cinnaberry cake || a christmasy recipe

The snow is falling softly outside, the Christmas tree lights are twinkling, & a distinct happy thrill is in the air. The holiday season is almost upon us & what better way to celebrate than by sharing a recipe?
You may or may not know this, but I love baking. I consider it an art... a wonderfully delicious & creative art. And so, feeling extremely adventurous the other day, I decided to create my own holiday recipe. All my favourite Christmasy ingredients in one cinnamony, delightful cake!

ingredients: 
~ 1 cup sugar
~ 1 cup dried cranberries
~ 1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (can be substituted for one additional cup oats if nut-free is desired)
~ 1 cup oats
~ 1 teaspoon cinnamon
~ 2 1/4 cups flour
~ 1 teaspoon baking soda
~ 6 eggs
~ 1 teaspoon vanilla
~ 1 cup melted butter
~ 1/2 cup milk

directions:
Mix together the sugar, cranberries, walnuts, oats, & cinnamon in a large bowl.

In a smaller bowl, mix the flour & baking powder together. Then, add them to the cinnamon-cranberry mixture. Stir til combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, butter, milk, & vanilla.

Slowly pour the liquid mixture into the cinnamon-cranberry mixture, in three separate portions - stirring in between additions.

Pour mixture into a cake mould.

Place your creation into an oven preheated to 375F & bake for approximately 20 minutes, or til toothpick comes out clean.

After your cake is done, you may want to add icing. I personally just prefer a little dusting of powdered sugar on top - it gives it a little extra wintery flair.

And ta-da! Your Cinnaberry Cake is all set & ready to serve (or eat all by yourself as part of a midnight baking experience, & that's ok - I won't tell ;)... & it didn't even take you half an hour. Now go sit by the Christmas tree, inhale the cinnamony scent in the air, drink some hot cocoa (or coffee), & eat your sweetly delicious slice of cake.
cozy warm hugs,

e

p.s. who has snow? we have about five inches already! :)

Baking with Memories // Guest Post By Kati

My grandmother, Mommom as she is affectionately called, is a wonderful woman. She loves the Lord. She loved her husband of sixty-six years and still loves him even though he has left her to be with his Lord and Savior. She loves her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She has an excellent memory! She can remember every birthday of every single family member (and that is quite a lot since my dad is one of eight and she has 18 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren plus those who have married into the family.) She can listen to another conversation while taking part in another. She can put her finger on anything she has in her house, one of her children's school picture shirts, a receipt from 20 years ago, birthday cards, party favors, lunchboxes, Easter baskets... Since she lives just three doors down from us, I will occasionally walk down to her house and we will spend an hour, sometimes two, sitting in her living room talking. She can make the best coconut cake, peanut butter cake, and boiled cookies.

Ever since I can remember we have made her recipe for boiled cookies. Dad or my sister Kristin would make them some evening and sometimes we couldn't even wait for them to cool. :) I always think about Mommom when I make boiled cookies. We have made these cookies so many times that the original recipe card that Mommom gave us faded so that we could hardly read the recipe. We copied the recipe over but kept the old card in her handwriting. In our recipe book we have the new copy and the old recipe side by side.

They are so easy to make and so yummy. They use some of the best ingredients out there: chocolate, peanut butter, oats... I mean, what could get better than all those ingredients put together? ;)

  In a medium saucepan put together:

• 2 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 stick butter

  Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 1 1/2 minutes. Take off heat.

  Add:

• 3 cups oats
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

  Place tablespoonfuls on waxed paper lined cookie sheet and refrigerate until hardened.

I'm Kati. I am 18, a child of the Heavenly Father, daughter, sister to two sisters and a brother, sister-in-law to two I think of as a brother and a sister, proud aunt to eight, and a homeschool graduate. I like to bake, read, craft, blog and take pictures of anything and everything from my nieces and nephews to my kitties to nature with my trusty friend Nick (my Nikon D3000). We have lots of fun preserving memories together. I look forward to the day when I have my own home and family to take care of. In the meantime I take comfort in this verse, 'For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.' --Jeremiah 29:11

Please take a minute to stop by Kati's Little Corner of the World for a visit. She'd love to have you, I'm sure. :)

Iced Cream Coffee

How's everyone's November going? So far, mine has been great! This week I saw The Three Musketeers (Soundtrack. Is. Awesome.) with a friend, started reading The Hunger Games (It's really good so far!), and watched the first few episodes of Little Dorrit (Claire Foy is so sweet! I definitely want her acting as Tess in the upcoming Kingdom Series Movie!)... and yes, I also had an Iced Cream Coffee. I promised I'd post the recipe on here, so here it is... complete with photos too! :)

You will need...

1/2 cup cold coffee (if it's warm that's fine, just make sure it's not hot-hot)

2/3 cup milk

5-6 ice cubes

2 scoops vanilla ice-cream (I prefer using french vanilla, but that's just a personal preference ;)

blender

I measured out the coffee and milk using cups but then poured them both into glasses (because they're more photogenic :P)

This will make one serving, but take my advice and double all the ingredients! You'll be glad you did. ;)

Step 1: Put everything in blender

It should look something like this when you're done:

Step 2: Blend!

I turn the blender on ice crush for about thirty seconds and then use the normal setting for another thirty. When you're done you should have some foam on top:

Step 3: Pour and enjoy!

I like to spoon a little of the foam into my glass as well! :)

Well, there you go! It's that simple... and it tastes delicious! :) Hope you enjoy it!

P.S. How do you all like the new design? My blogoversary is coming up in 3 days, so I thought I'd freshen things up a bit! :) Be sure to grab my new blog button from the sidebar!