Holiday Sweets: Cranberry Orange Loaf, Almond Lofthouse-Style Cookies, and Christmas-Spice Cupcakes
The holidays are upon us! I decided to make three sweets with some of my favorite Christmas-time flavors: almonds, oranges, cranberries, and spices. The loaf is made with vegan yogurt to produce a super moist crumb, the cookies are soft and perfectly nutty, and the cupcakes are for those who love the classic holiday combination of oranges and spice.
Orange Cranberry Loaf
Ingredients
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 Ener-g eggs (4.5 tsp of powder + 6 tbs water), whisked
1/4 cup agave
0.5 cup of canola oil
8 oz of unsweetened yogurt (Kite Hill or Forager)*
1/2 tbs of vanilla
1 orange, zested
3/4 cup fresh cranberries
3/5 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup dried cranberries
* You can also substitute the unsweetened yogurt and agave for 1.25 cups of sweetened vanilla yogurt (Trader Joe’s Vanilla Coconut-Milk Yogurt)
Glaze
2 tbs milk
2 tbs light corn starch
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 orange, zested
Preparation
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.
Whisk Ener-g egg until frothy in small bowl. Whisk in the orange zest and the remaining wet ingredients.
Pour wet ingredients into the large bowl and mix until no large clumps remain.
Fold in the cranberries and almonds.
Pour into greased and floured standard loaf pan.
Bake for 45 or so minutes. Baking times will vary but make sure your knife comes out clean.
Whisk glaze ingredients in small bowl.
After bread has cooled, flip onto serving plate or board and pour the glaze over the top.
Lofthouse-Style Almond Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 cups + 2 tbs powdered sugar
6 tbs sticks of butter
1.25 oz of refined coconut oil
1 Ener-g eggs
1 tsp of almond extract
5.625 oz of pastry flour
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
Frosting
1 cup of vegetable shortening
1 orange, zested
1 tsp almond extract
2.75 cups of powdered sugar, sifted
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cream butter, oil, and sugar for about 6 minutes or until light and fluffy. Stand mixer or hand mixer is best.
Whisk Ener-g eggs until they are frothy. Add the eggs and the almond extract to the creamed sugar. Mix until incorporated.
Whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl and add to the wet ingredients. Mix until the dough comes together.
Cover and refrigerate the dough for 3-5 hours or overnight. Alternatively, you can refrigerate the dough for an hour and then form 1 tablespoon balls to quicken the process of chilling the dough through.
Once the dough is chilled through, form balls with one tablespoon of dough and place them about an inch and a half apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Slightly flatten the dough balls.
Bake for 6-10 minutes. Watch the cookies carefully. They should spread slightly and then as soon as the surface of the cookies no longer appears moist, remove them from the oven. To achieve that soft Lofthouse-style cookie you don’t want them to be crispy at all.
Cool the cookies completely.
While the cookies are cooling, mix the vegetable shortening, orange zest, and almond extract. Add the powdered sugar and mix on high until the frosting is fluffy.
Frost the cookies with a knife, you don’t need a lot of frosting, and decorate with sprinkles!
Holiday-Spiced Cupcakes
Makes about around 18 cupcakes
Ingredients
1/2 cup of butter
2/3 cups of brown sugar, unpacked
1/3 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup of orange juice
1/2 cup of milk
2 tsp of apple cider vinegar
2 cups of pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp all-spice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, or for about 6 minutes. You can use a stand mixer or hand mixer.
Add in the wet ingredients and mix until you have an ugly, clumpy mixture.
Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl and add to the wet mixture. Mix until you have a batter that is free of large clumps. Do not over mix.
Fill cupcake tins to about 3/4 full, making sure that the batter is filling in the bottom of the tin.
Bake for 18-22 minutes.
Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.
Frost with the frosting recipe for the Lofthouse-style cookies. The recipe is enough to frost the cookies and the cupcakes.
Annalise