Giftmas 2019: Fruity Wensleydale Cream Cheese Balls & a Fundraiser for the Edmonton Food Bank
If people know only a few things about me, it’s that I bake, I share lots of cute cat gifs, I write some stuff, and that I love, love, LOVE cheese. As part of the Giftmas Fundraiser, I’m sharing a recipe I just made for the first time during my American Thanksgiving last month–and I’m hoping you’ll share some money and goodwill to help the Edmonton Food Bank, too. Your donation (in Canadian dollars) will help a lot of folks in need this season. One dollar equals three meals.
Please give to the Edmonton Food Bank for Giftmas!
Scroll down past the recipe to enter an incredible Rafflecopter giveaway that includes loads of stuff, including a signed Chicken Soup for the Soul Christmas book featuring one of my stories. You needn’t donate to enter the giveaway–in fact, even spreading the news about Giftmas is a big help. Use #Giftmas2019 on social media to do that.
As part of Giftmas, there’s also a Snowman drawing contest. The whole family can take part in this one! Find out the details from Rhonda Parrish.
2019 has been a cruel year, and 2020 could go straight-out apocalyptic. Let’s help each other stay warm and fed.
Let’s start that effort with some delicious cheese.
This recipe is inspired by a glorious cheesecake I experience at the Wensleydale Creamery during my dream-come-true trip to the UK in June. I immediately began mulling ways that my cheese-loving mom could enjoy a facsimile of the cheesecake, but with a lot less carbs.
The result is this recipe for Fruity Wensleydale Cream Cheese Balls. This is gluten-free, keto-friendly, low-carb, and probably other buzz words with dashes, too. More importantly, it’s DELICIOUS.
Please support the Edmonton Food Bank for Giftmas!
Bready or Not Original: Fruity Wensleydale Cream Cheese Balls
Ingredients
- 4 oz Wensleydale cheese with fruit such as blueberry or cranberry
- 4 oz cream cheese half block
- 2 Tablespoons dried fruit that matches cheese
- 1/2 cup ground pecans
Instructions
- Use a fork to chop cheese into chunks of various sizes. Add dollops of cream cheese and extra dried fruit and stir together, taking care distribute the Wensleydale without breaking it apart too much.
- Place ground pecan pieces in a small bowl. Use a tablespoon and hands to form small balls. Roll in pecan bits to coat. Store in a sealed dish in fridge. Flavor improves after a day as the pecan flavor infuses the cheese balls more. Keeps for at least four days.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Fruitcake Cookies
These Fruitcake Cookies turned out gorgeous AND delicious, but could’ve been a total disaster.
I completely rewrote a base recipe for these cookies before I even got to the kitchen. Once I started combining ingredients, I realized I had a major problem.
I had too little dough to hold my fruit and nuts. Uh oh! If I continued as planned, they would not be the slightest bit cohesive.
So, I winged it. I added more flour, more brown sugar, another egg. The dough became cohesive. I baked the first batch. They stayed cohesive.
Whew! The cookies were saved. Not only saved, but absolutely delicious. The combination of ingredients brings all the best elements of fruitcake without all the fuss.
Want more fruitcake? Here’s my recipe for Mini Loaves–which wouldn’t be ripened by Christmas, unfortunately–and also another Fruitcake Cookies recipe, this one like oatmeal cookies. I also have a recipe for brownies that uses candied cherries and one that uses candied orange peel in delicious scones. Keep in mind that a lot of fruitcake ingredients can be found for fabulous clearance prices after Christmas, so bake up these recipes in the new year! Good food shouldn’t be confined to one season.
Bready or Not Original: Fruitcake Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup dried apricots finely chopped
- 1/4 cup dried dates finely chopped
- 1 cup candied cherries coarsely chopped
- 1 cup walnuts and/or pecans, coarsely chopped
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter 1/2 stick, softened
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment.
- Combine fruit and nuts with 1 cup of flour, coating everything. This will prevent the fruit from sinking as the cookies bake.
- Cream together the butter, shortening, and sugars. Add the eggs with the vanilla and almond extract. Stir in the remaining flour with the baking soda and salt.
- Stir in the fruit/nut/flour mixture until just combined.
- Drop dough by tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Cranberry-Orange Cookies
These Cranberry-Orange Cookies are packed with vivid, fresh flavor, and a sure way to brighten your day, whatever the season!
The order of ingredients is important here. You take one orange and zest and juice it. The zest goes straight into the dough, while the juice is used to soak the dried cranberries.
Not only does this plump up the desiccated berries, but it naturally amplifies their flavor, too. The tartness becomes stronger, in perfect complement to the citrusy freshness.
Then, you add two tablespoons of the juice to the dough. The rest, do whatever with. It’s mighty tasty to drink!
The white chocolate chips add sporadic sweetness to balance the tartness, and it goes so well with the orange flavor, too.
Plus, these cookies are downright pretty on a holiday tray, packed as a gift, or eaten whenever, all the year long!
Bready or Not Original: Cranberry-Orange Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 orange
- 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
- 1 egg
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 375-degrees.
- Zest then juice the orange. Place dried cranberries in bowl and pour orange juice over them, stir, then set aside to soak
- In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars. Add the egg. Stir in orange zest.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually blend with butter mixture. Measure 2 tablespoons of orange juice from the bowl, and add to the dough. Drain off the rest of the orange juice (discard it or save it to drink) and add the dried cranberries and white chocolate chips to the dough. Combine.
- Use a tablespoon scoop or spoon to space out dollops of dough on baking sheet; cookies will spread. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until cookies are golden and set. Let set on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to completely cool. Repeat with the next batch(es).
- Store in a sealed container.
OM NOM NOM!
Forthcoming: a poem in THE BOOK OF DRAGONS next July
This has been in the works for ages, but I’m still gobsmacked: I’ll have a poem in the hardcover, fully illustrated anthology The Book of Dragons edited by Jonathan Strahan, due out on July 7, 2020. The table of contents is like a full list of the best living authors in genre fiction… and then there’s me, like this.
Every story and poem is illustrated by Rovina Cai, who just won the World Fantasy Award for best artist. The book will be a whopping 640 pages. I’m guessing this will be very much a treasury book to keep on a coffee table–beautiful to look and to read. Read the full announcement on the Barnes & Noble SFF Blog! Behold the authors involved!
#SFWAPro
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