Fruit Braid

This recipe is made with dried fruit filling. I got the original recipe from an old issue of "Taste of Home" and it said to use dried apricots. But I didn't have any apricots, and I did have a bulk-sized bag of cranberries, so I made it with cranberry filling instead. It was amazing! I took it to a church ladies function and got lots of compliments on it.

this was the photo from the magazine

this was mine...not quite a pretty, but still awesome!

Preparation time--the actual work is about 20 minutes, but the rise times will add another hour plus, and the cook time is 20-25 minutes.
Yield: 3 braids


BREAD
1 c water
1/2 c butter
3/4 c sugar
5 1/2 or 6 c flour (I used about 1 1/2 c wheat, and needed the lesser amount of flour)
3 packages dry yeast (1 package = 2 1/4 tsp, so that's 6 3/4 tsp needed)
1 tsp salt
3 eggs, beaten

In a mixing bowl, blend the sugar, yeast, salt, and 3 c flour. Set aside. Put the butter and water in a saucepan and heat just until the butter melts (120-130*). (Be sure it doesn't get too hot or you'll kill the yeast!) Add butter mixture to flour mixture and beat just until moistened. Add eggs, beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top.Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, about 30-40 min (Mine took much longer than that, partly because I have a cold Alaskan kitchen, and partly because I think I killed part of the yeast by having my water/butter a little too hot.)
While it rises, make the filling. 

FILLING
2 1/4 c chopped dried fruit (craisins don’t need to be chopped since they’re already small)
1/2 c water
(for the cranberries I also added about 1/2tsp of almond extract and 1/2tsp of orange extract)
1 1/2 c packed brown sugar
Put the dried fruit and water in a saucepan (and the extracts if you're doing those). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until water is absorbed and fruit is tender, about 15-20 minutes. Transfer to a food processor; add brown sugar. Cover and process till smooth. (My food processor is a little one and would't fit everything, so I just put in the fruit, processed that, then dumped it back into the pan and mixed in the sugar with a fork.) Set aside.

When the dough has doubled, punch it down and divide into thirds.  On greased baking sheets, roll out each portion into a 12in x 8in rectangle (I rolled a little, but mostly just mooshed it out with my fingers, it was easier because the sides of the pan kept getting in the way of my rolling pin handles!) Spread filling down the center of each rectangle. On each long side, cut 1 inch wide strips about 2 inches into the center. (I actually did the cutting first and put on the filling afterwards, it seemed less messy.) Starting at one end, fold alternating strips at an angle across the filling. Pinch ends to seal. (Rather than pinching the ends, I just folded the two end strips straight up inside the loaves on both ends, and then did the alternating down the sides.) Cover and let rise for 30 min.
Bake at 375* for 20-25minutes or until golden brown. Remove pans to wire racks to cool. Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over braids.

GLAZE
1 cup confectioners sugar
1-2 Tbs milk
1/2 tsp vanilla (a little orange or almond would be good here too, though I didn't do it)

Rhubarb Crunch (or Strawberry-Rhubarb Crunch)

This is the only way I've ever really liked rhubarb. I have a tendency to eat it for breakfast, but it's also good a la mode.
The original recipe is made with just rhubarb, but I've found that substituting in as much as half strawberries (and cutting the sugar down by 1/3c per cup of strawberries) is also really yummy.

Makes 9x13 pan

1/3 cups brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup softened or melted butter
3 cups rolled oats
Mix together. Press half of the mixture into a 9x13 pan, reserve the other half for the top. (I often do closer to 2/3 in the bottom of the pan, as the under layer gets the juices soaked in and is better than the top in my opinion.)

6 cups finely chopped rhubarb
3 Tbs flour
1 cup white sugar
Mix flour and sugar together. Coat rhubarb by shaking them all together in a covered bowl (or just dump them all into a really big bowl and stir a lot). Put filling in pan on top of under-crust. Cover with remaining crust mixture.
Bake 1 hour at 350.

Marie Callender's Blueberry Cream Pie

I got this recipe here but in case the other site ever goes down or something, I'm copying the recipe over as well. ☺
This recipe is fairly time consuming, but if you try it I think you'll agree that it's worth the effort. (Unfortunately it's not a terribly photogenic pie...it's soft and tends to slide and 'melt' a little even when properly chilled...but it tastes fantastic!)

