Cranberry Cake or.... is it Pie

I received this recipe a few years ago from a friend's mother.  She has a home in Cape Cod a place that knows how to utilize cranberries. Every holiday season I bake this cake at least three times and am always sharing the recipe. This is easy, delicious and beautiful!

1.5 cup cranberries

1/4 cup of Sugar

1/2 cup of Walnuts

Butter a 10" pie plate.  Put cranberries in bottom, sprinkle the sugar and nuts.

Mix in a bowl;

1/2 cup of sugar

1 cup of flours

2 eggs, well beaten

3/4 cup of melted butter

1 tsp. almond extract

Pour this mixture over the cranberries and nuts.  Bake at 325º for 35 minutes, till golden brown. Cool ten minutes, then turn upside down onto a plate.  Let the cake cool to room temperature. 

Linzer Cookie

I am a lucky girl to have an aunt sweet enough to save and send me newspaper clippings of recipes.  She sent me one for linzer cookies a few years back and ithis my go to when I want to bake these little treats.  

Ingredients;

                Photo courtesy of Joy of Baking

  • 2/3 cup hazelnuts (3 oz)
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 12-oz jar seedless raspberry jam

You can use various cookie cutter shapes for the recipe, they need to be different sizes to create the cut out appearance.  2-2.5 inches for the exterior pieces, less than 1 inch for inner pieces.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Toast hazelnuts in a shallow baking pan until fragrant and skins begin to loosen, about 6 minutes. Rub nuts in a kitchen towel to remove any loose skins (some skins may not come off), then cool to room temperature.

Pulse nuts and 1/4 cup brown sugar in a food processor until nuts are finely ground. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Beat together butter and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer (preferably fitted with paddle) or 6 minutes with a handheld. Add nut mixture and beat until combined well, about 1 minute. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined. With floured hands, form dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 5-inch disk. Chill disks, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 2 hours.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.

Roll out 1 disk of dough into an 11-inch round (1/8 inch thick) between 2 sheets of wax paper (keep remaining dough chilled). If dough becomes too soft to roll out, rewrap in plastic and chill until firm. Cut out as many cookies as possible from dough with larger cookie cutter and transfer to 2 ungreased large baking sheets, arranging about 1 inch apart. Using smaller cutters, cut out centers from half of the cookies, reserving centers and rerolling along with scraps (reroll only once). Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are golden, 10 to 15 minutes total, then transfer with a metal spatula to racks to cool completely. Make more cookies from second disk.

Spread about 1 teaspoon jam on flat side of 1 solid cookie and sandwich jam with flat side of 1 windowed cookie. Sandwich remaining cookies in same manner.

These cookies will keep for two weeks in an airtight container layered with parchment.

Recipe courtesy of Epicurious