Cranberry Apple Crisp

I love cranberry apple. Maybe it's a childhood thing stemming from a juice box habit. Maybe it's because the colorful leafs are covered in frost every morning now. Maybe because it's just bomb. I don't know, but I dig it! Last year I made this Cranberry Apple Upside-Down Cake. Awesome. This year I revamped my favorite fool-proof Peach and Raspberry Crisp. Cran-Apple is fall on a plate. I added chopped pecans to the topping and lots of cinnamon to the filling. It's just delicious. My mom says it's healthy enough to eat for breakfast, but she's in the apple pie for breakfast camp too.

Cranberry Apple Crisp
Preheat oven to 450 degrees

For the Filling
2 cups fresh cranberries
3 cups chopped apples (about 4 large apples)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar

For the Topping
1 cup oats
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup melted butter 
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt 

I like to make the filling first - roughly peel and chop the apples, and rinse and sort cranberries. In a very large bowl, mix together apples, cranberries, sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

Next make the topping - in a large bowl, mix together oats, flour, sugar, pecans, salt and cinnamon. Melt butter and add it to the dry mixture and stir until a thick and crumbly batter forms. 

Butter a deep-dish pie dish, or other large baking dish and add in the fruit mixture, scraping out all of the sugar and cinnamon goodness. Add the topping and spread it out to cover the fruit. Break up big pieces, but be sure to leave some clumps - they are delicious!

Bake the crisp for 15 minutes at 450 and then reduce the oven temp to 350 and continue baking for 25-30 more minutes. Fruit will be tender and topping will be toasted. Let it cool a bit and enjoy!!

A few things about this recipe...
It is super adaptable! This is delicious with so many different kinds of  fruits and nuts - or no nuts. Also awesome!

Things made this time last year...
Sausage and Lentil Soup

Rosemary Turkey Meatloaf

 

Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookies

I love dark chocolate.  I ALWAYS prefer it to milk chocolate.  Not only is it better for you (contains antioxidants) but it has a more complex and rich flavor.  I try and use dark chocolate whenever something calls for milk chocolate.  70% cacao is my favorite but for this recipe I used Ghirardelli 60% semi-sweet dark chocolate chips.  I bet you can’t eat just one of these delicious little chocolate morsels!

I winged it with these cookies.  I love really soft cookies so I like to add a little crunch with nuts.  Pecans are my favorite nut so I chose to use these for this recipe.  Honestly, these were heaven for me – my favorite chocolate and favorite nuts in a cookie?  You can’t go wrong!  Let these cool slightly and then dip them in milk until the soaked portion is just about to fall off.  Yummmm….ummmm….can I make these again???  Now???  They’re delicious.

Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookies

¾ c granulated sugar

¾ c packed brown sugar

1c butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

2 ¼ c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ c pecan pieces (or more if desired)

½ dark chocolate chips (or more if desired)

Heat oven to 375F.

Gently whisk egg in a small bowl.  In a stand mixer bowl, combine sugars, butter, vanilla and egg. 

Tip: Softening of butter is a very important step in baking cookies (and many other baking recipes).  Butter that’s too cold makes cookies hard and butter that is too melted makes cookies spread too much when cooking.  For best results, let butter stand at room temperature for 30-60 minutes prior to use.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.  Stir to combine.  Carefully add flour mixture to butter mixture with mixer on low.  Add nuts and chocolate chips.

Drop dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. 

Kitchen tool: Use a Size 16 spring-release ice cream scoop.  Scoop dough and run the scoop against the side of the bowl to ensure the same size cookies every time.  The spring allows for easy release of the dough onto the cookie sheet.  This is what mine looks like:

Bake 12-14 minutes or until light brown (center will be soft).  Cool cookie slightly and then place on a wire rack.

Serve with milk!  This recipe made 16 cookies. 

Pecan Crusted Salmon

Growing up I didn't eat fish, at all (well, I ate calamari, but only because I was tricked and bamboozled and couldn't back down after I scarfed a whole plate of fried delight.) A few years later, going out for sushi became really hip and I had to tackle my issues or compromise my cool. Obviously, I embraced the hip. THEN we moved to the Pacific Northwest. Land of drizzle, coffee and salmon. Again, I was faced with either losing out on every chef's special, or... OH WAIT, this stuff is delicious and I a fan! From plank cooked to a special combo of salmon stuffed with brie, crab and shrimp, I'm a fan. Here's a great recipe we found doing some googling a few days ago.

Pecan Crusted Salmon - from All Recipes Online
Serves 2
Preheat oven to 425

2 6oz salmon filets (we use wild caught - it's more expensive but worth the cost for health and environment benefits.) 
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
2 1/2 teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons mustard - I used Dijon
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste 
Lemon wedges

Preheat the oven to 425. In a small bowl, mix the mustard, butter and honey. Stir until ingredients are fully incorporated. In another small mix bread crumbs, pecans and parsley. 

