Romantic Orange and Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Valentine's day is here and it is a good occasion to remind yourself of the importance of love. Irrespective if you're a fan of the occasion or not, it's always great to bake or cook something special for your other half, your family, your friends or just for yourself to enjoy! 

My Valentine's special this year is a simple, cute and romantic sugar cookie perfumed with orange and vanilla for a mouth watering sensation. The cookies are delicious on their own, but if you fill them with a jam like the one I used then you've got a perfect Valentine dinner dessert or a lovely and romantic gift item. 

The recipe is really simple and requires few ingredients. 

For the dough you need:

• 200 g butter at room temperature
• 130 g powdered sugar (add more sugar if you just want plain cookies with no filling)
• 1 egg (about 50 g) room temperature
• zest of one orange
• the seeds of one vanilla pod
• 350-400 g of flour (the quantity well depend on how the butter absorbs the flour)
• dash of salt

First, cream the butter, orange zest, salt, vanilla and the sugar for a couple of minutes until the butter feels light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat again for a couple of minutes until well incorporated.
Slowly add the flower to incorporate to the wet mix. Don't over mix the dough, you just want it to come together. 

Knead  the dough gently to incorporate all the ingredients until the dough is no longer sticky. If it feels too wet and sticky add some flour. Leave the dough on the counter for few minutes, uncovered. 

Place the dough between 2 baking papers and roll out to 5 mm thickness. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or over night for better results.

Take the dough out of the fridge and cut the cookies using the molds you like. I used a 10 cm round cookie cutter. I got about 16 cookies and I cut out a heart shape in 8 of them.  

Refrigerate for an additional 30 min so that the cookies hold their shape while baking.

Bake the cookies in a preheated oven (180C) for 10 to 15 min. The baking time depends on the thickness and the size of the cookies. You just want them to have a light golden color. 

Let the cookies cool completely then fill them with the red jam of your choice. You might want to try this one!

Happy valentine´s day, and remember: always bake with love and passion! 

Cranberry Jam with Ginger and Orange

After a long break from blogging it´s time to come back to my favorite hobby. Until recently, I was still in the Christmas mood. It's hard to get over your favorite holiday and time of the year, but I was longing for the peace and relaxation I got. I guess I still wanted to relax and take things slowly. Lazy days be gone!

A while ago I bought a big bag of cranberries, and I had many ideas on how to use them, but I kept postponing all of them. Well the cranberries were not getting any fresher and the best option was to make some good jam with them. After all, nothing beats the taste of homemade jam or jelly.

The recipe is straight forward and really good. It is both tangy and sweet with the beautiful aromas of ginger and jam. The jam is perfect to smear on fresh bread, especially if it´s a sourdough bread, for breakfast or as a quick snack or dessert.

Let´s go to the recipe
The batch I made was enough to fill 3 medium sized jars. You will need:

• 450 g fresh or frozen cranberries
• 250 g sugar
• 100 g orange juice 
• 100 g water
• 3 strips of orange peel
• 20 g finely chopped or grated ginger

Combine all ingredients in a heavy bottom pan, mix well and let the jam cook for at least an hour on a very gentle heat.

The cranberries will burst then melt as they bubble away. After an hour, fill your sterilized jars with the hot jam and seal well. Let them cool completely before you put them in the fridge.

Now you are ready to spread this beautiful burgundy jam on your bread or brioche or to use it as a filling in cakes or cookies.