Cranberry Almond Bread

I've had a bit of a bad attitude lately. I'm not sure if it's due to crazy hormones, the lack of wine in my life or the fact some days spent in the company of a two year old can be rough. Maybe it's a combination of all three. I try to be the sunshiney, "puppies and rainbows" variety of person, and I don't like being a grump (which by the way, is a much nicer word for how I've felt some days). To snap myself out of it, I decided to bake something wonderful that was a little indulgent and undeniably fall.

Inspired by the first fresh cranberries I've come across this year, I found just the recipe I was looking for at Good Things Catered- a cranberry nut bread flavored with orange and cinnamon. I tend to healthify my baked goods, cutting the sugar way back, using mostly wheat flour, subbing applesauce for oil, etc. but this time I stuck to the recipe. I didn't want to risk it being too dense or not sweet enough. The only real changes I made were slightly increasing the orange zest and using almonds instead of walnuts, because that was what I had.

Very easy to put together, this recipe results in a bread that is lightly sweet yet gloriously tart, perfect for breakfast, dessert or with your afternoon tea. (Tea that might not be quite as satisfying as a post kid-bedtime glass of red wine, but still nonetheless, very good.) Was this bread attitude adjusting? Definitely.

Cranberry Almond Bread, yields one loaf

adapted slightly from Good Things Catered's Simply Delicious Cranberry Nut Bread

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)

2 1/2 tbsp orange zest (from a medium sized navel orange)

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups plus 2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup fresh cranberries

1/2 cup sliced almond pieces (or chopped walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease loaf pan

In a large bowl, add sugars and oil, and mix until well combined. Mixing while incorporating, add milk, eggs, zest and vanilla. Mix to combine well.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Fold dry ingredients into wet, until halfway combined. Fold in cranberries and nuts, until batter is just combined. Spoon into loaf pan, and tap to release air pockets.

Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 50-55 minutes. (Mine took much longer, an hour and five minutes.) Remove from oven, and let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Turn loaf onto wire rack, and let cool completely before slicing. (Truthfully, I found this impossible, and cut and sampled mine while it was still slightly warm.)

Symon Sundays: Roasted Dates with Pancetta, Almonds and Chile

So, I've missed a couple weeks in this cycle of Symon Sundays, for one reason or another, but I certainly didn't anticipate not being able to make one of my own selections. I chose Sheep's Milk Ravioli with Brown Butter and Almonds and Roasted Dates with Pancetta, Almonds and Chile, both recipes I was looking quite forward to. You can imagine my disappointment when I realized I was going to just have to toss my uncooperative ravioli dough in the trash. I could've given it another try, but I didn't want to waste another 9 egg yokes, and most likely have the same outcome.

Since I, of course, don't want it to take credit for the problem with my pasta dough, I'm going to blame it on the ridiculous humidity we've been having the past few days. Also, on the fact that my house just wouldn't cool down yesterday, and it was 83 degrees in my kitchen. I don't know how much of a factor humidity and temperature actually play in making pasta, but it made me feel better for it to be the fault of Mother Nature.


Another thing that made me feel better...this delicious appetizer. These little babies had it all- sweetness from the dates, spice from the crushed red pepper, and saltiness from the pancetta (not to mention the toasted almonds, garlic, lemon, and parsley, and what they added.) It was a riot of flavor, and yet such a simple recipe to make. My only complaint was that amount of stock used was a bit excessive in my opinion. I would suggest cutting it back, but other than that, these were really, really good.

Apparently, so was the ravioli, so if you want to check out that recipe by someone who didn't have the problems I did, visit Joanne's blog. (She also made this appetizer into a salad with goat cheese, arugula and dried cranberries, which sounds amazing.)


Roasted Dates with Pancetta, Almonds and Chile
from Michael Symon's Live to Cook
serves 4 to 6

2 cups pitted dates
3 oz. pancetta, finely diced (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup chicken stock (I used vegetable because that what I had. I would use a lot less next time, perhaps half)
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roast the dates on a rimmed baking sheet for 5 minutes. Turn off oven, but leave the dates in there while you cook the pancetta.

In a medium saute pan over medium heat, cook the pancetta until it is three quarters of the way crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the almonds and continue cooking until they are brown, a few minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for another minute.

Add the red pepper flakes and the stock and bring to a simmer, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Remove pan from heat, and wisk in the butter, stirring continuously until the butter is melted. Stir in lemon juice and parsley.

Add the dates to the pan and swirl and toss them in the sauce. Divide the cooked dates among four to six plates and spoon the sauce over them.