Place salmon filets on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with butter, honey and mustard mixture. Cover the fish with the bread crumbs, pecans and parsley mixture. Press the nuts and bread crumbs lightly into the fish to fix them into place.

Bake for 10 minutes or until the thickest part of the fish is to the doneness you prefer. Serve with lemon and salt and pepper.

A few things about this recipe...

This was delicious and SO easy/fast/weeknight-friendly. 

Despite the ingredients, it is definitely NOT a honey-mustard flavor. It's light and sort of tangy-sweet, but not like a salad dressing.

I will change the pecan/bread crumb ratio next time and add more pecans and less bread crumbs.

I will add a bit of parmesan to the bread crumb combo the next time we make this. Why? Because parm is good. The End.

We served this with a combo of roasted potatoes and beets and a saute of swiss chard, onions and garlic. We were totally proud of our antioxidant-rich, colorful, superfood meal. Enjoy!

Spiced Nuts and Bourbon Cocktails

You know what's stupid hard? Melting white chocolate. Yep. Who knew!? And, you know what kinda stings? Tossing peppermint extract all over yourself. Yep. I had a bummer kitchen flop tonight. I burned up quite a bit of chocolate. Lame. BUT! I repaired myself and made cocktails! All good, all around! Anywho, posts that were supposed to be Spiced Nuts and Peppermint Bark have turned into Spiced Nuts and The McIver Cocktail. Cheers, ya'll.

Spiced Nuts - recipe compliments of my dear brother
Preheat oven to 350

1/2 pound of pecans (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon chile powder
Boiling water

Measure nuts and start a large pot of water set to boil. In a very large bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon and chile.

Line a baking dish with parchment paper. Pour nuts into boiling water and boil for one minute. Drain nuts and toss quickly in the sugar and spice mixture. You want to do this quickly - enough to coat the nuts, not so much as to melt the sugar. Spread in a single layer on the parchment lined baking dish. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, then turn off the oven and let the nuts cool in the oven. 

These are delicious! I am so happy my brother gave me this recipe a few years ago.

A few things about this recipe...
I've doubled this recipe, but they really turn out better when I make only 1/2 a pound at a time. These are great on their own, but also delicious on salads and ice cream. They are especially delicious while drinking bourbon... which leads me to...

The Bourbon McIver
Serves 2

2 sugar cubs
A few dashes bitters
4 ounces bourbon
2 thick slices of orange

Muddle in each of two glasses one sugar cube, a large orange slice and a few dashes of bitters. Pour bourbon over orange concoction and enjoy!

Maple Pecan Pie

Pecan pie is officially one of my favorites.  It all started…last week when I bought a mini pecan pie from the grocery store.  It was only 6 inches and hubby and I downed it in one sitting lol.  THEN…I saw a recipe in Food Network Magazine (the Thanksgiving issue is phenomenal by the way).  It was Ina’s recipe for maple pecan pie and I knew right then and there that I would be making one for myself.

 

I slightly adjusted Ina’s recipe by omitting honey, replacing that with brown sugar, adding more vanilla in place of Bourbon (just because I didn’t have any), and I didn’t use her crust recipe.  Even after reading the recipe, I didn’t realize how easy it was to make a pecan pie.  After the crust, you literally just mix all of the filling ingredients together and pour it in.  That’s it.  I’m not joking! 

The pie was simply delicious and crust was buttery and flaky.  I wanted to keep eating more and more.  Note: you may want to curb your sweet-tooth before making this pie because you have to allow it to cool and trust me, you won’t want to.

Maple Pecan Pie

Crust Ingredients:

5 tbsp very cold unsalted butter

5 tbsp very cold butter-flavored shortening

½ tsp salt

1 1/3 c all-purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

3-4 tbsp very cold water

Filling Ingredients:

½ c light corn syrup

½ c maple syrup

¼ c brown sugar

4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp grated orange zest

½ tsp kosher salt

2c whole pecan halves

Combine salt, flour, and sugar in a food processor bowl.  Pulse a few times to combine.  Cut butter and shortening into small pieces and add to bowl.  Pulse 4-5 times or until small crumbs start to form.  Slowly pour water, 1 tbsp at a time, down food processor chute while pulsing.  Repeat until dough starts to come together.

Preheat oven to 350.

Empty dough out onto floured surface and form into a small round disk.  Place in a zip-top bag and refrigerate for 30-60 mins.  Remove dough from bag and lightly flour both sides.  Roll dough out into a 10” circle and carefully move to pie pan. 

Using your fingers, create the desired pie edge.  To make the filling, whisk together all ingredients except pecans.  Once well mixed, add pecans and stir to combine.  Pour filling into piecrust.  Place pie pan on a baking sheet and place in the oven.  Cook at 350 for 45 mins or until center of pie is set.  Allow pie to cook completely before serving.

Piecrust takes no time once you get the exact measurements down - especially when using a food processor.  Therefore, it’s best to make multiple crusts and freeze them until ready to use.  My piecrust uses a combination of butter and shortening.  Butter makes it light and flaky.  Shortening holds the pie together (and makes for great fluting!).