not as much dough as when using the puff pastry. I chose to do a cranberry orange one and a sundried tomato artichoke one. They were both pretty delicious and it was hard to decide which one was better since they so different.

Cranberry Orange Chutney Brie

4 sheets of fillo dough, thawed

1 8 oz round of Brie

1 jar of cranberry orange chutney*

2 handfuls almonds, slivered
1 egg white 
coconut oil spray

*Note: If you can't find this, then you can use dried cranberries and either apricot or raspberry jam.

Sundried Tomato Pesto Artichoke Brie

4 sheets of fillo dough, thawed

1 8 oz round of Brie

3/4 cup of sundried tomato pesto

1/2 cup of marinated artichokes, chopped

1 egg white
coconut oil spray

Directions:

The process is the same for both Bries, the only difference was how I put on the toppings. Preheat the oven to 400F and be sure to spray the baking sheet with coconut oil. First take the fillo dough and fold the sheet in half. Place them on top of each to make a star pattern. For the cranberry orange Brie, I sliced the cheese in half. I covered the top of one half with slivered almonds and the cranberry orange chutney. I put the other half on and then on top of that one added more almonds and chutney.

I wrapped the fillo dough around the cheese and brushed with egg white to seal the cheese package and give it a nice golden brown color. I laid out 4 more sheets of the fillo dough for the pesto Brie and put the cheese wheel on top. For this one, I only put the toppings on the top of the cheese. I just estimated the pesto and the artichokes, but you can measure it out if you want. I put enough pesto on the top to cover it and then roughly chopped the artichoke. Then I wrapped the cheese and brushed the outside with egg white.

Bake for about 20 minutes and then let cool for 5 minutes. Serve with any kind of cracker and you have yourself a delightful appetizer. Enjoy!