I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

cranberries

Cranberry Orange Buttermilk Coffee Cake

Cranberry Orange Buttermilk Coffee Cake combines crumbly coffee cake with rich flavors of cranberry & orange. A great fall treat to enjoy for breakfast or a snack.

As a rule of thumb, coffee cake or crumb cake (whatever, you prefer to call it) needs to have an obscene amount of crumb topping on it. 

For example, I made this, enjoyed it, but decided it needed 2x as much crumb topping on it. I made a few other tweaks, doubled the crumb topping, and created Cranberry Orange Buttermilk Coffee Cake perfection!!!!

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Cranberry French Toast Casserole

Cranberry French Toast Casserole-1

Our mornings are so rushed with getting up, getting ready, getting Autumn packed up for daycare, Kemper out, and getting our stuff packed up that we often get our breakfasts on the way into work or if there are vendor presentations in the morning I’ll be able to get something like a muffin or some fruit. Those hectic mornings mean that I try to take the time to make a nicer breakfast on the weekends. I still don’t have a lot of time but it’s still great to make a nice scramble, bagel sandwiches, Kodiak Pancakes, or some waffles.

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Trail Mix Cookies

These really are my favorite cookies. Not just because I make them but because they are oatmeal, chocolate chip, and coconut macaroons rolled into one. I call them trail mix cookies because they remind me of good trail mix from trader joes. So with oatmeal, chocolate chips, coconut, cranberries, and walnuts you can take on what ever is ahead of you, a long trail or the sofa and a movie.

 

These were originally cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies off of a package of cinnamon chips but as time went on I started to mess around and bake them differently every time until reaching this. So cinnamon chips became chocolate chips, then I added in nuts, then coconut, then cranberries. Everything worked together to become a chewy oatmeal cookie packed with goodies.

 

Typically, I make cake for our monthly staff meetings as a way of celebrating the birthdays that month. Things have ranged from Tres Leche Cake to Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting. I kinda felt bad for not making a cake this month but I was not in the mood to make cake. Just plain and simple, I wanted to make cookies. So on Thursday morning I got up when Price was getting up for work @ 5.20 and started to make cookies. Having 1 for breakfast was a great way to start the day.

 

I don’t think people minded having cookies instead of cake, esp when I saw some people stack up a few on a napkin as they went into the staff meeting and then grab some on the way out. After work I brought over the extras to Price’s class. True story- I got on the wrong train. I could have taken the B,C, or the D there but I got on the E line. 6+ years in Boston and I get on the wrong train! What makes it even worse is that I could have gotten off and waited for another or walked but I w as not paying attention for my last chance to fix the situation so I had to walk through the mall to get back on course. What the hell?

Trail Mix Cookies

makes 6 dozen 2 in dia cookies

3 sticks of unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups of brown sugar (I use dark brown)
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
3 eggs
3 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1  1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
3 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
2 1/4 cups of chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups of shredded coconut
1 cup of chopped walnuts
3/4 cup of dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350.

Prepare baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray or line with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a small bowl, set side. Cream together the butter and sugars on high until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Add the flour mixture to the batter in batches. On low-speed, add the oatmeal, chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, and cranberries until combined.

Form cookies and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Recipe produces 6 dozen 2 in diameter cookies, larger cookies will result in a lesser number and will take longer to bake.