Happy New year lovelies! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and an awesome New Year celebration!
As excited as I am to welcome in 2016 – I do have to admit that I am a little sad to be saying goodbye to 2015. I have never really experienced this kind of sentimental feeling for a year in time before, but this particular year was filled with so many special moments for me and my family, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little sad to see it come to an end.
Have you ever experienced this kind of nostalgia for a year passed by before? This is a new feeling for me, so it is a little strange but kind of awesome at the same time. I think I can safely say that 2015 has been my favourite year so far. Not only because it was full of the usual shenanigans with Cole, exciting changes, mistakes and lessons learned… but also because there were so many special experiences and moments throughout the year.
This year I thought it might be fun for me to start a new tradition for myself. So I decided that I will from now on start every new year off by compiling a list of all of the special moments and all of the things that I am most thankful for. I hope that keeping these lists in my journal will help me to not only keep as many memories as possible for later in life, but that it will also help me to appreciate and really savour every year as it passes, in the hopes that time won’t pass me by too quickly.
So here is my little list of cherished memories of 2015 so far…
– The day I got the letter confirming that I had been accepted as a vendor to the 2015 Maple Ridge Farmers Market
– The moment everything was set up and ready for our very first market
– The days we completely sold out of everything at the markets
– Our stay at the Teehouse B&B in Kelowna & making scones with Lynda & Doreen
– When Cole surprised me with a Canon Camera
– Our road trip across Oregon
– The day we picked up our little kitty Katniss
– Wondering around Whistler village in a winter wonderland with Cole on December 23
– December 23 … the moment that Cole proposed – { say what???? hehehe }
– December 23… the moment I burst into tears and said “of course I will!”
– Waking up for our first Christmas as a couple of giddy engaged fools
– The first time I got to refer to Cole as my “fiance”
– The first time I heard Cole call me his “fiance” 😀
– Our final Christmas Dinner in my childhood home with the whole family
My god, I could go on and on, but I won’t bore you with the details of my life. However, I will say, that actually sitting down to reflect on all the things I loved about this year was truly heartwarming, and it’s a practice that I would definitely recommend trying. I was surprised by all the things I had almost forgotten about and rejoiced at remembering them.
Any-whoo, I kind of spilled the beans about Cole and my engagement over social media last week, but I haven’t yet had a chance to write a proper post about it. It was probably my favourite moment from 2015, so I want to share it with you all {if that’s okay}, and thank everybody for all the congratulations and kind wishes. It has been so heartwarming to receive and I can’t even begin to tell you all how much it means to us.
Anyways – moving on to why you stopped by today… to get the recipe for this Caramelized Cranberry-Apple Dutch Baby :D.
This is my go-to recipe for a classic, no-fail dutch baby that will always come out fluffy and delicious. So even if you want to skip the topping, this dutch baby is good all by itself. I like to whip these up and just change up the toppings to suit my mood.
Today I was seriously needing to use up some aging apples and I happened to have a few leftover cranberries from Christmas just sitting in my freezer. So as usual, I thought there was nothing else to do but to mix together all my leftovers into something delicious. Let’s just say this creation did not disappoint, and it lasted all of about 2 minutes before it had been completely demolished and the skillet all but licked clean…. {okay, okay – there may have been some pan licking… }
So without any further torture… here is the recipe for my favourite ever Dutch Baby creation to date. The moment I took a bite of this baby, will definitely be making my list of moments to remember for 2016 :p. Enjoy lovelies!
Caramelized Cranberry Dutch Baby
Things you need…
1 x 9 inch cast iron skillet
Dutch Baby
3 eggs
2/3 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup whole milk
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
4 tbsp melted butter, divided
Caramelized Cranberry Apple Topping
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cranberries {fresh or frozen}
1 cup sliced apples
1/4 cup chopped toasted pecans {optional}
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Optional Toppings
Cinnamon Sugar
Icing Sugar
Whipped Cream
How to make…
For the Dutch Baby…
Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place a 9 inch cast iron skillet into the oven to heat up.
In a food processor, combine all ingredients and 2 tbsp of the melted butter until smooth – scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice to ensure there are no lumps.
Once your oven is preheated, remove the cast iron skillet and pour in remaining 2 tbsp of butter into the hot skillet. Carefully move the butter around the skillet by tilting it from side to side so that the bottom and sides of the skillet are evenly coated.
Next pour batter into the hot skillet – butter may pool around the edges, but don’t worry. Place back in the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes until the dutch baby a puffed and a light golden brown.
While the dutch baby is baking – prepare your topping.
For the Caramelized Cranberry-Apple Topping
In a medium sized frying pan, melt butter over medium high heat. Add butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, stirring to combine. Toss in cranberries to begin heating as they will take a bit longer to cook than your apples.
Slice apples to 1/4 inch thickness and add to frying pan with other ingredients. Gently stir to coat everything and allow to cook on medium high heat until apple are tender, cranberries have popped, and sauce is thick, and caramelized – about 5-10 minutes.
Remove from heat once done, but leave in the pan to keep warm until dutch baby is baked. Once you remove the dutch baby from the oven, gently pour filling into the center. Dust with a healthy amount of icing sugar and serve warm in the skillet with fresh whipped cream if desired {clearly we helped ourselves to a mound of fresh whipped cream before diving in}.
And finally / most importantly – enjoy lovelies!
Thank you all again so much for stopping by this year to read my silly little posts and trying out my recipes. I love posting here and I hope you continue to enjoy in 2016!
Happy 2016 Baking!
KP xoxo <3
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