This is the time of each year when I usually get sick and this year didn't disappoint. I'm moving into my second week of this flu and I'm still weak with body aches;even my teeth hurt. I'm not much of a sleeper normally, my usual night is 5-6 hours, tops. But with this bug, it's like I can't get enough sleep. I'm exhausted and spend every minute I'm not working, napping or laying down on the couch recovering from having to be awake all day. It's crazy. The plus side, if there is one to being sick, is
that all this lounging around and feeling crappy, has actually allowed
me to get organized and plan some blog ideas for this year. While I wasn't unconscious, Pinterest was there inspiring and motivating me
to get well. My list of things to do getting ever longer as I flipped through beautiful pictures and pinned my heart out. :) Since I didn't have the energy to cook, I figured I could at least organize my old blog photos and that's when I stumbled on these pictures of my Blueberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies I made this last summer. I know you're probably asking...How did you forget to blog cookies? Honestly...I'm not quite sure how these fell through the cracks. But I'll take it as a good sign that in the heart of winter, I'm able to bring you a little taste of summer with these delicious cookies. I'm starting to feel better already! Enjoy!
White Chocolate Chip Blueberry Cookies (adapted recipe from Twice Remembered) Makes 4-5 dozen 1 c. unsalted butter, softened to room temp 1 c. brown sugar, packed 1 c. granulated sugar 2 large egg, room temperature 2 t. vanilla extract 3 c. all purpose flour 1 t. baking soda 2 t. hot water 1/2 t. salt 1 1/2 c. white chocolate chips 1 1/2 c. dried blueberries (see below for a how to)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve the baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with the salt. Stir in flour until incorporated and then add the chocolate chips and blueberries. Use a small cookie scoop to drop cookie dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes.
Drying Blueberries Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Rinse and sort 2 pints of blueberries removing any over-ripe fruit. Bring
pot of water to a boil. I used my pasta pot that had the strainer
insert so that I could easily lift the blueberries out of the water all
at once. If you don't have a pasta pot, then have a strainer handy. Once the water is
boiling, add the blueberries into the boiling water. Immerse the
blueberries for about 30 seconds. This will crack the outer skin and
allow for water to escape when drying. Promptly remove blueberries from the water. Spread
blueberries out in a single layer on parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake
blueberries for 1-3 hours* until desired dryness. *
I dried my blueberries for three hours and they were very dry. Good for
long term storage but a bit too dry for cookies. To soften them up a
bit, I soaked the blueberries in hot water for about 30 minutes and
drained them prior to adding them
to the cookie dough. Next time I'll cut down on the drying time to
about 2 hours so I don't have to rehydrate them. Enjoy!
See photo below: If you don't want to bake all the cookies at once, these are easy to freeze. Spread them out on a cookie sheet so that they are not touching each other and place in the freezer for about an hour. Once the cookie dough is mostly frozen, transfer the cookie dough into a freezer bag and place in the freezer. Write baking instructions on the outside of the bag. Pull out as little or as much as you want to bake.
It has been a few weeks since I last blogged. The holidays were crazy busy and left me feeling a bit blue. Usually each New Year inspires me to plan my "To Do List" for the coming year. Not resolutions, but "To Do's". But that didn't happen this year...at least not yet. My holiday blues made it really hard for me to blog, let alone think about what I wanted to accomplish in 2015. Writing on the blog was hard especially since I'd done very little blog cooking since Thanksgiving. The few dishes I'd cooked, needed more work. They were not quite good enough. This recipe for Cranberry Orange Buttermilk Cake was one of the successful recipes throughout this time but I just couldn't put any words down.
Today, I decided that I needed a better attitude. I needed to tackle the things I could change...like I used to do, before I started feeling bad. I got up today determined to get my head back in gear by carving out some time to do the things I like to do.
First things, first. Take care of my physical self. I love to exercise and I love to read but hadn't done much of either since last summer. So this morning, I worked out and I resumed reading a book I started reading over 6 months ago. Yay for me! Next up...Cooking. I love to cook. It grounds me. So after my workout and shower, I worked on a new recipe. It's not quite there. The flavor is all there but I have to work on the presentation a bit...but at least I know how I'm going to change it up and make it blog worthy. :) And now, I'm tackling this blog...this deliciously moist cake that left me unable to write all these weeks. Not only is this cake super easy to make but it's versatile. The basic buttermilk cake recipe can be used with just about any other ingredients. Swap out the cranberries and orange and add lemon zest and blueberries, or add nuts or a cinnamon struesel topping! It's delicious and a snap to make. Enjoy!
Looks like I'm on my way to start my "To Do List" after all. Happy New Year!
Cranberry Orange Buttermilk Cake
Makes 1 loaf 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1/2 t salt 1 t baking powder 1 cup sugar 2 T orange zest 3/4 cup buttermilk 1/2 cup oil 2 large eggs 1 t vanilla extract 1/3 cup cranberries 1/2 cup powdered sugar Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray loaf pan with cooking spray.
Mix flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a large mixing bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl, add buttermilk, orange zest, oil, eggs and vanilla extract and mix well. Add this to the flour mixture and whisk until incorporated. Add cranberries and mix until just combined. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Note: The cranberries will float to the top.