1 baked and cooled 9" pie shell (it really will overflow an 8", so get yourself a nice big deep pan for this one!)

*Blueberry Filling
1 can blueberries in heavy syrup (15 oz), drained, reserving juice in one bowl and berries in another (if you use fresh berries, use around 2cups, and cook them down over low heat with a little water and around 1/2 c sugar until they thicken.)
1 1/2 c water (I found that this made the pie a little runny, so in the future I'll either reduce it or drain off half of it after the apples cook)
1 c pea-sized diced apple
3 Tbs cornstarch (you can substitute with 6Tbs flour, but you'll want a little extra water to blend it with, so you'll need to reduce the water elsewhere to balance it)
1/4 c water
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Sour Cream Topping
1 c sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c sugar
1 Tbs cream cheese
1/2 tsp knox gelatin
2 Tbs cold water

Filling
In a medium saucepan combine diced apples with 1 1/2 c water and sugar at medium temperature until the apples are done but not mushy. (Do make sure they are done, otherwise the texture will stand out from the blueberries...it tastes fine, but the texture of a not-quite-cooked apple is a little odd in the middle of a blueberry pie!)
While the apples are cooking mix cornstarch with 1/4 c water until dissolved. When apples are done add lemon juice and berry juice, cook and stir until blended. While stirring on medium heat add dissolved cornstarch slowly and stir constantly until thickened. Add berries and cinnamon and mix well. Remove from heat and cool before placing into cooled prepared pie shell.
Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Topping
Dissolve gelatin in 2 Tbs water and set aside. Mix the sour cream, sugar, and cream cheese in a pan on low heat until sugar is dissolved and everything is mixed thoroughly. Stir and watch that mixture does not burn or dry out. When all is smooth and blended add vanilla and stir. Then gradually add gelatin until mixture has a firm consistency of soft pudding. Remove from heat.
Topping can be smoothed over blueberries while luke warm, then chill the whole pie.


*If you are on a tight schedule you may substitute blueberry pie filling, but it will be sweeter... if you do this, it replaces the entire filling mixture--not just the blueberries. When I tried this though it did not set up very well. The pie tasted great, but it was very runny.

Anyberry Streusel Bars

So, this isn't my recipe...but I will give credit to the person I got it from, so I figure it's ok for me to post it here.
I have not actually tried it, but it looks positively drool-worthy!
without further ado, from DomesticGoddess
Anyberry Streusel Bars
(I suspect it would also work with other moist fruits...peaches, cherries, etc)

Ultimate Fruit Smoothie

A smoothie needs four things:
Something liquid
Something frozen
Something sweet
Something flavorful

I combine by using fresh fruit (flavor), frozen fruit (flavor, frozen), frozen juice concentrate (sweet, frozen), and yogurt or whole milk (liquid). (Sometimes I use yogurt AND milk, depending on the other ingredients and the proportions.) I don't like to use ice cubes, as that waters-down the flavor.
It is worth mentioning that not all fruits are created equal in the world of smoothies. I have found that grapes and melons make pretty poor smoothies. Apples give a strange texture if they are fresh, but are a great addition when frozen. Apple and grape juice concentrates are the best sweeteners--white grape and apple will not affect the flavor much either.

I love throwing a banana into almost any mixture. They are heathy, cheap, and add nice texture to a smoothie. I use them fresh at first, then they start getting a little brown, I put them in the freezer and use them frozen.

I start with a half cup or so of plain yogurt in the bottom of the blender, then add fresh fruit, then frozen fruit, then sweetener, then pour enough milk to just barely cover everything. (Note, if you have a lot of soft or juicy fruit, use less milk!)

Some favorite combinations:

Fresh peaches, frozen strawberries

Fresh kiwi, frozen strawberries, (can add fresh or frozen banana)

Banana and strawberry--either one fresh or frozen

Fresh raspberries, frozen apple

Fresh cherries, frozen apple, optional banana

Any mixture of berries

If you want to feel inspired, go down and look at the yogurt in the grocery store--any fruit combination that they make there is bound to be even better in a smoothie!