"cranberry" news and stories

Here's a cocktail that is actually good for you. Chock full of anti-oxidants from the Sence rose nectar, cranberry juice, and pomegranate juice. Recipe courtesy of CocktailAtlas.com.

Rosy Pom

The Rosy Pom was crated for the Erotic Café inside the ZUMANITY Theatre at New York-New York in Las Vegas. Zumanity is a provocative cabaret-style production with a Cirque du Soleil twist. This playful cocktail, made with SEX Vodka and rose nectar, is the perfect drink to get you in the mood for a sexy show.

1.5oz Sex Vodka
.5oz Sence Rose Nectar
.5oz Cointreau
1oz Cranberry Juice
Splash of POM pomegranate juice

Combine ingredients with ice.
Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass.
Garnish with a rose petal.

We've been baking cookies like crazy around these parts, all December long. I'm giving my rolling pin and baking sheets a break today and dipping into the archives to bring you some cookies from our archives.

Looking for a recipe that will look gorgeous on your buffet? These Cranberry-Cherry Icebox Ribbons are alternating stripes of red and white and are awfully nice to look at and will be tasty to boot.

Nicole's Vanilla Cut-Out Cookies incorporate buttermilk for a soft consistency that isn't cake-like. She also brought us Gingersnaps Two Ways last holiday season.

Want an easy, seasonal cookie? What about this Cranberry, Orange and Dark Chocolate Chip cookie? It's a quick mixing drop cookie with a great taste.

For the chocolate lovers in the crowd, check out these Chocolate Peppermint Drops.

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Though I claim to be a Slashfoodie, I can't bake to save my life. I try. I really give it my best shot every time I slip into that stained apron and 4" stiletto heels so I can comfortably reach the countertop, but nine times out of 10, the results of my efforts are always a far cry from whatever is photographed in the cookbook from which I bake. I just don't have the discipline to get all my ingredients together and I really don't have the patience to measure everything so...exactly.

Thankfully, drop cookies based on classic chocolate chip are made for people like me because they're fairly forgiving. Granted, you can't go throwing things on a whim into a mixing bowl and just hope for the best. You still have to measure a few things, and you can't leave basic chemical things out like butter, eggs, and other leaveners that affect the cookie's texture, but adding and substituting flavorings is not a problem. Dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks in place of plain old chocolate chips? That's perfect for the devil who bakes frauda and needs to turn something out for 1) the Holidays and 2) a Cookie-a-Day challenge.

These White Chocolate Chunk and Cranberry Cookies quite possibly the easiest cookies to make that still say "Holidays!" Recipe after the jump:

I was at a local food event today which show cased regional and local food products made by small / family businesses and farms. Every now and then I run across a product so good I have to share the news. The Bombay Emerald Chutney Company has not just one, but five great products. Their gourmet line of "Royal" Chutneys are fantastic: Royal Mint Chutney, Royal Tomato Chutney, Royal Plum Chutney, Royal Cranberry Chutney, and their new Royal Pomegranate Chutney. It's a Mom and Pop company who make their chutney by hand from their own family recipes using all natural ingredients that they personally buy themselves, and they have no preservatives.

My favorite is the Mint Chutney, made from Coriander, Lime Juice, Mint Leaves, Green Chilies, Salt & Spices. You would think that from such few and simple ingredients the flavor would be simple, but it's not. It has a very complex taste with just the right balance between the tangy lime, fresh mint, salt, and a nice but not lethal dose of spices. The Tomato Chutney has a very solid, summer ripe tomato presence, with the lemon, spices, salt, and cilantro bringing it all together.

There seem to be an endless variety of cookies that people trot out for the holidays. I know that I like to have a lot of variety when I'm just offering cookies (and perhaps hot chocolate) for dessert. Lex Culinaria has gone one better and made a batch o sweet and savory Cheddar and Cranberry Cookies. The cookies are very similar to shortbread, but with the salty tang of aged cheddar that makes them extremely snackable, much like a good cracker. The cookies are of the slice-and-bake variety, so the dough is rolled into logs and stored in the freezer. LC makes a very good point about how convenient it is to be able to just slice off a few rounds for baking when you want some, so you'll always have fresh snacks for entertaining and won't be overly tempted by having a huge batch sitting around.

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