So, I’ve been trying to post this recipe for this absolutely magical Caramel Rum Banana Bread since it came out of the oven this morning. Every time I make a new variation on banana bread, I declare it to be “my new favorite”. but I think this one really tops it. It’s spectacularly yummy. And I’ve been snacking on it all day… banana bread, not just for breakfast anymore (it’s quite nice this afternoon with a cup of tea as well).
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Here’s a quick and easy recipe, if you are still looking for something to add to your Christmas morning breakfast or brunch: Cranberry Chocolate Chip Muffins! Festive and cheery, sweet from the chocolate and tart from the cranberries, just a dusting of sugar at the end before baking to have a crispy topping. They come together in under 20 minutes, and take another 30ish to bake, they are great straight out of the oven.
PS: The ones in the photograph are “over-stuffed” because the muffin liners were so big, so I had to bake them for about 5 minutes longer. If you are using the regular sized muffin liners, then 20-25 minutes should be enough time in the oven.
Here is my unsolicited piece of advice for fruit pie baking: cook the fillings separately. There are lots of reasons that this is a good idea, but most importantly, if you are baking a two crust pie (top and bottom), pies have a tendency to dome; that is, you fill them full of raw fruit and then when the fruit condenses in the baking process, you have a top crust that sits above (or collapses on to) the pie. If you cook the filling ahead of time, then you’ve already removed much of the water from the equation. Another bonus of cooking the filling separately is that you can do it up to a week in advance, so you aren’t pressed for time on the day of, or the day before, the holiday. Fair warning though, you will need double as much fruit than if you use raw in your pie. For example, this 9-inch pie used a full 14 medium sized apples (my non-pre-cook recipe uses about 8 apples).
These are not Christmas Cookies. OK, they aren’t Christmas Cookies this year as they were just an experiment to see how they worked out. Every year I do try to add a new cookie type to the Christmas Cookie Madness, but I try them out first before hand. These turned out lovely and I think they work well as a harvest / Thanksgiving-type cookie as well. Lots of orange and cranberry flavor.
Not even 5 days past Halloween and I am already focusing on things to make for Thanksgiving. Every year I make a variation on the usually “cranberry sauce” and this year is no different. In that I added Ginger and Red onion and made more of a chutney than a plain sauce. There are cloves and cinnamon in there too, and orange juice, so a whole lot of flavors. It’s lovely though: tart and sweet and savory and complex. The best part about it: you can make it up to three weeks in advance, keep refrigerated in jars (like you would “freezer jam) and it’s lovely and fresh on Thanksgiving Day.